Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous

by Autumn K. England

STARDEW VALLEY meets STUDIO GHIBLI in a charming cozy fantasy about healing, redemption, and the subtle magic of simple living. Perfect for fans of Can't Spell Treason Without Tea and The Spellshop. Welcome home, weary traveler.

When Oaklin Nettlewood accidentally joined an evil world-ending cult, mind control magic forced them to do unspeakable things. Years later, the realm's heroes have finally saved the day, defeated the villain, and shattered the last remnants of the spell...leaving destruction in their wake. And so, with a spell-damaged memory and whole bushel of trauma, Oaklin escapes to a small farm on the edge of Mossley's Rest and swears an oath: After all the things they were forced to do with their magic, they will never use it again. Ever.

The no-nonsense ghost granny who lives in Oaklin's house has other ideas. As she coaxes Oaklin out of their shell and back into the world, they find companionship (a grumpy horse and a very good dog), friendship (a local bard and magical baker who should just kiss already), and tentative romance (a paladin-librarian who makes Oaklin's heart come alive for the first time in ages.) Magic even seems possible again―though strictly for foraging magical mushrooms and protecting the farm from bugs.

Healing comes in gentle waves, and Oaklin doesn't have to do it alone. So what does it mean when an inquisitor comes to town to hunt former cultists just as Oaklin begins to think that maybe, just maybe, they deserve a happy ending after all?

Genres: Fantasy, Queer, Cozy Fantasy, LGBT, Adult, Cozy, Fiction

368 pages, Paperback

Expected publication June 2, 2026

Reviews

[Sadie E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC

The entire premise is chef’s kiss: former villain attempting to exist peacefully without committing crimes, and discovering the power of ✨️community✨️

There's no lone-wolf brooding nonsense. Instead, we have this gentle exploration of healing through other people that's executed so well. Watching the protagonist stumble through normal social interactions after a lifetime of villainy is peak entertainment. They’re awkward and every conversation's like, “hello fellow humans, I definitely know how friendships work and have never orchestrated mass destruction.”

And the COMMUNITY. Oh my god.
Love the found-family vibes! Everyone's just collectively like “yes, you were terrifying, but have you considered soup and emotional support?” It’s cosy in a warm, slice-of-life way where the stakes are emotional instead of apocalyptic.

It’s so heartwarming to see how much the story leans into forgiveness and belonging. The overarching theme is people aren't meant to heal on their own.

BUT (because there is always a but) sometimes the pacing goes a bit too quick. I’d be settling into a lovely emotional moment and the narrative would be like ANYWAY MOVING ON.

I wanted a few scenes to linger longer. Let me bask in the cosiness and the heartwarming community goodness.

[Sophie ❦]

✎ᝰ.┊ pre-read: Oh look, guess who just got her ARC approved! Can't wait to start

⬫ ⬪ ⬫
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

[Selene · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 rounded down. A couple things were personally a miss for me, for some reason I just couldn’t connect with the antagonist. I also went into this expect a super chill cozy vibe read and while it has cozy elements it also has some really deep themes running thru it (main character is working thru some trauma) so kind cozy adjacent. I absolutely love the representation and the small town FOUND Family, it felt so real warm and welcoming. The writing style was also super enjoyable! Thanks Netgalley the author and the publisher for this arc!

[BookishKB · Rating 5 out of 5]

💫🌿Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous🌿💫

This was equal parts cozy queer romance and a heartbreaking journey of healing. It explores redemption, forgiveness, and what it looks like for a community to rebuild after a reign of terror.

I teared up toward the end, but I really loved how it all came together.

🌱 What to Expect
• Former villain
• Cozy farm
• Healing ARC
• Ghost granny
• Found family
• Soft queer romance
_ _ _

⭐ Final Score: 5 stars
📅 Pub Date: June 2, 2026
📝 Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

[Clara (clarylovesbooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an E-ARC in return for an honest review!

I loved Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous so much more than I expected.

The story follows Oaklin, a non-binary ex-villain trying to start over in a quiet little town called Mossley’s Rest. They decide to leave their past behind and become a farmer — which they have absolutely no idea how to do — only for things to get complicated once they discover their house is haunted by a ghost granny 😭

The cozy vibes in this book are everything. It genuinely reminded me of Stardew Valley in the best way possible: starting from scratch, learning how to farm, participating in town festivals, and slowly becoming part of a community.

But beneath all the softness, there’s also this constant tension. Oaklin is haunted not just by a literal ghost, but by their past as part of the Enchantrix’s cult, and the fear that The Inquisitor might find them and expose everything. That fear of not being accepted, of losing the one place that finally feels like home, was so well done.

What really made this book special to me was the emotional core. The friendships, the found family, and especially Oaklin’s relationship with Lior… it’s so sweet, gentle, and wholesome. Lior accepts them so effortlessly, never making them feel guilty or ashamed, and watching Oaklin slowly believe they deserve love and a second chance was just so touching.

Also, the way the story comes full circle and the final reveal about the ghost granny?? I loved that twist so much.

It’s a very low-stakes fantasy plot-wise, but emotionally it hits so well. It’s all about healing, redemption, and finding people who choose you despite your past.

If you loved Legends & Lattes or The Spellshop, you’ll probably adore this.

Such a soft, comforting, pure-hearted story!

[Zoe Holborn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an E-ARC in return for an honest review

The weather is dreary so what a perfect way to forget about than to read a cosy fantasy filled with magic, friendship and love. When Oaklin buys a farm to start afresh, they don’t expect to have a roommate that will push them to accept their past and look forward to their future.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It was cosy and whimsical but still had some poignant and touching subjects. Sometimes the pacing was a little slow but it was an enjoyable read and perfect for anyone who is looking a cute cosy fantasy that’ll make you feel all the emotions

[Hannah Chaussee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this ARC from NetGalley. This was such a cozy, lovey, heartwarming read about the power of community and forgiveness. It gave me Hart of Dixie vibes the entire time but with a fantasy spin. The characters were relatable and lovable - there’s really not a single character who I didn’t cherish by the end.

[Mischa (misch_is_bookish) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was certainly a very cozy fantasy read and it's been awhile since I've finished one like it. It still touched on some heavier emotional themes as well. It gave me strong Stardew Valley meets Studio Ghibli vibes, gentle, whimsical, and comforting and honestly felt like a little side quest between normal fantasy books.

I really liked the premise however I did expect the MC to have been legitimately villianous which wasn't really the case. A lot of the book felt like therapy disguised as farming, which I can definitely see appealing to a lot of readers. For me though, the healing often came a little too easily, and because of that some of the emotional moments didn’t feel as impactful as they could have.

