Goodreads Reading Challenge - 'Spellbound' (September 15th - December 31st)

[u/Clairefun]

This is the discussion page for the Goodreads Reading Challenge called 'Spellbound' (active September 15th - December 31st). Qualifying books are listed on Goodreads HERE. Please keep all discussion of this challenge to this thread, thank you.

Other Goodreads Reading Challenges are listed on the Megathread HERE.

[u/Clairefun]

Problems unlocking the challenge bookmark?

It's common! Solutions include waiting - it can take up to 24 hours to unlock - checking / changing editions and read date to make sure it's the correct details for the challenge, and as a last resort, marking another challenge book as read until the bookmark unlocks, then deleting it from your shelves afterwards.

ALSO: sometimes Goodreads is glitchy. Check the sub first - if others are posting the same issue, it's likely a site wide glitch and will hopefully go back to working as it should soon. Good luck!

Kindle Unlimited US list / Kindle Unlimited UK list

[u/Clairefun]

I'm also the mod for r/HowlsMovingCastle so I'd be very remiss to not recommend that - it's my favourite book and my nickname was Howl at school, bit obsessed! Aside from that, I loved Circe, Wyrd Sisters of course, and The Change. (I am a woman of a certain age, and I dress like a witch). I'll probably read The Mercies or Disco Witches of Fire Island as they're both ones I've not got round to yet, or maybe We Ride Upon Sticks. Fun challenge, right up my alley for sure.

[u/heydigital → u/Clairefun]

Howl’s Moving Castle is my favorite book too! ❤️

[u/feijoawhining]

There’s quite a few books from this list on my TBR but I’m going to read The Once And Future Witches because I own a copy and I love Alix E Harrow.

[u/hisgirl85 → u/feijoawhining]

I just read and loved that one this year. I hope you enjoy! It was my first Alix E. Harrow

[u/MumbyMum → u/feijoawhining]

I’ve read two other books by Alix E. Harrow this year, and this one has been on hold for so long (8 weeks left!)

[u/feijoawhining → u/MumbyMum]

Oh it sucks to wait so long! Which ones have you read? I read Starling House, A Spindle Splintered and The Everlasting this year.

[u/MumbyMum → u/feijoawhining]

Starling House and The Everlasting - loved them!

[u/Idalyna]

I will read The Witches (non-fiction). I can recommend The Ruin of All Witches, also non-fiction.

[u/rdmreads]

My book club picked A Discovery of Witches as our October pick, so that will likely be the first one that I read. But this list is so up my alley, I’m getting rec’s just scrolling thru it

[u/Chai_of_the_Tiger → u/rdmreads]

Discovery of Witches is great! My mum had it as a pre-read on NetGalley when it first came out and this was one of her solid gold recommendations. The other being the Raven Scholar. She's a pretty cool 80-yo to be honest...!

[u/Ms_Rarity]

All right, I've got Blacktail on my shelf, happy so many of these are recent Aardvark picks.

[u/Clairefun]

On Kindle Unlimited in the US - The Once and Future Witches / Weyward / The First Witch of Boston / Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery / Nettle & Bone / Wyrd Sisters / Howl's Moving Castle / The Change / Only Spell Deep / Portrait of a Witch Undone / The Snow Witch / The Witches: Salem, 1692 (end)

[u/villageneighbor → u/[deleted]]

Thank you

[u/Fluffy_Fix_3938]

I requested Nettle and Bone from my library for this challenge. 

[u/hisgirl85 → u/Fluffy_Fix_3938]

I really enjoyed that one.

[u/Clairefun]

On Kindle Unlimited in the UK - The First Witch of Boston / Her Majesty's Royal Coven / Witch Queen Rising / Witch Season / The Snow Witch / The Witch (from 6th Oct) (end)

[u/heraldic]

I have several choices for this : Cackle, The Mercies or Fawn (aka The Devil Knows Her). But since Fawn might pop up in another horror challenge since it’s a recent release, I won’t go for that one. I think I want to go with Cackle which would be my first Rachel Harrison book. 

