The Witch, the Baker, and the Curse Maker

The Witches of Star Island #5

by Colleen Delaney

The prophecy is closing… and the eldest Bay witch sister is running out of time.

Lavender Bay gave up on love fourteen years ago when she became the sole guardian of her younger sisters. She sacrificed everything—her heart, her dreams, her future—to keep her family safe. Now, with her sisters grown and settled, Lavender finally has space to breathe, focusing on her beloved bakery, her quiet routines, and the fragile magic that holds her life together.

But the past never stays buried. Especially when the man she never stopped loving returns.

Gavin Murphy has spent over a decade searching for the college girlfriend who vanished after their last fight. He never stopped loving Lavender Bay—and when a chance encounter sends him to Star Island, hope reignites. But loving Lavender means stepping into a hidden world of magic, danger, and destiny, and Gavin soon discovers that the woman he lost is fighting a battle far bigger than either of them imagined.

With a rogue warlock spreading chaos across Star Island, a powerful curse on the Bay bloodline tightening its grip, and old betrayals resurfacing, Lavender and Gavin must decide whether to risk their hearts one final time—or lose each other forever.

The Witch, the Baker, and the Curse Maker is a cozy romantic fantasy filled with witchy sisters, small-town magic, old cottages, autumn nights, second-chance romance, and a love story bound by fate, sacrifice, and enduring hope.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Second Chance Romance, Mystery, Fiction, Witches

300 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2026

Reviews

[Tiffany]

📖 Title: The Witch, the Baker, and the Curse-Witches of Star Island #5

✍🏾 Author: Colleen Delancey-I've read Haunting and House Witchery and gave it 4⭐

📅 Publication date: 9-1-26 | Read: 8-29-26

📃 Format: e-Book 330 pgs.

Genre:
*Adult Fic
*Paranormal Romance

Tropes:
*college sweethearts/soul mates
*witches/magic
*sisterhood
*second chance romance
*small town
*autumn vibes

👆🏾POV: 3rd person

⚠️TW: generational blood curse-a witch and warlock cursed Bay line of witches and steal their powers which may kill them, death of parents, murder

🌎 Setting: Star Island, Massachusetts

Summary: Lavender can finally stop protecting and worrying about her younger sisters. They are all grown with mates of their own. Lavender met her soulmate Gavin thirteen years ago in college. After her parent's death Lavender broke up w/ him and disappeared. Gavin has been searching for her and with a bit of luck finds her again. The warlock Miloslav is back on the island to get all the Bay witches' blood. Lavender doesn't want Gavin involved w/ Miloslav, but he refuses to leave her. Together with her sisters, they have the final showdown w/ Miloslav.

👩🏾 Heroine: Lavender "Moonbeam" Bay-34, owner of The Immoral Cupcake bakery

👨🏾 Hero: Gavin Murphy-35, head chef of Radka and spends 1 month a year looking for Lavender

🎭 Other Characters
*Lavender's sisters and mates: Rosemary and Asher, Laurel and Owen, Verbena and Luke, and Sage and Will
*Erie: Lav's new kitten
*Miloslav Stoch/Charles: chaos warlock
*Morana, Ivan, and Uncle Boris Stoch: Miloslav's evil family
*Cal: Gavin's father
*Judith: Gavin's daughter

🤔 My Thoughts/Likes:
-pining/ long absence
-Rosemary helping Gavin get Lavender back
-Don't read hungry!
-Rosemary and Asher's sex spell(hilarious)
-Gavin's other life w/ a wife Cynthia and child Judith
-A great finale, HEA, and 10 years later for the Bay sisters

Rating: 5/5 ✨
Spice level: 4/5🌶️ open door

🙏🏾 Thanks to Netgalley, City Owl Press, and Colleen Delaney for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Aly Devine]

