The Coven

Written by Harper L. Woods, The Coven (2023) is the first book in Woods’s Coven of Bones series, which focuses on the life and education of 20-year-old Willow Madizza. Willow’s dual nature as a Green witch and a necromancer (or Black witch) fulfills a centuries-old prophecy that affects the fate of all witches and demons, including Lucifer himself. Willow’s magical duality also emphasizes the balance of opposites found in everything and everyone. When she is drawn to the mysterious headmaster of Hollow’s Grove Academy, a creature whom she is tasked with seducing and killing, her choices highlight the tension between duty and desire and explore the ruinous effects of the cycle of revenge.

On her website, Woods, a New York Times bestselling fantasy romance author, describes The Coven as a “gothic, dark academia, paranormal romance” (“Coven of Bones.” Adelaide Forrest & Harper L. Woods). She is also known by the pseudonym Adelaide Forrest, the name under which Woods writes her dark romances. To date, Woods/Forrest has published a range of romance series, including the Massacred Dreams, Of Flesh and Bone, and Bellandi Crime Syndicate series.