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ARC Review of 'The Farewitch of Foxe Holler' by Ellen Pauley Goff
A cosy Appalachian romantasy with a plot that will have you invested right from the start. (ARC REVIEW)
I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately, hunting for something that felt genuinely fresh without being exhausting, and The Farewitch of Foxe Holler was exactly what I needed. This is the kind of book you pick up on a Sunday afternoon and suddenly it's midnight and you have no regrets.
Honey Frost is a kitchen witch in the small Appalachian community of Foxe Holler, where she bakes magical remedies for her neighbours: cornbread for the common cold, jam cake to sharpen the memory. She inherited the role far earlier than expected and is doing her determined best to fill shoes that still feel too big. When the town's reclusive, notoriously grumpy Warlock, Mr. Knight, sends a formal letter requesting her help curing a mysterious illness, Honey is reluctant. Witches and warlocks simply do not get along. But he's dangling the one bribe she can't turn down: access to his legendary library of spellbooks and kitchen grimoires. So she moves into Knight Manor, which has a mind of its own and mistrusts strangers, and things get complicated from there.
The plot is soooooo well-constructed and builds with real momentum. There are stakes here beyond the romance. The Widow Witch rolls into Foxe Holler every year to claim a soul, and this time she has her eye on Mr. Knight, giving Honey a ticking clock to work against. Goff handles the balance between cosy warmth and genuine urgency beautifully, and I stayed invested all the way through.
The characters are where the book really shines. Honey's arc, learning to ask for help and stop carrying everything alone, is handled with warmth and never feels preachy. Mr. Knight is prickly and secretive and absolutely compelling, and the slow-burn tension between him and Honey is the kind that has you reading just one more chapter at midnight. Then there's Lazlo, a nine-year-old boy also living at Knight Manor whom I absolutely adore. I found myself feeling fiercely protective of him in a way I didn't see coming. And the sentient farmhouse is an absolute scene-stealer.
Goff grew up in Kentucky and it shows. There's a real texture and authenticity to the Appalachian setting, and the magic feels rooted in the place rather than bolted on. The food descriptions are genuinely lovely. This is the kind of book that will have you wanting to bake something. Running quietly through it all is a thoughtfulness about community, generational legacy, and how fear gets used to control people, which gives it a little more substance than your average cosy fantasy without ever becoming heavy.
If you've been looking for something fun and transporting with an irresistible premise, a slow-burn romance that actually earns it, and characters you genuinely care about, this is it. One of my favorite reads in a good while.
A huge thank you to Saga Press for the ARC copy via NetGalley!
ISBN: 9781668099179
Pub Date: July 7, 2026