So, when I requested this book from NetGalley, I either didn’t see that it was the fifth in the series, or didn’t realize that would matter (you know like Laurie Gilmores Dream Harbor doesn’t super matter if you read them in order?) but it 100% does. I feel like I missed a lot of information. But, I still really enjoyed it. Definitely confused at times but for the most part I could still figure out how things all worked. And now I have four more witchy romances to read. Seems like a win win to me.
We follow the story of the last Bay (their last name) Witch of the family, the oldest, Lavender. When she was twenty years old, her parents passed, and Lavender took guardianship over her three youngest sisters. Now she had to play big sister and parent. She moved them all to a small town on the Atlantic north coast and was doing everything in her power to keep all her sisters safe. In doing so, she had to leave behind her soulmate, the man who was tied to her lifetime after lifetime, in order to keep her head in straight. There was a curse on their line and a family of witches and warlocks after them. The safety of her sisters and the continued existence of witches in her line all weighed on her shoulders. So when her soulmate shows back up, thirteen years later, as the curse is almost completed its intentions, she tries to send him away. Will she be able to resist him? Will she be able to break the curse before it steals all her family’s magic? Can she keep her sisters safe?
This book is higher stakes than a cozy read but not so high that I was filled with dread as I read it. It still felt hopeful even as chaos was unfolding. I loved reading about Lavender’s love of her sisters and her connection, throughout time, with her soulmate. I really enjoyed the world that Delaney created. I look forward to reading the first four books in this series.

Thank you to the author for creating this story, and NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read it. Go to ALYDEVINE.com for more reviews like this.

[Kristina]

4.5⭐️ rounded up

What a lovely ending the Witches of Star Island series! I’m definitely going to miss the Bay sisters, but this was such a satisfying conclusion to their story.

Everything with the Stochs and the curse comes to a head in a completely crazy way, and there is SO much happening as everything finally comes together. I really enjoyed seeing all of the threads from the previous books connect, and the stakes definitely felt higher as we got closer to the end.

Lavender was such an interesting character with her need for control. She had to become the person who held everything together for her sisters, and that survival instinct shaped pretty much every part of her life. But now that her sisters don’t need her in the same way, she has to figure out how to stop protecting everyone at the expense of her own happiness. Thankfully, Gavin is having absolutely none of that. After spending fourteen years searching for her, he makes it very clear that now that he’s back, he is NOT going anywhere.

I loved Gavin! A chef who comes back into Lavender’s life and immediately starts trying to help her relax and take care of her for a change? Yes, please. And I’m not going to lie, I want to try that carrot soup. His role in helping Lavender imagine a future beyond the one she built out of necessity was one of my favorite parts of their relationship.

And, as with the other books in this series, I absolutely loved the past-life sequence. It added so much emotional weight to everything, and absolutely me in tears. There’s also some good spice sprinkled in, which definitely didn’t hurt!

This has been such a lovely series, and I’m sad to say goodbye to the Bay sisters. If you like witches, sisterhood, cozy small-towns, soulmates, and a healthy dose of romance, I absolutely recommend picking up the Witches of Star Island series.

[Rachel]

Finally! I've been eager for Lavender's story since book one. It was obvious that something happened in Lavender's past, but what? It was driving me crazy. The only thing I could gather was that it had something to do with her soulmate, whose name is apparently Gavin. Because guess what? Fate is a meddling bitch, and now it's Lavender's turn at happiness.


The Bays are extremely close. Lavender is the de facto leader of the group, which makes sense considering she raised her sisters. It was good to see her outside of that role. She's just as crazy and chaotic as her sisters. Well, some of her sisters, no one tops Rosemary in that department. Haha. It was good seeing Lavender let go, and that's all thanks to her soulmate, Gavin. He was great! Gavin was all in from the start. It was like no time had passed. I liked that he already knew about the witchy stuff and was caught up pretty quickly. He was someone for Lavender to lean on.


Like the previous books, the plot was fantastic. A crazed warlock with a vendetta on the loose and out for blood. Literally, a generational curse, past lives, and a second chance at romance all blended together to tell an amazing story. Not to mention the characters. Sage was awesome. She's choosing violence, and I can't say I blame her. The Stochs are beyond evil. The magic was, once again, incredible. I enjoyed seeing what a kitchen witch can do. There is just something about combining magic and baked goods. It's cozy magic. Lavender pulled off some pretty amazing stuff. That twist was beyond shocking! I still can’t believe it. There was no way to see it coming, but it worked. The final battle was, of course, epic, but I loved the epilogue the most. What an amazing series! I can't believe it's over. I'm going to miss this world.

