The Honey Witch

The Honey Witch is a sweetly engaging historical romantasy by debut author Sydney J. Shields. Released 14th May 2024 by Hachette on their Redhook imprint, it's 368 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

This is a cottagecore/witchy  F/F romantasy. The magic system is somewhat diffusely described, leaving readers to largely puzzle it out themselves. The honey and nature magic are interesting, but never directly developed (potentially to come in future works?). It's a historical setting, based very loosely on Regency England. Appealingly, but unrealistically, it's homonormative, lots of characters are in openly homosexual relationships, without any repercussions. It's pure wish fulfillment to read a historical romance without homophobia, and will likely deeply appeal to readers who want some escapist happy reading for a change.

There are some odd details which are introduced and then aren't resolved ideally (or at all) in the novel. It's mentioned, for example, that tattoos are hugely taboo and forbidden (illegal even), and then just ignored without explanation for the rest of the book. The prose is dreamy and the characterizations are diffuse and indistinct. 

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 13 hours 1 minute and is capably read by Mia Hutchinson-Shaw.  She has a very young sounding voice which complements the YA(ish) vibe of the book. She does a good job delineating the various characters and keeps them distinct. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

Three and a half stars. It's not a YA read, but has a definite YA/NA vibe. It's dreamy and there's not a distinct plotline. Definitely readable, but readers looking for definition and directness and plot resolution tied up in a nice package are destined for disappointment. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.