DNF at 58%.

I truly tried to get through this book. I put it down around 40% and tried the audiobook with 2 chapters. I kept seeing reviews say it gets better around 50% mark and it just wasn't doing it for me. The beginning had me hooked and then I just got so completely confused and couldn't follow the story. The characters were completely flat to me - I didn't know who was who. I truly tried to get through this book and it just wasn't for me.

Thank you to PenguinTeen for the free earc. In return of my honest review.

A Wicked Magic was slow at first. And it sure wasn't what I was expecting. I felt like it didn't have a lot to do with magic. But the author did good in writing details of other things happening in the book. It does talk about heavy topics and the author did a great job in writing it into the story. I could understand the characters pain and that's what stuck with me.
This isn't the book for you if you're a looking for a witchy read. The magical aspect is more in the backdrop, but I personally still enjoyed this book. I recommend going in with an open mind.

I was so confused about my feelings for this book after I finished reading it. A part of me felt disappointed, but another part of me couldn't stop thinking about it. So I gave myself a few days to let everything sink in, and now I can say that I did enjoy this book, besides a few things that bothered me.

If I can quote the whole book I would just to show how unique beautiful and sensual the writing style is. I’m sure this won’t be my last book by this author because I am in love with her words and she puts them together to create this beautiful and haunting collection of beautiful interactions and prose. The story is atmospheric and has this vibe that makes it unique and different from any other witch story out there. I really felt like I was transported in place and that I was right there in the middle of the island feeling the breeze and the dread and the anticipation of the people. It was also at times really spooky and eerie and felt like a trap waiting for me to completely fall for it.

Now about the characters, here’s where it went down lol. Characters are very important to me in a story. I love to feel a connection; an attachment to them but in this one I felt nothing at all. The majority of them, especially Bo, were one-dimensional and lacking any distinguishing personality trait. If you switched their names I think it wouldn’t make a difference😂I think that good characters can always carry a story and that a story alone is not simply enough.

CW: self-harm, depression, anxiety, compulsive tendencies
Yeah, so... I'm kind of torn here, because I feel like I read two different books in one. The first two-thirds of this was so not what I was expecting, and I had several moments where I wanted to DNF it. The description actually does a great job of explaining why I was not really into this one; this book about witches has zero spells cast (by the two main characters) until the 65% mark. Dan hates on Liss, Alexa is added in as a narrative third wheel, and you have no idea where any of this is going. (You're supposed to think Liss is self-absorbed and doesn't deserve Dan, but I actually hated Dan more because she said the meanest stuff about Liss, who was supposed to have been her best friend, all the time.) If I had to write a tagline for this part of the book, it would be "witches ignore each other and don't do magic."

But after that point, the three narrators team up, start acting like friends, and work to unravel the mysteries of North Coast! I found myself rooting for them and loving the way they teased each other. It actually made sense why Alexa became a main character, and if you could forget about how nasty Dan and Liss were to each other at the beginning, their friendship was sweet. There was also some emotional payoff in regards to the mental health issues I mentioned in the content warning. Honestly, it was hard to rate this one, because it really improved so much by the end, but that didn't quite make up for the slog at the beginning. Hopefully Laurens' can improve her pacing in the next book, because I could see myself becoming a fan in the future.

2/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Razorbill for sending me an E-ARC of this book for an honest review.

I was interested in this book because the synopsis sounded very interesting. However, in the end, the plot was very slow and boring, and I didn't end up loving this book. I did end up DNFing (DID NOT FINISH) the book about 40% of the way through reading it. In the end, I think the idea was good, but the writing was not my favorite.

Thanks for reading!
Caden

A Wicked Magic
By Sasha Laurens

A Wicked Magic by debut author Sasha Laurens is a great and fun Young Adult Novel that focuses on friendships and a little bit of spooky magic. Set in beautiful Northern California, this story about teenage drama and issues were written with fun to read characters I really enjoyed. This is the perfect read for the season and I did enjoy this a lot.

A wicked magic was a solid three star read for me. The girls happen upon a black book of magic then a sudden time jump to the present. I really enjoyed the mystery of everything but the inclusion of Alexa and the introduction of more superior magic fell quite flat and random to me. This may be a better read for others.

I enjoyed this book! The characters are great and even though I wished the plot worked more for me, I still can't wait to read more from the author

Oh where to start. First of all, if you are going to read A Wicked Magic by Sasha Laurens, I would highly recommend going with the actual physical copy and not the audio. Although I loved the audiobook as far as the narrator went (Amy Dannenmueller), for some reason I found myself incredibly confused about who everyone was. I had an eGalley as well, but unfortunately I don't think it helped me as much as looking at a copy of the book would have. Maybe if I would have made a list of the characters in a notepad it wouldn't have been so confusing for me. That being said, if you wanted to try the audio I thought Dannenmueller did a great job and she was perfect for voicing this young adult novel. She was both easy to listen to, and very talented with her inflection.

A Wicked Magic had somewhat of a slow start, but once I started getting closer to the 50% mark it picked up and I was hooked all the way to the end. I loved the witchy aspects and the creepiness, and I would have loved to see more of both. I don't think this one lived up to the potential it could have had, but I would still call it a great October/fall read. I would also recommend this to the younger crowd as they might enjoy it a bit more having probably not read as many books as older readers have. I just really recommend having a physical copy and think that could be the thing that tips it over the edge from a like into a love.