[Kats]

The Witch, the Baker, and the Curse Maker is the fifth and final instalment in the Witches of Star Island series and what a satisfying conclusion! The overarching storyline from the previous four books starts right away, with the Stochs still plotting to eradicate the Bays.

However, this is also Lavender's story and one I've been looking forward to. As her sisters couple up with their soulmates she is the only one left on her own, but of course she knows who her soulmate is. She met him in college but they have been estranged ever since. But when her soulmate, Gavin, finally gets a clue to her whereabouts after a decade of searching for her, he arrives on Star Island and is immediately thrown into the thick of it.

When Lavender and Gavin take their second trip into their past lives, we discover the source of the curse that has plagued the Bay women and it was *shocking*. Armed with this information they take on the Stoch's as everything comes to a head. There was a perfect balance between Lavender and Gavin's rekindled romance, and the larger story.

Overall this is a lovely, cosy, mysterious, witchy series with past lives, strong sisterhood and all the magic and peril you can imagine and The Witch, the Baker, and the Curse Maker concludes the series nicely with a bonus epilogue of their future.

[Entisar Ali]

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.
A satisfying finale to the Witches of Star Island series, bringing Lavender's story and the wider curse threatening the Bay sisters to a fitting conclusion. Lavender is a compelling protagonist, her need for control shaped by years spent as the sole guardian of her younger sisters, and watching her learn to loosen that grip now that they're grown gives her arc real emotional depth. Gavin makes a wonderful match for her, having spent over a decade searching for the woman he never stopped loving, and his gentle insistence on taking care of Lavender for once is genuinely sweet. The cozy small town atmosphere and sisterly bonds remain series highlights, and the past life sequences add real emotional weight, tying together threads from earlier books as the overarching threat finally comes to a head. As the fifth installment, this is best read after the previous books to fully appreciate the family dynamics and stakes at play. Warm, magical, and emotionally satisfying, this is a lovely send off for the Bay sisters and a strong pick for fans of witchy small town romance.

[Lux]

Thank you to the author for providing me with an eARC of this book! I have been waiting for Lavender’s story since I learned that all five sisters would have their own book.

Lavender Bay had given up on her chance at love. Gavin Murphy had not. Lavender has spent the last decade taking care of her sisters and running her business. She thought that she lost her chance at love when the relationship with her college sweetheart suddenly ended after traumatic events. Fate and Gavin had other plans.

As an eldest daughter, Lavender’s selfless heart and need for control are portrayed so authentically. We watch as she learns to let go and realize that taking care of herself is just as important as taking care of her sisters (and all the customers of the Immortal Cupcake!).

Lavender and Gavin are in for a rocky road, as the battle with the Stochs come to a head in this story. But they will not be deterred, and the Bay sisters and their soulmates come together for an epic conclusion of the series-long feud in the perfect way.

Delaney wraps up this series in a satisfying and heart-warming way that honors all the Bay sisters and the journeys they have been on.

[springstruckreader]

ARC provided through Netgalley.

The Witch, the Baker, and the Curse Maker is a cozy romantic fantasy perfect for lovers of Practical Magic. If there’s one witchy romance people need to pick up this fall, it’s this one.

Filled with sisterly love, cozy small-town vibes, and a love story bound by fate, it practically makes you look for love and a little bit of magic in your everyday life. The characters’ struggles (outside of the curse, of course) felt so real and personal, and their relationships deep and emotional. Lavender’s position as an older sister was represented so accurately, and I believe every oldest sister would see so much of herself in her. I love the vibes, the plot, the characters and the huge chunk of the story fate represented.

There is nothing in this world we need more than magical books showing us, that whimsy and love can be found even in the hardest times. We just need to find it and accept it into our lives.

[Sherri]

***I received an ARC from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review

In the 5th and final book of The Witches Of Star Island Series, Lavender Bay is determined to defeat the chaos warlock & his coven who have been tormenting her & her family throughout not only this life, but past lives as well. It is because of him that she was forced to walk away from her soulmate Gavin Murphy in college. But Gavin has been searching for Lavender ever since, and a chance encounter with another former classmate they had in common who happened to know where she was, brings Gavin back to Lavender and this time, there is no chance he is walking away. This spicy fantasy novel was full of romance, action, and excitement. These books are best read in order, so that you fully understand who everyone is & the dynamics of the situation.

