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The Witches of Portland #9
By Witch's Mark
A shy young witch. A sexy weaver who doesn’t believe in magic. To save the coven, Tempest must find her courage, and risk everything for what she loves.
After years of living on the edge, Tempest finally found a safe place to call home. But when the shy young witch meets bold, brash Ruby, she just wants to hide. Or does she? Turns out Tempest is being stalked by a man using twisted magic. He’s targeted Ruby, too, and Tempest needs her help. And now he’s coming for the coven…
Arrow and Crescent rally the troops, but Tempest has a decision to make. Does she run again? Or find her courage and stand her ground? The stakes are high. Evil threatens the city of Portland, poised on the brink of ushering in an age of endless winter…
By Witch’s Mark is the final spellbinding book in The Witches of Portland series of paranormal urban fantasy novels. If you like fast-paced plots, real-world issues, and a dash of romance, then you'll love this magical series.
After years of living on the edge, Tempest finally found a safe place to call home. But when the shy young witch meets bold, brash Ruby, she just wants to hide. Or does she? Turns out Tempest is being stalked by a man using twisted magic. He’s targeted Ruby, too, and Tempest needs her help. And now he’s coming for the coven…
Arrow and Crescent rally the troops, but Tempest has a decision to make. Does she run again? Or find her courage and stand her ground? The stakes are high. Evil threatens the city of Portland, poised on the brink of ushering in an age of endless winter…
By Witch’s Mark is the final spellbinding book in The Witches of Portland series of paranormal urban fantasy novels. If you like fast-paced plots, real-world issues, and a dash of romance, then you'll love this magical series.
262 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 18, 2019
7 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
T. Thorn Coyle
89 books195 followersTT. Thorn Coyle has been arrested at least four times. Buy her a cup of tea or a good whisky and she'll tell you about it.
A salty-tongued, tattooed mystic, Thorn is author of the alt-history urban fantasy series The Panther Chronicles, the novel Like Water, and two short story collections. The Witches of Portland will be out in Spring, 2018. She has also written multiple non-fiction books including Sigil Magic for Writers, Artists & Other Creatives, Kissing the Limitless, and Evolutionary Witchcraft. Thorn's work appears in many anthologies, magazines, and collections.
She has taught magical practice in nine countries, on four continents, and in twenty-five states. Her other occupations have been numerous, and include working four years each on the Pacific Stock Options floor (as a young Anarchist punk with a blue, flat-top Mohawk), in a woman-run peep show, and full time in the San Francisco soup kitchen she ended up volunteering at for twenty years. All of this, along with her activism, informs her fiction.
An interloper to the Pacific Northwest, Thorn joyfully stalks city streets, writes in cafes, and talks to crows, squirrels, and trees.
Thorn is active on:
Twitter @ThornCoyle
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tthorncoyle
Medium https://medium.com/@ThornCoyle
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ThornCoyle
http://www.thorncoyle.com
A salty-tongued, tattooed mystic, Thorn is author of the alt-history urban fantasy series The Panther Chronicles, the novel Like Water, and two short story collections. The Witches of Portland will be out in Spring, 2018. She has also written multiple non-fiction books including Sigil Magic for Writers, Artists & Other Creatives, Kissing the Limitless, and Evolutionary Witchcraft. Thorn's work appears in many anthologies, magazines, and collections.
She has taught magical practice in nine countries, on four continents, and in twenty-five states. Her other occupations have been numerous, and include working four years each on the Pacific Stock Options floor (as a young Anarchist punk with a blue, flat-top Mohawk), in a woman-run peep show, and full time in the San Francisco soup kitchen she ended up volunteering at for twenty years. All of this, along with her activism, informs her fiction.
An interloper to the Pacific Northwest, Thorn joyfully stalks city streets, writes in cafes, and talks to crows, squirrels, and trees.
Thorn is active on:
Twitter @ThornCoyle
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/tthorncoyle
Medium https://medium.com/@ThornCoyle
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ThornCoyle
http://www.thorncoyle.com
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 30, 2019
Devoured this on a morning I'm recovering from being sick, which turned out to be very appropriate! The characters are so real and human, and the power both both the mundane and the magical brought tears to my eyes. Plus, the blending of witchcraft and geekery is so delightful! Makes me hungry for community like this!
March 1, 2020
As with all of Thorn's fiction, I found myself flying through By Witch's Mark and slowed myself down, because it's the last in the series and I had an underlying sadness the whole time reading. I don't want this series to end. I want to continue ingesting how Arrow and Crescent coven continue blending activism and magic, continue listening to and meeting the needs of their immediate and greater Portland community, because these are things I also desire.
I put off writing this review, in part because it's an acknowledgement that the series is complete, at least for now.
However, that does no service to the author! Or you, potential reader!
So, this is what stays with me, writing this review a good couple of months since completing the book:
I love that by completing with Tempest's perspective we finish with the youngest coven member finding her footing, receiving support in her magical and life education with all of it's foibles and power.
I love that this book shares some of the inner journey and work those with chronic invisible illness go through daily. What's hidden and what's shared.
And although I am sad the series has completed, I take comfort in being able to read them again and again and again as I am sure I will.
I put off writing this review, in part because it's an acknowledgement that the series is complete, at least for now.
However, that does no service to the author! Or you, potential reader!
So, this is what stays with me, writing this review a good couple of months since completing the book:
I love that by completing with Tempest's perspective we finish with the youngest coven member finding her footing, receiving support in her magical and life education with all of it's foibles and power.