There was so muchintrospection and internal monologue about processing feelings and situations that the pacing started to drag a bit. Parts felt really repetitive and a lot of the plot felt pretty obvious and predictable.

I also had a hard time connecting with most of the side characters because they blurred together. Nearly every character felt sickly sweet, understanding, and kind to the point where they started sounding the same and didn’t really feel like fully distinct people with depth and nuance. Even the character who was supposed to be more antagonistic never really brought much tension. There’s a big reveal later on that should’ve affected her quite a lot considering how mean she’d been over much smaller things before, but her reaction was non existent. I know a cost fantasy doesn't really need stakes but damn.

Overall, this is a comforting, easy and cozy read with a lovely atmosphere, even if it didn’t completely live up to my expectations.

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book felt like being wrapped in a blanket in front of a fire with a hot cup of tea. On the surface this is a cozy fantasy about second chances, but it dives so much deeper with themes of guilt, friendship, healing, and forgiveness.

Oaklin Nettlewood is recovering from the trauma of having their mind controlled by an evil cult leader who forced them to use their magic to perform acts of horror. Oaklin cannot remember much from their time in the cult, but hopes that buying a farm in the small town of Mossley’s Rest will provide them with some much needed healing and solitude. What Oaklin is not expecting is a resident ghost granny, friendly and welcoming townsfolk, and a community that will do anything to support one another. Can Oaklin learn to accept support from others and begin to use their magic for good?

The world building and magic in this story are so wonderful that I wanted to dive into the pages and escape the horrid realities happening in the real world right now. Autumn K. England has created an incredible world where people are accepting, inclusive, and genuinely want to help one another. There are magical baked goods, new friends, and a gentle, soothing magic woven into the very farm Oaklin purchased.

I loved everything about this book and will be recommending it to all of my friends. I have seen rumors that there will be a second book set in this universe and really hope they are true. I would love to read more about these characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Becca (beccasnextchapter) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Release date: June 2, 2026

Oaklin, recently saved from an evil mind-controlling cult, escapes to a small town and buys a farm, swearing they will never ever use magic again. The ghost occupying Oaklin’s new home has other plans for them, sending them back into the world where they find community, friendship, and self-compassion.

This was such a sweet cozy fantasy, reminding me a lot of The House in the Cerulean Sea or Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries. The main character is working through a lot of trauma, as they feel so much guilt and shame over what they participated in with their cult. I absolutely loved the ending and Oaklin realizing they could forgive themselves.

Field Guide was so cute and I had fun reading it! If you like cozy fantasy, you will probably love this!

🦹‍♂️ former villain
🌾 escape to a farm
💗 queer romance
🤗 found family
👻 ghost
❤️‍🩹 healing

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for a copy of this eARC!

[Mela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book so much!! When I say I love found family and cozy fantasy this is the perfect example of what I’m looking for!

In this story we follow Oaklin as they are running from their past and end up in a farm in a small town. Things are not as they seem though, as the farm is hunted by a ghost. While Oaklin is finally finding their place in the community however an inspector is looking for them, will that ruin everything that they had build??

I loved this book with all my heart, it felt like a hug in reading form. I loved how trauma was dealt in such a forgiving and understanding way., while also showing the raw reality of it. The community in this book was top tier and I’m actually super excited if this turns out to be a companion novel series. Shoutout to Daffodil for being the best pup! This was so beautiful and cozy! I’m so glad I got the chance to read it!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Abby Paulnock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! I felt so many emotions while reading and became invested in the characters. Through Oaklin’s journey of healing from trauma, I experienced love and a deep sense of community. The structure of the story was genius and I was able to clearly picture Mossley’s Rest through the strong imagery and descriptions. Looking forward to reading more from this author!

[Demetri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Work of Mercy, the Weight of Repair
In “Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous,” Autumn K. England turns cozy fantasy into a study of guilt, stewardship, and the difficult labor of becoming inhabitable to oneself again.
By Demetris Papadimitropoulos | April 23rd, 2026

A cozy fantasy usually asks to be loved for its refuge. “Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous” asks something harder: to believe refuge must be built.

Autumn K. England’s novel knows, and insists, that a life split apart by coercion will not be repaired by affirmation alone. It will be repaired by roof patching and labeled bread, by trap crops and pest wards, by books carried over after a bad day, by a village with an actual aid fund instead of a merely kindly intentioned heart, by a body taught how to breathe before it can be taught how to trust. For a book with magical baking, flirtatious banter, a horse with a permanent expression of personal offense, a perfect livestock guardian dog, and enough festival trim to make a wreath self-conscious, it is impressively unsentimental about what care actually takes: hours, repetition, administration, bodily effort, and the willingness to keep showing up.

Its copy understates how much dirt sits under the frosting. Oaklin Nettlewood, a young magic-user who wanders at seventeen into what looks like a free magic guild and turns out to be the Enchantrix’s cult, has spent six years under mind control committing atrocities they remember only in jagged flashes. Exonerated by others and never, for a second, absolved in their own mind, Oaklin buys a suspiciously cheap farm outside Mossley’s Rest and attempts the old fantasy that a new address can do the moral labor for you. England is too shrewd to let that fantasy stand for long. Oaklin arrives thinned by hunger and drawn tight, determined never to use magic again, and so suspicious of kindness that every offered loaf and sympathetic glance feels like the first polite click in a trap. The farm comes with an orchard, fields, animals, and – more inconveniently – a ghost.

In lesser hands, all this might have foamed up. England wants a story built to bear weight, not just mood. What follows is not redemption sanded down for easy shelving, still less a cute rehabilitation arc, but a slow return to the machinery of a life: appetite, work, touch, usefulness, and the difficult fact of being answerable to other people again. Oaklin befriends Ryn, the village bread mage, whose pastries do more than charm the market. They establish one of the book’s clearest ethical lines. His magical goods are labeled. Their effects are explained. Nothing enters the body by stealth. In a novel shaped by violation, that matters. Jules, the local bard, supplies the easy social mischief. Lior, the village paladin-librarian, is the real complication – funny, attractive, and tied to the very institution Oaklin has reason to fear.

For its first stretch, the novel moves in a state of almost-safety. Oaklin buys the farm, meets the village, panics at the library, gets lured into the bakery by the smell of enchanted bread, and begins to understand that Mossley’s Rest does not mistake decency for organization. Here charm stops being enough, and the novel knows it. The town does not merely care. It has a food bank, an aid fund, weather records, seed sharing, labor exchange, and a standing expectation that one person’s bad season is everyone’s concern. England turns local logistics into texture, pressure, and character. The welcome here has plumbing. That is why Mossley’s Rest feels stocked, repaired, argued over, and lived in – not just adored.

