romantasy

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The Witch’s Compass is Out Today!

Today is the day! The Witch’s Compass, Book 3 of my new fiction series, Witches of the New Forest, is out now!

Everything you do, everything you think, is a spell.

Hunter Williams is coming into her own power, despite having lost her way. Hunter’s past has dictated her future for many, many years. This is beginning to affect her not only as a person, but also as Witch. Her magick starts to change, and sometimes not for the better. As she steps into the Witch’s Compass, she finds a return to her authentic self, and under the protection of a goddess, she begins the final stages of her quest to cross the veil between the worlds to reunite her family. The adventure continues with Hunter, Jack, Ryder, Elspeth and Abigail!

Can Hunter and Jack reconcile, after everything that has happened? Will their love see them through the many hardships that still await them? Will Hunter be able to get a better grasp on her pride, her emotions and her powers? Only the Witch’s Compass can guide her…

Don’t forget, Hunter still has the daunting task of trying to free Aedon, if she can find him. And what will the sisters do with their legacy ? Will they stay in in the New Forest, becoming fully-fledged members of the magickal community, or will they return back to Canada? Where does that leave the magickal community of Burley, now possibly embroiled in a Witch War that could threaten their very existence?

The Witch’s Compass finishes Hunter’s trilogy, before we move on to her sister, Ryder’s story in Smugglers and Secrets, Book 4 of the Witches of the New Forest (out at the end of 2025). 

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and support for this project. It is so good to be writing fiction again, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy this series!

P.S. Head on over to my website for links to free bonus material for each book!

Blessings,
Joanna

Witches of the New Forest series, by Joanna van der Hoeven
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The topic of ‘Romantasy’

I was a call-in guest today on the Jeremy Vine BBC Radio 2 Show today, and we were discussing ‘romantasy’ as the new genre that’s getting everyone talking. Here’s a link to the episode, and for those who are unable to listen, please see the short transcript below.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0027mf4

Tina Daheley – Joanna is in Woodbridge, Suffolk – Joanna, ‘Romantasy’, what is your view?

Joanna van der Hoeven – “I think it’s wonderful that it is so prevalent now, because it is saying to women, ‘Don’t be ashamed to like, what you like’. You will see women on the trains, on the buses, reading these books, and it is allowing you to just say, ‘Yes! This is what I am going to consume, this is what I like,” and to not be ashamed of it, because far too often we are made to feel small, or ashamed for anything to do with sexuality, as women. And so, the whole ‘Fairy Porn’ thing, when I first heard that it made me laugh out loud, but then I thought, ‘Well, isn’t it the same thing as the patriarchy trying to tell women not to be sexual creatures?

TD – “So it’s reductive, you think, calling it “Fairy Porn.”

Joanna van der Hoeven – “Exactly, yeah. As an author myself, as a romantasy author, I find that it is empowering for women to say, ‘This is what we like, so let’s continue with it.’

TD – “Alright, Joanna, thank you very much!”