Well, the original incident in this book is . . . dramatic. And it was kind of a bit much for me, honestly. However, this later turned into one of the best books on female friendship I've ever read, and I loved the development of the friendship of these young women, especially watching Alexis learn to move from a position of extreme insecurity to trusting herself and her friendships (and her romance too!) So in the end, this was pretty fun.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this review copy!

Thank you NetGalley and Simon Pulse for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Alexis and her 5 friends are all witches. The night of prom, Alexis accidentally kills the boy she's trying to have sex with. Her five friends Iris, Paulie, Roya, Maryam, and Marceline immediately come to help her. Though they try to spell his body away, it doesn't work, and they have to break his body up, separating it into duffle bags. In the aftermath of covering up the murder, the girls soon find that magic has its limits.

Much of We Were Magic is focused on consequences and friendship. It seemed like a super cool promise, and I really like witches and dark YA that pushes the boundaries of the genre, but this book just wasn't for me. I don't have a problem with gore or dark YA, but something just did not click with me!

When we were magic is the best type of speculative fiction. It experiments by giving this group of teens a twist, magical ability, and examines their lives in that context. The magic and the death of Josh are just vehicles that let the readers experience the complex bonds between a set of young people.
There were a few spoilery points that didn't quite feel authentic, but they weren't enough to mar the overall enjoyment of the story.

This book really surprised me.  I knew I'd love it because of the magic.  But this book is about so much more than magic.  I found the focus to be on friendship, family, falling in love, being insecure, and trying to figure out who you are and where you fit in.




I have to start with a quote from the beginning of the book.  I knew right away that I would enjoy it.




I didn't mean to kill Josh Harper.

Really, I didn't.  It's  just that I was nervous, and condoms are more complicated that I was expecting, and one thing led to another and-well.

Now there's blood everywhere and he's dead. 




Alexis decided to lose her virginity after prom to Josh Harper, a boy she didn't even like.  Something went wrong with her magic, his penis exploded, and he died.  She immediately gets her friends to help.  The group decides to try to perform a spell they've never done before to try to bring Josh back to life.  It didn't go well.  




This group of friends all have magic.  They don't exactly understand why or how it all works, but each one has a specialty.  It bonded them and they are like sisters.  Except for the crushes.  Iris is the brains of the group.  Her magic is different and she's the one who takes notes and studies the magic.  




When things go wrong with the magic, everyone needs to take body parts and dispose of them.  The blood is cleaned up by the spell, but Josh is in pieces.  Something is really off with the spell though.  As they start burying parts, Josh's heart starts beating.  Slowly at first and then more as parts are buried, destroyed, or eaten by animals.  They all have to use their magic to help the disposal.  Iris feels things first.  But then each of them starts to lose something from themselves.  Magic needs balance.  Their hope is that after the parts are gone, maybe the heart will bring Josh back.  The police are around and one girl at school is very suspicious. 




There is a lot of stress on everyone, but not just because of Josh.  They're almost done with senior year and they're not all going to be together.  Alexis is in love with Roya, but is afraid to tell her.  We see a lot of insecurity from Alexis.  She's afraid her friends don't love her the way she is.  She's afraid of what will happen in college.  She's afraid that's she's never good enough.  Her dads adopted her and then her little brother later on (they aren't blood related siblings).  I love the blended families in the book.  There is a ton of diversity.  Not just the sexuality, but race, religion, blended families, etc.  




The bonds of friendship were just amazing in this book and I love that it was such a big focus.  It can be hard to form those bonds, especially with a larger group.  They had fights and issues, but nothing would ever come between them.  They came first.  Always.  I loved Alexis's family which is the one we saw the most focus on.  Her dads were so kind and supportive.  




We have to wait until to the end to see if Josh comes back to life or not.  We have to wait and see how things change, but we watch some growth from each character.  Overall, I just really enjoyed this book.  It's a little more mature with the blood and sex, but the kids are all seniors and almost done with high school.  




I gave this book 4  1/2 stars, rounded up to 5.  Thank you to the publisher for e-mailing me a netgalley link for download.  Quote taken from arc and may change before publication.

This book is about friendship and learning that you deserve to have people who love you, to accept that they want to be there for you and help you.

The magic aspect really brought the whole story together that made it extra enjoyable to read. It was very well written and the descriptions gave a perfect image to the writer’s image.

Definitely recommend this book if you like friendships, a slow-burn queer romance and magic.

When We Were Magic was the first book I finished in 2020 and I am so happy it is. This book is full of such diverse cast of characters who love and support each other not matter what. Plus this book and it’s cover scream girl power! This story is about a group of witches, like c’mon!

All Alexis wanted to do on prom night was to loose her virginity, maybe it wasn’t for the best reasons but that was her plan. But when she is in the moment and her magic backfires causing a certain part of Josh explode and kills him. Alexis calls her best friends to the rescue. Alexis, Roya, Paulie, Iris, Marceline and Maryam all have one specific thing in common: they are magic. After a spell goes wrong and their backup plan fails even worse they must find a way to deal with the problem. But when their magic begins to punish them for the failed spells each girl must make it right.

I expected When We Were Magic to go in one direction BUT it actually went in a whole other direction that I didn’t think it was going to go. I expected it to more or less it to just address the issue of Josh and whether the group of girls where going to be able to bring him back to life. When We Were Magic was so much more then that. It address Alexis’ friendship with each other girls, her growing feelings for Roya and her own insecurities that she doesn’t deserve the love and support that her friends are giving her.

I really enjoyed Alexis’s character and getting to be inside her head. I loved her rationale on certain things and her side comments, it made her feel more real to me in a way. Through out the novel we see Alexis dealing with the fall out of her decision, the regret, trying to defend it and in the end the tough love that she gets from Maryam about the whole thing. Throughout When We Were Magic we see her struggle with the idea that she doesn’t deserves her friends help and how they are sacrificing so much for her when they don’t need to be. I saw a lot of myself when Alexis would think these things because I think the same exact way sometimes.

I really enjoyed When We Were Magic and the dynamic of this witchy friend group. I’m sad to see that their story is over, but I feel like Sarah did a great job in wrapping it up and giving both Alexis and the reader the closure that was needed.

If you are looking for a book with a diverse cast, queer girls and some steamy moments, magic and witches then this is the book for you!

When We Were Magic is about trust—not just between friends and family (though very much that too) but also between the author and reader. There were times when I wondered how this book could possibly reach a satisfying conclusion, given everything the characters go through, given all the ways they’re fractured, given this completely bonkers premise, but don’t worry—Sarah Gailey is worthy of your trust. They do things in this book that are unexpected and wild and magic, digging deep into my feelings about friendship, family, growing up, and messing up, in all the most painful and beautiful ways.

A really fun coming of age story; I really enjoyed the relationships between the six girls that were developed throughout the story.

A YA novel by one of my favorite authors about 6 best friends with magical powers working together to protect Alexis after she accidentally kills a boy on prom night. I expected this book to be focused on the teen witch aspect of the story, but the magic actually felt almost incidental while the relationship between the friends was the real heart of the story. It's a coming of age and coming into self novel more than anything else, just with a fun, magical twist.

Beautiful writing, fascinating story, and unforgettable characters as always from Gailey. A solid 4-star read.