Wooing the Witch Queen (Queens of Villainy, #1)
Stephanie Burgis
In a Gaslamp-lit world where hags and ogres lurk in thick pine forests, three magical queens form an uneasy alliance to protect their lands from invasion…and love turns their world upside down. 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, with perilous secrets on his trail and a fast growing yearning for the wicked sorceress, he's in danger from her enemies and her newfound allies, too. When his identity is finally revealed, will their love save or doom each other?
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0Thank you to NetGalley, Stephanie Burgis, and Tor/Forge for the E-ARC!
Wooing the Witch Queen was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025, the cover art drawing me in and the description being right up my alley. So when I got accepted for the E-ARC I was more than excited to dive into it, and I'm happy to say I was right about it being my type of book!
Felix is the Archduke of Estarion in name and face only, his father-in-law controlling everything, including him, behind the scenes. When Felix learns that his life is on the line, he decides that he'd rather risk running away to their neighbouring country, the magical land of Kitvaria, facing the monster of a witch queen, then stay where he is. Saskia is the fabled evil witch queen, but all she really wants to do is protect her borders from the Archduke who keeps trying to take her lands. When a darkwizard appears at her door, she employs him on the spot, refusing to let him speak lest he wants to stroke his own ego. Unknown to her, the man she brought into her home isn't actually a darkwizard, he's actually the one person she's trying to destroy.
This book kept me turning the pages, unable to put it down until I finished every last page (which may or may not have been 6:30 a.m.). The characters, both main and side, were amazing and distinct, the world-building not too overwhelming but enough that I had clear visuals and understandings of the world we were in, and the romance so well written.
If you're a romantasy fan, then you need to pick up this book when it comes out! You won't regret jumping into this new world with both Saskia and Felix!
0This has potential to be something i come back to.
For now I was bored by how low stakes it is and honestly just not super into it.
I did love that we have a bisexual FMC. The audio narration was great but at 30% I was not reaching to finish this title or really that into it.
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