witchbuns

Ellen O’Clover, 2025

3.75 stars, not for the lighthearted. 

Sometimes I wonder why do I do this, jump into books where the women are fractured and flailing about until they meet the town vet and he has this raspy voice that mutters slow, low feelings. All the insta love and he was just there! All along! And sometimes the story unearths a tragedy that really explains why the heroine was so low. And in the case of this book, both characters had the extremes of terrible luck. Their loved ones were hurt. I can’t say more. 

I had to put the book down. Why do I do this, the continued reading. This is not a story that I meant to escape within. It was 11 pm at night and I was upset I had continued turning the pages and where I arrived. 

With The Heartbreak Hotel, it’s a mixed recommendation because the heartbreak is deep. The cover of this book makes a fool out of all of us. I want to categorize this as women’s fiction but I think I put that band-aid label on books where the shit gets real and this isn’t just an awkward female with an enemy in one bed. I call it women’s fiction because there’s a larger story that isn’t centered on the intersection between broken trust and defined forearms. An arc, if you will. 

The arc on this is tough, but the setting around it is peaceful, and the side characters are loud and supportive and funny. The writing does have lovely details about Lou’s feelings for Henry that were beautifully laid out, but the relationship between Lou and her sister for me is the stronger storyline. Her older sister hurts her the most and their third act break up and make up is the satisfying conclusion for me. Henry is of course a dreamy dark-haired image, a man who can fix the sink and the door and kiss her in dark corners, but unfortunately he omits truths. He falls insta-hard but withholds trust. I needed more from him to understand why he cared so quickly for Lou, why he changed his life and adapted to her. As a heroine, Lou appeared almost normal, as a caring friend and sister and daughter who was figuring out life and faking a career. Maybe that’s the premise of this, that being yourself and finding honesty is the real path to true love. 

So why do we do this and what makes books a refuge even when they fall into tragedy? I know so much of it is the squeaky feeling in your gut when you live inside someone’s story as they fall in love. Yes, this book has that. Add onto that the warm spread across your chest when you see two people closing and opening their eyes in trust, and yes, we find that in this story. And maybe we feel better about ourselves when the book shares a belief in goodness and honesty and in stepping forward each morning. This book has that, and Ellen O’Clover had a lot to say in this area that I felt concluded very well. I took away a theme centered on caring for others and accept help in turn. That’s a good place to land.