A great book by a fantastic author. The writing is excellent and the mystery keeps you turning the pages. Characters are well developed. Highly recommend.

This was a fun witch cozy mystery to read. Yes, it was similar to others in the genre, however, it was also different. Not the same storyline, which made it even more fun. The characters were well written and interesting. I also really liked the storyline. It is a book I could read again, especially on a lazy Saturday afternoon with a cup of tea. I would be interested in reading more like this from this author. Give it a try!

Well, I tried. This one was just a bit too heavy on the quirk. One chapter in and I think that there were about 47 different pop culture references.

It’s an interesting and clever idea, and I think that fans of Mary Janice Davidson’s Undead and Unwed series, or the Minster Haven series by R.L. naquin would get a real kick out of this

A big thank you to NetGalley and Createspace for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. First time reading this author. I think this is A series but I am not sure. It is a fantasy not really a mystery. The main character is Clarissa an art teacher, who is extremely annoyingly naive!! I liked some aspects of the book but found It a bit silly. I liked that it's from the teachers perspective. I rate this a 3. Not really my thing, I think it's just above the young adult level.

Excellent supernatural cozy mystery

I enjoyed this book. Sarina Dorie created a well-paced, fun story. The characters are well developed and the action scenes very good. The mystery worked well. Although it is the third book of the series, it read seamlessly as a stand-alone. I recommend it as a fun read for fans of the genre.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book via Netgalley for review purposes.

I read Witches Gone Wicked by
Sarina Dorie
on Tuesday last week and I had requested it because it said it was a witch cozy, and I love witch cozies most of the time. It is not that I did not enjoy this book, I actually could not put it down but it read more like a guilty pleasure with cozy overtones and it was more fantasy than anything else. I wanted to not like it when I was reading it because I had a preconceived idea of what I think a true witch themed cozy should be and this is really not. That being said this read like a really great fan fiction of Harry Potter, and a touch of a Harlequin Romance with way more curse words than I truly would have liked but still I could not put it down. I liked and at times identified with the main character, the setting was a bit out there but you have to love a book that has mischief, missing answer keys, plot twists and feral unicorns. All in all it was a departure from what I was used to reading and I liked it. Out of my comfort zone a little but worth the read.

I was attracted by the description of the book but it did not met my expectations.
It seems to me it's more a YA paranormal chick-lit than a paranormal mystery.
I liked some part and found tiring to read other.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley

This is a great book with a wonderful story and well developed characters. The story flowed very well and was very enjoyable. This book will keep you reading long into the night and you will not want to put this book down until you finish. This was such a great read and full of surprises. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader’s copy of this book. The free book held no determination on my personal review.

