Book Review: Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis

Wooing the Witch Queen
Author: Stephanie Burgis
Series: Queens of Villainy (Book 1)
Publication: Bramble (February 18, 2025)

Description: 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?

My Thoughts: If there is such a genre as cozy romantasy, WOOING THE WITCH QUEEN definitely fits there. It is the first of Burgis's The Queens of Villainy trilogy.

Queen Saskia is a very powerful sorceress who has finally managed to overthrow her evil uncle, but now she has to rule even though she wants to spend more time in her laboratory finding ways to keep the evil emperor out of her country. 

When a masked dark wizard comes, she hires him to organize her library which was neglected in her uncle's reign. But the dark wizard isn't one at all. He's Archduke Felix and he's been under the abusive control of his father-in-law for years. Now that his wife has passed away from a fever, Felix feels that he has nothing more to lose and runs away hoping to gain sanctuary with his country's greatest enemy.

The two gradually fall in love throughout the story. And Felix, now called Fabian, learns about magic as he organizes the library. He also learns that Saskia is the evil queen his father-in-law decided she was. 

This was cute, romantic, and filled with magic. 

I bought this one April 1. 2025. You can buy your copy here.