An Unlikely Coven - A.M. Kvita - ★★★★

AUTHOR: A.M. Kvita

SERIES: Green Witch Cycle, #1

GENRE: Urban Fantasy

PUBLICATION DATE: October 28, 2025

RATING: 4 stars.

In a Nutshell: A contemporary urban fantasy (NOT cozy fantasy) about a young woman who is the nonmagical one in a family of witches. Eclectic mix of characters, interesting plot with plenty of humour and danger, great use of the NYC setting. Mixed feelings about the world-building. Unnecessary F-bombs. First of a planned series. Good ending, but mild cliffhanger in the epilogue. Quite a nice debut. Recommended.

Plot Preview:

Twenty-five-year-old Joan Greenwood belongs to an elite family of witches. However, she is the only Greenwood who cannot manipulate magic, much to the frustration of her parents. Returning to her home city of New York after seven years hasn’t changed their attitude towards her. The only people showing her warmth are her elder sister Molly, and Joan’s best friend CZ, a vampire.

When there’s news that someone has secretly used a new spell to turn an ordinary human into a magical witch, there is uproar in the witch world. Soon, there is a desperate power struggle to find the spell and the affected human. At the same time, CZ has a secret to share with Joan, one that could possibly put their safety and future at risk.

The story comes to us in Joan’s third-person perspective.

Bookish Yays:

🧙🏻‍♀️ Can I just begin with the fact that the lead character is named ‘Joan’? ‘Joan’!!! In an urban fantasy! That’s a unicorn right there! It is such a relief to read a fantasy where a majority of the character names are familiar and ‘pronounceable’. 😂

🧙🏻‍♀️ Joan. Resilient, reliable, funny, loyal. A worthy lead character.

🧙🏻‍♀️ CZ. I never thought I’d meet a fictional vampire I loved, but whad’ya know! It helps that he is less vampire and more best friend. We all need a bestie like CZ.

🧙🏻‍♀️ The strangers-turned-friends in Joan’s eclectic ‘unlikely coven’ comprising witches, vampires, and a human. All of them have a strong personality that comes out clearly in every scene despite them being part of a large group. None of them are written as perfect, which adds to their charm. (On an aside, I loved that the vampire brothers were named ‘Cain’ and ‘Abel’! 😆)

🧙🏻‍♀️ The two kind of families shown in the story: Joan’s toxic birth family with its incessant demand for loyalty and lack of attention, and Joan’s found family formed with the above set of characters, demonstrating that blood is not always thicker than water. Excellent presentation of complex family dynamics.

🧙🏻‍♀️ The characters are inclusive and diverse not just in terms of their ‘species’ (witch, vampire, fae, human) but also in race, gender identity and sexual identity. At the same time, it never feels like a checklist is being ticked.

🧙🏻‍♀️ The witchy worldbuilding and the use of New York in this regard. It is a New York we know and yet don't know. Quite creative.

🧙🏻‍♀️ The regular sprinkling of humour and banter that help offset the dark and/or emotional scenes.

🧙🏻‍♀️ No kitchen-sink dumping of themes in this debut. The limited number of topics helps each subplot get attention. I especially appreciate the highlight on how a few control the world’s power and money, and don’t bother about those who don’t have the same privilege. True to life!

🧙🏻‍♀️ The romance, or rather, the handling of ‘attraction’. I was apprehensive that the Joan-CZ bond would blossom into love. But Joan turned out to have other preferences. There are potential couplings in the book, but the story never gives highest priority to the romance track. Such thoughts are mostly limited to mentions of attraction, which is normal for the age group. No insta-love – Woohoo!

🧙🏻‍♀️ The ending. Intense, interesting, and complete. I appreciate that there is no forced redemption arc for the negative characters.

🧙🏻‍♀️ The epilogue with its tiny but ominous cliffhanger. The perfect foundation to keep us on our toes until the next instalment arrives. But the main arc is complete, so no worries.

🧙🏻‍♀️ Minor point but worth appreciating: Joan orders a chai, not a "chai tea". Smart girl! 👏🏻

Bookish Okays:

🔮 The story proceeds at a steady pace but it is on the slower side, especially in the first few chapters when nothing much happens.

🔮 Too many characters at the start. It takes some time to remember who's who. Thankfully, a major chunk of these characters are adorable!

🔮 The magic system was fascinating but also went a little over my head, especially in the finale. I hope it is elaborated upon in the sequel.

Bookish Nays:

💣 The non-witchy worldbuilding is mostly ignored. Witches run the magic world, but there are vampires, fae, and other creatures also in this world, not to forget the humans. How do their paths interconnect? Are there boundaries for each species? Where do the humans fit in this version of New York? What happened to Mik’s human family when she was away? Why are vampires lower to witches? Nothing clarified.

💣 F-bombs. Sigh…

Overall, the worldbuilding was the only major issue I had. The characters and the story were engrossing enough, even when the proceedings were slowburn. For a debut novel, this book does really well on the key components.

Note that this isn't a cozy fantasy but an urban fantasy. (The publishers have marketed it correctly, but many readers seem to have jumped to the incorrect tag.) The start might feel cozy, but the story gets quite dark and tense, especially in the final quarter. The presence of cuss words also negates the cosiness.

This is the first book of a new series called ‘Green Witch Cycle’. Planned as a trilogy, the second book has already been turned in for edits. The author plans to release the remaining two books one per year. Good news for me because I don’t want to wait too long! I hope the sequels offer more details on Joan’s life prior to her return to NYC, and on the blended magical world and its denizens.

Recommended to those who would like to read a mildly dark fantasy in an urban setting. Given Joan’s age, I think this might work better for older young adults (15+) and new adults.

My thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and Orbit for providing the DRC of “An Unlikely Coven” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.