The Coven by Harper L Woods

Cover of The Coven by Harper L Woods

Imagine me, Christmas morning. I open up the gift that my children, ages 2 and 5, have picked out for me to find a book with a cool cover. They've got me pegged. Now imagine my surprise when I open the cover to find a list of trigger warnings Two Pages Long because they've purchased a dark romance! Whatever, I'm going to read for no other reason than my kids picked it out for me. The author of The Coven and the Coven of Bones series, Harper L Woods, has published several other novels under the name Adelaide Forrest. It seems that when she decided to dip her toe into fantasy and took a pseudonym for the change in genre, which I love. As for those aforementioned trigger warnings, we've got body horror, bullying, child abuse, confinement, death, gore, violence, blood, grief, death of a parent, a toxic relationship, murder and other injuries, and questionable consent. Although to be fair, I didn't think any of it was extreme.

Willow has been raised by her father for one reason only, it's actually the only reason that he had a kid at all (no red flags there), and it's to exact his revenge on the people who killed his sister. Now that her mother has died, it's time for Willow to get started. She proceeds to go to Crystal Hollow and attends Hollow's Grove University, where those with magic learn how to use it. And things at Hollow's Grove are worse than Willow even expected, but she finds an unlikely ally in the university's headmaster - Alaric Graysen Thorne. It's not until later that Willow thinks Gray might have objectives of his own.

Okay, I did not know what to expect going into this book. Let's talk about the good things - it wasn't as bad as I thought it could be. Let's talk about the bad things - it wasn't as good as I thought it could be, and it also wasn't as spicy. I expected from you, dark romance novel. Even so, I mostly enjoyed it. The story was a bit difficult to follow and the writing was nothing special, but I thought the plot was cool. I will be reading the second book, and I just found out that the Coven of Bones series is expected to have six books in total, so look forward to that. As always, the summaries for the series are listed here. If you're into dark romances, this one has a big following so check it out. If romance isn't your thing in general, I would definitely steer clear.

I'm giving The Coven by Harper L Woods 3.5 our of 5 and a spice level of 1.75. I was generally underwhelmed but I have hope for the next one, we will see how it goes.

For more from Harper L Woods, her website can be found at https://www.adelaideforrest.com

Pairs well with an English muffin and collecting the bones of your ancestors.