Review: Poison is Always in the Prettiest Bottle: A Dark Romcom, Filled with Laughter and Witchy Vibes: The Butcher and The Witch

Book: Poison is Always in the Prettiest Bottle: A Dark Romcom, Filled with Laughter and Witchy Vibes: The Butcher and The Witch by Danni Deguire, Cassandra Doon

Reviewed by Your_bookish_fantasy

Rating: 4/5

๐“๐“ž ๐“ข๐“Ÿ๐“ž๐“˜๐“›๐“”๐“ก๐“ข
โšœ๏ธ๐”ป๐•–๐•ฅ๐•’๐•š๐•๐•–๐•• ๐•ฃ๐•–๐•ง๐•š๐•–๐•จ ๐• ๐•—- POISON IS ALWAYS IN THE PRETTIEST BOTTLE

๐ˆ ๐š๐ฆ ๐š ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฒ๐ž๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐€๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ซ ๐š๐ง๐ Booksprout
๐ค๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐š๐ง ๐€๐‘๐‚ ๐œ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฏ๐ข๐ž๐ฐ, ๐ข๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ง๐ค ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐จ ๐›๐จ๐ญ๐ก ๐š๐ฌ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐›๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐›๐จ๐จ๐ค.

โšœ๏ธโ„๐•’๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜๐•ค-
๐Ÿ—ฃ ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ Danni Deguire โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ (out of 5 stars, my rating scale is at the end)
๐Ÿ“š ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.75 / 5
๐ŸŒก๏ธ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐ŸŒถ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ / 5 -๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘๐‘˜ ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐บ๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘™๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ 
Which books have I also given this same rating? (๐‘ ๐‘œ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘› ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘š๐‘ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘ฆ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ ๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘›)
5โญ๏ธ Fourth wing / Bound by inked flame / Anathama / The Lies of Lena / Of silver and Curses
4.5โญ๏ธ Bitten / The Female / Quicksilver / Bride / Lights Out / A Bargain so Bloody
4โญ๏ธ Spellcaster / One Dark Window / From Blood and Ash / Phantasma / Butcher & Blackbird
3โญ๏ธWe Who Will Die / The Wolf King / Daughter of No Worlds / The Ex Hex

