Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - The Witch Haven

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Witch Haven by Sasha Peyton Smith

8 reviews

seriouslynerdy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“Women are supposed to be competent at everything, but experts at nothing. Haven’t you heard?”

The book is slow paced, things happened gradually and not suddenly. The book follows 17 year old seamstress Francis Hallowell taking in 1911 New York City. She is in the process of grieving her brother who was mysteriously found dead and she is unable to search for answers as to what happened. While working one night an act of violence causes law enforcement to be involved and Francis thinking she will be hauled away by them, she was correct that she was being hauled away but it was to a sanatorium in Queens instead of prison. The sanatorium isn’t what she originally thinks it is, it’s an academy for witches and Francis had triggered her magical ability.

The book is well written, it took me a while to get into it around 100 pages they only reason it's loosing .5 stars in my opinion but once the world was built, the magic became known and the characters started to grow. Once I emerged into the story I could not put it down, their emotions felt raw through the pages and I hurt for them or laughed with them. There was love, and heartbreak, a coven, spells and betrayal and I couldn't have asked for more with this book.

I highly recommended this book to anyone who loves magic and history.

Content Warnings

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I’m very conflicted about where I stand on this book. The beginning was great, and the twists and turns at the end of the book were extremely compelling. That being said, the middle portion dragged on a bit, and Frances made many decisions that I didn’t necessarily agree on!
However, for fans of witch novels, boarding school settings, and novels about sisterhood, I would still recommend reading:)

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aesthetic_bookreader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

courtnoodles's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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leahlovesloslibros's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Frances Halloway lives as a seamstress in 1911 New York City, where she spends most of her time mourning the recent death of her brother, William. When her boss attempts to attack her and her sewing shears end up in his neck, she is quickly named as the prime suspect - only she has no idea how it happened. Two women in caps quickly arrive and take her to Haxahaven Sanitarium, which Frances is surprised to learn is actually a disguised school for witches. Frances yearns to learn more about her magic than what they are teaching at Haxahaven, so when Finn - an attractive young man with magic - shows up and offers to teach her all he knows, she is eager to learn. She must decide whether the risk of secretly meeting with Finn is worth putting her new friends in danger, and what other secrets may lie deep beneath the surface.

There were so many great elements to this book: witches, boarding school, murder mystery, women's rights/feminist movement - loved them!

What I liked:
- Diverse characters, though please be aware of some content warnings surrounding certain characters, especially a prominent Native American side character
- LGBTQIAP+ representation
- lots of feminist ideals throughout the book
- the twists and turns throughout the book (although some were predictable)
- imperfect characters

What I didn't like:
- some of the characters felt underdeveloped, especially some of the side characters at Haxahaven
- Frances was kind of whiny and impulsive at times, which I think was partially due to her age and struggles with grief (seeing as this is a YA book, I can't really hold it against her, as it seems that many of her reactions were age-appropriate for a girl in her situation)
- some of the plot twists were predictable

I'm definitely looking forward to reading the sequel.

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justkimmithings's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

I adore books about witches and Sasha’s debut was no exception! Highly recommend this book if you love stories about sisterhood, magic, and witches. I can’t wait for the next book to spend more time with these characters!

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of this to review! From the dazzling cover, I knew there was going to be something I liked about this book. And I am happy to say that it lived up to my expectations!

This is a historical fantasy, and overall, it’s really well done. Smith does such an excellent job crafting this world, and then slowly revealing it to you throughout the story. As Frances is learning, so is the reader. Not only does the magical world feel fully realized, but also the historical one. Smith merged them so well that the two worlds work together seamlessly.

And the characters! While Frances gets a little in her head at times, the romance and the friendships she makes add even more to the story. The mystery behind her journey also keeps you turning the pages, adding twists and turns that make the book all the more exciting. Overall, even if there were some slower moments, this book is sure to keep you hooked.

Plus, it’s coming out just in time for fall spooky season! Which will be the perfect time to read it.

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debussy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Sasha Peyton Smith's debut is an absorbing awakening of magic. It has magic schools, magic clubs, magic boxing fights, magic boys, and magic feuds that will leave readers breathless.

We start with Frances Hallowell, a seventeen-year-old seamstress, who is fresh with grief over her murdered brother. When she's attacked late at night by her shop's owner, her scissors inexplicably fly across the room and into his neck, killing him. In the morning, the witches arrive, whisking her out of a police investigation and into Haxahaven--a tuberculosis sanitarium on the outside, but a magical school for girls on the inside. So begins Frances's instruction, but of course nothing is quite right. Instead of learning the magic the girls crave, Haxahaven is focused on small magic. Domestic magic. Frances yearns for more--magic that can help her make a better world. Magic that can help her solve her brother's murder.

This magic is delivered via Finn, an errand boy for a magic gentlemen's club in New York City. Frances and her friends learn the more serious magic from him, hoping to become strong enough to resurrect the soul of Frances's brother so he can tell them who killed him. All the while more boys are found washed up in the river, leading Frances to suspect a serial killer is on the loose. As she dives deeper into the mystery, she runs into long-standing feuds, racing against the people who would control her future and take her power for themselves.

The Witch Haven has a fresh look on magic, a delightfully eerie 1910s New York setting, and an absorbing mystery. The twists on how magic would be used by women and by men--and the conflict it would cause between them--was reminiscent of The Once and Future Witches, and the magical school was so fully realized as a place that is at once a saving grace and a prison in its own right, trapping girls in the concept of what keeps women safe in a world unconcerned with their safety. I was thoroughly obsessed with this book, and I can't wait to see what the sequel brings.

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