A teen who can't perform magic and her natural witch mother rob towns full of witches- havens from the outside world that rejects them.

It sound great, but I never really understood why any of this happened. Why did the mom want to rob witches? Why did she always hit it off with married men like a cartoon villain? I never really understood why any of this was happening, so the ending felt like it didn't really matter.

I am in love with this book!

This outstanding piece of fiction has put me in such a mood that it brighten my over loaded work days, it took the stress away and gave me hope that the next day would be better.

The world building was luscious and made me feel like I was right there in the thick of it. The plot was on point and it flowed nicely throughout this epic ride.

This book is a must read, and I highly recommend you take a change on this one of a kind read. It will sweep you up and it will never left you go.

Happy Reading

I am so into witches lately, so I was looking forward to this book. I loved the cover and the wispy smoke floating betwixt the fantastic title had me all sorts of jazzed. That being said, it leaned a bit younger than my usual preference, which kept me from enjoying it as much as I thought I would. I'd say it leans more towards middle grade-YA, and I prefer YA that tips more towards the late teens. So, the problem was entirely mine as a reader and wrong audience and not the story itself.

A light, quick, entertaining book for all magic lovers.

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{ARC Review+Giveaway} Witchtown by @CoryPutmanOakes @HMHTeen
July 11, 2017 Michelle @ Book Briefs Blog Tours, Giveaways, Reviews, Young Adult 20 ★★★★

{ARC Review+Giveaway} Witchtown by @CoryPutmanOakes @HMHTeen

{ARC Review+Giveaway} Witchtown by @CoryPutmanOakes @HMHTeenWitchtown by Cory Putman Oakes
Pages: 320
Published by HMH Books for Young Readers on July 18, 2017
Genres: Young Adult, supernatural
Source: Finished Hardcover from Publisher
four-stars
When sixteen-year-old Macie O’Sullivan and her masterfully manipulative mother Aubra arrive at the gates of Witchtown—the most famous and mysterious witch-only haven in the world—they have one goal in mind: to rob it for all it’s worth.

But that plan derails when Macie and Aubra start to dig deeper into Witchtown’s history and uncover that there is more to the quirky haven than meets the eye.

Exploring the haven by herself, Macie finds that secrets are worth more than money in Witchtown.

Secrets have their own power.
Reading Challenges: 2017 New Release Challenge
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YA Review My Thoughts
Witchtown is a standalone young adult supernatural by author Cory Putman Oakes. I think Witchtown would appeal to both young adult readers as well as middle grade readers. It is young adult, but it is on the younger end and the romance is very light and age appropriate, so all ages of witchy fans can enjoy Witchtown. This is the first book I have read from Mrs. Oakes and I have to say I really, really enjoyed it. I completely forgot that this book was going to be about a mother daughter con team. (very light emphasis on the word team.) Does that ever happen to you? I read the summary a while ago when I decided to sign up for the blog tour, and then forgot all about it until I picked up the book to read it for my review. And I never go back and read the summaries. It is more fun for me that way. So I was super excited when I saw that Macie and her mother, Aubra were looking to rob Witchtown blind.

But then the story took a completely different path and I was even more excited in the direction Cory Putman Oakes decided to take Witchtown in. This book was even better than I was expecting it to be. I flew through it. I think it only took me 2 1/2 hours to read, and I enjoyed every bit of it. Witchtown is part con, part mystery with a very light touch of romance and friendship added in. It was a very fun read. Macie was a delight. I don’t want to give too much away because there were quite a few twists in this book that managed to surprise me, and I want you to have that same pleasure.

I will say this about Witchtown. The mother daughter dynamic completely surprised me. I thought that Macie and her mom were going to get along really well, but that was not the case at all. Macie and Aubra are completely at odds during the whole story, which added an unexpected element to the plot line. I actually loved the way everything turned out. I thought Cory did an excellent job crafting a fast paced, enjoyable tale. I also really loved the friendship element of the story. Tayla was my favorite character in the whole book, and I would love to see a companion novel from her point of view. I think she is pretty awesome!

Bottom line: If you are looking for a young adult standalone with lots of fast paced witchy fun, Witchtown is a fantastic quick read for readers of all ages. I really enjoyed this novel.

Witchtown caught my eye a while back and I placed it on a tentative read list. When the opportunity came about to read it along with the Rockstar Book Tours crew, I knew I needed to jump aboard and read it. It was a fun middle grade novel about a young girl and her mother who travel between witch havens in order to get rich quick. The leading lady Macie begins to uncover some secrets in Witchtown and the story flows from there.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and found the characters entertaining. It was fast paced and fun, but it also had some unexpected twists and turn towards the end. Each of the characters had their own secrets and I loved being able to follow along with Macie as she searched for answers about herself, her new home, and her new friends.

All in all, Witchtown was a well written and entertaining read. It was definitely a "read in one sitting" type of book and I really enjoyed the fantasy and magic involved. I would definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy middle grade reads with a hint suspense! A big thank you to HMH Books for Young Readers, NetGalley and Rockstar Book Tours for sending my this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Great story line and very appealing to both genders within multiple age ranges. I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter!

That blurb alone made Witchtown, the haven Macie and her mother arrive in, sound like it was going to be creepy or deadly or something more than the dusty, plain small town it ended up being. Witchtown promised a lot but my expectations sort of fell immediately when the opening to the book started with a history lesson that toed a lot of lines, particularly when it referenced a massive systematic oppression that hearkened to a lot of what we're seeing both today, regarding queer people and people of color, and what we've seen in the past, like in the times of Nazi Germany or the colonization of America and the subsequent, and still going, oppression of Indigenous peoples.

There's a lot to unpack that wasn't even mentioned in the first few pages of the book, and we haven't even met our main character yet.

It took me a long, long time to get into the book. Call it what you will: a slow and boring start, a main character I wasn't interested in, lackluster worldbuilding; but I just couldn't bring myself to care about Macie or the story until I was halfway through the book.

This isn't to say that I didn't like Witchtown. It was a decent book, but it felt all over the place, tied through several unfinished and unexplored subplots, rather than one main thread.

I had expected a heist story, but that fell through almost immediately. Then I expected a mystery, where Macie tried to find out what was causing all the accidents and attacks. Then I expected Macie to start coming into her own power, but that never happened until the literal last few pages.

So little is actually explained and we're only given poor vague reflections to try and orient ourselves. Not to mention that the town is so lackluster, I only imagine the town square and then a void surrounding it all. This is a town that's supposed to be full of nothing but witches, it's supposed to be quirky and different and full of people who come together as refugees from the outside world of non-witches, but it's so boring.

Throw in a creepy, lying Prince Charming looking love interest and you have Witchtown.

If the story was really about Macie breaking from her mother's heists to be with her new found friends, I might have liked it more. But it felt like a mishmash of different ideas hastily tied up that just sort of falls apart if you look at it too long.

I wanted to love Witchtown. I love magic and witches and twists and fun quirky towns. But it had so little of that, that I'm not quite sure what to call it. My favorite, though, definitely not.

I don't know why but I went with low expectations with this book. Turns out I was actually surprised. I really enjoyed it.
I love witches and everything related to them but somehow I've never picked a witch book before, so this was a first.
I loved Macie's character development and how she changes the vision she had of her mom and their toxic relationship. And even though there isn't a lot of witch-y vocabulary I overall enjoyed the story.
Some things were a bit predictable to me but I found the book addicting and fast paced.

Witchtown by Cory Putman Oakes is such a fun middle grade, young adult/teen read! I may not be a teen or even young anymore but I got so engrossed in the story that I couldn't stop reading. A teen witch and her overbearing mom witch rob havens but they came across Witchtown, which may have been one witch haven too many. This is where all the excitement and fun begins. Lots of secrets, intrigue, suspense, and just good fantasy happens. A big 5 star kids read. Great job! Thanks NetGalley and publishing company for letting me read this fun fantasy.

While this book was very predictable, I enjoyed all of the true witchyness it had, despite being fiction. It was a quick easy read. I liked all of the characters, even the mother who was a decent villain. The story had a good flow to it and kept me interested throughout. Thank you for letting me read it ahead of time. I think the teens both young and old will enjoy it when our bought copy comes into the library.

I feel like the blurb did not do a good job describing this book, so I'll do a little intro.

Following the Second Inquisition, witch havens were established as places where both natural and learned witches placed on the National Witch Registry lived openly as witches. Macie and her mother, Aubra, had spent the past decade inserting themselves into these havens only to rob them blind. In the last haven, Macie made the mistake of breaking one of the fundamental rules for being a con, she formed an attachment and fell in love.

Shortly thereafter, Macie and Aubra flee and see refuge in the utopian haven of Witchtown. Aubra promised Macie, that this would be the last heist, and afterward, they would settle down and establish roots the way most witches did. However, as their time in Witchtown grew short, Macie began to doubt her mother's promise, and also suspected that her mother was harboring a much bigger secret, which involved both her and her mother.

I enjoyed my trip to Witchtown, and found this to be an entertaining tale with filled with some really great characters.

