The Book Witch

• Author: Meg Shaffer
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: April 7, 2026
• Publisher: Ballantine Books

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

She can hop into any novel, she just can’t stay there. Come along with the book witch in this magical and inspiring love letter to reading from the USA Today bestselling author of The Wishing Game.

Rainy March is a proud third-generation book witch, sworn to defend works of fiction from all foes real and imaginary. With her magical umbrella and feline familiar, she jumps into and out of novels to fix malicious alterations and rogue heroes. 

Book witches live by a strict set of rules. Real people belong in the real word; fictional characters belong in works of fiction…. Do not eat, drink, or sleep inside a fictional world, lest you become part of the story. Falling in love with a fictional character? Don’t even think about it.

Which is why Rainy has been forbidden from seeing the Duke of Chicago, the dashing British detective who stars in her favorite mystery series. If she’s ever caught with him again, she’ll be expelled from her book coven—and forced to give up the magical gifts that are as much a part of her as her own name.

But when her beloved grandfather disappears and a priceless book is stolen, there’s only one person she trusts to help her solve the case: the Duke. Their quest takes them through the worlds of Alice in Wonderland, The Great Gatsby, and other classics that will reveal hidden enemies and long-buried family secrets.

I haven’t read any books by Meg Shaffer before, but after this, I’m going to have to check out anything else that she’s written. The summary of this sounded way too cute to pass up on, and I was really hopeful that I’d love it. Lucky for me, this book far exceeded any of my expectations. 

You know how sometimes you come across a book that is not only a great concept executed well, but is also witty, funny, and a fun read? That is what I found in this book. I don’t know about you, but I have wished I could hop into more than a couple of books. Rainy March (yes, she knows it’s a weather forecast) is a quirky book witch who not only loves her job, she’s good at it. Unfortunately, it involves some very strict rules known as the Black and Whites because these rules leave no room for a gray area. Her mother died when she was a baby, but she’s constantly reminded by the head of the coven that she’ll never be as good as her mother, who was basically the perfect book witch. I mean, does she get the job done? Yes. Does she do things perfectly? Not quite—she has a tendency to bend the rules rather than break them. 

While this is very much a fantasy novel at heart, it takes readers on a wild ride through the different genres from mystery to romance to sci-fi to horror (don’t worry, it’s not scary horror). It was a fun jaunt in and out of genres, and seeing the magic system unfold, which kept me fascinated. The author does a wonderful job fully explaining the magic system by allowing Rainy to demonstrate on the page rather than info dumping. And the story had me excited to find out what was going to happen next. Additionally, the fact that Rainy has very little information about her mother and doesn’t know who her father is leads a few questions to develop that weren’t the primary question in the novel but were satisfyingly answered over the course of the read.

There were so many parts of the story where I just had to laugh out loud, and I can’t help but enjoy a funny book. The idea of a specialized job that involves hopping into books to repair them or solve an issue sounds like my ideal job, although like Rainy, I can’t guarantee that I wouldn’t fall in love with a character. I loved watching her work and how she thinks, and I was especially impressed with the fact that Koshka, Rainy’s cat familiar, is really written into each scene and fully inhabits his role. He isn’t merely an aside, or a character to only be mentioned when it is convenient, and it mirrors my own relationship with my dogs, even if they aren’t super cool familiars to a book witch. Also, the different stories that Rainy hops into and out of kept things moving at a nice pace, allowing me to finish the book in record time. 

Overall, this was one of the most fun novels I have read and it is a love letter to books and reading. I’m sure it has its flaws like any other book, but I was too dazzled by where the story shines to even notice any flaws. This wound up being a perfect book for me, and I suspect that the genre switches, clever banter, and how it incorporates the tropes associated with different genres into the story. It was almost like reading a bunch of different books in one, with a central mystery and a bunch of incidental adventures on the road to solving that mystery. Both Rainy and Duke are awesome characters, and I have to admit that nearly every character in the book turned out to be really cool as well. The thread of romance between Rainy and Duke was one that I was ready to follow and see how they could get to be together despite the rules, because there has to be a happily ever after. I can’t recommend this one highly enough.

Bottom line: A book that is a love letter to reading and books, incorporating classics and tropes to full effect, in a fast-paced, fun, and witty story that I couldn’t put down.

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