The prose is most persuasive when it gets its hands dirty. England is not a sentence-showboat, and she is smarter not to try. Her sentences are built for use – quick, tactile, and faintly impatient with ornament. They snap from banter to panic to field instruction without making a ceremony of themselves. They wake most fully when something is being kneaded, harvested, salted, hauled, or patched: buttered herb bread, spinach sweetened by frost, the damp breathing heat of a barn, the ache in an overtired body, the scratch of wool, the feel of magic moving through roots and leaves rather than exploding on command. She also catches Oaklin’s defensive wit without sanding off its panic. That voice gives the novel lift. Without it, the welcome might have dissolved into niceness. With it, the tenderness keeps its grain.

The seasonal triptych – Spring, Summer, Autumn – is not wallpaper. It is the load-bearing frame. Spring is for rooting, first labor, first trust, first kisses. Summer is for overgrowth, blight, overwork, public strain, and the awful speed with which one bad day can become a crisis. Autumn is for naming, preservation, memorialization, and the choice of what survives the winter. The structure deepens the novel by making Oaklin’s repair keep time with the fields. The farm is not background acreage. It is how the book thinks. Stewardship here means care without domination, patience without passivity, repair without fantasy. Soil must be fed, pests managed, water guided, losses absorbed, and the next season prepared before this one is done. So must Oaklin. England keeps rerouting us through the same charged places – bakery, library, market, tavern, forest, field, hearth – until they stop feeling like fantasy destinations and start feeling like places where the novel keeps making its moral arguments.

Her harder achievement is making care concrete. Not “care” as a mood, but care as repeated, slightly tedious, absolutely necessary labor. A cup of tea before a confession. A roof fixed before a storm. A body carried home after magical collapse. Bread used not to impress but to nourish. A ghost teaching a survivor to say, aloud, “I am safe.” The sawbug crisis shows this best. A farmer’s squash field is stripped nearly bare overnight. Oaklin, barely ready, is begged to help. It matters because the novel stops treating magic as a metaphor for repair and makes it irrigate, protect, and feed. Spellwork stops glittering and starts doing the work of infrastructure. Oaklin casts until collapse. The village receives that labor with no-fuss urgency rather than awe. Rooms are offered. Breakfast is promised. England refuses the easy swell of triumph. Oaklin saves the village looking half-broken.

Then comes the move that could bring the whole structure down. Granny, the ghost who has been teaching Oaklin how to farm, how to ground themself, how to re-enter magic without surrendering to the Enchantrix’s shadow, turns out to be Emiline Eire – the previous owner of the farm, and the woman Oaklin killed while under mind control when she came to the cult’s stronghold searching for her son. The reveal risks healing the novel’s worst wound before the swelling has even gone down. In a weaker book, it would function as a pardon machine: victim appears, forgiveness is granted, conscience is cleared, everyone proceeds to dessert. England comes much closer to earning it than I would have guessed because she has done the moral preparation. Emiline is not merely “the victim.” She is a farmer, a village witch, a mother, a woman grieving a son also lost to the cult, and someone who knows coercion from more than one side. Her forgiveness does not erase the horror. It sharpens the novel’s hardest distinction: self-hatred is not responsibility, and punishing the surviving instrument can become a way of shifting blame off the actual author of violence.

Lior matters because the novel refuses to let romance arrive as emotional Novocain. A paladin of the order that fought the Enchantrix, she once followed its lethal commands before understanding what it was really asking its soldiers to do. The romance therefore has to pass through secrecy, church loyalty, institutional betrayal, survivor guilt, and the difference between devotion and obedience. That is why the midsummer rooftop scene, interrupted by the Inquisitor’s revelation spell, lands so well. England knows that terror and desire do not alternate cleanly in a damaged nervous system. They collide. So does the later scene in which Lior removes her armor for the last time. It has every reason to feel a touch too cleaned up. Instead it works because, by then, the armor is no longer abstractly symbolic. It is one more burden she is no longer willing to wear on someone else’s terms.

The novel’s weakness comes from the same source as its grace: it believes in mercy so completely that it sometimes gets there too fast. The Inquisitor never quite emerges as a fully inhabited antagonist. Once Mossley’s Rest chooses protection over spectacle, some of the premise’s stored abrasion begins to leak away. Sister Talla acquires moving late depth, but for a long stretch she functions chiefly as pressure. And in the final third, the novel starts lining up consolations with slightly too much tidiness: Emiline’s forgiveness, Dara’s mirrored survival, Talla’s apology, the memorial, the renaming of the farm, Lior’s resignation from the order, the winter domestic landing. Taken one at a time, each of these developments makes sense. Together, they make the ending faithful to the novel’s ethics but a shade more eager to console than its harshest material quite demands. Readers who want a rougher, more splintered book may wish England had let a little more unresolved wood survive into winter.

Still, the book’s deepest intelligence lies in knowing that “rougher” is not always the same thing as truer. Beneath the sticky buns, crowns, and village flirting, “Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous” speaks clearly to present anxieties without straining to be topical: punitive exposure, coerced complicity, public punishment staged as righteousness, institutional betrayal, overwork mistaken for virtue. It does not borrow those pressures to fake importance. They are already in the soil. The book stops pretending escape is possible when it asks its truest question: not whether a harmed person can become pure again, but whether they can become inhabitable to themself. Can the kettle boil, the apples keep, the roof hold, the pantry fill, the bed be shared, and the past fail to dictate the one future shame insists on calling inevitable?

That is where England’s method distinguishes her from a great deal of adjacent cozy fantasy. The fantasy here is not that trauma vanishes into charm, or that a good village makes history irrelevant, or even that love conquers damage in any decisive final way. The fantasy, if one wants to call it that, is more exact and therefore more difficult: that a community might choose provision over spectacle, patience over purity, and maintenance over moral theater. “Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous” is full of sweetness, yes, but its sweetness is rarely decorative. It is usually attached to a system, a task, a promise, a label, a repair, a meal. Even its pleasures have jobs.

For me, it lands at 88/100 – a strong 4/5. Not one of the rare gentle books disciplined enough to keep mercy from arriving early, but warm, morally alert, and tougher in the joints than its packaging suggests. The final ordinary miracle is not that Oaklin becomes innocent, or exceptional, or even whole. It is that by the end they go into winter carrying something better than absolution: jars on the shelf, a house patched, stocked, and lived into, another living pulse in the dark beside them, and enough confidence in spring put away like preserves to stop mistaking punishment for proof of goodness.

