The Ravenswood Witch by Jenni Keer

Book Fort Rating: 3 Stars

Is it building the Book Fort? It can visit from afar every once in awhile, so long as it brings a raven along.

I waffled on how to rate this book for awhile, honestly. I truly think this book is a victim of a "great idea, not so great execution" trope. While I loved the overall story Jenni Keer put together here, certain aspects of the plot either outright did not make sense with the character development of the main character, or simply left a bad taste in my mouth. Warning - most of this review will be spoilers, which I will mark or tag appropriately.

Firstly, I want to talk about what I did like about this book:

- I was a huge fan of the character development of the main character throughout the story. She grows in a believable way and becomes a real force of nature by the end of the book overall. I was rooting for her the whole time.

- Marcus was a great, if a little one-paned, male lead. I would have liked a bit more character development/complexity to his character, but overall I really enjoyed any scenes he was featured in.

- Bran the raven. That is all.

So here's what I didn't like as much (warning, massive spoilers from here on out):

- I frankly hated that it turned out Luna was not, in fact, a witch, but simply an actual madwoman being "manipulated" and drugged by a male witch. This took so much of the strength out of her character, and by the end of the book you just end up really pitying her. Rather than a woman actually conducting rituals in the woods, she's just a stark-naked raving madwoman dancing around a fire or well. It just reeked of misogyny, frankly.

- Why, please tell me WHY, the main character actually goes out on All Hallow's Eve, even though the one character she trusts up to this point has expressly warned her not to? It didn't make sense with her character development, or the friendship/trust that was built between those two characters. And covering it up with a "summoning spell" or "I was just so worried about my husband" felt like plot armor. Just a weak point for me.

- Every single chapter with Eloise's point of view felt like it dragged. I said early on to a friend that I was considering skimming those chapters - I'm glad I didn't for plot purposes, but the desire was strong. She was just insufferable to read, and I felt took away from the story. The point of her chapters is to lead you off-course as you try to figure out what's happened to the main character, but it felt like a cheap "gotcha" when the twist was finally revealed. It just wasn't my favorite.

- Certain characters felt like they existed purely to advance the plot, rather than stand as their own characters. As a result, I didn't really allow myself to get attached to many of the characters, which I think took away from my experience of the story as a whole.

For all the things that bugged me about this book, I did think it was a fun story, and I enjoyed reading it. If you're a fan of semi-gothic vibes, Jane Eyre-esque retellings, casual mystery vibes, and 3rd-person stream of consciousness narration, give this one a shot!

Thank you to Jenni Keer, NetGalley, and Boldwood Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.