If you are looking for a heart-pounding thrill of a novel, look no further than Ava Morgyn’s The Bane Witch! Pitched as a Practical Magic meets Gone Girl narrative, Morgyn’s book will keep readers on the edge of their seats as they follow Piers Corbin, a young woman with a mysterious past, who fakes her own death and discovers a family she has never known.
Piers rebrands herself as Acacia Lee to hide from her abusive husband. She then flees to a long-lost great-aunt living deep in the Adirondack Mountains. It is here that Piers learns she is from a long line of Bane Witches who possess magical powers. Bane Witches have curious cravings for poisonous plants, and although they have a natural resistance to the toxicity in the foliage, they can pass its harm along to others. Because of this, the Bane Witches are compelled to act as avengers and protectors, using their powers to prevent violent men from committing crimes and making them pay for their evil deeds. Although Piers first resists the call of her blood, she soon learns that the burden of being a Bane Witch also carries incredible power, and in the arms of her new family, she finds the strength and love that eluded her in her isolated childhood.
“I planned my death the way I design a room,” Piers reveals in the novel’s opening line, explaining that a well-designed room and a well-designed death both feel accidental but never hapless. In The Bane Witch, Ava Morgyn proves that a well-designed book is the same, bringing her readers on an exciting and unpredictable journey while masterfully weaving the organic threads of her plot together. In addition to Piers’ discovery of her true nature and a hometown police officer’s hunt to investigate her mysterious disappearance, there is a serial killer on the loose, a found family to embrace, and a steamy romance with a mountain sheriff who is investigating a string of just poisonings caused by Piers and her aunt. Beneath the thrill of the plot and the lush descriptions of the settings and the poisonous plants that grow within them is an empowering tale of feminine revenge against the crimes of the past, present, and future. The Bane Witch is the perfect read for those looking for an exciting but thought-provoking commentary on life, love, and the dark magic that provides justice. I couldn’t put it down!
You can pre-order The Bane Witch here.
Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review.
Kelly Jarvis is the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own, Baseball Bard, Blue Heron Review, Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer, Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly, The Chamber Magazine, The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers. Her first novella, Selkie Moon, comes out in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/
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