I love that this book shares some of the inner journey and work those with chronic invisible illness go through daily. What's hidden and what's shared.
And although I am sad the series has completed, I take comfort in being able to read them again and again and again as I am sure I will.
December 24, 2019
I can rave about this whole series--each book highlights a different member of the Arrow and Crescent coven and this time, readers get to know Tempest, a young massage therapist who is dealing with chronic illness. Then she and the whole coven come under magical attack from a neo-Nazi. Personally, I really appreciated how Tempest's relationship with chronic illness was portrayed--as just another aspect of her life that she has to wrestle with. It was a counter-balance to some new Age messaging that assumes illness is a metaphor for lack of spiritual health. Not so here. Tempest grows in her magical ability as she and others in the coven get to the bottom of the attack on them. Plus there is a romantic possibility that has emerged at the same time... A very satisfying read! My only regret is that this is the last book of the series... But I found myself starting in again on the first book. The Witches of Portland are great for anyone who loves magic, hates oppression, and is open to the many diverse forms that love can take in our lives.
December 1, 2025
A shy young witch. A sexy weaver who doesn’t believe in magic. To save the coven, Tempest must find her courage, and risk everything for what she loves.
After years of living on the edge, Tempest finally found a safe place to call home. But when the shy young witch meets bold, brash Ruby, she just wants to hide. Or does she? Turns out Tempest is being stalked by a man using twisted magic. He’s targeted Ruby, too, and Tempest needs her help. And now he’s coming for the coven…
Arrow and Crescent rally the troops, but Tempest has a decision to make. Does she run again? Or find her courage and stand her ground? The stakes are high. Evil threatens the city of Portland, poised on the brink of ushering in an age of endless winter…
After years of living on the edge, Tempest finally found a safe place to call home. But when the shy young witch meets bold, brash Ruby, she just wants to hide. Or does she? Turns out Tempest is being stalked by a man using twisted magic. He’s targeted Ruby, too, and Tempest needs her help. And now he’s coming for the coven…
Arrow and Crescent rally the troops, but Tempest has a decision to make. Does she run again? Or find her courage and stand her ground? The stakes are high. Evil threatens the city of Portland, poised on the brink of ushering in an age of endless winter…
February 10, 2020
One of my favorites in the series
By book 9, I feel like the Arrow and Crescent coven are my friends. I love the POV shift from book to book to a different member of the coven.
Yes. There is a formula that doesn’t change book to book, but within the structure lies the honey of two twining main stories with Portland and the coven setting the scene.
Why was this one of my favorites? The two main characters were women and I fell in love with them both. Loved the renewal and rebirth of the season of Winter Solstice and in my own pantheon, Artemis, Diana in this story, is my own #1 goddess.
Well done, Thorn! I can’t wait for book 10
By book 9, I feel like the Arrow and Crescent coven are my friends. I love the POV shift from book to book to a different member of the coven.
Yes. There is a formula that doesn’t change book to book, but within the structure lies the honey of two twining main stories with Portland and the coven setting the scene.
Why was this one of my favorites? The two main characters were women and I fell in love with them both. Loved the renewal and rebirth of the season of Winter Solstice and in my own pantheon, Artemis, Diana in this story, is my own #1 goddess.
Well done, Thorn! I can’t wait for book 10
October 3, 2020
This is the finale of the Witches of Portland and it was just as lovely as the rest. I have to admit, for me the resonance was that of the teacher. By that I mean recently I had a friend die, a pagan. It turns out he had been teaching his kids and his friends kids paganism little bits here and there. At the service I realized someone needed to pick up that torch of teaching. I'm becoming the person who teaches the young twenty somethings about magic. The gods know, I will at least be less creepy (in the bad way) than a lot of the "teachers" me and my pagan friends had in our twenties. Game on! May it go as well as the story in the book.
April 30, 2020
Captivating
I've read many fiction books about witchcraft, but none so realistic as those written by T. Thorn Coyle. Her Witches of Portland series is free of the stereotypes and tropes that so many writers fall into. Her books are fresh and current. I especially enjoyed this one because I am a spinner.
I've read many fiction books about witchcraft, but none so realistic as those written by T. Thorn Coyle. Her Witches of Portland series is free of the stereotypes and tropes that so many writers fall into. Her books are fresh and current. I especially enjoyed this one because I am a spinner.
July 18, 2022
What I love most about this series is that each book can be a stand alone and that you do not have to read them in any particular order. I absolutely love the inclusion of fibre arts and spinning to this story. It has been on my mind lately with regard to my own practice and not something you see included in witchy fiction (at least not that I have encountered as of yet).
August 29, 2025
Home
Throughout this series, I have felt as though I were back in Portland, having lived there for 40 years. And I wish I had run into Raquel, and Brenda, and Moss, and Alejandro while I lived there.
Throughout this series, I have felt as though I were back in Portland, having lived there for 40 years. And I wish I had run into Raquel, and Brenda, and Moss, and Alejandro while I lived there.
December 21, 2019
A lovely conclusion
This story puts a lovely bow on the Witches of Portland cycle! Tempest's story is relatable and the work she does is a fitting end to the story.
This story puts a lovely bow on the Witches of Portland cycle! Tempest's story is relatable and the work she does is a fitting end to the story.
January 3, 2021
really loved this one. it's up there with "by moon" for me. i'm definitely sad that this is the final book in the series, because now that we've gone through the individuals in the group, it'd be great to see something more interwoven.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews