The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches Sangu Mandanna🐾
Hello and welcome back to Boots’ Bookshelf!
This week’s book, paw-picked by Boots, was The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, a cozy read about found family featuring a romance with a surly but hot librarian and witchy vibes and shenanigans. Boots and I curled up together and finished the book within a week.
But, was it a cat-tastic read or did it leave us hissing? Let’s find out! 😻📖
Quick Look
Genre: Romance, Fantasy
Release Date: 2022
Page Count: 300
Vibe Check: A lighthearted and easy read with witchy vibes and found family featuring a cast of eccentric characters!
Purr Rating: 🐾🐾🐾🐾 (3.5-4/5 Paws)
The Plot sans Spoilers
Mika Moon is a witch living in London who has been told all her life that witches survive by being alone. An orphan, the only exposure she has to her witchy community is a “book club” that meets every 3 months to discuss all things witchy and the “witchy” videos she posts online, thinking no one will take them seriously.
That is, until she receives a message from the mysterious Nowhere House asking her to teach three young witches how to control their powers.
Intrigued, Mika goes to Nowhere House, where she not only meets three young witches in need of magical training but a cast of eccentric characters including one hot but surly librarian. As Mika finds her place at Nowhere House, she realizes that, maybe, she could truly belong somewhere despite her powers.
Now it’s time for our 🐾Paws and Claws!
Paws
One of the biggest paws of this story was the warm and cozy found family vibes. The residents at Nowhere House are all quirky and add a bit of fun to the story, helping to create an eccentric but loving family for Mika.
Another paw I had was the cute and lighthearted romance between Mika and Jamie, the librarian. Their romance was very charming and felt very laid back and casual. I do wish there was a bit more depth to their story but I didn’t overanalyze their romance and was just along for the ride and the chill vibes of it.
The last paw was how easy the story was to get through. It was one of those books you could finish in one sitting or over the course of 2-3 days because it was minimal drama and just a fun time with a very straightforward plot. That being said, I would not go into this story expecting major character development or any type of dramatic or pivotal moment for the characters. It literally read like a witchy rom-com.
Claws
One of my major claws was the diversity. I love diversity in my books but it felt so forced in this case, as if the author wanted it only so that she could introduce the cast of quirky characters. We have BIPOC characters who have no ties to their culture or heritage and are BIPOC just for the sake of being BIPOC. At no point does it impact their character development or the storyline. This was especially true for the three young witches, all of whom are WOC and were essentially kidnapped from their original homelands and raised by a white English woman (but I will not even open that can of worms) and have no idea about their culture or their heritage or their WOC identity. The instance of this that stands out the most for me was when one of the young witches, who is Black, had never seen another Black person let alone a Black witch in her life and was amazed by a Black witch! The same thing happened with the LGBTQ+ characters - their main characteristic was the fact that they are LGBTQ+ rather than this just being a part of their overall identity. I also did not care for the blatant stereotypical portrayal of gay men nor the fact that you could easily see Ian was a fictional version of Sir Ian McKellan and Ken was a fictional George Takei. This claw alone cost this book 1 star (almost 2) from me.
My other claw was Mika’s character. I understand the other characters not being as developed but Mika is the MC and should have had a bit more character development. She felt very bland at times and I feel like she buried a lot of her issues rather than actually resolving them properly. I don’t expect her to have a full-blown therapy session but she could have dived a bit deeper into some of the issues she had dealt with all her life instead of just “magically” accepting and resolving them.
Boots’ Thoughts
My mom got through this book really quickly - she finished it in 2 days! She liked it but there were some moments when she rolled her eyes and other times when she shook her head in disapproval. I didn’t really read this one with her - the witch had a pet DOG instead of a cat so I was not a fan since everyone knows CATS are a witch’s familiar 🐾
Final Verdict
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Final Verdict ...
Was The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches worth the catnip? Boots gives it 3.5/4 paws out of 5 and we recommend it to readers who like books with:
🐾 Found family
🐾 Witchy vibes
🐾 Fun and lighthearted romance
🐾 Easy and quick read!
Purr-spective Wrap-Up
Ready to give this book a read? Let me know what you think in the comments—especially if your furry friends approve too! Don’t forget to follow for more purr-fect recs and reviews.
Until then, stay paw-sitive and read on! ✨
Boots & Nalicia
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