Things I liked:
-The main character, Macie, was quite complicated. She was struggling with the life she knew and the life she wanted. In Witchtown, she found a solid group of friends, who believed she was good. They supported her and were there for her when she really needed them. This was a huge change from how she was treated by her mother, and she began to rethink a lot of her ways and beliefs as a result of coming to Witchtown.
-There were some great secondary characters too. I found Tayla and Kellen to be pretty awesome friends, who really showed Macie that she could trust other people. They opened her up to letting others in. Both Tayla and Kellen were keeping some major secrets, but in the end, they were there to help Macie uncover a huge secret, which was standing in the way of her happiness.
-I liked Witchtown. This town was billed as a utopia, and it did not disappoint. Witchtown was green and self-sufficient. The citizens lived in harmony and were always there to lend a helping hand. It's no wonder that Macie grew to love and care about this town and the people in it, because it seemed like such a charming place.
-This is a lighter type paranormal. There is conflict and tension and even some violence, but it's never too much or too heavy. I felt that the relationships Macie was building in Witchtown played a bigger role in this story, and therefore, were featured more prominently.
-I cannot forget the romance. This was sort of a twofer. We get one romance in the form of flashbacks, and a second that plays out real-time in the story. Both were important with respect to Macie's personal journey, and I always love a good romance.
-The ending was strong for me. Although there were still some unresolved plot points at the end of the story, this did not detract from my enjoyment of how Oakes left this story. It was in a neat enough bow and filled with enough hope and promise, that I was left happy.

Overall: a lighter-side paranormal with enough magic and mystery to entertain.

A full review of this arc will be published on my blog in due time.

Oh, what a fun book to read! I just love a witchy story and this one was very unique. I loved the little map in the front of the book but I am a little pig when it comes to wanting to know all the details about each and every area in the world. The town sounded amazing and magical and I really hope this won't be the last I hear of Witchtown. I will be buying a hard copy of this book when it comes out. I really enjoyed it so much! I will recommend this to everyone!

This is one of those books that appears to have a spectacular premise, only for the execution to be a huge letdown. It’s also one of those books whose blurbs is misleading – from the description, I thought Macie and her mother would be a well-oiled machine, a team. Instead, the mother is a cartoonish villain with hilariously unbelievable motivations and actions, and her daughter pretty much hates her, though it’s difficult to tell, since Macie is so bland.

Essentially, the premise of the book is this: Macie and her mother Aubra settle into a witch haven called “Witchtown” (oh, the creativity) intending to rob it for all it is worth. Once they dig deep into the town’s finances, they discover the town is broke. And then…basically there’s a lot of drama between Macie and her mother, a lackluster romance, some nonsensical and pointless twists, and very little excitement.

I’m going to break down some of the issues I had with this book one by one.

First, the setting. This is a town of witches! And yet the town is one of the blandest settings I’ve ever read. The author simply did not have the talent to show us how magical such a town could be. And yet, the town is never really described, never fully fleshed out. In Sweep, Cate Tiernan did a much better job crafting the wonder of magic, and her characters weren’t even living in a town of witches!

Second, this novel is blindingly white while usurping a narrative of oppression that belongs to people of color. At the start of this novel, we are told that witches have been persecuted and forced to the fringes of society, an event described in a way that made me seriously side-eye the entire book. The main characters are white, but then, so is literally everyone else! In fact, the only person of color in the entire novel is Macie’s old boyfriend Rafe, whom she describes as “dark and dangerous” and had apparently mistaken for a drug dealer when she first encountered him. We discover that Macie has lost Rafe – the love of her life, apparently – only five days before arriving in Witchtown, and yet she already begins to fall for milquetoast white boy Kellen.

Third, the characterization. All of the characters here were completely bland. I could barely tell anyone apart. The only somewhat interesting character, Aubra, is revealed to be cartoonishly evil, to the point of trying to seriously hurt her own daughter. After this, Macie appears to be perfectly fine, when one would think she would be utterly distraught after losing her mother, the only person she has in the world. Even if the author had wanted to have this relationship be complex and grey rather than supportive, she could have done it in a much more subtle way. The dialogue is really cringey at times, especially when Aubra uses words like “defy” like she’s Mother Gothel and we’ve been transported into a Disney movie.

Fourth, the plot. Or the lack of a coherent one. Initially we are made to think this is going to be a heist novel, but that falls apart. Then, we’re made to think that, because the town is being sabotaged, there’s going to be some kind of mystery to solve. That is also tossed aside. Instead the story jumps from one subplot to another without really laying out a coherent narrative. Also, this is a very boring book. It took me nearly a month to finish it because the first half is so dull. It’s a lot of introductions and expositions that should have been interesting – because hey, witches! – but is instead really boring. Finally, the “twist” was one I could see coming a mile away.

This was a disappointment. I was already predisposed to like this – mother/daughter stuff, witches (witches! I love witches!), strange towns, a heist – so I went in with high expectations, but I’m sad to say I was let down on every single point. The only good thing I can say about this book is that it’s a relatively light, easy read, but overall I would say it’s a waste of time and energy.

I was hoping for more with the premise, but it ended up being pretty average by witch book standards.