[Emma_bookaholic]

I have adored being with the Bay Sisters on Star Island! I'm sad this series has come to an end but I have come to love each and every sister as the books went on.

The Stoch's have definitely caused some issues over their lifetimes but the sisters have always been stronger together. I have loved the magic and the fact each sisters has their own powers, which means when the Stoch's arrive, they can band together, along with their soulmates to bring maximum impact when needed.

I love how we got to see their past lives and how they all intertwined over the centuries.

This one is different to the others as in the others, the sisters met their soulmates in their story where as Lavender already knew who her's is/was from a previous life. I liked how the finale wraps up and from the acknowledgements, I hope to see glimpses of the Bay's in future books!

[Amanda Telfer]

Received as an arc from NetGalley.

This is the fifth and final book in the Witches of Star Island series. This is one you very much need to read in order to fully grasp the storyline. Each book revolves around one of the Bay sisters and her finding her predestined soulmate, as well as an overarching threat that takes the entire series to conclude.

This book is all about Lavender, the eldest sister and her partner Gavin. As well as the conclusion to the threat facing the sisters.

The series is perfect for a cozy fall read. Most of the books I was able to finish in a day or two, and the story keeps your attention throughout.

I'm surprised there hasn't been more reviews posted about this series, especially since the first four I was able to read through Kindle Unlimited.

[bette perry]

thank you netgalley and city owl press publishing for this arc.

this was cozy and witchy to the max. i did have a little trouble understanding the beginning, but that’s my fault for not realizing that this was part of a series and coming into this five books in. if the other books are just as sweet and magical as this one i’ll definitely be going back to the beginning. i’m such a sucker for small town romances, sisterhood, fated souls, and eldest sisters getting their happily ever afters. this book had me cackling out loud in places with some of the things grant said. that man had me in a choke hold the whole book. things did feel a tad rushed in the end, but maybe that’s because i’m missing context for some stuff. still highly enjoyed this book though.

[Samantha]

This is the fifth and final book in a series. This is a cute cozy witchy fantasy series. Our FMC, Lavender Bay, has finally gotten to the point in life where she can breathe and focus on herself and her bakery. Enter Gavin, a past interest of Lavender's, who has been searching for her and loving her even though they fell apart. Will they finally find each other and risk it all?

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and these opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this book, and thought it was a great end to the series.

[Tabitha]

Review of ARC from the author;
What a wonderful ending to wrap up the journey this series has been!! I’m obsessed with the witchy, fall vibes. ✨🖤✨
It’s hard to review this book without spoilers but I adored Lavender’s perspective and story. She carries so much weight and burden and she’s learning to let it go, depend on others more, and somehow attempt to break a terrifying many years long family curse at the same time.

[Rebecca Goss]

I loved this story so much! I didn't realize it was a part of a series and read it as a stand alone. It was wonderful on its own but now that I know there was more, I can see how enriching having the other books would have made the experience. The characters are strong and colorful. I love the push and pull of Lavender and Gavin. They truly belong together. I highly recommend this bewitching book and thank Netgalley for the opportunity to enjoy it.

[Emy]

The third book in the series sees Ashram fleeing to a queendom lost to time and space, Airelandia, on her mission to recover the goddesses next artefact. However the dark forces pursuing her may have already taken rot with in Airelandia.
This is a fabulous continuation of the the Heir of Atlantis saga and I cannot wait for the next instalment.

[Giniro]

Eldest daughter~! I was hesitant to read this book. I was afraid it might hit a bit too close to home and personal things. The thing that made me want to read it was literally in the synopsis that her sisters are grown and settled. This story was going to be about Lavender finding out things about herself. The second chance romance is also a trope that I love to read.

[Gabrielle]

Omg she annoyed me soooo much with why they were apart for 13 damn years and then her flip flopping and behavior when he finally found her. Also the whole curse etc I was so over it and glad series is done bc 😬

[Gulendam]

I loved every second of this book and it was so amazing. the magic and curses, also I really liked how Lavender's character developed in the book.