[Dotti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous is a cozy-adjacent novel focusing on a former cult member after their traumatic experiences. Oaklin spent eight years being mind controlled and remembers only flashes of a terrible life, committing murders with magic. Now that they are free and in their own control, they have chosen to buy a farm in a small town as far away from the cult’s influence as possible. However, all things come back eventually, and Oaklin is forced to reckon with their past while finding healing, love and community.

This book is being branded as a cozy book. I think that is a mistake. The plot is low stakes, which is great, but the heaviness of Oaklin’s PTSD made the book a heavy read compared to many cozy novels. This book talks about death and murder and violations of the body and mind. I think the emotional stakes were a little too high for my own expectations, despite the cozy elements.

However, there were a lot of cozy elements that were done well. There’s a lot of time spent gardening with our hands in the dirt and foraging for mushrooms in the forest and plucking apples off of the vine. There’s magical baked goods that bring healing or joy or the cure to a hangover. There’s gentle language about trauma and consent and sexuality that feels soothing. The community has an ethos of coming together in mutual aid, which feels revolutionary to our character in the moment and also serves as a stark contrast to the world we live in now.

I loved the queer representation in this book. Our main character is non-binary, and there are multiple queer relationships that are mentioned casually. The love story between our nonbinary character and their female partner was enjoyable, though not the center of the story. It was all treated as very normal and accepted and not-at-all-strange and there’s something very cozy in the normality of it all. It feels very safe for a variety of identities to experience this book comfortably.

The magic system was a little confusing to me; there’s mention that Oaklin left home to learn about magic because of the lack of education presented, and there are spells mentioned. Yet, Oaklin does not seem to need any sort of spell book and is able to magically infuse things specifically around their gardening domain. It was hard for me to tell if the spells the author meant as “believing something with intention” as the magic is done, or if there are specific spells and chants that we simply missed. There were times it felt distracting to not understand, especially given that it was such a large part of our character’s motivation.

The real problem with this book, however, is that our character doesn’t feel very compelling. Their trauma is so deep and overwhelming that their self esteem is terrible. The book follows many of the plot movements of other popular cozy books, but Oaklin feels much less compelling than the other protagonists. Their own anxieties and self-deprecation really inform our understanding of the character, and it’s hard to root for someone who feels unable to root for themselves. Also, they have a strong flight reflex, and it’s hard to root for someone who has literally everything in the world going right and still is ready to run (but where would you run, truly? This was the most random place you could find, friend).

Overall, this is an enjoyable book if you’re able to handle the heavy PTSD themes. They get better throughout the book but never go away, and become a major element of the third act conflict. If you’re going into this expecting a cup of hot chocolate, this might not be the right book. If you’re ready to read about a broken person who gets a little less broken thanks to some friends and a persnickety ghost, then this might be a good book for you.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for this advanced reader copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[captaincrawford · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I did, but I struggled getting through it.

As other reviewers have noted, the book is saccharinely sweet. This extends to every single character being overly kind, accepting, and welcoming. Everyone bends over backwards for Oaklin, at all times, even when they realistically shouldn't and wouldn't. Plus, almost nothing differentiates the entire cast of this book. The only trait of every character seems to be kindness. Without characters being named, it would be impossible to know who is who.

The writing felt rather amateurish, more than just a village of copy-pasted characters. For the first half of the book, I was convinced the author was contractually obligated to italicize at least three words per page. Luckily, the second half featured far fewer italics, though the capitalization of entire sentences never went away. In addition, every single emotion Oaklin feels is turned up to 1,000%. Their throat thickens with emotion every other chapter. They literally run away from people multiple times. Every moment is subject to intense anxiety, and the author tells you how anxious Oaklin is at least once per chapter. Characters literally roll on the ground laughing, and every joke has them wiping away tears from their cheeks.

The book came close to being a strong portrayal of the experience of bottling up a secret, the anxiety that comes with that, and the ultimate realization that it is better to be your authentic self rather than wear a mask for the rest of your life. However, not a single character in the entire book cares about Oaklin's past. Beyond breaking the bounds of plausibility, this completely destroys any would-be tension. The reader has zero expectation that the sugar-sweet and overly kind characters of Lior, Ryn and Jules will be anything other than entirely accepting of anything that Oaklin might have done. And it's not just them. The Inquisitor is the singular character in the book that has a different opinion, and they receive approximately two pages of "screen time" and is universally hated by all other characters. For Oaklin to ultimately open up and reveal their dark secrets, there needed to be some kind of stakes, some expectation that revealing this about their past will mean that some people dislike them, because that is what would really happen. People have different opinions. People are accepting of different things. To have every single person in the village have the exact same opinion is devoid of plausibility and ruins what could have been a strong character arc and portrayal of Oaklin's journey. The only thing that came close was Sister Talla's interaction with Dara, but Oaklin wasn't even involved there, and by the time Sister Talla and Oaklin talked, Talla, just like everyone else, couldn't care less about any of it. Why why why did the only confrontation about a cult member's past happen off-screen with a character that wasn't Oaklin? What?

The real kicker is that this seems to have happened in Oaklin's backstory. It's hinted that Oaklin's family was not fully accepting when Oaklin came out as queer, which unfortunately is something that really does happen. I just can't wrap my head around an entire village of people brushing off a formerly murderous cult member's previous misdeeds, without a single differing opinion, but coming out as queer provokes such a strong reaction--especially when nearly every single character in the book is queer.

[Emily Capri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thankyou to NetGalley for the ARC

Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous intrigued me so much both with its title then synopsis. Oaklin accidentally ended up part of an evil cult with a leader who used magic to control the minds of their followers and force them to do horrific things. Finally freed from this cult, albeit with a significant amount of trauma and PTSD, Oaklin buys a farm out in a small village and hopes to build some sort of a life. There's an unexpected house mate, new friendships, romance, community as well as trauma, grief and healing.

I LOVED this book. It was such a unique premise and the author did such a good job at making things light-hearted and soft without taking away from the severity of parts of the story. Oaklin had a significant amount of trauma, grief, guilt and PTSD, as you would expect from someone coming out of what they'd experienced. That was never minimised or made a joke of. Their mental health was written well and felt realistic and genuine. Their internal struggles with socialising, anxiety, fear over being seen incorrectly, were all things I'm sure most of us can relate to even without the mind control cult element! Oaklin felt like such a relatable character but i also appreciated that they made growth. They listened, they learned, they took on board advice. They finished the book in a very different place from where they started and it was all done very well. I appreciated all the characters having their own roles to play, their own specific characteristics that slotted in between each other to really bring together the world. Because Oaklin was new to the village, it meant we got to properly meet these characters too, and feel them out in the same way. The author did a great job at creating well rounded characters with depth that in some cases were easy to love, and if not love then at least appreciate for their role in the story.

