A Dark and Secret Magic

• Author: Wallis Kinney
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: October 8, 2024
• Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

A warm, spellbinding tale about a witch and the secrets her coven has been keeping from her, with echoes of the classic Hades and Persephone story, in the tradition of Practical Magic and Witch of Wild Things.

Hecate Goodwin, Kate to her friends, has curated the perfect life as a hedge witch, living in a secluded cottage with only a black cat for company. She spends her days foraging herbs from the Ipswich forest, gardening, and creating tinctures to sell at the apothecary she owns. Most evenings pass without her speaking to another human being, an arrangement she quite prefers.

Kate’s solitude is thrown into disarray when her older sister, Miranda, reaches out and asks her to host their coven’s annual Halloween gathering. The day marks the beginning of the new year for witches and is also Kate’s birthday. The pressure from her coven to make the evening memorable mounts as the event draws near. To complicate things further, a handsome man from Kate’s past turns up at her cottage, asking for sanctuary. It is Kate’s duty as a hedge witch to honor this request, much to her dismay. Matthew Cypher is no ordinary lost soul–he’s a practitioner of forbidden magic who’s tricked Kate once before, and her guard is up.

As she juggles Matthew’s arrival and the preparations for Halloween, Kate comes across an old tome shrouded in dark magic. She is horrified when she realizes the blood-red inscription is written in familiar handwriting: her recently deceased mother’s. Afraid to even touch the dark magic her mother secretly studied, Kate can turn only to Matthew for help. Her idealized memory of her mother begins to distort, and as she and Matthew grow closer, Kate has to reevaluate whom she can really trust.

A Dark and Secret Magic is a celebration of the Halloween season and a love letter to anyone who drinks pumpkin spice in August and carries the spirit of a witch inside their heart all year long.

As a self-professed lover of pumpkin spice, even in August, this book sounded like it was written for me. I couldn’t resist getting the autumn season started with this book, and this is the perfect read for spooky not scary season. The audiobook is fantastic, and it’s narrated by Abigail Reno. All of the characters are voiced so beautifully, and this is the kind of book that I’m glad I was able to get the audiobook version. 

This is the kind of cozy fantasy that had me wanting to curl up under a throw blanket with a cup of pumpkin spice tea. Hecate, aka Kate, is her coven’s sole hedge witch, and lives a somewhat hermit-y life. Her cottage is pretty secluded, and most days, her cat Merlin is the only one around. But she likes her existence the way it is—nice, quiet, and peaceful. 

The story kicks off with Kate’s solitary existence on the verge of disruption by several things: a cryptic message from a coven elder, a death, a surprising (and really attractive) visitor that she never expects to see again seeks her out for sanctuary, her upcoming birthday and binding ceremony, and the annual coven Halloween party that she’s been recruited to host last minute. As if all that wasn’t enough, she discovers a grimoire that belonged to her recently deceased mother, and it’s full of forbidden dark magic. 

To start with, I loved Kate. I wish that she stood up for herself a little more, rather than letting people walk all over her and forgiving their poor treatment of her so easily. But aside from that, I really enjoyed getting to know her. She has a soft spot for adorable crocheted amigirumi (tiny crocheted animals or things like pumpkins), solitude, her cottage, and Merlin. Surprisingly, the one person who doesn’t get forgiven easily is the one who tries the hardest to regain her trust—Matthew, a man from a coven across the country who hurt her a decade ago, and hasn’t been welcome in Ipswich, MA ever since. 

As a hedge witch, Kate is responsible for providing sanctuary, and is unable to refuse Matthew, no matter how she feels about him. She’s not happy about having a practitioner of forbidden magic under her roof, but I had to wonder how forbidden this magic is if people in other covens are able to practice it freely. I loved the relationship between Kate and Matthew, watching them rediscover each other and build a whole new connection without secrets. However, I found it a little hard to believe that Matthew was hung up on Kate for a full decade without having any contact with her at all. 

But in the world of fluffy, cozy fantasy books like this, the stakes don’t have to be high for the book to be good. Despite all of the questions and conflicts in the story, the plot is a good one, and I really enjoyed the story. The romance developed in a realistic way, and the way that the Goodwin sisters interact also felt believable. There was a really strong Hades and Persephone thread running through the story, but it dovetailed nicely with an emphasis on the Wheel of the Year. By the time I finished this book, I was ready to throw on a hoodie and boots and head to the nearest bonfire with a pumpkin-flavored beverage. Fortunately, the autumn equinox had arrived and we’ve hit the perfect season for more of these stories! This one is recommended if you like cozy fantasy, low-stakes and low-action stories, a sweet enemies to lovers romance, and a plot that is busy enough to hold your attention even in a low-stakes story. 

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