AN ANCIENT WITCH’S GUIDE TO MODERN DATING by Cecilia Edward – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

An Ancient Witch's Guide to Modern Dating by Cecilia Edward
Published by Saga Press on June 24 2025
Genres: Adult, Cozy fantasy
Pages: 320
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Cats, cozy fantasy and time travel combine in this delightful witchy feel-good romance.

I was expecting An Ancient Witch’s Guide to Modern Dating to be a cute rom-com, but I didn’t expect it to have so much heart and emotion. I ended up falling head over heels for Thorn, Walls and all the many cats in the story (more about those cats later!), and because of that and some unexpected story elements, this turned out to be such a happy surprise.

Thorn Scarhart is a witch living in the 17th century. She’s thirty-nine years old and has yet to find a man who will love her. Her mother spent most of her life trying to perfect her True Love potion, but she died before she could find true love herself. Ever since, Thorn has been convinced that life isn’t worth living without true love, and she believes that magic is the only way to achieve it.

When the latest in a string of potential mates fails—Thorn has even enlisted the services of a matchmaker—she decides to try her ever evolving potion one more time. Unfortunately, something goes wrong and Thorn wakes up three hundred years in the future. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that the future isn’t so bad—electricity, plumbing and online dating are all new concepts to Thorn, but she has no trouble adapting to them.

Thorn makes friends with Meg, the woman taking care of Thorn’s house in the future (which is now a historical landmark) and her brother Walls, a veterinarian who, in his spare time, captures, fixes and releases stray cats. She even begins to navigate online dating. But finding a partner in the future is just as hard as it is in the past, until Thorn begins to realize that there are more important things than true love.

This was such a fun story about finding love, and even better, finding yourself. Thorn is single minded when it comes to looking for a man—and at first I was worried about her belief that a woman’s life isn’t worth living without one—but the more time she spends in the future, and the more she gets to know Walls, she begins to realize that there is much more to life than making a love connection. She also has low self-esteem, due to the way her mother treated her, and part of her journey is discovering her own self worth. The (very slow build) romance with Walls was wonderful. They become friends first, and the rest follows organically.

While I initially found parts of this book to be a little on the silly side (for example, Thorn dresses like a clichéd Halloween version of a witch, complete with pointy hat and shoes, striped stockings and a black cloak), it didn’t take long to find the emotional layers beneath the surfacey elements. There are a couple of mysteries going on, one of which involves Thorn’s dead sister Rose, and Thorn is faced with dredging up some terrible memories in her past and dealing with them in the present.

And let’s talk about the cats, because they are a big part of the story (and my favorite). Thorn’s familiar is a cat named Bandit, and it turns out she can read cats’ minds and communicate with them. She can also tell how many lives a cat has left by feeling their toe pads. Bandit gets sucked into the future with Thorn, and when they arrive, they meet a couple of stray cats named Pumpkin and Pepper, both “victims” of Walls’ catch and release program. It turns out Walls is a kind-hearted animal lover, gentle and trustworthy, which is one reason I loved him so much. There is another mystery that revolves around the cats and something that is being done to them—of course, Thorn suspects magic. I absolutely loved all the cats and their snarky humor, and one of my favorite things was when the cats explain the “cosmic cat distribution system” to Thorn (the idea that a random cat will appear on your doorstep just when you need it most). Cat lovers are going to want to read this just for the cats, and dog people might find themselves converted, fair warning!

And I can’t forget the humor, which was nicely done with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. Of course, watching Thorn try to adapt to the 21st century was funny enough (I especially loved when Meg does a makeover for her and buys her a pair of jeans, which she calls “Jean’s pants.” LOL). There’s a side story involving a villager named Penny who Thorn turns into a frog right before she’s transported to the future, and Penny hitches a ride in her pocket. Edward does a great job of keeping track of all the little details she introduces to the story, making sure each one is resolved.

I loved a couple of twists near the end involving some interesting connections between the characters, and Edward adds some tension to her otherwise low stakes tale that puts the cats and Walls in danger. But don’t be surprised by the happily ever after, because it’s just that kind of story. This was a delight from start to finish, and a “can’t miss” book for lovers of cats and cozy fantasies. 

Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.