I’m delighted to welcome you today my stop on the blog tour for highly entertaining comedy The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais. Thank you to Anne Cater and Harper Collins for giving me the opportunity to read and review this wonderful book.
About the book:
.The House in the Cerulean Sea meets The Golden Girls in this funny, tender, and uplifting feminist tale of sisterhood featuring a coven of aging witches who must unite their powers to fight the men determined to drive them out of their home and town.
A coven of modern-day witches. A magical heist-gone-wrong. A looming threat.
Summoned by an alarm, five octogenarian witches gather around Ursula when danger is revealed to her in a vision. An angry mob of townsmen is advancing with a wrecking ball, determined to demolish Moonshyne Manor and Distillery. All eyes turn to Queenie—as the witch in charge, it’s her job to reassure them—but she confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments and property taxes. Queenie has been counting on Ruby’s return in two days to fix everything. Ruby is the only one who knows where the treasure is hidden, those valuable artifacts stolen 33 years ago on the night when everything went horribly wrong. Why didn’t clairvoyant Ursula see this coming sooner? Wasn’t Ivy supposed to be working her botanical magic to keep the townsmen in a state of perpetual drugged calm, all while Jezebel quelled revolts through seductive bewitchment?
The mob is only the start of the witches’ troubles. Brad Gedney, a distant cousin of Ivy, is hellbent on avenging his family for the theft of a legacy that was rightfully his. In an act of desperation, Queenie makes a bargain with an evil far more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced. And things take a turn for the worse when Ruby’s homecoming reveals a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.
In a race against time, the women have nine days to save their home and business. The witches are determined to save their home and themselves, but fear their aging powers are no match against increasingly malicious threats.
Thankfully, they get a bit of extra help from Persephone, a feisty TikToker eager to smash the patriarchy. As the deadline approaches, fractures among the sisterhood are revealed, and long-held secrets are exposed, culminating in a fiery confrontation with their enemies.
Funny, tender, and uplifting, THE WITCHES OF MOONSHYNE MANOR explores the formidable power that can be discovered in aging, found family, and unlikely friendships. Marais’ true power is her clever prose that offers as much laughter as insight, delving deeply into feminism, identity, and power dynamics while stirring up intrigue and drama through secrets, lies and sex. Both heartbreaking and heart-mending, it will make you wonder: why were we taught to fear the witches, and not the men who burned them? Above all, it will make you grateful for the amazing women in your life.
About the author:
Bianca Marais is the author of the beloved Hum If You Don’t Know the Words and If You Want to Make God Laugh (Putnam, 2017 and 2019). She teaches at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies where she was awarded an Excellence in Teaching Award for Creative Writing in 2021. A believer in the power of storytelling in advancing social justice, Marais runs the Eunice Ngogodo Own Voices Initiative to empower young Black women in Africa to write and publish their own stories, and is constantly fundraising to assist grandmothers in Soweto with caring for children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. In 2020, Marais started the popular podcast, The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, which is aimed at helping emerging writers become published.
My Review:
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais is a delightful heartfelt comedy that I thoroughly enjoyed from beginning to end. The perfect book to read as we approach Halloween, it tells the story of a coven of modern day witches and a magical heist gone wrong that leaves them in danger of losing their business and home.
A charming and uplifting read, The Witches of Moonshyne Manor explores the power that can be found as we age, delving into issues such as family, sexuality and loyalty, all at the same time as telling an hilarious tale of sisterhood that will make you laugh one moment and then move you to tears the next.
Bianca Marais has written a funny, tender and highly entertaining story that was even more enjoyable than I expected it to be. The Witches of Moonshyne Manor is an easy read, filled with fascinating characters that I loved getting to know. Our coven of octogenarian witches are fantastic, richly drawn and with distinct personalities all of their own and I couldn’t help but fall in love with each and every one of them.
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor is a fun and heartwarming read that is pure escapism at its very best. And I loved it!
Highly recommended.
The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais is available to purchase now:
Cal Turner Reviews 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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