A shorter version of this list originally appeared on LJ.com:
With The Book of Magic (Alice Hoffman’s sequel to Practical Magic) releasing last year, now is the perfect time to round up some witchy fiction to get you in the mood. Read on to find essential reading for every witch including adult fiction and young adult titles.
You can shop the full list at Bookshop and Amazon.
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
The Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in Salem, Massachusetts for more than two hundred years. After all, who wouldn’t blame every wrong thing on the local witches? Get ready for The Book of Magic with the book that started it all by introducing readers to sisters Sally and Gillian and their aunts Fran and Jet. Grab the prequels The Rules of Magic (about Franny and Jet in the 1960s) and Magic Lessons (family matriarch Maria’s story starting in the 1660s) to round out your reading experience.
Read my review.
Witch Please by Ann Aguirre
Danica Waterhouse, co-owner of Fix-It Witches, can fix almost anything except her family’s long-running feud over witches interacting with mundanes. Titus Winnaker wishes someone could fix his rotten luck when it comes to love. When the two meet, Danica thinks she’s found Mr. Right Now. But Titus won’t settle for anything less than being Danica’s Mr. Right.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
In the Russian wilderness where winter lasts most of the year, Vasya grows up immersed in the magic of the surrounding woods and the chyerti (spirits) who call it home. When crops begin to fail and misfortune threatens the entire village, Vasya has to embrace her unique perspective and her magical gifts to save everything she holds dear–even if it means exposing herself as a witch.
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
Tea never meant to raise her brother Fox from the dead or expected to become a dark asha—a bone witch to those who fear and revile them. But that is exactly what happens when Tea comes into her powers, setting her life on a dramatically different course.
Read my review.
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova
When Alex’s spell to get rid of her magic on her Death Day backfires her entire family disappears from their Brooklyn home. She’ll have to travel to the world of Los Lagos to get them back with help from her best friend Rishi and a strange brujo boy with his own agenda.
Read my review.
Witches of East End by Melissa de la Cruz
Joanna Beauchamp and her daughters, Freya and Ingrid, have lived quietly in North Hampton, Long Island for years. All of that changes when Freya’s upcoming wedding forces them to reveal the truth–and embrace the magical powers they’ve been banned from using for centuries.
The Wicked Deep by Shea Earnshaw
Two hundred years ago in the town of Sparrow three sisters were drowned as witches. Every year since then the Swan sisters have returned to Sparrow, claiming the bodies of unwitting local girls and using them to wreak their vengeance on the town by drowning boys foolish enough to fall under their sway. Penny is used to watching the Swan Season unfold with wary detachment, except this year there is a new outsider in town—a boy that Penny is determined to protect.
Read my review.
The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin
Clara is the first Everwitch in a century–her powerful magic tied to every season. In autumn, Clara fears her magic. In winter she accepts that she might be the only one who can help combat the dangerous effects of climate change on the weather witches are struggling to control. In spring she falls for Sang, the witch training her and the witch she’ll risk everything to protect. In summer Clara will have to decide if she’s brave enough to embrace her magic no matter the danger.
Read my review.
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Diana Bishop would much rather be a scholar than a witch. After she discovers a magical manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library, Diana finds herself at the center of a magical awakening as daemons, witches, and vampires are drawn to the library and the treasure the book offers–provided anyone can break its spell.
Payback’s a Witch by Lana Harper
Emmy Harlow isn’t a very powerful witch. And that’s fine so long as she can stay away from her hometown Thistle Grove and her player ex-boyfriend, Gareth. Emmy’s return home to visit her best friend gets complicated when she meets Talia Avramov–a powerful dark witch looking to get revenge after a bad breakup … with Gareth. Emmy is all about revenge. The bigger question is why Emmy can’t stop thinking about Talia. And what she’s going to do about it.
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
There’s no such thing as witches in New Salem in 1893. But there used to be. You can still catch traces of them in the witch-tales collected by the Sisters Grimm. You can see them in the second name every mother gives every daughter. You can hear them in the special words shared only in whispered songs and stories. In the beginning, there’s still no such thing as witches. But there will be.
Read my review.
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
Connie’s plans to begin work on her dissertation, specifically on finding a new primary source for it, are derailed when she has to clean out her grandmother’s long-vacant house in Salem. When a mysterious key leads Connie to the name Deliverance Dane and mention of an elusive “physick book” that could change everything previously known about witchcraft in colonial America, Connie’s personal and professional lives merge in pursuit of the book.
Read my review.
Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim
Tired of her unerring ability to read fortune (and misfortune) in tea leaves, Vanessa Yu tries switching to coffee and running away to Paris with her aunt. But some gifts can’t be ignored and Vanessa will have to embrace hers before she can start living on her own terms.
The Witches of New York by Ami McKay
Spiritualism is gaining popularity in New York in 1880. When Beatrice Dunn answers an ad reading “Respectable Lady Seeks Dependable Shop Girl. Those averse to magic need not apply,” her fate is tied to tea shop owners Adelaide and Eleanor as the three women confront dark forces converging throughout the city.
The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan
In Gilded Age New York, when Annis becomes the pawn in a feud between two witches–one using magic to help others like herself and one using dark magic for personal gain–Annis must awaken her own powers if she wants to keep control of her own fate–and her life.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
In exchange for ten years of service from Agnieszka, the Dragon will continue to protect the valley from the enchanted Wood that plagues them with strange creatures and the threat of encroachment. But the Wood is changing; the creatures are growing bolder. With secrets and strange revelations at every turn it will take everything Agnieszka and the Dragon have to fight what’s coming for them.
Read my review.
The Near Witch by VE Schwab
There are certain truths in Near: The Near Witch is an old story to frighten children, nothing more. The wind is lonely and always looking for company. There are no strangers in the town Near. For all of her life, Lexi has known these three things to be true from the town, from her life, and from the stories her father told her. What happens when two of those truths turn out to be wrong?
Read my review.
Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart
Iraya has grown up a prisoner waiting for her chance at revenge. Jazmyne, the Queen’s daughter, knows her position is precarious when her death will strengthen her mother’s powers. Always meant to be enemies, the two form an uneasy alliance to fight a common enemy in this Jamaican-inspired fantasy.
The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
Vivi doesn’t expect big results when she uses a scented candle to curse her ex-boyfriend after their breakup. That is, of course, until Rhys comes back to Graves Glen, Georgia to recharge the town’s ley lines and gets hits by the full force of the curse. Now Vivi and Rhys have to work together to break the hex before it destroys their town.
The Hawley Book of the Dead by Chrysler Szarlan
When her husband dies under mysterious circumstances during their magic act in Vegas, Revelation “Reve” Dyer flees to her childhood home in the forest of Hawley Five Corners. While there, Reve will uncover the mysterious Hawley Book of the Dead–an ancient book that might hold the truth of Reve’s own past and a path toward her future.
Miss Print 