Novel and Nosh

Five spellbinding witch books to light up your fall reading

• Courtney • Season 1 • Episode 5

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We share five witch books that carry crisp air, warm light, and just enough shadow—from meadow-soft magic to woodland lineage, grim fairytales, rebel romance, and an Oxford mystery—then pair them with pumpkin spice latte bread. Comfort meets courage, sweetness meets risk, and reading becomes a fall ritual.

• five witch-centered reads for autumn mood
• The Honey Witch as cozy, heart-forward magic
• Wayward across three timelines and a woodland cottage
• Sorceress Comes to Call as dark Goose Girl retelling
• Crimson Moth duology mixing romance and revolt
• A Discovery of Witches for fog, stacks, and slow-burn chemistry
• candid thoughts on sequels and where to stop
• pumpkin spice latte bread with cream cheese–coffee glaze
• reading rituals with tea, candles, and blankets

We will put a link for our blog post where we’ll post the recipe that we used


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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Novel and Notch. If you think of fall as witches, wonder and a touch of dark autumn air, then you will want to listen to this episode. Today I am sharing with you five books about witches that will sure to get you into the fall spirit. So brew some tea, light a candle, and step into spellbinding worlds where witches whisper and autumn shadows linger. The first one that I'm going to share with you is The Honey Witch. And this is about Marigold. Marigold has been cursed to never find true love. She is living with her parents and just enjoys being out in the meadow with the spirits that linger out there. Her grandmother comes to whisk her away to this isle that she is from. It's called Innisfree, to train her as the next honey witch because she needs to protect the land from the ash witch. During this time, she ends up meeting a young woman who does not believe in magic. And from there it kind of all comes together. I thought this was a beautiful book. So when I think of the atmosphere of it, I think more of spring, if I'm honest with you. But if you like stories about witches, this is a great one to read this time of year. So I would highly recommend that. It's a very cozy book and just very heartwarming, lots of descriptions of honeys and bees and flowers. And I think you'll enjoy it. The next one is Wayward, and this is by Amelia Hart. And this one follows three women from 1619, 1942, and 2019. So it's told through three perspectives. They are all connected to each other and the Waward Cottage. This is a cottage deep within the woods. And in 2019, Kate flees London and her abusive partner to go to the small cottage that her great aunt left for her, which is hidden deep within these woods. And there she starts to unfold the secrets her family has held for centuries. I love this. This is very nature-driven. Um, you know, the cottage, like I mentioned, is deep in the woods. There is a lot of talk about um birds and crows and the woods, the woodlands around um the cottage. Beautiful book, loved it, and I think you'll enjoy this one as well. And that is Wayward by Amelia Hart. The next one is Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher. Now, T. Kingfisher usually writes horror. This is adult fantasy. It is dark. There are horror aspects, but not in the way of scaring you, more in the way of a couple of gruesome aspects within it. But I am someone who does not read horror, and I did not have a problem with this at all. So this is a retelling of the brothers Grimm's Goose Girl. It's the story of Cordelia and her evil mother who keeps her locked up, in a sense. So how she keeps Cordelia locked up is basically she has doors that are locked from the outside. And then she also can control Cordelia's speaking. So if she wants Cordelia to be quiet, Cordelia won't say anything. And Cordelia has no friends. Her friend is her mother's horse. So what happens is they end up fleeing one night after a death in the town. The mom ends up fleeing with the daughter on the horse, and they go to this neighboring town where the mom meets a squire and decides she's going to lure him in with her good looks and her magic. And, you know, she wants to lure him into marriage so that they have a place to live. But the squire's sister, Hester, knows something's not right. So she befriends Cordelia to save her own family. And it is about their story. I thought this was really good. Um, I think, you know, this is pulled through Cordelia's eyes, so it provides a slight aspect of childhood whimsy as you read it, which is why I think it's not as dark as it would be written, maybe if you saw it from an adult's perspective, if that makes any sense. But I really enjoyed this book, um, and I would recommend it for those who like a darker story. My most favorite book so far this year is what I'm talking about next. And it's actually two books because it is a duology. It is the Crimson Moth Duology, Heartless Hunter and Rebel Witch. I would highly recommend if this sounds interesting, you need to grab both of these right away because once you finish one, you're gonna want to start the next one. Rune is living in this town where there was a revolution. So the witches used to be in charge. And after the revolution, they are now being imprisoned. And she holds a secret. She lives as a socialite during the day, but at night she turns into the crimson moth. And her goal is to help all of these witches escape. This is a romanticy. So Gideon Sharp is a witch hunter, and his goal is to imprison these witches, but also to find the crimson moth. And that's where I'm gonna leave it with you. These are so fast-paced. Um, I read them in a weekend and smiled throughout. Great books, love them. I think it's young adults, considered young adults, but I love them and would highly recommend them. This is The Crimson Moth Duology, Heartless Hunter and Rebel Witch by Kristen Cicerelli. And then the last one that I'm going to recommend, this has all the fall vibes. I read this last year in September. And if you want a book that will just give you all the atmosphere of fall, pick this up. This is definitely that kind of book. It will make you think of New England, think of dark, and I want to say dreary in the most positive way. You know, it's like crisp fall, but then there's fog. It's just so atmospheric. So a Discovery Witches is by Deborah Harkness, and this is where Diana, she is a scholar, and she's at the Oxford Library where she requests a manuscript for research. This manuscript has been lost. There are witches, demons, and vampires who have been looking for this manuscript. For whatever reason, she was able to request it in the library and it appeared for her. So when she requests it, she draws all of these creatures out, including the sexy vampire Matthew Claremont. Y'all, this is history, magic, romance, suspense, all wrapped up in this fallish atmospheric vibe with sexy vampire, and I ate it up. It is a chunker, but it is definitely one that you will fall into and just you will love it. I will let you know that this I think it was meant to be a trilogy. I believe I looked, and there are now six books. I have read the second, it was not my favorite because after you read the first, you are going to want to continue to live in this world. It will draw you in that much. And you'll want to continue to live in this world. And the second one was much more historically based. So I don't feel like that grabbed me as much. It was really honestly for me, kind of long and drawn out. I do know that the third one they come back to where um a discovery of witches takes place. So it does kind of intrigue me. If any of you have read that third one, I think it's called like a book of life or something. If you've read it and you loved it, let me know because I don't know. The second one was just, I don't want to say it was disappointing, but it disappointed me because it wasn't as good as the first. So it's kind of left me like, I don't care if I read the third. But if the third one has the feels of the first one, then now is the time to pick it up. So I don't know. If you've read it, let me know. Basically, what I'm saying is pick up Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. Don't worry about reading on. It is okay just to leave it with the first. So those are the five books that I recommend you read if you like that witchy atmosphere. So grab your coziest blanket and read these by candlelight. And a great herring for these books would be a pumpkin-spiced latte bread. I made one that had all of the delicious pumpkin pie spice flavors, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. I, you know, made it like a bread. And then I added a glaze over top. It's actually more like a cream cheese glaze. So on top of the bread, I made cream cheese, a little bit of coffee as the liquid, and then uh powdered sugar and cinnamon and glaze the top of my pumpkin bread. So you could grab your own pumpkin bread recipe. I will put a link for my blog post where I'll post the recipe that I used. But, you know, like I said, find your favorite pumpkin bread recipe and then just take some cream cheese, some powdered sugar, and instead of the milk that you would normally use, add um some coffee or some espresso and a little bit of cinnamon and use that as the glaze for your bread. It is delicious and will make you think that you are drinking a pumpkin spice latte. So I hope you enjoyed this episode where books and food come together.