Book Review: Disenchanted by Lucy Jane Wood

Disenchanted by Lucy Jane Wood

Content Warnings:

TW: conversations about self-worth/emotional past. Readers 18+.

Publishing Date: September 10th, 2026
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Genres: Adult // Fantasy, Magic, Romance
Quick Thoughts: There is something altogether immersive and spellbinding about Disenchanted. The power it holds to be able to relax my heart and whisk me away into an enchanting tale is second to none. This was such a wholesome, deeply comforting novel that reads like a love letter to classic fairytales with a modern spin. It’s a quiet celebration of stepping into your truest self.
Rating:

Gifted/PR

I was gifted this book via the Publisher/PR. All views/opinions are my own. I remain entirely impartial.

Literary Trope Guide

Witch hates magic

Cosy small town

Fairytale-spin

Friends-to-Lovers

about this book
Sage Hemlock has no interest in embracing her witchy side. Magic has betrayed her before, bringing nothing but heartache, and she will not let something so foolish happen again.
Instead, Sage has thrown herself into her work and studies, running the local museum and largely preferring the company of her library and her cat to other humans. Her one goal is to fly under the coven’s radar so that she can finally shed her blasted powers forever.
But when a strange historical book accidentally triggers a curse, Sage’s quiet, small-town life is suddenly overrun and magic is running rife. A beanstalk grows in her garden, and her friend and co-worker Casimir starts to look an awful lot like a handsome prince. Fairytales are coming true . . .
Now, with the threat of the coven on her tail, Sage must confront the magic she’s always denied to solve the mysteries of the book and save everyone she’s come to love from being lost to a fairy tale forever. The question is, can she finally learn to be her own happily ever after?

My Review

I’ve been a fan of Lucy’s cosy, witchy books since Rewitched, and I happily tuck into the pages every autumn. This year, I had the chance to read Disenchanted early, and it was such a pleasure to learn all about Sage as summer slowly comes to an end. In the third Rewitched book, Sage Hemlock is a witch who would rather not be one. After her magic wronged her when she was younger, it’s been more of a nuisance than a helper. She does everything in her power to keep it away, smothering it’s every chance at coming through—she’s an eldest daughter, too, and I feel this adds to how she handles this pressure. Living in a historical, magical-history-rich town means Sage is never far from the very thing she’s pushed aside. She even has a live-in ghost, Maggie, and of course a witchy tale wouldn’t be the same without a familiar, Mal, the cat. Whilst working at the town’s museum, Sage with her confidant and friend, Casimir, tries her best to keep her sparky fingertips under wraps and away from the watchful eyes of the local coven. (I love that we’re welcomed back to Selcouth again as it ties to the other books in the series beautifully whilst allowing them to stand on their own.)

But Sage’s supressed magic has other ideas this October, a time when it always amps up a little. It often fires off on it’s own as the season awaits, flying off random burst of magic that only makes Sage crawl more into her own head, steadfast in her belief that it only causes more harm than help. After discovering an old grimoire in her studies of an ancient witch, Sage’s entire life is whirled into an enchanting chasm of chaos when a hex takes a hold of her life. Her house walls turn to gingerbread, children grow wings, a beanstalk grows in her garden and Casimir starts to look more like Prince Charming than her closest friend. Resisting her magic is no longer a choice for Sage, and she suddenly—reluctantly—has to take a firm hold of the very thing she’s been determined to cast away at all costs, or else risk losing everything and everyone she loves to the spiral of the curse at her fingertips.

There is something altogether immersive and spellbinding about Disenchanted that I seem to always find in one of Lucy’s witchy books. The power it holds to be able to relax my heart and whisk me away into an enchanting tale is second to none. Sage quickly became one of my absolute favourites, and her journey is such a riveting look at self-acceptance. It centres on moving past the hesitance to welcome her magic in fully, and instead using it to build a life where she no longer has to hide who she really is or what she possesses. I loved the slow burn, friends-to-lovers aspect, where the deeper meaning of the story takes charge but the romance flows along gently and effortlessly beside it. Casimir’s love for Sage was truly unconditional and achingly beautiful, as was her family. This was such a wholesome, deeply comforting novel that reads like a love letter to classic fairytales with a modern spin. It’s a quiet celebration of stepping into your truest self, finding your light, and having the courage to simply be yourself and let whimsy in. Thought Daughters will love this one. And of course, at its heart, it’s nothing short of a pure, wholly bewitching story I couldn’t adore more.