Honestly there were so many things I loved about this book. I thought it was so fun and cleverly done the way the author had so many Dungeons and Dragons style elements. We had paladins and clerics, we had treats that gave characters +1 bonuses, we had quests/adventures/side quests. It was such a fun, welcome addition to the storytelling. I also LOVED how normal and unexciting it was that Oaklin was non-binary. I'm non-binary myself and I don't need it to be a big deal or a main story point, I want it to be a normal part of life and by extension, books. Oaklin was never misgendered, everyone used they/them without being told, Oaklin was also queer and it was overhalfway through the book that we even knew what their biological sex was (and only then it was because of chest bindings being used! LOVE!). There were so many queer characters and couples and it was just as normal as heterosexual couples, it was no big deal. Seeing this sort of thing so easily included in books in different genres like fantasy just makes me so happy.

This was a beautiful book I have already recommended to a couple of people and won't stop. It made me smile, it made me cry, it surprised me, it excited me and it warmed my heart. I couldn't put it down, definite 5⭐️

[The Sapphic Nerd · Rating 5 out of 5]

*** Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC ***

If you love cozy farming simulators like Stardew Valley, Fields of Mistria, and Coral Island, where you move to a small town, fix up a farm, get involved in the community, and find romance, this is the book for you. Oaklin buys a suspiciously cheap farm in a small town with the intention of fixing it up and getting it working again. The townsfolk are friendly, a real community of people who help each other more than they care for money.

It's the perfect place for Oaklin to start processing and healing from years of trauma. They have PTSD and get panic attacks from the way they were used during the war. Part of their journey is facing their feelings of anxiety, grief, guilt, and fear, as well as figuring out who they are outside of a cult where they were mind-controlled and forced to do horrible things. During the period of trauma, Oaklin's experiences with magic were all negative - magic used to harm and control. In learning to be in tune with their body and emotions, they also learn to be in tune with the everyday magic of the world. It's a really interesting dimension to a character at the heart of a cozy story.

As Oaklin gets used to their magic and learns to farm, they also become more and more a part of the town's community. They come from a background of always having to pay for everything and the people around them all being separate from each other, too busy fending for themselves to be part of anything bigger. That's not how Mossley's Rest operates. Oaklin lives in a place where people take care of each other. If someone can't offer anything in exchange for something, that's okay. There's a part just over halfway through the book that's so beautiful it got me misty-eyed.

To set your expectations, the romance is not steamy. It is, however, very wholesome and adorable. I love the way Oaklin unintentionally flirts with Lior because they're attracted to her, how Lior totally knows Oaklin is into her, and how she plays to it to fluster Oaklin. Their flirting makes ME nervous and excited! It's so much fun! I enjoy that it's a slower burn. Lior lets Oaklin take their time to sort themselves out without any pressure while she stays near, ready to support when needed. There isn't an expectation that Oaklin will date her. She's a friend regardless.

There's a lot of coziness here, as well as found family, community, and healing from trauma. As someone who feels the constant need to earn love and to earn anything I'm given (thank you, trauma), following Oaklin on a similar journey of learning to accept help and open up to/trust others has been healing for me personally. This has been a delightful read!

4.5 stars

[Eva_812 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC!

This was a very comforting and sweet story about healing, a farm and small town life. It is the perfect story to read before bed. Which was a mistake as I then found myself in the miserable situation of wanting to read more but really having to go to bed. "Just one more chapter" I'd say a few times and way past my bedtime I'd put the book away and do the same the next day.
The interesting part is that it wasn't even thát good, so I couldn't say what had me hooked. Sweetness and curiousity, I'd say. But halfway through, I felt that everything went a little too smoothly for Oaklin (though not saying they don't deserve a break after what happened to them) : cheap farm, interactive ghostly manual, a source of income ready, super nice people helping them immediatly. It felt like the author didn't want to give Oaklin any more hardships (which is fair! but a little boring to read). And the progression in healing and finding their way was a little too linear: basically everything succeeded at the first try. Maybe a lot has happened in the timeskips, but as we're told and not shown, this doesn't really help me feel the struggles that Oaklin surely must deal with when being new at farming (I think I would also just have liked to see more of the farm and learning how to deal with it). This is also something that stunted my investment in the characters and didn't make me feel so involved with their relationships. For example I was surprised to see Oaklin start to care so much about Granny, as I didn't get to actually see their relationship progress so much.
And I know this was a low-stake cozy fantasy, but the stakes were a little too low for my taste. Of course there was the little incident with the inquisitor, but that was pushed to the background and I really didn't worry about that too much.

Also, the title is a little misleading... Oaklin isn't actually formerly villainous. They are not, nor have been, villainous. However, they have been mind-controlled. I would have said they don't even remember what happened, which is a statement made by Oaklin themselves, but they also later say they do remember flashes. Formerly villainous implies a redemption arc. Oaklin never had to be redeemed, as they weren't to blame (except maybe for being lured into a cult under false premises, which is unfortunate at best and naive at worst, but neither makes you a villain). Maybe it should be "A field Guide to the formerly mind controlled", I feel like that would be more fitting.

Overall this was a quick, easy and fun read, so if you want something lowstakes and delightfully sweet, I would recommend it!

[Leah Kabotoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Read if you are looking for:
- Studio Ghibli vibes (but without stakes)
- Fantasy characters doing therapy
- Stardew Valley
- Tooth-rottingly saccharine fluff

The story of Oaklin Nettlewood finding home and healing in a sweet idyllic little farming village sounded so good on paper, but I have to admit that the execution left me wanting, and I very nearly DNFed it. There is a really fine line between idealistic coziness and saccharine twee escapism, and this book skirted that knife's edge so many times it was exhausting. There are a lot of moments where "real world" admonishments leak into the narrative in ways that feel out of place. "Allow me to lecture you about healing and therapy and trauma and also farming" was kind of a thorough line. It surprised me to learn that this was not a debut book for this author--while writing skill is there, the heavy-handed-ness of the themes and world-building often felt immature and underdeveloped, a kind of wish fulfillment.

There are clear challenges with portraying voice and action--nothing in the dialogue lends itself to distinguishing one character from another. They all sort of feel like cardboard cutouts, or paper dolls. Everyone kind of boils down into two main descriptors: "kind" and "queer", even the characters who aren't. (Neither of these isa bad thing to be, obviously; but the lack of true variety outside of physical descriptions and pronouns means the world feels totally flat.) Descriptions of movement or action taking place in a scene also feel like disjointed vignettes rather than being fluid. The pacing was kind of all over the place, not letting me settle into any sort of rhythm, which felt more remarkable for being a book that is trying to capture "cozy".