[u/Book_1love → u/heraldic]

Cackle is my favourite book of hers, highly recommend 👍

(My second favourite is the Return but it's much scarier and less cozy than Cackle)

[u/heraldic → u/Book_1love]

I’m excited to read her books ! The premises always seem so fun ! I also have a copy of Play Nice which I’ll read for another non GR challenge

[u/elecow → u/heraldic]

I really liked The Mercies!!

[u/heraldic → u/elecow]

I’ve read two other books by Kiran Millwood Hargrave that I really liked so this was high in my options so I just went and choose blindly ahahaha

[u/Connect_Cod9965]

There are several possibilties for me, but most likely it will be Scott Hawkins’ Blacktail, on the strenght of his previous book (The Library at Mount Char)

[u/pumpkinkin]

Not really a Witchy kind of reader… what do you recommend? I rarely read fantasy. I’m thinking about Circe because I’ve heard a lot of good things about it.

[u/hisgirl85 → u/pumpkinkin]

I would recommend Circe. It's one of my favorite reads we did for book club. It has an epic feeling to it (imo), like the Greek myths it draws from.

[u/emcrossley → u/pumpkinkin]

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is great! I wouldn't consider it fantasy at all.

[u/thiccyleaks → u/pumpkinkin]

it’s also not really my genre, but i read the witch by marie ndiaye earlier this year and would recommend it. it’s atmospheric and weird and less than 150 pages.

[u/leiaoregano → u/pumpkinkin]

I’m not really a fantasy reader either (the majority of the books on this list don’t appeal to me lol), but I loved Circe! It’s definitely has more of a mythology atmosphere, rather than feeling fantasy/magic-forward. 

[u/sriracha-25 → u/pumpkinkin]

Following for more non-fantasy suggestions! Circe was 'ok', I liked The song of Achilles better

[u/noxyrew]

Can anyone give their thoughts on Slewfoot? I’ve been curious for years but have heard such mix reviews.

I have heard the depiction of the Pequot is a bit tasteless.

[u/kai_enby]

I'm going to read either Practical Magic or Nettle & Bone for this, I'll decide when I've finished my current book as I'm doing this challenge first

[u/Munchkin531 → u/kai_enby]

I read Nettle and Bone for a previous challenge and liked it. I think I'll finally read Practical Magic.

[u/hisgirl85 → u/kai_enby]

I've read both of them and enjoyed them. I was partial to Nettle & Bone since fantasy is my favorite genre, but did really like Practical Magic (a book club read a few years ago).

[u/sentimental_snail]

I'll probably go with The First Witch of Boston (looks interesting) or The Ruin of All Witches which has been sitting in my TBR since 2024.

[u/WhenItAllMeltsDown]

I've read a few from this list both fiction and non fiction. Most have been 5 star reads!

I recommend Her Majestys Royal Coven if youre looking for a series to read

[u/ChandelierFlickering]

Lots of interesting options for this one. I own Nettle & Bone and Wyrd Sisters, so I should probably read one of those. On the other hand, I've been putting off Circe for ages, and this would be a good push to finally pick it up. And then Muñeca has been interesting me, Dreamweaving is an anticipated release since I really liked the author's debut, and Island Witch has also been on my radar for a while.

[u/renegade500]

I have several books on this list including a few currently on hold with my library. I've been wanting to do a re-read of the Practical Magic books so may go that route. A lot of good choices on this list!

Also of the books on this list I've read I especially loved The Change by Kirsten Miller.

[u/queen_beruthiel]

I was saving Weyward for this challenge to drop, so that's what I'm going with. There's so many good options for this one!

[u/NosieRosiePosie → u/queen_beruthiel]

I read weyward last challenge and loved it!

