What the Hex?: The Best New Witchy Books to Read This Fall

From the author of The Change and Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books comes a new story about a group of women, descendants of a famous witch from Wild Hill on Long Island, who return to their ancestral land to wage witchy war on the patriarchy. Can the women set aside their squabbling long enough to fulfill their destinies?

This is a queer dark comedy about Mateo, whose bruja mother trapped a demon in his body. But now his mother is missing, and he’s stuck with a demon freeloader. Enter Topher, a rich socialite who thinks he’s been cursed. Matteo’s mother told him never to use magic, but he decides to pretend he knows how to lift the curse for some quick cash from Topher, and then hello, expensive exorcism, and bye-bye, demon. Spoiler: It won’t be that easy.

C.J. Cooke has a couple witchy works under her belt already: The Book of Witching and The Lighthouse Witches. This latest one is a horror novel set in the 15th century, and is based on the true story of a woman who draws the ire of a priest, who went on to be one of the most vicious “witch” finders in all of Europe. Can Helena, falsely accused, stand up to the priest and save her life?

In this new standalone sapphic fantasy from the author of the Burning Kingdoms trilogy, a knight and a witch are fated to fall in love and bring about their ruin, for hundreds of lifetimes. Simran and Vina are trying to find a way out of their heartbreaking timeline, but just as they start making plans, an assassin seeking repeating storylines like theirs shows up to end their tale for good.

Okay, so the description on this one doesn’t explicitly mention witches, but it’s compared to Practical Magic, so I am making the assumption. As Leeann’s life starts to fall apart, her hands also begin glowing. Unsure of what could be causing it, she soon learns she is from a family of women with a power that goes back many generations. What the power is used for, she’ll have to figure it out quickly, as widespread danger begins to threaten her town.

If you like your witch stories with a lot of romance, there’s this debut fantasy! The titular Violet has moved to Dragon’s Rest for a fresh start. Instead of being the villain, she’s going to hide her dark past, tend to sentient plants in her flower shop’s greenhouse, and spread joy. Which is hard to do with the handsome but grumpy alchemist Nathaniel Marsh, who shares her space, spreading doom and gloom. But when a blight threatens all the flora of their town, they’ll have to work together to save it. (And then, the kissing parts!)