It is, I suppose, a lovely world that the author has created, even if it often made me roll my eyes. I have a bit of a toothache from how artificially sugary-sweet the whole thing is (yes, even with descriptions of trauma, violence, and cold-blooded murder!), but I finished it. I appreciate any attempt to bring human magic together with the natural world, to illuminate the beauty of our symbiotic relationship with nature; in this case it was executed kind of clumsily and with a heaping dose of deux ex/coincidental timing. (I can think of other books that got this SO MUCH MORE RIGHT--Yield Under Great Persuasion, and Sorcery and Small Magics, were both astronomically better in that regard.)

In short: I loved the promise of the premise, but the execution fell far short of my expectations.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
What a truly lovely book.

Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous is definitely a cosy fantasy, and one that had me smiling while I was reading. It takes place over three seasons in a small town, bringing you the hopeful fresh start of spring, the joyful connections and fulfilling work of summer and the cosy settling-in of autumn. I enjoyed the descriptions of tending to plants and the way magic weaved through the land.

Our main character Oaklin is non-binary (they/them) and bi- or pansexual – and they develop queer friendships and meet other queer community members as well. The community they find themselves in is friendly and tear-inducingly supportive towards new-to-town Oaklin: the people genuinely want to help, and the town has systems in place to support their residents. I think that anyone who has found themselves needing to make new friends as an adult will find this very endearing and comforting.

This book also explores trauma and all that goes along with it. We see Oaklin experiencing vivid flashbacks, seemingly caused by the most unexpected of things, as well as their dreams of trauma (and healing), and trigger-induced illness. It explores Oaklin's feelings of shame, as well as their struggles with trusting both others and themself. To watch them slowly heal, gaining more trust and openness over time (in the non-linear way that healing happens), was so very heart-warming. I was in tears in response to the understanding, compassion and forgiveness shown by Oaklin's friends.

I felt that some of the dialogue in the beginning felt a bit awkward or unnatural, but I either adjusted to the writing style or the dialogue improved as it went along, because it wasn't a problem for very long at all. There were also some minor inconsistencies in some side-details that I noticed throughout the book, but nothing big enough to affect my overall enjoyment of this novel.

I am not sure whether Autumn K England plans to make this a series, but it sure feels like there is plenty of potential for some of these characters to have their own novels in future, and I think this small town setting could lend itself well to a a series featuring different characters each time. I really hope it happens - I would very much look forward to reading them!

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for this review copy. I greatly enjoyed my time with it, and this review has been my genuine opinion.

[Matt (Kaitlin) Kroeger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advanced reader copy (ARC) of this book (thank you to the author and publisher). My review reflects my honest impressions and neither the author nor publisher solicited my review. Content and pacing may differ slightly from the final published version.

This was such a cute, thoughtful, and tender fantasy. Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous blends cozy, small-town vibes with emotional depth, creating a story about healing, community, and choosing who you want to be after surviving something terrible.

The main character, Oaklin (they/them), is a former cult member trying to start over on a farm in a charming (too good to be true??) village. I absolutely loved the casual, affirming queer representation with Oaklin’s pronouns seamlessly woven into the story.

What really stood out to me was the balance between lightness and trauma. Oaklin’s past involvement in a cult and the aftermath of mind control are handled with care, but the story never becomes dark. Instead, it leans into themes of recovery, accountability, found family, and learning that magic and power can be used to nurture rather than harm. Watching Oaklin slowly reclaim both their magic and their sense of self was genuinely moving.

The supporting cast is fantastic. The village feels alive in that gossipy, tight-knit, “we take care of our own” kind of way- like Stars Hallow from Gilmore Girls. From the baker, to the librarian love interest, to the opinionated ghost mentor, every side character adds texture and heart. The community aspect is one of the book’s greatest strengths, making it feel safe and cozy.

The plot itself is engaging and well-paced, with strong character arcs and a gentle undercurrent of tension. I was consistently eager to see what would happen next, especially as Oaklin’s fears about their past threatened their fragile new beginning. It’s an easy read in the best way. It’s a lovely, complete experience that leaves you warm and hopeful.

If you enjoy cozy fantasy with relatively low emotional stakes, found family, small-town community vibes, queer representation, characters learning to forgive themselves, and magic tied to land, food, and care this one is absolutely worth picking up.

A heartfelt, hopeful story about reclaiming your power and choosing softness after surviving darkness. I’d happily recommend it to friends looking for something comforting but meaningful.

[lorenzodulac · Rating 4 out of 5]

So sweet, but in typical cozy fantasy fashion, the plot was slightly lacking. I wasn’t expecting a five star out of it, and the overall vibe of it won me over. Even if the entire book could’ve been an email.
I absolutely loved the premise of this, a former villain trying to live life peacefully. Oaklin is their name, and personally it couldn’t fit the character more. Just the essence of it. There’s also a romance in it, and that was also a highlight for sure.
While I liked the fact that Oaklin was mind controlled into being evil, and only “accidentally” joined a cult, I felt like it was a missed opportunity. Don’t get me wrong, it worked in this instance. But we could’ve gotten a redemption arc for an actual former villain. We could’ve had a character change for the better and acknowledge their mistakes. And who knows, maybe that wouldn’t have worked, but I feel like we were told they used to be evil and then slapped a eh-not-really bandaid on it.
I really really liked the characters. Just their relationships with one another, be it romantic or platonic, that was done really well. Lior was also a character I couldn’t get enough of. She’s a paladin-librarian, hello?? Then there’s Ryn, Jules, the ghost grandma even! The characters made the book. That and the setting. The small town feel of this book! To die for.
This is a story about redemption, guilt, and past mistakes, but at the same time it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s silly, magical, even romantic. The queer romance in it was, again, wonderful.
What I had some issues with was the plot. It moved really fast but at the same time so slowly in what actually was happening. There was a part of me that wanted to shake Oaklin awake because the twist? I would’ve guessed it from a mile away. If it can even be considered a twist. I don’t usually use these kinds of sayings, but I really feel like the overall plot of the book could’ve been resolved through an email. A text message. An open conversation. I don’t know, just talk.
Overall I would recommend it anyway. The characters make or break the book a lot of the time, and this time they saved it. It’s a four star for me. I’ll admit it’s not anything phenomenal that will stick with me for the rest of my life but! Not every book has to be like that. Some are just a good time and cozy and fun to be in while it lasts. And this one was definitely that.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Aly · Rating 4 out of 5]

You have no obligation to be miserable as a way to atone for something that was not your fault to begin with. That removes responsibility from the person who truly bears it. That you not have the right to do. - Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous

Tropes:
Lots of Trauma/ Lots of Healing
Cozy Fantasy
Found Family
Cozy Bakery/Library/ Farming
Grandma


I LOVED this book. I can't explain how many times this book brought some tears to my eyes. This felt like a true cozy Fantasy. If you've read Can't Spell Treason Without Tea and liked it, there's a high chance you'll really like this book too. There's a lot of trauma in this book, but there's also a lot of healing from that trauma. This book may be a cozy Fantasy, but it really does play heavily into PTSD and healing from that over time. I loved that this was really about Oaklin healing and learning how to be their own person after going through so much. My most favorite character was Granny, for good reason.

