The Wycherleys by Annaliese Avery book review

A YA fantasy book that was highly recommended to me and I had a great time with

YA Romantasy
First in a Series
New to Me Author
423 Pages
4.25 Stars

Would I Recommend This One? Easily, especially to YA fantasy or teenage readers

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Review -

Ahead of starting this one I had only heard good things about it from a few different people I trust so I was really excited to give it a shot. I also was not disappointed in any way by this book, had a great time with it and now cannot wait for the sequel at the start of 2026.

The Wycherleys follows seventeen year old Aurelia Whycherley who is entering her debutante season as a witch and while like her fellow debutantes she should be excited about finding another witch to tether her magic with she can’t because her magic is cursed and not something someone else will want to match with. But when she learns that Jules Nightly, a member of the enemy family that cursed her family is looking for a way for a witch to keep their magic without tethering she realises he may be her only hope.

This book has so many amazing elements in it, a forbidden romance, magic and witches, and a mystery that had me hooked along with some great friendships. All of these things combined led to me just loving this book and knowing that I need to read more Annaliese Avery.

I absolutely loved the relationships in this book. The friendship between Aurelia and Constance was so special to read and I was so happy to read more and more of it. I loved how much Annaliese Avery explored it and how much the pair of them meant to each other, even while they were both looking for something else. In addition to this I loved the sibling relationship between Aurelia and her brother, they were really there for each other and wanted to look after that relationship but also eventually give each other the right amount of space.

Jules and Aurelia’s relationship developed loads throughout the book which I loved reading. They became really special to each other along with massively pushing the story forward together in a way that I loved. I definitely am looking forward to seeing their relationship continue to develop in book 2.

I loved learning more and more about the magic as this book went on and I have a feeling that we will continue to learn more about the magic as the series continue which really excites me. You start out being told enough to understand the story and as the book goes on with the characters you learn more about the current magic system and what the magic had previously been like, in the first and second ages of magic and how that differed to the third age.

This was my first book by Annaliese Avery and I know that it will not be my last. I am both really excited to continue this series and interested to read something else not connected to this world to see what I think. I highly recommend this book to fans of YA fantasy and regency romances along with to teenage readers because it definitely felt like a YA story written for teens.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children’s UK for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.