The September Book Club – Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis

Join us on September 18th at 7PM ET to discuss the hilarious and delightful novel Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis!

Okay, so here’s the publisher’s description:

“Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the empire next door. For that, she needs to spend more time in her laboratory experimenting with her spells. She definitely doesn’t have time to bring order to her chaotic library of magic.

When a mysterious dark wizard arrives at her castle, Saskia hires him as her new librarian on the spot. ‘Fabian’ is sweet and a little nerdy, and his requests seem a little strange – what in the name of Divine Elva is a fountain pen? – but he’s getting the job done. And if he writes her flirtatious poetry and his innocent touch makes her skin singe, well . . .

Little does Saskia know that the ‘wizard’ she’s falling for is actually an Imperial archduke in disguise, with no magical training whatsoever. On the run, he’s in danger from Saskia”s enemies and her new-found allies, too. So when Saskia finally discovers the truth, will their love save them – or be their doom?”

And that’s, like, fine, right? Neither of us know if we would have actually picked this one up based on that description alone though.

But here’s the thing – the actual novel is SO much better than that description (or the odd paperback version of the cover) hints at! We think this Goodreads review sums it up much better:

“What an absolute delight this book was, and oh, do we need more gentle heroes! This lovely new story from Stephanie Burgis features a rakish Queen of Villainy and her gentle librarian–who harbors some serious secrets. If you love hidden identities, slow burn romance, and learning to face the ghosts of your past–by learning to draw strength from those you love–then this story is for you.

Burgis turns so many stereotypes on their head, but by far the one I loved the most was what makes us strong – or weak. Gentleness as strength. Radical kindness. Loving and leaning on someone allowing you to find your own strength and stand strong. What a beautiful story! And don’t be confused–the true villains certainly get their just deserts, but figuring out what that is and how to go about it is also part of our characters’ arc, and I loved that.

This is an adult romantasy, and it certainly hits the expected romance notes within a fabulously fantastical world, but there are also plenty of twists to keep you intrigued, and so much heart. Also! Crow friends, our hero nerding out over fountain pens, a troll housekeeper and the absolute best found family! What more could you want?

Highly recommend!”

Fair warning – this book IS romantasy, so there is a bit of spice, but honestly it’s pretty mild for the genre. Trigger warning also for death, childhood abuse, and what looks a lot like PTSD.

If you would like to join us, make sure you’re on the $7+ tier on our Patreon for the month of September!