The characters, all of them, were absolutely amazing, and I really hope we get to see more of this small little village. I love seeing how Oaklin went from an extremely introverted, scared character to someone who could believe in themselves and the people around them. I loved the relationship that Oaklin built not only with their new friends, especially that of Lior, but that of the village as well. We see Oaklin change into a person that gets cared for a lot, but also who takes care of the village - quite literally.

One of the greatest characters in this book is the ghost of Granny, a slightly temperamental ghost that helps Oaklin learn how to take care of the magical farm. The book really goes into the relationship between Granny and Oaklin, and I loved seeing how much Granny helped Oaklin heal.

I also really liked how the author went a bit more in depth with the farming, showing how farming really helped Oaklin. Often, an author will just write a small paragraph about the character doing something and then be done with it. England really went into writing about the farm, what things were growing and how they were; what things Oaklin needed to gather for the weekly market, etc.

Overall, I definitely will read more books that come out from this author.

[Courtney Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Marketed as a cozy fantasy, Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous absolutely delivers on the soft, small-town charm and found family vibes, but it leans quite a bit heavier than the “cozy” label suggests.

At its core, this is a story about trauma, guilt, and healing. The main character is working through the aftermath of things they were forced to do under mind control, and while the tone stays gentle, the emotional weight behind that journey is real. If you’re going in expecting something purely light and low-stress, this reads more like a healing-focused fantasy with cozy elements layered on top.

There were definitely aspects I enjoyed. The setting is warm and inviting, the side characters are fun (ghost granny especially), and the overall concept is strong. The idea of rebuilding a life in a quiet, supportive community after something catastrophic is a really compelling setup.
Where it fell short for me was in the execution, mainly around stakes and pacing. The story introduces multiple points of conflict, but most are resolved very quickly or off-page. Because of that, nothing ever really feels like it has weight or urgency. Even moments that should have had real impact come and go without much time to actually sit in them.

That also ties into the pacing overall. A lot of key emotional beats feel rushed, something happens, and then we’re told the resolution rather than getting to experience the process. It made the character growth feel a bit surface-level when it could have been much more impactful.
There’s also a level of “everything works out” that felt a little too clean. The town, the relationships, the reactions, everyone is incredibly understanding, forgiving, and emotionally well-adjusted. I get that cozy tends to lean that way, but here it pushed things into almost no tension at all, which made it harder to stay fully invested.

Overall, this is a comforting, character-driven fantasy with a great concept and strong cozy aesthetics, but it doesn’t fully deliver on the depth or impact those themes could have had. I’d still recommend it if you’re looking for something gentle and healing-focused, but if you want stronger plot development or any real sense of stakes, this one may feel a bit too soft.

[Christian Nonnenbroich · Rating 4 out of 5]

My foray into the world of ARCs has - to put it mildly - not been super-successful thus far. And before starting to read Autumn K. England's "Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous", I can't say that I had thought that this one would finally do it for me. I was attracted by the whimsical title, although it wasn't necessarily a thoroughly positive form of attraction. Because while it made me sit up and take notice quickly... the longer I thought about it, the more did it strike me as twee and willfully kooky. But since I already had gotten a copy, I decided that I might as well check it out, preparing myself for a mildly entertaining but hardly memorable little yarn about a former cultist overcoming their trauma and finding community, and so on, and so forth.

And... yeah, I got that. But to my surprise, I ended up really liking "Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous". Is it perfect? Nah. Here's something you don't hear all that often from me: at a bit over 350 pages, it's a bit short to successfully tackle all of the things it has on its mind. With another fifty to hundred pages, it might have made the world feel a bit more real and lived-in, and might have also characterized a couple more persons than just the central two-and-a-half (the story makes a big deal out of the friendships the main character forges with some of the inhabitants of the little town they settle down in, but even the more important ones remained fairly one-dimensional, and so when the book went on about Oaklin finally having found real friends that mean so much to them, I couldn't help but ask "Really? These folks?"). But all that said, I found the whole thing pretty entertaining and touching, and was a bit wistful, when the whole thing started winding down.

All moments of "Yeah, this didn't fully work as probably intended" aside, this thing delivered its portrayal of trauma and the overcoming of it in a genuine feeling, yet also quite enjoyable way, and the burgeoning relationship that accompanied all of it was handled quite well (if maybe a bit too benign). "Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous" probably won't worm its way into my personal list of my favorite books ever, but as far as gentle, cozy, positive-minded stories go, I've read way, way worse. Check this out if you're in the market for something like this.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley for a pre-release copy to read and review!

Well cozy fantasy is a genre I can really sink into.

Disclaimer:
I initially found the MC difficult to imagine. They present as non-binary, and the use of they/them pronouns took me out of the story. When I refocused and came to the realization that the characters genitals wouldn't play (that much of) a role in this story, it became a bit easier to imagine them as just a person. Details would come out that would shift and re frame how I envisioned them, but it wasn't as distracting as I had anticipated.

Onto the story:
This is a story of trauma, recovery, forgiveness, and learning that your past doesn't define your future. It is told nicely through the lens of Oaklin Nettlewood, a former cultist who wants to reclaim their life after losing several years. They learn how to reflect and acknowledge their past, but just like some of the baked goods, it is no replacement for proper therapy.

There are parts where it comes across wanting to be more of the Romantasy genre, especially the parts where "Any single people will immediately throw themselves towards someone new coming to this small quiet town" and directly referring to "Spicy romance" books that are recommended by one of the characters. It walks, and sometimes trips over that line without becoming too "spicy" itself.

Not a replacement for Therapy:
As with many books I've read that deal with trauma of varying types, it almost becomes "Wish fulfillment" where the environment is full of only helpful people and everyone gets along and forgives you for whatever you've done. Not a bad thing in itself, but as someone who has had to deal with trauma, the people in your lives will vary in their reactions. Is it still better to face it head on no matter the results? Yes! But acknowledging that there will be people who can't forgive, and to learn to accept that as well is important.

There is a cake presented towards the end, where the baker who uses magic to imbue their goods says their cake will "help heal old wounds and strengthen good memories: not a replacement for therapy" is an appropriate description for this book.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really felt like Stardew Valley if you'd inherited the farm after leaving an evil cult.

