Our September book club read was The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna.
We started a book club with a few friends in the fall of 2021 for a once-per-month book discussion. We don’t always agree, and we don’t always end up loving the books we choose, and we don’t always spend a lot of time talking about the assigned book. But, maybe even more importantly, we laugh a lot, and it’s a bright spot of camaraderie each month.
This is the next in our series of posts where we recap our thoughts on the monthly book following each meeting.
Amy
I really enjoyed this month’s selection, for a number of reasons:
- Found family is such a lovely trope in fiction. We could all use some reminders that the family you choose for yourself is possibly more important than the one you are born into. One is random chance, one is you finding and being accepted by your people. Embrace it.
- The baby witches are so cute, particularly in audio-format, where the reader did a great job giving personality and spunk to the characters.
- The romance isn’t totally over-the-top and unbelievable. It takes time to develop (even though it’s super obvious that it’s coming), and they’re very sweet together.
- I loved Ian. I loved him so much. As I pointed out to our group, he’s like a role-reversal Arthur Weasley and I loved him.
My only real criticism, which I raised during our book club chat this month, was one of the characters felt a little bit wasted, as she was sort of always in the background but never given her time to shine or show why she needed to be part of the story. She was a sweet lady, but there was never a point where I felt she needed to be there in order to advance the plot line.
All-in-all, I’m glad to have read this one and gave it 4 stars. It was exactly the book I wanted it to be and I enjoyed every minute of my listen.
Jaelithe
This was a very cute story about love and found family, witches, fear, and the things we do to try to protect others, even though it sometimes ends up hurting them. It felt a bit like T.J. Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea, with unrelated adults making the choice to take care of extra-special children who need love and protection. It was well written, and I enjoyed reading it. The characters had deep enough backstories that I cared what was happening to them, and without spoiling anything specific, I will say the book ended on a hopeful note.
Have you read The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Or, let us know whether you think you’ll try it based on our review.
P.S. If you’d like to follow along with our book club reads, stay tuned for the Thursday post where we’ll reveal our TBR selection for October book club!