โšœ๏ธ๐•‚๐•–๐•ช ๐•€๐•Ÿ๐•—๐• :
Genre- Paranormal Rom Com
๐ŸŽง 8 ๐—›๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐˜€ 26 ๐— ๐—ถ๐—ป๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€ (I ๐š•๐š’๐šœ๐š๐šŽ๐š— ๐š˜๐š— 1.45 ๐šœ๐š™๐šŽ๐šŽ๐š)
๐Ÿ“– 302 ๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€
๐น๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘› dual ๐—ฃ๐—ข๐—ฉ / # ๐šœ๐š˜๐š•๐š˜ ๐šœ๐š๐šข๐š•๐šŽ ๐š—๐šŠ๐š›๐šŠ๐š๐š’๐š˜๐š—
๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ- Sep 2025 book, May 2026 audiobook
๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ or ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ driven? ๐’ž๐’ฝ๐’ถ๐“‡๐’ถ๐’ธ๐“‰โ„ฏ๐“‡
๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ก๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฒ & ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—ป๐—ผ- book 1 of 3 The Butcher and the witch
๐—”๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ on ๐—ž๐—จ? โœ…๐’ดโ„ฏ๐“ˆ.
๐—ฃ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ- ๐“Œโ„ฏ๐“๐“ ๐“…๐’ถ๐’ธโ„ฏ๐’น ๐’ปโ„ด๐“‡ ๐“‰๐’ฝโ„ฏ ๐“ˆ๐“‰โ„ด๐“‡๐“Ž
๐— ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ? โŒ๐’ฎ๐’ถ๐’น๐“๐“Ž, ๐“ƒโ„ด, ๐“ƒโ„ด๐“‰ ๐“Š๐“ƒ๐’พ๐“†๐“Šโ„ฏ โ„ฏ๐“ƒโ„ด๐“Š๐‘”๐’ฝ, ๐’พ๐“‰๐“ˆ ๐“Œโ„ฏ๐“๐“ ๐“Œ๐“‡๐’พ๐“‰๐“‰โ„ฏ๐“ƒ ๐’ท๐“Š๐“‰ ๐’น๐’พ๐’น๐“ƒ๐“‰ ๐“ˆ๐“‰๐’ถ๐“ƒ๐’น โ„ด๐“Š๐“‰ โ„ฏ๐“ƒโ„ด๐“Š๐‘”๐’ฝ ๐’ปโ„ด๐“‡ ๐“‚โ„ฏ ๐“‰โ„ด ๐“‡โ„ฏ๐’ธ๐’ถ๐“๐“ ๐’พ๐“ƒ ๐“ˆ๐’ถ๐“Ž 6 ๐“‚โ„ด๐“ƒ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐“ˆ ๐“‰๐’พ๐“‚โ„ฏ.
๐€๐ง๐ฒ ๐‘๐ž๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง? (Disability, plus size, mental health etc...)โŒ
โ„ณโ„ดโ„ด๐’น๐“ˆ; ๐‘จ๐’…๐’—๐’†๐’๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’๐’–๐’”, ๐‘บ๐’•๐’†๐’‚๐’Ž๐’š, ๐‘พ๐’Š๐’•๐’•๐’š, ๐‘ท๐’“๐’†๐’…๐’Š๐’„๐’•๐’‚๐’ƒ๐’๐’†, ๐‘ด๐’‚๐’ˆ๐’Š๐’„๐’‚๐’, ๐‘ฏ๐’‚๐’–๐’๐’•๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ, ๐‘ซ๐’‚๐’“๐’Œ, ๐‘ป๐’˜๐’Š๐’”๐’•๐’š
๐’Ÿ๐’พ๐’น ๐’พ โ„ฏ๐“ƒ๐’ฟโ„ด๐“Ž ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ˆ?โœ…
๐’ฒ๐’พ๐“๐“ ๐’พ ๐“‡โ„ฏ๐’ถ๐’น ๐“‰๐’ฝโ„ฏ ๐“ƒโ„ฏ๐“๐“‰ ๐’ทโ„ดโ„ด๐“€ ๐’พ๐“ƒ ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ˆ ๐“ˆโ„ฏ๐“‡๐’พโ„ฏ๐“ˆ?โœ…
๐’ฒโ„ด๐“Š๐“๐’น ๐’พ ๐“‡โ„ฏ๐’ถ๐’น ๐’ถ๐“ƒ๐“Ž๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ƒ๐‘” โ„ฏ๐“๐“ˆโ„ฏ ๐’ท๐“Ž ๐“‰๐’ฝ๐’พ๐“ˆ ๐’ถ๐“Š๐“‰๐’ฝโ„ด๐“‡?โœ…
๐–‚๐–๐–” ๐–œ๐–”๐–š๐–‘๐–‰ ๐–Ž ๐–—๐–Š๐–ˆ๐–”๐–’๐–’๐–Š๐–“๐–‰ ๐–™๐–๐–Ž๐–˜ ๐–™๐–”? Anyone who enjoys a hitman story, vigilante justice and a good dose of banter and spice

๐Ÿšจ๐Ÿ…ฒ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ท๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ด๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ฒ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…บ๏ธŽ ๐Ÿ†ƒ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ท๏ธŽ๐Ÿ…ด๏ธŽ ๐Ÿ†ƒ๏ธŽ๐Ÿ††๏ธŽ!๐Ÿšจ

โšœ๏ธ๐•Šโ„™๐”ผโ„‚๐•€๐”ผ๐•Š ๐•€โ„• ๐•Š๐•‹๐•†โ„๐•:
๐Ÿ’‹๐ป๐‘ข๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ 
๐Ÿง™โ€โ™€๏ธ๐”š๐”ฆ๐”ฑ๐” ๐”ฅ๐”ข๐”ฐ

โšœ๏ธ๐•Š๐•ก๐•š๐•”๐•– ๐”ฝ๐•’๐•”๐•ฅ๐•ค:
๐Ÿฅต๐’Ÿ๐’พ๐“‡๐“‰๐“Ž ๐’ฏ๐’ถ๐“๐“€
๐Ÿ˜Iแ‘ŽีTแ—ฉ แ’ชOแฏแ—ด แ’ชแ‘Œแ”•T
๐Ÿ™๐ป๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ๐‘ก
๐ŸซฆOแด˜แด˜แดsษชแด›แด‡s Aแด›แด›ส€แด€แด„แด›