After spending years suffering under the influence of the cult of the Enchantrix, Oaklin Nettlewood is struggling to remember who they are and where exactly they belong in the world. So when Oaklin stumbles upon an old farm up for sale in Mossley's Rest, it seems like the perfect way to reinvent themselves and start their life over. Although Mossley's Rest is warm, welcoming, and full of selflessly kind residents, Oaklin can't help letting their anxiety get to them, telling them they don't belong in this wonderful place.

This was a really sweet story about healing from past traumas, and learning to trust again. Oaklin's past and the trauma they experience due to it are quite heavy for a cosy fantasy. They were part of an evil cult, and mind controlled by the leader so that she could use their magic to commit horrific acts. As a result of this, Oaklin has lost their memories from their time in the cult and only remembers things in flashbacks that are often triggered by normal day-to-day things. They no longer trust their magic and refuse to use it or even talk about it for fear of causing harm to someone again.

Oaklin spends a lot of the time working on the farm and learning how to tend to the crops and animals with the help of Granny - the ghost of the original owner of the farm. She takes Oaklin under her wing and is there to give them an encouraging nudge to help bring them out of their shell. I loved the friendship between Oaklin and Granny, she was the perfect counterpart to Oaklin and I adored her no-nonsense attitude especially when it came to taking care of the farm!

I really loved the friends Oaklin made along the way as they slowly became more comfortable in Mossley's Rest, and there is also a dash of romance sprinkled in! The characters were all really sweetly written and honestly, I'd love a second book about Ryn! I must know more about their bakery and magical cakes!

This is a really sweet book, but it is on the heavier side for a cosy fantasy. It's definitely perfect if you love a story about healing!

Thank you so much for the ARC!

[KC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review: Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous by Autumn K. England

Oaklin, who uses they/them pronouns, has left the Cult of Enchantrix, an organization that assigns blame without much interest in nuance. All Oaklin wants is a quiet life, but society continues to treat them as a villain. Labels stick, and much of Oaklin’s guilt is imposed rather than earned. They spend most of the story trying to prove they are harmless while keeping their new farm running. The novel argues that villainy is often assigned retroactively, and by the end, the title reads as intentionally ironic. Oaklin is “formerly villainous” only because they survived what the world decided to call evil.

Oaklin also has magic, which they are determined to keep hidden, despite the fact that the farm depends on it to function. This creates a constant, low level tension between survival and exposure. The book is divided into four parts, one for each season, and that structure reinforces the slow, repetitive work of farming and recovery rather than any rush toward redemption or spectacle.

The farm comes with a ghost, practical, opinionated, and more involved than requested. Through the ghost’s guidance and its tendency to introduce Oaklin to the villagers whether they want it or not, Oaklin gradually becomes part of the community. These relationships are built through shared labor and routine, not moral declarations or heroic acts.

The shadow of Oaklin’s past remains present. The Inquisitor appears just often enough to remind Oaklin that guilt by association is still policy, and the memory of the war involving the Cult of Enchantrix lingers in the background. The village itself offers a quiet contrast, complete with a farmers’ aid fund that keeps people from starving. Oaklin does not become a hero or publicly prove themselves good. They build a life that belongs to them, and England’s story suggests that this, rather than absolution, is the real victory.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC. This was a lovely slice of life novel. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️ Rating: 3.5/5
📚 Tropes: found family, second chances, slow burn, small town, found family, they/them mc, queernormative world
💌 Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC!

Field Guide for the Formerly Villainous drew me in immediately. The premise: a mind-controlled former cultist escaping to a small farm to heal, is compelling, and the opening delivers on that promise. There's gardening, a grumpy horse, a very good dog, a ghost granny with opinions, and a found family in a cute village.

The queer representation is one of the book's greatest strengths. Oaklin is uses they/them pronouns, multiple queer relationships exist casually throughout, and the love story between Oaklin and their female partner is sweet without being the whole point. None of it is treated as remarkable and that normalcy is exactly the kind of cosy safety I love to read in stories. The writing style is similarly enjoyable, with gentle, soothing language around trauma, consent, and community.

Despite the depth of Oaklin's trauma, I never fully connected with them as a character. Their emotions always felt just slightly out of reach. Part of the problem is structura: time jumps mean we skip over much of the actual struggle, and when we do catch up, things tend to resolve a little too smoothly and easily. Healing that should feel hard-won ends up feeling handed to them. Their crushing self-deprecation and hair-trigger flight reflex make them hard to root for, especially as everything in their life begins to go right and they're still poised to run. The book follows familiar cozy plot beats, but without sitting in the difficulty long enough, Oaklin lacks the magnetism of similar protagonists.

The ending also felt rushed; threads that had been carefully building were resolved a little too neatly, too quickly, which deflated some of the emotional payoff.

Still, this is a quick, warm, and ultimately sweet read. The found family, the ghost granny, and the village ethos of mutual care are genuinely lovely. If you're in the mood for something low-stakes with real heart, and you go in knowing it carries some emotional weight, it's worth a read.

[Ivy Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

POV: the villain has lost… and now they just want a quiet life 🍂

What happens after the dark cult is defeated? When you were one of them and you don’t even completely remember what you did?

After the defeat of the dark cult and the death of the Enchantrix who'd been mind-controlling all of their minions, Oaklin searches for a place where knobody knows them and they could live in peace. After buying a farm that's haunted by a sassy Granny ghost who teaches them how to run it, Oaklin finds themself battling with their guilt, social anxiety, and the pressure to hide their magical powers. They have no idea how their past will comr back to hunt them and how lovingly the community is ready to heal them.

This book gives everything a cottagecore enthusiast can ask for. The descriptions rural small-town farm and its surroundings are very vivid, which really helps the reader feel mentally immersed in the setting of the story. That being said, the majority of the book is quite slow-paced, focusing on building friendships and tending to the farm. In that regard, it keeps its promise of giving Stardew Valley vibes and as a huge SV player, I loved that aspect so much. However, it was a bit difficult for me to connect with most of the characters completely (except for the Granny ghost) until about 70%, but I absolutely adored the way they always showed up for each other and acted as a perfect community.

What changed everything for me was the ending. It was extremely emotional and brought everything to a satisfying conclusion. It also made me appreciate the characters, all of them, and the way they are. And by the end of the book, I was left with a warm and fuzzy feeling. The author did an amazing job at giving the reader a big warm hug through the pages.

This book isn’t about saving the world.
It’s about learning how to live in it again.

If you love stories where the stakes are quiet but your heart still aches a little… this one’s for you.

Big thanks to NetGalley and author Autumn K. England for the ARC.