DelemhachRezensionen

This was definitely a cozy fantasy - not much happens, the pace is slow but it has cozy kitchen vibes. I didn’t really feel the chemistry with the romance so I won’t be continuing the series.

"Katarina Ashowan was not made for courtly life. Sure, her father is the famous house witch of Daxaria so she was raised among majestic castles, proper manners, and royal expectations. But Kat is also a mutated witch whose power aligns predominantly with fire. She’s more comfortable riding horses or learning to fight than she is making polite conversation and wearing fancy dresses. Which is why her upcoming assignment—serving her best friend, Alina, the soon-to-be crowned Troivackian queen—is anything but ideal." Amazon

A delightful spinoff from 'The House Witch' series.

"When Finlay Ashowan joins the staff of the King and Queen of Daxaria, he’s an enigma. No one knows where he comes from or how he came to be where he is, which suits Fin just fine. He’s satisfied simply serving as the royal cook, keeping nosy passersby out of his kitchen, and concocting some truly uncanny meals." Amazon

This is the first in a three part series. All too often, the first in a series really grabs me and then its all down hill from there. Not with this one. The stories and the characters are fun and make me laugh out loud, even on a second or 3rd reading. A new series called the Burning Witch follows the children on their own journeys of adventure, chaos and fun.

This book felt like fanfiction and not in a good way. I found the characters bland, and never became invested in them, and spent most of the book bored. It did have some good descriptions of food, and interesting world building ideas. Overall, I did not enjoy it and would not recommend it.

Nice book. Indeed cozy, and the main character is adorable. So is his magic.

Addicted!!!

I absolutely adore this story and look forward to reading more about this kingdom! I was hooked from page one!

Series Info/Source: This is the third book in the House Witch series. I borrowed a copy of this through Kindle Unlimited.

Thoughts: I thought this was the perfect conclusion to The House Witch series. Things build to a head in this book with Daxaria finally heading into war against Troivak. Additionally, Fin must finally confront his fire witch father, Aiden.

The book switches POV between Fin, Annika, Kraken, the King and others. It all worked very well. There was still a lot of humor and fun in here despite some sadness around how things unfolded around the war.

The characters (and the crazy situations they find themselves in) remain incredibly entertaining. Watching Fin take on huge responsibilities in a very "house witch" way was very fun. Kraken (Fin's cat familiar) remains a favorite for me as well. Kraken has become quite the organized crime boss working behind the scenes in ways no one could predict.

I really love how the story wraps up and thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. I had been in a bit of a reading slump before this and was thrilled to be able to read something I enjoyed so much.

The writing flows well and is easy to read and engaging. I love how it looks like the story will continue with the next generation after Fin.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really loved this conclusion to The House Witch series. This is such a wonderful cozy fantasy series full of humor, magic, romance, and intrigue. I loved every moment of it and am looking forward to reading other books by Delemhach in the future.

Far above

The usual for today's authors. Whilst I care little for the romantic angle, it was good period-plus-magic piece overall. In addition, it has an interesting magic system, and is peppered with good laughs. I have hopes for the next in series, if the author branches successfully into humorous adventures of some kind

Still the same issues as with the first one. If I were not a fanfiction-reading teenager with too much time in the summer I would not have finished.

As someone who reads fan fiction basically everyday as an addition to books and has herself written both good and horrible fan fiction, this reads like bad fanfiction.

I adore elephant sentences but after five adjectives to describe the evening it should come a point where you say enough.

Makes me love though, because I am immature (literal teenager, hello) and also I kinda like the vibe. The romance is kinda meh tho? I am in for like everything that isn't the romance. If I had paid more than the 5€ Kindle unlimited subscription for it I'd probs feel bad about it but as it is, imma continue reading on.

Because, again, it makes me laugh and I like the concept so... also I have the time so what the hell why not.

Series Info/Source: This is the second book in The House Witch trilogy. I borrowed this on ebook from Kindle Unlimited.

Thoughts: This book starts up right after the last book left off. Fin is dealing with his budding relationship with Annika and trying to hide it from everyone. War is still brewing with Troivack as well and Fin is involved with that because his father is involved. With Fin working day and night, he is utterly worn out and ends up being granted a week off in the city, with a side mission to spy around for the king. Of course, somehow, Fin manages to turn this secret mission into a bar fight followed by a citywide festival...so things are going as weird as normal for Fin.

I continue to love these characters. They are all very fun, caring, and easy to engage with. Fin gets himself into hilariously impossible situations without even trying. Fin's cat familiar, Kraken, is making his own cat army that is causing loads of mischief across the kingdom. And of course, Annika is putting together scheme after scheme to both keep herself from having to marry someone who's not Fin and keep the kingdom out of war.