The moment Clarissa knew she was a powerful witch and destined for a life of magic it was the best day of her life as far as Clarissa was concerned. She would finally have a chance to learn how to control her powers. Clarissa was going to be the arts and crafts teacher at a real magic school. What she didn’t know was there was a curse on the arts and craft teaching job and no one has lasted more than a year teaching this class. Also Clarissa hoped to be reunited with her H S boyfriend Derrick hopefully he had forgave her for creating a tornado and sending him to another realm. Clarissa went to the classroom and scrubbed the walls and floor and wiped down the tables and chairs with Clorox and Lysol. She also dragged the tables and chairs into a U shape with her desk at the opening. Clarissa had accidently used magic plenty of times which put ehr danger of becoming tithe to the Fae if the noticed her. Without her fairy godmothers potions to suppress her abilities she may be able to use magic here she needed to hang some large posters on stone walls there was no students until the following week and she didn’t see any staff around. But in the end all she did was cause a fire she couldn’t put out and yelled for help. Professor Felix Thatch showed up and had to use magic from his wand to put it out. Felix was the last person Clarissa wanted to see. Felix was a trained Witchkin, he also told Clarissa he was tired of hearing about her so called magical accidents and called Clarissa a menace. Then Felix marched her to the principal Jeb who was a all knowing, all seeing wizard. He said they were fixin to teach Clarissa to control her powers and find her path in the world and also said she had a lot of learning to do and added they weren’t ready yet and he had never seen the likes of Clarissa’s magic and she didn’t want to be drained of her powers as then she would just be mortal so she had to stay in their stronghold and be safe from Fae and creatures and creatures who would harm her.Then Jeb told Felix to stop complaining especially since he was to start educating clarissa until school started and Felix was very unhappy about that. Clarissa was very high on Felix’s crap list and he hated her the most. Clarissa lost the joy she had once felt as once again she was the freaky teacher who didn’t fit in. Clarissa knew nothing about her birth mother another reason she wanted to be at this school. Her fairy godmother had adopted Clarissa , they had picked Abigail as Clarissa and Abigail were similar in appearance. Abigail was half fae and half mortal. Abigail had not wanted Clarissa to embrace her powers, she had tried to hide magic from Clarissa she was afraid Clarissa would get hurt or draw attention to the fae who would snatch her up. The Raven Queen had tried to claim Clarissa as her sacrifice and Clarissa still didn’t know why she made a deal with Clarissa. Clarissa’s biological mother had been the head mistress of this school at one time and thought to be a dark witch who practiced black magic and ended up being hated and some of that carried on to Clarissa as far as she was concerned. But then teachers start to come up missing at the school and Clarissa knows she better find out what is going on before she is next.
I had mixed feelings about this book. First off you felt like there should have been a book before this one with all the backstory to Clarissas biological mother, the school, Abigail, Abigail adopting Clarissa and Clarissa herself and probably other things too like the Fae. I felt like I was jumping in the middle of a story not the beginning. I did like some of the secondary characters with their quirkiness like Jeb for example. Why wasn’t clarissa told about the rules and the way things were done there like no killing animals not even spiders that Clarissa doesn’t like and almost killed one until another teacher stopped her. Made no sense to me in that instance. This was a fun interesting read for the most part definitely not a favorite but I didn’t hate it and did finish it. I did love their were unicorns in this -inner child in me I guess. At times I didn’t particularly like Clarissa as she lied and she seemed pretty immature to me for being twenty two and had been through college and almost had her teaching license. As i said I had mixed feelings on this book.

DNF

I am so disappointed that I couldn't finish this book but it was just awful.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this funny magical book

wow where to start...it has a charm all of its own...with hints of dumbledore and hogwarts and even a nasty dungeon master called hatch...who punishes students with chains and stuff...

but along the way this story catches your imagination and you are hooked...and you carry on reading and you get swept along by the story..i mean who wouldnt like to ride a unicorn..and how corny and rude were they

cant wait for the next book in this series i am hooked

This book was mixed for me. Parts of it were fun, but other parts were . . . rather cringe-worthy.

The premise is similar to Hogwarts, only from the teacher’s point of view. Our protaginist, Clarissa Lawrence, is the new art teacher who knows quite a bit about art, but very little about magic. She’s at the (slightly rundown) school of magic to learn more about magic and more about her birth mother, a true wicked witch. Because her mum’s crimes, she’s treated with a lot of hostility from other members of the school staff.

I liked the premise, but the main character seemed like she was going out of her way to be disliked. Her vocabulary reminded me more of a pre-teen than a 20-something teacher as did her attire (which included wearing Disney night gowns (because she claims there’s nothing in her size that’s appropriate) and stripped leggings to look more like a witch). Because magic and electronics don’t mix well, there are no computers; when talking to the librarian, it felt like Clarissa was almost mocking her about having an old-fashioned card catalog. When given an old book to study, she immediately starts using a highlighter on it, not bothering to check if she needs to return it, or if it’s a valuable old book. She also delibrately lies or misleads people for no appearant reason. One character thinks she looks familiar; rather than confessing who her mother is (which he is going to find out eventually), she lies. Later, when following a professor, she gets into trouble and has to be rescued. Rather than admitting that she was following the professor (which she might have a valid reason for doing), she lies to her rescuer - again for no apparent reason. There’s also a subplot of missing test answers that seems a bit contrived, existing only to raise the possibility of her not having a job next semester.

Despite all that, I did enjoy the book. By the end, I confess I was more interested in learning more about her mother and the background of some of the other teachers than I was her, but it was still entertaining, and I was still curious about what happened next. The preview chapter of the previous book sounds fun, too.

My recommendation: good for the beach, where more annoying parts of the book are easier to overlook and forgive.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The last magical school book I read was a total disaster so I didn't have high expectations of this one. I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself enjoy both the world and characters despite the obvious Harry Potter vibe. I actually wonder if this has started life as HP fanfic but even if it has it's sufficiently different that it doesn't bother me. To an extent the parallels made Witches Gone Wicked even funnier.

