About the Book
Title: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
Author: Sangu Mandanna
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 318
Edition Read: Paperback
Dates Read: May 19 – 24, 2025
Blurb: As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.
But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.
As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for….
Review
This book was really cute. It seems like I’ve been reading several cute, cozy fantasies lately. The Spellshop was like this, as was the Cerulean Chronicles. The Very Secret Society has very similar vibes.
I found the witches’ culture (for lack of a better word) to be interesting. They don’t want to be discovered, so they stay as separate as possible. They also can’t really have a lot of relationships outside of the society either, since hiding magic would be difficult. It leads to a very lonely life, which makes Mika’s journey to Nowhere House even more meaningful.
Once again, I’m reading about magical children who are kept away from the rest of the world. These three young girls – Rosetta, Terracotta, and Altamira – have a lot to learn and, especially for some, a lot of trust issues. Speaking of trust issues, enter Jamie, the house librarian. He did not want Mika to come, did not want Mika to stay, and yet there is a connection between them that they cannot deny. The rest of the inhabitants of Nowhere House – Ian, Ken and Lucie – are absolutely delightful and do everything they can to make Mika feel like home, something that she’s never really had before.
There is a bit of a ticking clock where there is a threat of the girls being found out. This would be a problem, of course, but other than that, there wasn’t much suspense. It almost felt like there wasn’t much of a storyline, just cozy witchy vibes. Which don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy that. I think I just wanted more meat to it. Still a story of found family, except the Cerulean Chronicles did it way better.
GoodReads rating: 3 stars
Categories: Books I've Read
Life With No Plot 
Leave a comment