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The Bitterwine Oath
by
Every fifty years, a cult claims twelve men to murder in a small Texas town. Can one girl end the cycle of violence - and save the boy who broke her heart?
San Solano, Texas, is a quaint town known for its charm, hospitality, and history of murder. Twice now, twelve men have been brutally killed, and no one knows who did it. A shadowy witch? A copycat killer? Or a man-hatin ...more
San Solano, Texas, is a quaint town known for its charm, hospitality, and history of murder. Twice now, twelve men have been brutally killed, and no one knows who did it. A shadowy witch? A copycat killer? Or a man-hatin ...more
ebook, 340 pages
Published
December 1st 2020
by Holiday House
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Feb 04, 2021
Alaina
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fantasy,
2021,
mystery,
paranormal,
horror,
romance,
fiction,
young-adult,
contemporary,
supernatural
I have received this ARC from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
The Bitterwine Oath has been sitting on my kindle patiently waiting for me to open it's beautiful pages. After finally doing so, I will admit that it had it's creepy moments. The whole wardens vs wood walkers was definitely interesting and I had suspicious feelings about certain people throughout the entire book.
All I can say is that I was finally right. My creepy vibes were true and I was so happy that I kept to them inste ...more
The Bitterwine Oath has been sitting on my kindle patiently waiting for me to open it's beautiful pages. After finally doing so, I will admit that it had it's creepy moments. The whole wardens vs wood walkers was definitely interesting and I had suspicious feelings about certain people throughout the entire book.
All I can say is that I was finally right. My creepy vibes were true and I was so happy that I kept to them inste ...more

*Source* Publisher
*Genre* Young Adult / Contemporary / Fantasy
*Rating* 3.5
*Thoughts*
Hannah West's The Bitterwine Oath is a mixture of murder + supernatural cult + romance + Southern vibes and sisterhood. In 1921, 4 young women living in of San Solano, Texas; Lillian Pickard, Malachi Rivers, Dorothy Hawkins, and Johanna Mead became known as the Pagans of the Pines. These women wanted to claim vengeance commensurate to their suffering at the hands of men. They instead created a curse which killed ...more
*Genre* Young Adult / Contemporary / Fantasy
*Rating* 3.5
*Thoughts*
Hannah West's The Bitterwine Oath is a mixture of murder + supernatural cult + romance + Southern vibes and sisterhood. In 1921, 4 young women living in of San Solano, Texas; Lillian Pickard, Malachi Rivers, Dorothy Hawkins, and Johanna Mead became known as the Pagans of the Pines. These women wanted to claim vengeance commensurate to their suffering at the hands of men. They instead created a curse which killed ...more

"Unexplained deaths.
The most haunted places of America.
Supernatural Occurrences. "
Solid 3.7 to 4.5 STARS.
This book is like the Chilling adventures of Sabrina and wild west vibes with sprinkles of SuckerPunch (the badass women fighter with awesome music blaring), OH SAN SOLANO TEXAS BABY. We got WITCHES, BLOOD OATHS, GIRL POWER, INDEPENDENCE, MULTIPLE HERITAGE/CULTURES! You know the deathly hallows symbol? Well, how about the Malachian Symbol? This book suggest that when Salem murdered those "wo ...more
The most haunted places of America.
Supernatural Occurrences. "
Solid 3.7 to 4.5 STARS.
This book is like the Chilling adventures of Sabrina and wild west vibes with sprinkles of SuckerPunch (the badass women fighter with awesome music blaring), OH SAN SOLANO TEXAS BABY. We got WITCHES, BLOOD OATHS, GIRL POWER, INDEPENDENCE, MULTIPLE HERITAGE/CULTURES! You know the deathly hallows symbol? Well, how about the Malachian Symbol? This book suggest that when Salem murdered those "wo ...more

Jun 30, 2020
Other Rachel
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
aesthetic,
urban-fantasy,
contemporary,
romance,
mystery-heist,
ya,
horror,
magic-users,
spirits-and-ghosts,
monsters
Okay, now this is how you do a blend of Charmed and The Devouring Gray.
In a haunted summer full of blood and monsters, Natalie just wants to enjoy the time she has left with her friends before they all leave for college. Until dead animals start appearing, some even headless. There are people in her strange town that now act differently toward her, and that includes her crush Levi and her best friend, but what scares Nat most are the nightmares.
As the descendant from the leader of a cult, known ...more
In a haunted summer full of blood and monsters, Natalie just wants to enjoy the time she has left with her friends before they all leave for college. Until dead animals start appearing, some even headless. There are people in her strange town that now act differently toward her, and that includes her crush Levi and her best friend, but what scares Nat most are the nightmares.
As the descendant from the leader of a cult, known ...more

