Wildwood Magic

• Author: Willa Reece
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: July 24, 2023 
• Publisher: Hachette Audio

Thank you to Hachette Audio and Jasmine Normil for providing me with an ALC, and to Redhook for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

HERE BE WITCHES AND WAYWARD GIRLS… 

In a town nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, Rachel Smith has found a new life tending a lush apple orchard. She’s safe within its grove. If her dreams are haunted by memories of her violent husband, that pain is soothed by fresh mountain air and apples that taste as sweet as honey.

But Rachel wasn’t meant to live in the shadows. The orchard drew her to Morgan’s Gap to fulfill a purpose, and a tight-knit community of wisewomen who honor the old mountain traditions are ready to teach her. A world of magic awaits Rachel, one filled with new friendships and possibly new love.

Yet Rachel’s past is creeping in. A preacher with a familiar face has stormed into town, and his dangerous sermons may damn Rachel—and the people she’s come to love—to the flames.

I mainly read this as an audiobook, since it was just more convenient that way for me. This book had three narrators to accommodate for the various POVs—two female narrators and a male narrator. However, despite each narrator voicing more than one character, I never had any issues differentiating the characters.

This is a beautiful story that touches on some very deep themes, some of which can be disturbing. There’s child abuse, domestic violence, religious intolerance and trauma, racism, and prejudice. But there’s also friendship between women, love, safety, and tolerance. Overall, it’s well worth the read. My only issue with the audiobook is that it was the kind that has to be focused on, not the kind you can put on and just tune out, but that isn’t a problem with the book, more a problem with my own expectations.

At the center of the story is Rachel, a woman who escapes from her abusive husband and finds a new home in the small mountain town of Morgan’s Gap. But there’s so much more going on under the surface. Like when she starts having dreams about the woman who started the orchard she lives at. Or the carved snake on a spoon comes to life. Or magic seems to be real in this town. 

But the religious sect that raised Rachel shows up at town with their intolerant preachings, and the man leading them is horrifyingly familiar, with evil intentions threaten to turn everything she has worked for to ashes—and with it the entire town.

I loved watching Rachel work through her trauma and learn how to stand on her own feet. She came such a long way over the course of the story, and I was Team Rachel right from the start. She had me cheering for her so much, and all I wanted was to see her overcome all the challenges life threw her way. 

The romance subplot was a great one as well. There’s a connection between Mac and Rachel that’s obvious right from the start, but the author gives the characters plenty of time to build a bond as friends before moving forward, just as I’d expect from someone leaving a domestic violence situation. Mac was the perfect guy for her, someone who understood her and was patient enough to allow her to work through her own issues on her own timeline, without pushing her. 

Overall, this was a fantastic read, and it makes me more curious about her other book. It’s also set in Morgan’s Gap, although it seems to be only vaguely related. But this one was a wonderful story that allows plenty of time for readers to get to know the characters and really get into their development while following a clear storyline that held me rapt from start to finish. The characters and story that Reece has created are some that I’m going to be sad to say goodbye to.