A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family–and a new love–changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for….

This witchy book is sweet, a bit romantic, and very whimsical. It’s a bit Mary Poppins, a bit House on the Cerulean Sea… and just a wee bit naughty too (more on that later).

Mika is a young, kind-hearted witch who grew up in loneliness and isolation — because the biggest rule for witches is to stay very, very far away from one another. When witches gather, so does magic, and when a lot of magic gets concentrated in one place, all sorts of unwanted outcomes can result — and when there are big magical accidents, it attracts attention. As history has shown, attention can be very bad for witches, so it’s best to just avoid it at all costs.

But Mika is lonely, and to keep herself amused and engaged, she creates a web series where she pretends to be a witch offering videos on potion-making. It’s cute and silly, and she doesn’t expect anyone to actually believe her… but of course, as the synopsis points out, someone does.

She’s invited to Nowhere House, where three young, orphaned witches are being raised by an assortment of adult caretakers. They’re sheltered and fed and clothed (and completely doted upon), but they have no control over their magic, and no one to teach them. Without some sort of intervention, the adults in charge are afraid of what might happen. Mika seems to be the answer to their prayers.

Before long, she’s made herself a part of the household, captivating the girls with her magical abilities, and captivating the sexy librarian with her sweetness and smiles. There are some outside threats to their happy household, but I felt pretty confident throughout that nothing too bad could happen, given the light, bubbly tone of the book.

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches could almost be a children’s story, if the point-of-view characters changed a bit and if you stripped away the romance. There are some adorable scenes of wide-eyed wonder, as Mika shows the girls the possibilities of a life infused with magic — like, for example, when she arrives at Nowhere House with an entire koi pond in the backseat of her car.

The romance elements are for the most part understated, although (as I hinted earlier) there is one scene that’s fairly steamy in nature (not anatomical, in terms of graphicness, but more than just implied). Side note: I was annoyed that the characters did NOT use a condom! Most contemporary romances incorporate safe sex practices into the sex scenes these days, so it’s very noticeable (and not okay!!) when one doesn’t.

The cast of characters is nicely diverse, with many different ethnicities, national origins, genders, ages, and orientations represented. I appreciated that this element was all very matter of fact, too — the diversity is just part of the whole, and not presented in a “hey, I’m being so hip and inclusive!” sort of way (if that makes any sense).

Overall, the mood and tone of this book is light, cheery, and yes, very whimsical. Nothing terrible ever happens, the characters are delightfully quirky, there are plenty of silly little moments, and there’s an overarching sense of wonderful awe whenever magic is involved.

This is a sweet, quick read, good for when you’re looking for a fanciful diversion with lovable characters. A great choice to read with a mug of hot cocoa and some fuzzy slippers!