Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore by Emily Krempholtz Format: eARC
Source: supplied by publisher via NetGalley
Formats available: hardcover, large print, paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genres: cozy fantasy, fantasy, fantasy romance, romantasy, witches
Pages: 368
Published by Ace on November 18, 2025
Purchasing Info: Author's Website, Publisher's Website, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Bookshop.org, Better World Books
Goodreads
A powerful plant witch and a grumpy alchemist must work together to save their quiet town from a magical plague in this debut cozy fantasy romance about starting over, redemption, and what it really means to be a good person.
Guy Shadowfade is dead, and after a lifetime as the dark sorcerer’s right-hand, Violet Thistlewaite is determined to start over—not as the fearsome Thornwitch, but as someone kind. Someone better. Someone good.
The quaint town of Dragon’s Rest, Violet decides, will be her second chance—she’ll set down roots, open a flower shop, keep her sentient (mildly homicidal) houseplant in check, and prune dark magic from the twisted boughs of her life.
Violet’s vibrant bouquets and cheerful enchantments soon charm the welcoming townsfolk, though nothing seems to impress the prickly yet dashingly handsome Nathaniel Marsh, an alchemist sharing her greenhouse. With a struggling business and his own second chance seemingly out of reach, Nathaniel has no time for flowers or frippery—and certainly none for the intriguing witch next door.
When a mysterious blight threatens every living plant in Dragon’s Rest, Violet and Nathaniel must work together through their fears, pasts, and growing feelings for one another to save their community. But with a figure from her past knocking at her door and her secrets threatening to uproot everything she’s worked so hard to grow, Violet can’t help but wonder…does a former villain truly deserve a happily-ever-after?
My Review:
Violet Thistlewaite is not a villain anymore, but there’s something inside her that still wants to be one. Or that just finds villainy easier. Or at least finds doing evil things with her prodigious magical power easier. Whichever it is, Violet is all in on being ‘good’.
The village of Dragon’s Rest has earned every drop of good that Violet can muster. Once upon a time, just a few short weeks ago, Violet was the dreaded Thornwitch, right hand minion and adopted daughter of Guy Shadowfade, the evil tyrannical wizard who rules over Dragon’s Rest, the lands that surrounded it – and pretty much anywhere else he wanted.
The Thornwitch was his favorite – and his favorite weapon – in getting those places he wanted that didn’t want him back under his dominion. The Thornwitch’s power may not have all been in her name and her signature thorns, but a lot of it was. She had power over plant growth and the soil that grew those plants. She had the power to make things grow – and she had the power to blight the land so nothing ever grew there again.
She could choke resistance with her thorns – or she could starve it into submission by turning every farmers’ field into a poisonous desert. With her at his side, resistance to Guy Shadowfade tended to be brief.
At least until she discovered that Guy had lied to her all of her life. That she hadn’t been abandoned because she was evil. That Guy had stolen her because she was powerful. So she used all that power he had coveted and nurtured – against him.
Now she’s come back to Dragon’s Rest, a village long in the shadow of Guy’s dubious protection – and power. But she’s come, not as the Thornwitch, but as Violet Thistlewaite, a woman with some magical power – but not more than many people in this world – over plants. Violet has come to open a florist’s shop in a place where people don’t have much to smile about. Because of what she once supported.
But the one person Violet can’t make smile is her landlord, alchemist-turned-apothecary Nicholas Marsh. Nicholas is certain Violet is hiding something – but then again, so is he. Mostly, he’s hiding that he’s desperately in debt after inheriting his parents’ apothecary. And he’s guilty about it because they went into that debt to let him fulfill his dream of becoming an alchemist.
His dream caused their debt – and their deaths. Leaving Nicholas determined to find a solution to the issues blighting his town – including the literal plant blight that has arisen out of nowhere just as not one, but two strangers come to town.
One he can’t stand – and one he can’t stand NOT to look at. The woman who haunts his dreams that he believes he doesn’t deserve to touch. The one person with the power to help him in his quest – and the person he knows he shouldn’t trust. But does anyway.
Because Violet Thistlewaite has power over Nicholas Marsh that she’s afraid to acknowledge. And power over plants that she’s afraid to use to its fullest measure. She’s afraid that her power might turn evil, never realizing that it already has.
Escape Rating A+: I went into this not knowing what to expect – because this is an OMG DEBUT novel – and I absolutely loved it.
It’s not quite cozy, but it is very cozy-esq or cozy-like or cozy-lite, depending on how those terms strike you. Violet’s origin story isn’t cozy at all. Although it is a bit Wicked – or at least a bit Wicked-adjacent. (The book, not the attribute. Or not just the attribute)
There’s still a cozy aspect, as Violet didn’t get involved in villainy because she’s inherently evil. She became the Thornwitch because it made her adopted daddy happy. He started beguiling her down this path when she was too young to know better – and gaslit her about how dependent she was on him every step of that thorny way.
And Violet’s actions in Dragon’s Rest, as well as Dragon’s Rest itself, are definitely cozy. The way she adopts the town and vice versa reminded me a lot of The Keeper of Magical Things, both in the setting, and in the push/pull of using magic to help the town without going overboard or over the top or over the line into the forbidden.
The relationship that develops between Nicholas and Violet struck me as similar to the romance in Wooing the Witch Queen with its big secrets and mistaken identities and definitely in the way that the secret doesn’t come out until it’s much later than it should be. Also that the inhabitants of the Witch Queen’s castle had as many secrets themselves as the residents of Dragon’s Rest and even the village itself.
A huge part of THIS story, however, is all about redemption. Violet is looking for redemption for the things she did when she followed Shadowfade. Nicholas hopes for redemption for what happened with his parents as well as the guilt he feels not just for their deaths but for his resentment over being stuck in Dragon’s Rest as a result.
That someone wants to pick up the pieces of Guy Shadowfade’s power – nature abhors a vacuum after all – isn’t the heart of this story or even Violet’s quest. It’s the way that everyone bands together to get out from under even the touch of the shadow of Guy Shadowfade, and the way it happens, which gave the story the delightful, rousing cheer of a finish that everything that came before was simply begging for.
I had a fantastic time visiting Dragon’s Rest and following Violet Thistlewaite’s determination not to be a villain anymore. If you loved any of the books mentioned above, I think you will too.