This book did feel a bit more scattered than the first book and at points the pacing was a bit off as well. Too many plots and were being balanced and things get a bit slow. The story also switches willy-nilly between different viewpoints, this was all over the place and could be a bit confusing.

However, despite the above flaws I did still enjoy this a lot. This story is the definition of cozy fantasy and is a fun and humorous read that leaves you feeling cozy and happy.

My Summary (4.5/5): Overall I didn't think this was quite as good as the first book in the series, but I still really enjoyed it. The plot is a bit scattered, but I still adored the characters here and the crazy situations they get themselves into. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who is looking for a cozy fantasy with some romance and humor.½

Series Info/Source: This is first book in The House Witch series. I borrowed this ebook through Kindle Unlimited.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this first book in the House Witch series. This is solidly in the "cozy fantasy" genre and involves a young witch named Finlay who takes a job as the royal cook for the kingdom of Daxaria. All Fin wants to do is cook good food and keep the fact he is a witch secret from the other kitchen staff. Unfortunately for him, his secret comes out as he is forced to confront rude knights, protect the pregnant queen, and deal with a duchess that has a strange pull on him.

This book is full of quirky characters and there is a strong theme of working to bring out the best in people and giving people a place to feel safe. Fin's special power is to make a place feel like home and being able to protect that home. His magic ends up being much more special than he realizes.

There is a good political plot here as the King of Daxaria tries to keep his nation out of war. You also can't help but wonder how long Fin will be able to keep his secrets and what will happen when they are exposed. I got a big kick out of Fin's familiar, a kitten named Kraken, who is helping Fin out on a completely different cat-based level. I also really enjoyed the rude knights who got assigned to kitchen duty.

This book is all about finding a place to belong, creating a home, and preventing that home from being destroyed by a war. It was wonderful fun and leaves you feeling happy and cozy. I can't wait to read the second book in the series. Despite this being a fairly long book, I breezed right through it. It was easy to read and engaging and I always looked forward to sitting down to read it.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I really loved this. I loved the fun characters and their interactions, the humor, the political plot, and the magical world here. I greatly look forward to reading the second book in the series. I would recommend if you enjoy cozy fantasies with a lot of magic and humor.

This was definitely a cozy fantasy - not much happens, the pace is slow but it has cozy kitchen vibes. I didn’t really feel the chemistry with the romance so I won’t be continuing the series.

Started out ok, but turns into wish-fulfillment fan-fic-ish slog.

Reminds me of Hands of the Emperor and the Wizard's Butler. In that it's very long, the protagonist is wonderfully perfect, and not a lot actually seems to happen.

I was really wanting this to be humorous romantic fantasy as advertised on the cover but it fell sadly flat. I love the premise of a house witch working in a royal kitchen but the author did not develop a believable environment, character or plot. The story rambles around several ideas which individually would make an interesting story but the author never follows through on any of them. Few of the characters are likeable or believable and the action is kind of random.
Not worth the time.½

I was so excited for The House Witch because the cover just screams "cozy fantasy" and the book description calls it "a humorous romantic fantasy" which is right up my alley. Ultimately, it was not a great fit for me. I did love that Fin is a "house witch" with magic centered on keeping his household safe and comfortable. When he becomes the castle cook, he discovers that "his household" now means the entire castle, which gives him greater responsibility. My favorite parts were watching him run the kitchen competently and make healthy food.

The story has many point-of-view characters. In some scenes, the point of view seemed omniscient because all the characters' thoughts and feelings were shared. I think I just prefer to have only 1 or 2 points of view because that helps me feel more immersed in the experience of those 1-2 characters. I did get a laugh out of the two chapters where we were in the kitchen cat's point of view.

The plot felt to me like a series of vignettes about life in the castle kitchen, with a very slow burn romance on the side and a thread in the background about an impending war. The slow burn eventually develops into a will-they-or-won't-they dynamic. Eventually the couple reaches a HFN ending, but most of the other big-picture plotlines are still loose ends that will presumably be solved in the sequels.

There's one thing about this book that made me uncomfortable and I'm not sure why. Several times in the story, homophobia is used for laughs, and reading those scenes left me feeling unsettled, like I wasn't sure if what I was reading was okay or if it could be hurtful to some readers. The scenes always involved the "good guys" acting in ways that seemed like sexual harassment, to distract or thwart a "bad guy"; so for example, they need to remove a guard who's surveilling them, so they send a man to flirt with him, assuming he will become uncomfortable and leave. Sometimes the only point was to tease someone, like Fin continually flirting with another castle staff person that he doesn't like, simply to make him uncomfortable and get a laugh out of it. Often while the flirting happens, the other characters watch and laugh. Maybe if it happened once, I'd have read right past it; but happened so many times. Maybe I just didn't see the humor in it?

just confusing