Thank you Holiday House and TBR and Beyond Tours for a complimentary copy. I voluntarily reviewed this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
The Bitterwine Oath
By: Hannah West
REVIEW ☆☆☆☆
Learn from the past, else you be doomed to repeat it. In Hannah West's The Bitterwine Oath, eighteen year old Natalie lives in a small southern town with a terrible legacy. One hundred years ago witches, essentially, killed a dozen men. But, just fifty years ago, this same thing happened again. Now, at the on ...more
The Bitterwine Oath
By: Hannah West
REVIEW ☆☆☆☆
Learn from the past, else you be doomed to repeat it. In Hannah West's The Bitterwine Oath, eighteen year old Natalie lives in a small southern town with a terrible legacy. One hundred years ago witches, essentially, killed a dozen men. But, just fifty years ago, this same thing happened again. Now, at the on ...more

ugh I really did not vibe. writing and style felt immature. Don’t laugh but the magic felt really unrealistic and poorly developed (woodwalkers?????). I have such a hard time giving up on books - I always want to finish them, but I really could have stopped after the first 50 pages because it didn’t get any better.

I really enjoyed this one. Not your usual teen witch book.

You can read the full review on my blog We Write at Dawn
My expectations going into this book were way different than the book I read. I thought this was going to be about a cult our main character Natalie (Nat) gets sucked into as they plan to commit murder on the 100th anniversary of the initial massacre.
What I read was so much better.
First off, the magical element in it was so well done. It answered every question I could come up with each time a problem was presented. How did Nat forget wha ...more
My expectations going into this book were way different than the book I read. I thought this was going to be about a cult our main character Natalie (Nat) gets sucked into as they plan to commit murder on the 100th anniversary of the initial massacre.
What I read was so much better.
First off, the magical element in it was so well done. It answered every question I could come up with each time a problem was presented. How did Nat forget wha ...more

Disclaimer: I received this arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book: The Bitterwine Oath
Author: Hannah West
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 3/5
Recommended For...: Fantasy, paranormal, ya
Publication Date: December 1, 2020
Publisher: Holiday House
Pages: 320
Recommended Age: 16+ (abuse, lynching, animal death and gore, molestation)
Synopsis: San Solano, Texas, is a quaint town known for its charm, hospitality, and history of murder. Twice now, twelve men have been brutally killed, a ...more
Book: The Bitterwine Oath
Author: Hannah West
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 3/5
Recommended For...: Fantasy, paranormal, ya
Publication Date: December 1, 2020
Publisher: Holiday House
Pages: 320
Recommended Age: 16+ (abuse, lynching, animal death and gore, molestation)
Synopsis: San Solano, Texas, is a quaint town known for its charm, hospitality, and history of murder. Twice now, twelve men have been brutally killed, a ...more

I can only imagine what it’s like living in a town where cult massacres take place. And of course, with the 100th anniversary coming up, the town is more popular than it’s ever been. The Bitterwine Oath has a great spooky atmosphere, but it wasn’t everything that I was expecting (not all in a bad way).
Our main character Natalie is a descendant of the cult leader and it doesn’t seem like fun being looked upon for that. After senior year ends, all she wants is to spend time with her friends before ...more
Our main character Natalie is a descendant of the cult leader and it doesn’t seem like fun being looked upon for that. After senior year ends, all she wants is to spend time with her friends before ...more

I read this book as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours. Special thanks to Holiday House and the author for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review! 4 stars
This is the kind of book about witches, supernatural horrors and basically all the scary things that go bump which I’d normally stay away from, but the mystery aspect in the synopsis was too intriguing for me to resist! While the story ended up being quite different to what I expected, I have to say that I really enjo ...more
This is the kind of book about witches, supernatural horrors and basically all the scary things that go bump which I’d normally stay away from, but the mystery aspect in the synopsis was too intriguing for me to resist! While the story ended up being quite different to what I expected, I have to say that I really enjo ...more

*Thank you to Penguin Teen Canada for sending a copy in exchange for an honest review!*
Let me first start off with talking about how pretty this cover is! From the beginning it sets the atmospheric vibe of a small town with dark secrets. The magic system in this book is based on wardens of three types; bone, blood and earth. This concept was something I was interested in right away and I would have loved to see more of it in action. Part of becoming a warden is to take a bitterwine oath which in ...more
Let me first start off with talking about how pretty this cover is! From the beginning it sets the atmospheric vibe of a small town with dark secrets. The magic system in this book is based on wardens of three types; bone, blood and earth. This concept was something I was interested in right away and I would have loved to see more of it in action. Part of becoming a warden is to take a bitterwine oath which in ...more