Neutral feedback because I wasn't able to read the book. I reached out to the pubisher many times because the file was somehow damaged. Nobody ever got back to me and after more than four weeks of waiting, I will close the review request. Sorry that my review won't help you decide whether to buy the book or not.

WITCHTOWN by Cory Putman Oakes follows 16 year old Macie O’Sullivan and her masterfully manipulative mother, Aubra, as they attempt to pull the heist of a lifetime- robbing the fabled witch Haven called Witchtown. Things start to unravel as the two realized Witchtown isn’t what it seems… and Macie realizes neither is her mother.

I love any and all books about witches and jumped on the opportunity to read a book about a witch-only town, but I ended up being pretty disappointed. It seriously took me a month to finish this book because the first solid 70% of this book was so boring. I felt like the set-up for the town and the people who become Macie’s friends could have been so interesting but Oakes sidetracks that in favor of introducing a whole bunch of characters we meet once or twice. I would have loved to know what made a certain character hate Witchtown and why Macie had such a sudden love for it. There was also the story of the poltergeist in the depot, a story that should have been told seeing as how Bradley played such a huge part in the book, that never got explored. What happened to Stan? What caused the fire?

While the last 25% or so of the book was pretty good, everything was seriously rushed to make this nice, neat ending work. I figured out pretty early on the significance of Aubra and Macie’s moonstones and that would have been such an interesting plot twist… if the author had done more with it.

All in all, it was an ok read. Not something I really would want on my shelf and definitely not something I would ever reread.

Witchtown by Cory Putman Oakes is scheduled to be released on July 18, 2017 and is a young adult novel. The story follows Macie a sixteen-year-old girl traveling across the country with her mother robbing witch Havens. I found this to be a really quick but fun read that I truly enjoyed. Oakes writes with a lot of twists and turns that add to the plot line of the story. This book reminds me of the movie Halloween Town with a bit more back story. Overall a great read.

I received a copy from Netgalley.

An enjoyable YA fantasy with a rather unique take on witches. In this novel witches have been living amongst humans forever, Natural witches, witches born with power, and Learned witches, those who become witches with training. The secret came out and there was wide spread panic, leading to the US government creating “havens” for witches. Towns just for witches where they can feel safe and be with their own kind. There’s also a darker more mysterious kind of witch known as a Void witch. Little is known other than they’re bad news.

Most havens aren’t the best places in the world to live, someone came up with the idea of making a town better than all the other havens, a multi billionaire with big government influence created a spectacular, wealthy haven called Witchtown.

The novel starts with teen Macie and her mother Aubra arriving in Witchtown to start a new life. Only Aubra and Macie have a secret – they’re con artists and thieves there on a specific mission – to rob Witchtown.

Aubra is the latest addition to my Worst YA Parent list. She’s obnoxious right from the get go, Macie is clearly struggling with something that happened in the last Haven they conned, something to do with a boy she really liked, but right off there’s an impression it ended badly and the mother was to blame. She flat out ignores Macie’s obvious objections to being where they are now and heads off on her plan. Aubra is a very powerful Natural witch, Macie has a secret about her own power and Aubra often holds this against her to manipulate things to her advantage. She really is a horrible piece of work, but can be very charming when greasing the wheels.

Macie was much more likeable. I don’t usually con artist main characters and definitely not characters who are thieves. Though there is something quite sympathetic about Macie, that as a reader I found myself actually liking her as a character. She was a bit stubborn and sulky, under the circumstances this is quite understandable. She could be a bit of a bitch herself, but as the novel progresses, Macie shows some pretty impressive character growth over what she feels is right and wrong.

Aubra’s determined to go ahead with her plan to rob the town, and gets to know the right people. Macie finds herself fitting in more than she ever has anywhere and as she gets to know some of the other teens in town, she learns not everyone is what they first seem. There’s much more to people, and as she starts getting to know people and make friends she begins to think of a life without her mother’s overbearing presence.

Through flashbacks we learn a little bit of Macie’s history, what happened the last time she had a potential friend, and why she’s so reluctant when the kids she meets in Wichtown want to get to know her.

It goes to Macie’s character growth. Over the novel as Macie learns more about Witchtown and the people and discovers her own inner strengths, she also learns some pretty shocking secrets about herself and her own levels of power. And some pretty terrible deceptions on her mother’s part as well.

It’s a fun easy read with some great world building, and decent, well fleshed out characters, twisty secrets and some good friendships built, though not without a little drama thrown in. There’s also a little hint of romance but not the main focus of Macie’s attention. Macie shows a tremendous amount of strength and self-worth as her story is told. Also, a really interesting and different take on YA witches, something I’ve not seen before.

I would definitely read something by this author again.

Thank you to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group for approving my request to view the title.