The Year of the Witching

"Had very "Scarlet Letter" vibes. As with most books with a witch theme, there was a heavy sexism focus. A "prophet" that is above reproach and uses fear of witchcraft to control his flock. It was well written and had a strong female character that discovers her power. "

"3.8⭐️ wish the ending was different, but good story. Wish she had joined them."

"Absolutely LOVED it!!"

"Good stuff"

"Oh I loved this book! I think I’m just super into books about patriarchal cults that get demolished by strong women. I liked that Immanuelle recognized her legacy and accepted all parts of herself when making the decision to save Bethel. She recognized that not everyone was worthy of saving, but no one should have to right to make those decisions. This is the perfect fall and/or spooky book to read if you still want to be able to sleep at night!<br/><br/>This story is split into four parts; each part is a stage in a curse that has been cast against the village of Bethel. I think the first part is a bit too long and it rushes the remaining three. As a reader you lose out on the tension and drama that makes this book horrific! I also wish the author leaned more into the horror elements. We get a lot of history lessons throughout the book about how awful the church has treated people, but never the level of detail that truly chills you to the bone."

"I loved this debut! Sometimes I have a hard time with historical-feeling books, but The Year of the Witching worked really well for me. I can't wait to read book 2!<br/><br/>CW - racism, animal sacrifice / deaths, misogyny, death during childbirth, abuse"

"Such a great book to read before Halloween for sure. Each chapter had scriptures about their culture and religion. Definitely gave me a salom witch vibe for sure. 9 out of 10 rating "

"CW: some gore, SA, childbirth The Year of the Witching is officially the book I will recommend to young people interested in getting into #horror or #darkfantasy 🌞The protagonist, Immanuelle, is a 16-year-old girl from a secluded religious community called Bethel. The world of this novel resembles our Puritan past but, in this imagining, magic and prophecy are very much real, and witches are lurking in the woods. 🔥Immanuelle was born out of wedlock to a girl who ran to the Darkwood to avoid marrying the Prophet. Her mother returned to give birth, dying in childbirth. Her father, one of the Black outcasts living at the margins of Bethelen society, was sentenced to burning for the sin of adultery. 📔Like all Bethelens, Immanuelle is committed to the settlement's peculiar faith, but she does not accept things as uncritically as most of her neighbors. What's more, she begins to feel a strange pull toward the Darkwood and the secrets her mother left there. 🩸When strange plagues begin to strike Bethel, Immanuelle suspects that it has something to do with her and her cursed birth. She finds an unlikely ally in Ezra, the Prophet's son and heir, who seems heretically skeptical of their religion. 🫀Things I loved: Henderson captures the atmosphere of Bethel and the Darkwood beautifully. Like any good gothic novel, the setting is as much of a character as any of the actual people. The witches are deliciously monstrous 💀Things that could have been better: The budding relationship between Immanuelle and Ezra is sweet, but I'd have liked to have seen more character development from both of them. I'm left with so many questions about the witches' origins, the nature of the world both inside and outside of Bethel, and how/why magic works in this world I'm hoping that the sequel (the Dawn of the Coven, release date tbd) will see more growth from the characters and more detail about the world's workings, because I will DEFINITELY be reading it. This book wasn't perfect, but man did it suck me in"

"TW: child r*pe, domestic violence, violence, gore, religious leaders using power to abuse<br/><br/>“True evil... wore the skin of good men. It uttered prayers, not curses. It feigned mercy where there was only malice. It studied scriptures only to spit out lies.”<br/><br/>“This man who’d used his lies to make himself a martyr he thought he was the one who made the true sacrifice. But he couldn’t be more wrong. It was not the prophet who bore Bethel, bound to his back like a millstone. It was all of the innocent girls and women... who suffered and died at the hands of men who exploited them. They were Bethel’s sacrifice. They were the bones upon which the church was built.”<br/><br/>I loved some of this book and wasn’t crazy about other parts, but overall, especially for a debut, I’m giving this 4 stars.<br/><br/>Absolutely worth the read. I wish Immanuelle had been fiercer, but I did still appreciate her strength and conviction. I LOVED the opening scene, it was probably my favorite in the whole book. I wasn’t happy with the ending, but it’s left me incredibly curious about what the next book could possibly be about."

"Kept me turning the pages. It was over too soon. "