Dec 15, 2020
Laura
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mt-bookpile-2020,
old-reads
Natalie lives in very small town in Texas haunted by the events of 100 and 50 years ago, when twelve men were somehow massacred in a church. Adding to the mystery of those events is the fact that surrounding these deaths are girls who appear to be witches (an appearance helped by the publication of a book by one of those witches). And Natalie? She's a direct descendant of the "head" witch, the one who perhaps caused all the deaths.
It doesn't take too much imagination to see where all this will ...more
It doesn't take too much imagination to see where all this will ...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

I was really excited about this book and guess who was happy when she saw that she got chosen for this tour? Yes, that would be me.
So I absolutely love stories about witches, covens and everything related to magic. Especially if it’s set in the modern times. We got some flashbacks to see how everything started and I loved reading these. “The Bitterwine Oath“, is the perfect spooky read that I would have loved to read during Halloween but also during these cold and wintery days it’s still the per ...more
So I absolutely love stories about witches, covens and everything related to magic. Especially if it’s set in the modern times. We got some flashbacks to see how everything started and I loved reading these. “The Bitterwine Oath“, is the perfect spooky read that I would have loved to read during Halloween but also during these cold and wintery days it’s still the per ...more

Dec 07, 2020
Anushka | bibliophile_onloose
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
books-in-2020
Find this and other reviews in my blog.
The Bitterwine Oath gave me strong Vampire Diaries feels and it almost felt as if I was watching a Netflix show. It has just the right plotline, suspense and the extra mystery which made me love reading this gorgeous book.
Nat, a high school student, is the great-great-granddaughter of Malachi Rivers, the witch who was involved in the murder of twelve men in the town of San Solano, Texas, a century ago. She has a crush on a boy named Levi who is the great-gr ...more
The Bitterwine Oath gave me strong Vampire Diaries feels and it almost felt as if I was watching a Netflix show. It has just the right plotline, suspense and the extra mystery which made me love reading this gorgeous book.
Nat, a high school student, is the great-great-granddaughter of Malachi Rivers, the witch who was involved in the murder of twelve men in the town of San Solano, Texas, a century ago. She has a crush on a boy named Levi who is the great-gr ...more

Thank you to the publisher, Holiday House for an ARC. All opinions are my own!
PRETTY SPOOKY.
BLOG || INSTAGRAM
I had an overall good time with this. I even found myself completely spooked out after the first couple of chapters. Hidden cult in the woods murdering men? Yeah, that’ll do it.
The story was intriguing and I liked reading the author’s notes at the end about creating it. While there was only one full point-of-view, there were many story lines to wrap together. Everything did weave together ...more
PRETTY SPOOKY.
BLOG || INSTAGRAM
I had an overall good time with this. I even found myself completely spooked out after the first couple of chapters. Hidden cult in the woods murdering men? Yeah, that’ll do it.
The story was intriguing and I liked reading the author’s notes at the end about creating it. While there was only one full point-of-view, there were many story lines to wrap together. Everything did weave together ...more

May 13, 2020
Barbara
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
animals,
compassion,
death,
empathy,
families,
friendship,
health,
jobs,
rural-life,
bullies
Although I liked this book well enough, there were several parts that just seemed to drag on and on, and I wanted the author to just cut to the chase, and there were some aspects that just were hard to believe such as how these young women were able to enchant the local police force so that they were unaware of what was going on. The plot centers around eighteen-year-old Natalie Colter, who is spending one last summer with her friends in San Solano, Texas, before leaving for college in Louisiana
...more

The Bitterwine Oath sounded so different from Hannah West's debut fantasy series, the Nissera Chronicles, I knew I had to give it a try. It did not let me down. The Bitterwine Oath is a paranormal gem of a story.
Going into The Bitterwine Oath, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Yet, the plot wholly captured me as soon as I started reading. The book had the most pulse-pounding, creepy and tense atmosphere. Everything made me nervous but like Natalie, I was determined to find out the truths.
I wa ...more
Going into The Bitterwine Oath, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Yet, the plot wholly captured me as soon as I started reading. The book had the most pulse-pounding, creepy and tense atmosphere. Everything made me nervous but like Natalie, I was determined to find out the truths.
I wa ...more

The Bitterwine Oath was the absolute perfect blend of creepy and spooky with romance woven in. The author somehow captured the experience of southern living perfectly with phrases that hit me in the face and sent shivers down my spine when they leaped off the page. I thoughtlessly switched from amused and giggly from the one lines to breathless and rapt from the tension. At times, I felt like I was actually experiencing the events, and that is super rare for me! West also masterfully shared the
...more

