Format: 400 pages, Paperback
Release Date: September 8, 2026
Publisher: Ace
Source: Publisher
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
Publisher: Ace
Source: Publisher
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
A reluctant witch must confront the magic she's always denied after accidentally triggering a curse in this delightfully cozy fantasy from the author of Rewitched and Uncharmed.
Sage Hemlock has no interest in embracing her witchy side. Magic has betrayed her before, bringing nothing but heartache, and she will not let something so foolish happen again.
Instead, Sage has thrown herself into her work and studies, running the local museum and largely preferring the company of her library and her cat to other humans. Her one goal is to fly under the coven’s radar so that she can finally shed her blasted powers forever.
But when a strange historical book accidentally sets off a curse, Sage’s quiet small-town life is suddenly overrun and magic is running rife. A beanstalk grows in her garden, and her friend and coworker Casimir starts to look an awful lot like a handsome prince. Fairy tales are coming true. . . .
Now, with the threat of the coven on her tail, Sage must confront the magic she’s always denied to solve the mysteries of the book and save everyone she’s come to love from being lost to a fairy tale forever. The question is, can she finally learn to be her own happily ever after?
Sage Hemlock has no interest in embracing her witchy side. Magic has betrayed her before, bringing nothing but heartache, and she will not let something so foolish happen again.
Instead, Sage has thrown herself into her work and studies, running the local museum and largely preferring the company of her library and her cat to other humans. Her one goal is to fly under the coven’s radar so that she can finally shed her blasted powers forever.
But when a strange historical book accidentally sets off a curse, Sage’s quiet small-town life is suddenly overrun and magic is running rife. A beanstalk grows in her garden, and her friend and coworker Casimir starts to look an awful lot like a handsome prince. Fairy tales are coming true. . . .
Now, with the threat of the coven on her tail, Sage must confront the magic she’s always denied to solve the mysteries of the book and save everyone she’s come to love from being lost to a fairy tale forever. The question is, can she finally learn to be her own happily ever after?
Disenchanted is the third installment in author Lucy Jane Wood's Selcouth series. Each book features different characters. The events of Disenchanted take place after Annie's story in Uncharmed and Belle's adventures in Rewitched, but all three are standalone stories set in the Selcouth world within alternative London. This story follows Sage Hemlock, a witch who deliberately suppressed her powers after they betrayed her as a teenager, leaving her with lasting heartache.
She has poured herself into academia and into running the local museum in the small, magically tinged town of Port Sylvan, preferring the company of books, her library, and her cat as she tries to stay under the coven’s radar and eventually shed her abilities for good. When a strange historical book—a grimoire linked to the witch Lilara Mournfell—accidentally triggers a curse, Sage’s carefully ordered life unravels.
Fairy tales invade reality: a beanstalk sprouts in her garden, her sister travels by pumpkin, neighbors and surroundings take on storybook forms (gingerbread houses, winged children, archetypal roles), and her best friend and museum co-worker Casimir begins to resemble a classic handsome prince. Sage must confront the magic she has long denied to unravel the curse’s mysteries and prevent her loved ones—and the town—from being permanently trapped in fairy-tale roles.
The central question is whether she can become her own happily ever after. Wood has described the early pitch as “witchy Shrek”: a cantankerous, grumpy, less typically lovable witch furious at being surrounded by ridiculously clichéd magic. Sage is the standout—prickly, academic, overthinking, and shaped by eldest-daughter pressure and past trauma. Her reluctance feels earned rather than merely contrary, and her gradual growth toward self-acceptance and the courage to claim her power (and her life) anchors the story.
Casimir is the golden-retriever counterpart: loyal, witty, infuriatingly charming, and supportive without rescuing her. Their relationship is a gentle friends-to-lovers slow burn that develops from longstanding closeness and mutual irritation; romance is present but secondary to the magical and emotional core, remaining low-heat and non-spicy. Supporting figures enrich the world without overwhelming it: Sage’s siblings, a cheeky cat familiar named Malachite, and a ghostly companion, Maggie, who makes an ideal companion for Sage.
Family, her brother Robin and sister Laurel, is portrayed as steady and loving rather than dramatic. Core themes include self-love, forgiveness, accepting one’s full self (magic and all), and the bravery of choosing joy and whimsy despite past hurt. It emphasizes that the witch can win on her own terms. The book balances humor (especially Sage’s exasperation) with emotional depth around self-worth and trauma. The story is especially suited to readers who enjoy cozy fantasy with witchy, small-town, and fairy-tale retelling flavors (think low-stakes magic, found family, and autumn atmosphere in the vein of Wood’s prior books.
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