โšœ๏ธ๐•‹โ„๐•†โ„™๐”ผ๐•Š
๐Ÿ˜ˆ๐•Š๐•–๐•”๐•ฃ๐•–๐•ฅ๐•ค & ๐”น๐•–๐•ฅ๐•ฃ๐•’๐•ช๐•’๐•๐•ค
๐Ÿชฆ๐•ณ๐–”๐–—๐–—๐–”๐–— ๐•ฐ๐–‘๐–Š๐–’๐–Š๐–“๐–™๐–˜
๐Ÿ’ˆ แ—ทแ—ฉแ‘ŽTแ—ดแ–‡
โ˜ ๏ธ๐•‹๐• ๐•ฆ๐•”๐•™ ๐•™๐•–๐•ฃ ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐••...
๐Ÿงจ๐•Š๐•’๐•ค๐•ค๐•ช ๐”ฝ๐•„โ„‚
๐Ÿคฌ Feminine Rage
๐ŸฅŠ Revenge

โœจ Tแ•ผแ—ดแ—ฐแ—ดี โœจ
Rom com x macabre hit man operation

โšœ๏ธ๐‘บ๐’‰๐’๐’–๐’๐’… ๐’š๐’๐’– ๐‘น๐‘ฌ๐‘จ๐‘ซ ๐’Š๐’• ๐’๐’“, ๐‘ณ๐‘ฐ๐‘บ๐‘ป๐‘ฌ๐‘ต ๐’•๐’ ๐’Š๐’•?โšœ๏ธ
(๐‘Šโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก- ๐ต๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘˜ ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐ด๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘œ?)
Read it donโ€™t listen to it

โšœ๏ธ๐”ธ๐•ฆ๐••๐•š๐•  ๐”น๐• ๐• ๐•œ โ„๐•–๐•ง๐•š๐•–๐•จ:
So the narrator is a confusing one, her main character voice was AWFUL!! bland and unemotional and I was 90% convinced AI. Butโ€ฆ
She voices all of the characters and ever other one is good, her Scottish accent is believable, her Irish accent is good, you can tell the difference between the female characters at a glance - one is sweet and naive and high pitched, the other is sarcastic and deeper. But as I said, the main characters voice was awful, bland, monotone, and genuinely artificial.

I really could get into the book because the AI sounding voice was the main one and therefore the one I heard the most, I just felt irritated and had to strain to โ€˜hearโ€™ the words she was saying so that I could understand the story. In fact she sounds soooo similar to the Alexa voice!

๐ŸŒ ๐•Ž๐• ๐•ฃ๐•๐•• ๐•“๐•ฆ๐•š๐•๐••๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜, ๐•จ๐•ฃ๐•š๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•’๐•Ÿ๐•• ๐•ก๐•’๐•”๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜:
The world building was simple and effective and suited the story. It was real, like it could actually by happening in the next town over. The writing style was easy and flowed well, the language used suited the time and the location.
There was some macabre moments in this one by the way.. just a heads up haha.

I truly appreciated the factual writing of the magic in the story, the tarot cards, the ghosts, the pagan celebrations, it was all written respectfully and accurately and I enjoyed every moment! I wish there was a bit more witchyness in the story, I loved the magic and cemetery moments! So well written and believable and, of course, magical!

The poisoning, the murders, the secrets, the stalking, the sub plotโ€ฆ keeps the pacing moving and keeps the reader interested and intrigued. I love some vigilante justice and revenge plots in general, mix that with some past trauma and a good dose of spice and you have my attention!

The chemistry between each couple was well received and I really enjoyed the spicy bits!

Iโ€™m not a fan of happily ever after as Iโ€™ve not found many authors who can satisfy my personal taste of wrapping things up but leaving a little mystery and intrigue to keep me thinking about the story long after Iโ€™m done. and my god did this HEA leave some mystery!! What a twist!