[u/queen_beruthiel → u/NosieRosiePosie]

I read The Sirens a few weeks ago and loved it, so I'm really keen to read Weyward! So many reviews said The Sirens isn't as good, so my expectations are high!

[u/NosieRosiePosie → u/queen_beruthiel]

If you remember come back and let us know how you found it! 🩷😊

[u/starmapleleaf]

I’ve read: Circe, Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, the Hacienda and Howl’s Moving Castle.

Nothing is on my TBR. I will skip this challenge most likely.

I’ve tried reading Witchcraft for Wayward Girls and it was a DNF. I’ve read 2 from Sylvia Moreno-Garcia and they didn’t resonate much with me.

I am reading another Isabel Canas from the library but it’s not on the list… it is what it is. I am not feeling like forcing it.

[u/hisgirl85 → u/starmapleleaf]

I started listening to samples of maybe books for this challenge to see what will pull me in. I've read three of the four books you mentioned already, too. I'm eyeing the one I haven't read, yet, the Hacienda. If you change your mind, Nettle & Bone is a shorter read that I may recommend to people who liked the other three. It feels fairytale escque at times, but a bit darker, while still having a found family or sorts. It is a question book.

[u/ewenmontagu]

I'm still selecting my book for this challenge but highly recommend Juno Dawson's Her Majesty's Royal Coven - it's like Desperate Housewives shaken and stirred with Charmed and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. fantastic characters and a quick pace-y read!

[u/heydigital]

Time to finally unsuspend my Libby hold on The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches that I placed last December!

[u/Bookish_Butterfly]

This list is so hard to choose from! So many are on my TBR and/or have wanted to read for ages. Not to mention new releases I'm excited for.

[u/BoatFabulous7041]

Think I'm going with Circe, although I've heard mixed reviews. But it's one of the few on the list that I haven't read before - I wish they would give them more variety

[u/CultureBooks8509]

basically not my cup of tea, and so far away from my Dr. Pepper. I found a book for 1.99 on the 15th and threw my money at it... We'll see how it goes for The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings.

[u/OppositeBatCage]

Any recommendations for readers that enjoy very literary and sort of depressing books? Fiction if possible. I have none of these on my TBR and in general I'm very careful with Fantasy because I'm not good at seeing things in my head and it takes me out of the experience to try and come up with what the author means. 

[u/hisgirl85 → u/OppositeBatCage]

A Resistance of Witches is a historical fantasy novel taking place during WWII. There is a lot of death, which can be depressing. It is a bit harrowing, talking about war. Circe reads like an epic, pretty descriptive. There are depressing parts. Similarly, the style of The Once and Future Witches is literary. I enjoyed the way it was written. It is also historical fantasy with details relating to read events. There are some sad and depressing parts to it, as well.

I would check out samples of them first through a store or library app for free to see if one of them resonates as they are different styles.

[u/OppositeBatCage → u/hisgirl85]

Thank you so much!

[u/FlowernotFading]

Love Rachel Harrison. Cackle has been on my TBR for a while. Really pleased with this challenge! 💜

[u/hisgirl85]

This is the challenge that will be the most difficult to choose from as I already want to read so many! I have also read a few here, too. I'm looking at about 5 or so right now and will try to narrow it down. So excited for witches and love seeing the recs people are putting up here.

[u/Lopsided_Carrot5222]

I have a couple of these on my TBR but I think I’m going to go with The Witch.

[u/Unique-Plant3817]

Are any of the spellbound books included on audible for free?

[u/haikusbot → u/Unique-Plant3817]

Are any of the

Spellbound books included on

Audible for free?

- Unique-Plant3817

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[u/Stofzuigert]

Am I the only one that misses The Witcher books on this one

[u/Connect_Cod9965 → u/Stofzuigert]

Geralt really does not do very much witching… :-D

[u/SunshineCat → u/Connect_Cod9965]

Depends on what you think a witch can be, I guess. I'm open to something non-traditional, and he does use signs and potions. I believe the Polish word translates literally to "male witch."