What I look for in a book is the connection with the characters and getting emotionally attached, so when I first started ranting about what an asshole one of the characters is I knew the book had won me over. My only real complaint and the reason why I can't award WGW a 5 star rating was the feeling at times that I've jumped midway into the story. The first time it happened I assumed the book is part of an ongoing series and tried to find the prequels. After spending some time browsing I came to the conclusion it's a standalone or first in series (boy I hope so because it has so much potential!) and I got annoyed. It happened a few more times and while I was capable of deducing what has happened but it still broke the flow of reading.

I'm hoping that this isn't the end of the story and that Ms. Dorie will continue exploring the Womby's world as WGW would be an excellent starting point for a series. There were enough unanswered questions at the end for at least one more book and I got sufficiently attached to Miss Lawrence that I'm quite interested in what will happen to her. Besides I want to learn what is Thatch's deal with her and her mother!

This is a book in the Womby's School For Wayward Witches series. In this one Clarissa comes to Womby to be the art instructor. Clarissa finds out her birth mother was a former headmistress and feared by all those who taught with her. She was a wicked witch who used blood magic and pain magic. Because Clarissa looks just like her, everyone assumes she is just like her. Clarissa has to fight to show that she is on the side of good, not evil.
This was a very entertaining book. If you are an adult who loves the Harry Potter books and wishes you could have received a letter of acceptance from Hogwarts, then you will be delighted with this book.

My rating: 1 of 5 stars. Not at all my cup of tea.

This book had a fun premise and I expected to enjoy it but it really just wasn't my cup of tea. From the very beginning I felt as though I'd come in halfway through the plot with references to things that had happened before. And the characters were more caricatures. I really struggled to finish it and I eventually just gave up.

Early on, I said to myself about this book, "Won't be amazing, might be amusing," and I was right.

There are signs that it might possibly have started life as Harry Potter fanfiction. It's set in a magical school. The principal, [Dumbledore] Bumblebub, is hardly ever available to talk to about what's going wrong (which is plenty); he does have a corny Southern US accent, which deserts him in a moment of crisis, to distinguish him from his model, but like Dumbledore, he's gay. The [potions] alchemy teacher is mean, nasty, and suspicious (though he does have good hair), and wants the [defence against the dark arts] arts and crafts teaching job, which is cursed; nobody's ever lasted more than a year at it for several years now. <spoiler>The protagonist catches him muttering over something of hers and thinks he's cursing it, which is the opposite of what he's doing.</spoiler>

Our protagonist, a young not-quite-qualified teacher, has just taken the art teacher job. Hijinks ensue.

Hijinks including some sexual bits which I personally found unerotic, but which some readers will probably object to. I guessed fairly early on who the villain was who'd been killing off art teachers. <spoiler>I didn't quite get why, given the type of magic he had, he was focusing on art teachers, male and female, in particular, rather than female staff in general, though. </spoiler>

The pre-publication copy I read from Netgalley revealed that the author has little grasp of the use of apostrophes (especially anywhere near a plural), is shaky on commas, and struggles with homonyms; I hope a really good copy editor gets to fix this. I also wonder if she really did her research into which people from the Indian subcontinent wear turbans, what their religion is, what their names are like, and what you might find underneath the turban.

Apart from these issues, the story was well constructed, the protagonist protagonised rather than sitting about and wringing her hands (and rescued herself at the critical moment), the secondary characters were quirky and easily distinguished, the story problem drove the plot as it ought, and in general it was capably done and enjoyable.

This is a quick witch read if you like books about witches and fantasy creatures. It was a little hard to follow at first but once you figured out the who and the why everything else made quick sense. There were a lot of unanswered questions at the end, so it looks like another book will be on the way. I would say this is young adult except for some of the themes of the types of witches. I liked it.

Clarissa is a newly hired art teacher a school for magically gifted students. While Clarissa has magic, she does not know how to use it safely. Her biological mother was formerly the head mistress of the school and deemed to be a dark witch. Clarissa struggles to overcome the prejudice against her due to her heritage and her lack of magical skill. This book has a lot of humor and the characters are well, characters. They are all eccentric and intriguing. The unicorns are a personal favorite, as they are beautiful and irreverent. It was a fun read and I recommend it for anyone needing cheer and beguilement. I was gifted this ARC in exchange for an honest review.