Overall this was a very intriguing debut, and I really did love the subject matter. I have watched Sabrina but not The Craft so I can't speak to that, but I thought it was unique, a little gross, and very fun. I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for future books from Laurens!

Thank you to the publisher for my advance review copy via NetGalley. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

A wicked magic deals with some pretty heavy life experiences and should probably have a trigger warning. That said, this book isn’t at all what I expected. There wasn’t quite enough magic or story line for me to connect with. There is a air of forgiveness and the topics surrounding that issue. While it wasn’t for me, others may enjoy this story

Okay, so, I thought this one was pretty good. I loved the storyline and the characters. The plot was so fascinating. My only issue is that it was slow. I found myself falling asleep at times and just getting bored.

But, besides that, it was interesting. The audiobook I thought was really good. And obviously the cover is gorgeous. I just wish it was executed differently, so it wasn't as slow. But overall, I liked it.

I wanted to love this based on the synopsis, but I gave up about half way in. There is some child abuse and relationships that I didn't feel comfortable with. I wanted a lot of magic but didn't feel the was enough and it was a tad boring.

I didn’t really know what to expect going into this novel but I was pleasantly surprised. It was entertaining and interesting and kept me turning page after page. I enjoyed the characters but I kept finding myself wanting more. I think this novel was off to a great start but I would’ve loved to see a little more depth. I would still recommend it because it was entertaining, but I’m not sure that it will be one that sticks with me. Thank you netgalley for sending a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was pretty underwhelmed with this book. It was fine, and the teenage friendships that were good were great. I felt like this book attempted to say something about difficult subjects, and while I did appreciate some of the way those subjects were wrapped up in the end, I didn't love how they were portrayed throughout the story. I also felt like the friendship between Liss and Dan wasn't worth saving so the entire interpersonal part of this story was just meh.

The magic was cool, although I also wish we had more of it and less of everything else. I would've liked to get to know the wardens better.

TRIGGER WARNINGS:
explicit self harm
suicidal ideation
depression
child abuse - emotional and physical
grief
death of a loved one
implicit child neglect
after-effects of trauma

I really wanted to fall in love with this book but it was a bit strange. There are some major trigger warnings that need to take place.



Trigger Warnings: Cutting, Suicide, Depression, Physical and Mental Abuse



Initially, I was really enjoying the story. I admit, those things mentioned above really put me off. That being said, the story became a bit repetitive after a while and failed to keep my attention. The writing style was alright and the characters were probably my favorite part. The story felt a little rushed, the characters kind of stumbled upon the solution to defeat the bad guy, feeling all too easy. I loved the magic system and descriptions of the magic but I wanted more of those intense battle scenes, the “edge of your seat” anticipation. It just wasn’t there.



If you can get invested in this, it is for sure worth the read! It does deal with heavy things but tells of a great friendship. I was just hoping for more. Despite the triggers, I think this book did a wonderful job showing the positives and negatives of ways people deal with trauma. There are two sides and we often only see one of them. The characters really go through some developmental changes and pull the story along. They feel well developed and we see how drastically the relationship between them changed as time progressed.



In the end, it was a good read but not what I expected. It does deal with a large number of possible triggers so if those bother you avoid it. If not, pick it up and give this book a chance! You might just like it more than I did!

This book was very good. It definitely took a little while to get into, but once you did it was great. It deals with a lot of different mental health issues, which were interesting to read through and learn about through a magical world. The main characters deal with OCD, anxiety, depression, and parental abuse. It was a great storyline, where you also get to see the characters deal with their personal issues as well. The friendships in this book were so strong and amazing, I loved them!

*trigger warning*
This book includes self harm

I really enjoyed this book! I found the writing magical, the storyline interesting, and the pacing just right. I highly recommend.

3.5/5 stars
Thank you Penguin Teen and Netgalley for the free advance copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions own.

This was a fun read. It was advertised as The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets The Craft, and I’m a fan of both! It started off a bit slow, but probably around 40% things really picked up and soon I found myself flying through to the end.

The middle chunk was definitely my favorite. It lost a bit of momentum at the end–or maybe just ended too quickly.

The characters weren’t necessarily super fleshed out, but definitely relatable for YA readers. I could see bits of my teenage self in all three of the main characters.

And obviously I’m more of a dog person, but both Sabrina and A WICKED MAGIC have made me think having a cat as a familiar would be pretty cool.

This is an interesting story that does get more exciting and interesting as it goes on, but it takes nearly 1/4th of the book to introduce any real character depth, and show why it is we should care about these particular people.
But after that, it does get much more into the different struggles they are going through. I also appreciated the fact that this story features a lot of friendship struggles, a friendship breakup, and becoming friends again.

The part that I wish could have been better was the magic element of the story. The magic system was very arbitrary and without very defined limits, and some of the magical things that happened felt very convenient.
The villains were similarly not as well thought out as they could have been.

This book wasn't exactly what I was expecting for a fantasy read. I think the first half of this book is more organized, while the later half of the plot well a little less so. MY favorite character was Alexa. I really liked how her character progressed throughout the narrative.