Engaging paranormal tale where a Texas town's supernatural gruesome history is bound to be repeated and the girl who is willing to do anything to stop it.
...more

The Bitterwine Oath by Hannah West purports itself to be a Gothic supernatural thriller along the lines of Buffy. Except, it really isn’t. It takes a lot for any story to live up to a Gothic moniker or compare to Buffy, and Ms. West’s attempt fails on many counts.
No matter what era, most Gothic novels contain exquisite descriptions that are both effective in establishing not only the setting but also the otherworldly feel of the story. Ms. West attempts to accomplish this in The Bitterwine Oath. ...more
No matter what era, most Gothic novels contain exquisite descriptions that are both effective in establishing not only the setting but also the otherworldly feel of the story. Ms. West attempts to accomplish this in The Bitterwine Oath. ...more

An engrossing, atmospheric YA horror. I would give it a rating between 3.5 and 4 stars.
Every fifty years, a cult claims twelve men to murder in a small Texas town.
The Bitterwine Oath tells the gripping story of a small town haunted by whispers of magic, rumours of a mysterious cult and the unsolved deaths of 24 men. As the descendant of the original cult leader, Natalie Colter, the protagonist, finds herself drawn into a hidden world of bloody secrets and twisted magic, as the 100 year anniversa ...more
Every fifty years, a cult claims twelve men to murder in a small Texas town.
The Bitterwine Oath tells the gripping story of a small town haunted by whispers of magic, rumours of a mysterious cult and the unsolved deaths of 24 men. As the descendant of the original cult leader, Natalie Colter, the protagonist, finds herself drawn into a hidden world of bloody secrets and twisted magic, as the 100 year anniversa ...more

This book isn’t exactly what I had thought it would be – that isn’t bad, just threw me when I first started. This isn’t a story about a cult – well not exactly anyways. And that was the biggest hurtle for me when reading this book. This is of course my fault since I didn’t fully read the synopsis (I rarely do).
Once I got over my original misconceptions about the book, I started to really enjoy the story. West’s writing is easy to get sucked into. The characters are easy to relate to. You can see ...more
Once I got over my original misconceptions about the book, I started to really enjoy the story. West’s writing is easy to get sucked into. The characters are easy to relate to. You can see ...more

I can see why some people had questions, but for the most part I really enjoyed this book. I don't normally read books about cults, supernatural/witches/horror, but for some reason I felt compelled to try this one.
I liked the modernity to the characters and the town. Nat is a very likable character, and I found myself emotional involved in her story. I do think her romance with Levi could have been portrayed better and given more a backstory or explanation as to why he basically ignored his feel ...more
I liked the modernity to the characters and the town. Nat is a very likable character, and I found myself emotional involved in her story. I do think her romance with Levi could have been portrayed better and given more a backstory or explanation as to why he basically ignored his feel ...more

The Bitterwine Oath is a story of family legacy, magic and darkness that focuses on eighteen year old Nat Colter, who lives in the shadow of her famous relative, Malachi Rivers. Malachi was one of the infamous "Pagans of the Pines," girls who cast a curse to reveal the evil in men's hearts, but set in motion a dark turn of events that led to twelve men and boys dead, ruthlessly murdered by Woodwalkers, and then again on the 50th anniversary of the event. As San Solano braces itself for the hundr
...more

This book takes off to a slow start but it picks up about 100 pages in and I really liked the slow start. I liked the amount of time that was taken in order to introduce characters and the back story to the plot. I really enjoyed the thorough description of the past and how that past plays into the present time story. Usually by the time that I am halfway through the book I know enough that I can write a review but this time I didn't know enough to form an opinion either way. I was happy that as
...more

THE BITTERWINE OATH is a YA fantasy and light horror read. Nat is the descendent of the girl who put their town on the map, Malachi, who was blamed for the murder of 12 men 100 years ago. Her role could not be proven and was suggested to be witchcraft. They were awful men, but the crime was copied 50 years later, though the details were changed and 12 young men died. Now, at the 100 year anniversary, Nat finds herself and the town a little on edge.
Aside from the town's inability to forget these ...more
Aside from the town's inability to forget these ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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Challenge Corner: The Bitterwine Oath by Hannah West -> Starting January 28th, 2021 | 16 | 5 | Feb 23, 2021 09:41AM |
Hannah West is the author of young adult novels includingThe Nissera Chronicles and The Bitterwine Oath. She's always loved writing about magic and fairytales, but her time studying abroad in Orléans, France inspired her to finally write and publish a fantasy novel. She's a freelance writer living in Texas with her husband and their rambunctious rescue dogs.
...more
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