๐Ÿงโ€โ™‚๏ธ โ„‚๐•™๐•’๐•ฃ๐•’๐•”๐•ฅ๐•–๐•ฃ๐•ค:
I really enjoyed the wide variety of personalities in the main characters.
The females were a brilliant medley of sisterhood and ride or die best friends, banter and bickering and delightful trading of secrets and historical stories and experiences.

Then thereโ€™s the boys, Irish, Scottish and English, all butchers, all strong and confident men. But full of so many secrets and a dark past.

๐Ÿ˜ฅ ๐•Ž๐•™๐•ช ๐•Ÿ๐•  ๐•—๐•š๐•ง๐•– ๐•ค๐•ฅ๐•’๐•ฃ๐•ค?
I didnโ€™t enjoy the audio because of the narrator but the book just didnโ€™t hit with me. It was too predictable to be tense or foreboding.

โณ ๐•Ž๐• ๐•ฆ๐•๐•• ๐•š ๐•ฃ๐•–-๐•ฃ๐•–๐•’๐•• ๐• ๐•ฃ ๐•ฃ๐•–๐•”๐• ๐•ž๐•ž๐•–๐•Ÿ๐••?
I wouldnโ€™t re-read it no, Iโ€™d give the narrator and the author another chance though. Iโ€™d recommend it, but to the right people rather than a wide blanket rec.

๐Ÿชง๐”ฝ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•’๐• ๐•ฅ๐•™๐• ๐•ฆ๐•˜๐•™๐•ฅ๐•ค:
This was a cross between a dark twisted drama and a very witty romcom. With an Englishman, a Scotsman and an Irishmanโ€ฆ yupP!
Pagan ritualistic magic, tarot cards, feminine vengeance and whole heap of banter, dark humour, and twisted logic. Slightly predictable but thereโ€™s some great scenes in this book that make up for that. But I recommend reading the book not the audiobook.

๐น๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ค๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘”๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘ ;

๐•‹๐•š๐•œ๐•‹๐• ๐•œ
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Iแ‘ŽีTแ—ฉ
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๐•„๐•ช โ„๐•’๐•ฅ๐•š๐•Ÿ๐•˜ ๐•Š๐•ช๐•ค๐•ฅ๐•–๐•ž๐•ค:
โญ๏ธ DNF

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
I managed to finish it but it was rubbish. I won't keep a physical copy and won't recommend it, but it's a shame as the plot could have made a good book in another author's hands

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
It was OK. I wish I didn't start this one as it didn't do it for me as I struggled to read it. It had an interesting premise that fell flat but I had to see what happened in the end.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
I don't regret reading it, and I will read the next one, but this one did have a few flaws. [These could be repetitive writing, gaps or plot holes, better character growth or world building, areas needing more detail]
Generally, the book lacked depth and became confusing. The plot resonated with me even though it annoyed me on the whole.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
I'm glad I read it. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to the right people, but I wanted more! Sadly, it's easily forgettable with a few issues I just couldn't overlook/get past.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
Good book! I loved it, but... I needed more! I really did enjoy it, but it had a few parts that needed more detail or added history/background or lore. But that's because the story or characters were memorable, and the plot was strong with brilliant twists. I would re-read if I needed to catch up for the next book and would recommend.

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ.5
Great book! I truly wish the story had been thought about more, or the author had been given more time as this book is so close to brilliance! I will likely read again and will definitely be recommending it to all!

โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ
WOW! Absolutely amazing book! Well written with great characters and a plot so memorable that it will stay with me. I will definitely read this again, I will be recommending it and sharing it with the whole world! Also- I NEED A PHYSICAL COPY!

๐Ÿ”ฅโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ๐Ÿ”ฅ
This is my God level tier. The book must be perfectly memorable. Even after reading 50+ more books, I will remember character names and emotions along with the plot. If there is a special edition, then I need to own it! If there is a conversation on books- I'm talking about this!

SPICE SCALE:
๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ segsual language and a little on-page action

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ a lot of segsual language and some on-page open door action, may be occurring a couple of times

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธโ€“ a lot of explicit action and dirty talk, occurring frequently with 2/3 lurvers

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ โ€“ super graphic and explicit, occurring 4 or more times, can be more grey and taboo themed.

๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ โ€“ Kinks and Fet!shism, explicit and super graphic. It is likely to be tushy play, toys, playrooms, and more dark / taboo fantasies and realities.

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