Name: Patrick Book's review of The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais
Item: The Witches of Moonshyne Manor
Rating: 1
Author: Patrick Book

Bianca Marais

A coven of modern-day witches. A magical heist-gone-wrong. A looming threat.

Five octogenarian witches gather as an angry mob threatens to demolish Moonshyne Manor. All eyes turn to the witch in charge, Queenie, who confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments. Still, there’s hope, since the imminent return of Ruby—one of the sisterhood who’s been gone for thirty-three years—will surely be their salvation.

But the mob is only the start of their troubles. One man is hellbent on avenging his family for the theft of a legacy he claims was rightfully his. In an act of desperation, Queenie makes a bargain with an evil far more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced. Then things take a turn for the worse when Ruby’s homecoming reveals a seemingly insurmountable obstacle instead of the solution to all their problems.

The witches are determined to save their home and themselves, but their aging powers are no match for increasingly malicious threats. Thankfully, they get a bit of help from Persephone, a feisty TikToker eager to smash the patriarchy. As the deadline to save the manor approaches, fractures among the sisterhood are revealed, and long-held secrets are exposed, culminating in a fiery confrontation with their enemies.

Funny, tender and uplifting, the novel explores the formidable power that can be discovered in aging, found family and unlikely friendships. Marais’ clever prose offers as much laughter as insight, delving deeply into feminism, identity and power dynamics while stirring up intrigue and drama through secrets, lies and sex. Heartbreaking and heart-mending, it will make you grateful for the amazing women in your life.

A witchy rom-com novel

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor

Kelsey Mcdaniel

Patrick Book

It would be easy to write this off (as I did at our book club) as Pottermore for middle-aged ladies with homes full of branded wood signs with wine puns on them. 

But the real reasons to write it off are myriad! As light and bright as the concept could be, the execution is staggeringly inept. There is literally no subtext to it; in the first pages Marais tells you several character’s biggest fears and dependencies, and later on she refers to a room as a heptagon, only to reference its seven walls in the next sentence — she doesn’t even trust the reader to look up a word of they don’t know it. Subtlety doesn’t exist - the mega church preacher inciting an anti-witch rally is named Cotton Mather? Painfully on the nose. The nods to hyper-masculine online trolling language (sarcastic male references to feeling triggered, transphobia, and misogyny) feel purposefully placed to differentiate this wizarding world from a more problematic one. Calling the competing distillery (a detail that emerges and disappears just as quickly and inconsequentially) Salem With Trial and naming Men’s World MEN’S WORLD are grotesquely first-draft laziness that should never have made it to the final printing (practically Shakespeare compared to naming the broomstick the Harley Davidsonstick, however). Some of the jokes are outright stolen, like the concept of the “ussie” instead of the selfie. 

I don’t mean to be overly harsh about something that’s meant to be light and funny, but I found it to be neither, not even remotely. I kind of had the sense that there just wasn’t that much effort out into it and that’s a real shame.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Recommended For...: paranormal, adult, thriller, heist, magic, fantasy

Age Relevance: 18+ (cursing, sexual content, sexism, death, HP references, illness, alcohol consumption, violence)

Explanation of Above: There is a lot of cursing in this book and sexual content mentioned, hardly any shown. There are some sexist comments thrown around and illness is shown and mentioned. There are 3 HP references. There is alcohol consumption shown a lot. There is some gun violence.

Synopsis: Five octogenarian witches gather as an angry mob threatens to demolish Moonshyne Manor. All eyes turn to the witch in charge, Queenie, who confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments. Still, there’s hope, since the imminent return of Ruby—one of the sisterhood who’s been gone for thirty-three years—will surely be their salvation.

But the mob is only the start of their troubles. One man is hellbent on avenging his family for the theft of a legacy he claims was rightfully his. In an act of desperation, Queenie makes a bargain with an evil far more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced. Then things take a turn for the worse when Ruby’s homecoming reveals a seemingly insurmountable obstacle instead of the solution to all their problems.

The witches are determined to save their home and themselves, but their aging powers are no match for increasingly malicious threats. Thankfully, they get a bit of help from Persephone, a feisty TikToker eager to smash the patriarchy. As the deadline to save the manor approaches, fractures among the sisterhood are revealed, and long-held secrets are exposed, culminating in a fiery confrontation with their enemies.

Funny, tender and uplifting, the novel explores the formidable power that can be discovered in aging, found family and unlikely friendships. Marais’ clever prose offers as much laughter as insight, delving deeply into feminism, identity and power dynamics while stirring up intrigue and drama through secrets, lies and sex. Heartbreaking and heart-mending, it will make you grateful for the amazing women in your life.

Review: This was a meh book for me. For the good portions of the book, I liked that it poked some fun at older witch media and it’s got a strong Fuck The Patriarchy tone to it. I also liked that it included the recipes for the items that the witches were making throughout the book.

However, I didn’t like this book. The book was a bit too heavy handed on the “wokeness” and while I’m definitely all there for changing society and everything, I felt like the author tried too hard and it leaned into the satirical territory or the “let’s make fun of liberals” territory. I also hated that the book had a character who was very feminist, but loved Harry Potter. Like… make it make sense? You can’t have true feminism unless you fight for every female. Maybe I missed the whole point of the novel and it’s really not a true witches book, but it’s certainly messy and doesn’t make sense half the time. Unless I’m completely wrong about the character of the author, I think the author tried but really needs to do some rewrites on this one and needs to make sure that they’re as socially aware as their characters pretend they are.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

 

Book: The Witches of Moonshyne Manor

 

Author: Biance Marais

 

Book Series: Standalone

 

Rating: 1.5/5

 

Spice: 1/5

 

Diversity: Black character

 

Recommended For...: paranormal, adult, thriller, heist, magic, fantasy

 

Publication Date: August 23, 2022

 

Genre: Paranormal Thriller

 

Age Relevance: 18+ (cursing, sexual content, sexism, death, HP references, illness, alcohol consumption, violence)

 

Explanation of Above: There is a lot of cursing in this book and sexual content mentioned, hardly any shown. There are some sexist comments thrown around and illness is shown and mentioned. There are 3 HP references. There is alcohol consumption shown a lot. There is some gun violence.

 

Publisher: MIRA

 

Pages: 400

 

Synopsis: Five octogenarian witches gather as an angry mob threatens to demolish Moonshyne Manor. All eyes turn to the witch in charge, Queenie, who confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments. Still, there’s hope, since the imminent return of Ruby—one of the sisterhood who’s been gone for thirty-three years—will surely be their salvation.

 

But the mob is only the start of their troubles. One man is hellbent on avenging his family for the theft of a legacy he claims was rightfully his. In an act of desperation, Queenie makes a bargain with an evil far more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced. Then things take a turn for the worse when Ruby’s homecoming reveals a seemingly insurmountable obstacle instead of the solution to all their problems.

 

The witches are determined to save their home and themselves, but their aging powers are no match for increasingly malicious threats. Thankfully, they get a bit of help from Persephone, a feisty TikToker eager to smash the patriarchy. As the deadline to save the manor approaches, fractures among the sisterhood are revealed, and long-held secrets are exposed, culminating in a fiery confrontation with their enemies.

 

Funny, tender and uplifting, the novel explores the formidable power that can be discovered in aging, found family and unlikely friendships. Marais’ clever prose offers as much laughter as insight, delving deeply into feminism, identity and power dynamics while stirring up intrigue and drama through secrets, lies and sex. Heartbreaking and heart-mending, it will make you grateful for the amazing women in your life.

 

Review: This was a meh book for me. For the good portions of the book, I liked that it poked some fun at older witch media and it’s got a strong Fuck The Patriarchy tone to it. I also liked that it included the recipes for the items that the witches were making throughout the book.

 

However, I didn’t like this book. The book was a bit too heavy handed on the “wokeness” and while I’m definitely all there for changing society and everything, I felt like the author tried too hard and it leaned into the satirical territory or the “let’s make fun of liberals” territory. I also hated that the book had a character who was very feminist, but loved Harry Potter. Like… make it make sense? You can’t have true feminism unless you fight for every female. Maybe I missed the whole point of the novel and it’s really not a true witches book, but it’s certainly messy and doesn’t make sense half the time. Unless I’m completely wrong about the character of the author, I think the author tried but really needs to do some rewrites on this one and needs to make sure that they’re as socially aware as their characters pretend they are.

 

Verdict: It’s a no for me.

Kelsey Mcdaniel &
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais

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Kelsey Mcdaniel &The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais

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Kelsey Mcdaniel &
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais