The Nature of Witches is a bewitching book about climate change. The nature magic in this book is magnificent and a lot of the topics are universal, even though brought to extremes. The race for time, will she won’t she-trope really pulled me through this book and made it a really exciting read. I loved the relationship between Clara and Sang, and I liked that when they couldn’t speak to each other they let the flowers speak for them.

I have read fantasy novels with witches who control weather but this is the first world where a witches personality is tied to the Season of their powers. As an Everwitch Clara’s personality changes with each season the most difficult transition being from Summer to Autumn. This difference, along with the climate change story really held my interest. I felt for this young girl who wanted to help the world but also just wanted to be “normal” and not accidentally kill her friends.

What I liked the most about this novel was how each season had it’s own magical elements and the descriptions of their magic and emotions during those seasons matching the heat of summer or the coldness of winter made these characters even more interesting. The romantic trials of a bunch of teens who grew giddy during their season could have easily been comical but Rachel Griffin gave them a serious threat to fight which balanced the plot nicely.

I really enjoyed this novel and can only hope for more from this author. I could easily see a series about Clara’s evolution and discovery about her talent and her love for Sang. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this ARC through NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review and it was honest.

4.5 - I really enjoyed this book. I like the idea of discussing climate change, in an approachable way with magic thrown in. To start, the world is the same but plagued with serious human-caused weather events - they are careless with the planet because they know that witches can reverse and change the weather. Each witch is seasonal, but because off season weather is occurring witches are being depleted of their magic and dying while trying to fix it. Clara is the first "ever" born in 100 years and has the magic of all seasons, but she does not like to use it as it has harmed many people she loves. She is still in school, trying to harness her powers or decide to get rid of them and risk her life - it's a book about finding and coming in to yourself and harnessing your power, but also the power of friendship and love. I wont spoil much, but my favourite scene is when Clara and Sang speak to each other in flowers. It has enough teenage angst and growth, that I really enjoyed it!

For centuries, witches have maintained the climate and controlled the weather, keeping both witches and non-witches (shaders) safe and comfortable. Over time, the shaders have pushed the Earth's natural equilibrium out of balance, making it more difficult for witches to keep things in control. Weather systems grow more violent and erratic, to the point that witches are dying from depletion of their magic as they try to save the earth. Witches powers are split up by the seasons with their strengths and weaknesses aligned to their own special time periods. Clara is a young by powerful Ever Witch, possessing the powers of all four of the seasons. She's so powerful that she frightens even herself and struggles to control her magic during the course of training. Can Clara gain the confidence and discipline to control her magic before it's too late?

What a fun and fresh YA debut novel from Griffin. I thought this was a creative approach to exploring and raising awareness of the dangers of global warming. I enjoyed Griffin's use of imagery as she explored the beauty of each of the seasons and the powers of the witches who controlled them. I loved reading about the school where Clara was training, her teaches and some of the lessons that were used. It was a unique spin on witches as the protectors of the Earth. There was also a pleasant little love story that unfolded, for the romance lovers in the crowd. And what a gorgeous cover. Available today, June 1, at a bookseller near you. Thank you to @Netgalley and @sourcebooksfire for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥.”

For centuries, witches have maintained the climate, but now their control is faltering as the atmosphere becomes more erratic; the storms, more destructive. All hope lies with Clara, a once-in-a-generation Everwitch whose magic is tied to every season.
In Autumn, Clara wants nothing to do with her power. It's wild and volatile, and the price of her magic—losing the ones she loves—is too high, despite the need to control the increasingly dangerous weather.
In Winter, the world is on the precipice of disaster. Fires burn, storms rage, and Clara accepts that she's the only one who can make a difference.
In Spring, she falls for Sang, the witch training her. As her magic grows, so do her feelings, until she's terrified Sang will be the next one she loses.
In Summer, Clara must choose between her power and her happiness, her duty and the people she loves...before she loses Sang, her magic, and thrusts the world into chaos.

𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭, 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦!
What a fantastic debut, I loved this story!
It was unexpected and impossible to put down. I loved Clara’s character, she was fierce, I loved the message about climate change, I loved the pace, the writting style was amazing, I just loved everything.
If you like unique and magical stories this book is for you.

“𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦.”

Thank you Sourcebooks and NetGalley for this copy.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

“Realizing you love someone is like noticing you have a sunburn—you don’t know exactly when it happened, just that you were exposed for too long.”

Happy #PubDay to The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin, my favorite read in May.
This is a debut YA contemporary fantasy that is marketed as Practical Magic meets Twister and I am here to tell you it is all of that and more.

For centuries, witches have ensured the continuity of an ideal climate suited for us, shaders, by drawing upon the the power of the sun peaking in the season of their birth.
Now the atmosphere is becoming more erratic, and witches are having difficulty maintaining the forces of nature. Clara, the first Everwitch in a really long time, is struggling to understand and control her rare magic, which is tied to every season. How can she overcome the cost of using her volatile magic- losing the ones she loves- with the knowledge that she may be the sole witch to keep the atmosphere from collapsing. Clara must choose between her power and her happiness, especially as she begins to fall for Sang, the witch training her, a botanist with power rooted in Spring.

This is such a unique ecological fantasy- each part of the book separated in to the four seasons, fully immersing readers into this contemporary world as each describes the effects on the witches as the plot progresses. Clara, our stubborn 17 y/o protagonist, feels true to life as her inner turmoil is rife with self-pitying. It makes her everyday life and her budding relationship with Sang more relatable. As she gains more confidence, the weather becomes more unpredictable, causing a propulsive climax and I continued reading late into the night. Such a beautifully written novel, that I am both in awe of it being a debut and disappointed that it is a standalone.

If you enjoy watching storms unfold from the safety of your house, a fantasy story that you can wrap your brain around, and watching a budding romance bloom then THIS is the book for you.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

The Nature of Witches was a little difficult for me to get into t the beginning but by the end, i was crying happy tears and extremely emotional after the very poignant journey I’d just been on. In this book, Rachel Griffin takes on a season type of witches in a moving and well-crafted debut!
In the Nature of Witches, witches who are born with seasonal powers have always helped keep the atmosphere in balance and worked with the shaders (those without magic) to keep the world in harmony. IN recent years, however, the shaders have pushed too far and there aren’t enough witches left to pick up the slack. Unnatural weather keeps happening out of season and witches are depleting themselves to try to control it. Only 17 years old, and the only Ever witch in a generation, Clara can’t help but feel like everyone is counting on her to make a difference. Unlike everyone else, her magic isn’t tied to any one season and she has more magic than any other witch on their own- but that’s what scares her. Her magic is dangerous and has already cost the lives of people she loves. She doesn’t know how to be the witch everyone wants her to be and claim her power as an Ever if she’s always afraid she’s going to hurt someone. When kind and thoughtful Sang comes to help train her, Clara tries to keep her distance so her magic can’t hurt him but there are some things that just can’t be helped and Clara will have to wrestle not only her growing feelings and her magic bu the threat of the ever-unpredictable weather.
The difficulty I had at the start was how very much everything just seemed stacked against Clara even though she was supposed to be such a powerful witch. I didn’t like the detail that her magic would attack people she loved because that is just so painful to imagine. It was confusing that her magic would change every season and her with it and it made it all seem a bit convoluted without reason but that aspect grew more interesting and more compelling the more I read as it was executed well.
One of the things I liked about it was how each season did get roughly a quarter of the book. It didn’t always line up precisely but it was always close enough for me. That was a nice little detail that I’m sure took some effort to work out that way.
One of the storylines that really just tugged at my heart was Clara’s desire to strip her magic via solar eclipse. It was painful but understandable and oh man, I felt it in my core and it was handled so delicately. That was one arc that really made me feel Clara’s struggle so deeply.
I really enjoyed what we got to see of Clara’s ex, Paige. She was such a strong and vibrant character and I would have loved to have seen even more of her.
My favorite part was the bond between Sand and Clara. If there were more book boyfriends like Sang, the world would be a better place. Sang is brought in to help Clara come to terms with her magic and is an ideal fit because his magic is naturally calming. More than that though, he was kind and thoughtful and I adored the way Griffin wrote his relationship with Clara. While their romance was earnest and sweet, more than that, their friendship and easy way with each other right from the start was so endearing. When the book starts Clara is blaming herself for people she has lost and has spent years isolating herself and Sang is the one to come and show her that she is worth more than that. He’s the one to help her start to like herself again and fall in love with her magic and, that was just so beautiful and healing to watch unfold. In an age with so many surly and mean YA bad boys, Sang Park is the soft, kind boy we deserve, and more importantly for the Nature of Witches, that Clara deserves.
This is the type of book that I love where yes there are external stakes and actions and plot but the driving arc is an emotional one tied to Clara’s acceptance of her magic. It truly is a beautiful and emotional debut.

Loved it! One of my favourite reads. The characters and world building was incredible. I really enjoyed the pace of the book and it was a quick read for me as well.

This was an amazing debut from Rachel Griffin! I loved that the witches were “seasonal” witches meaning they were strongest in their respective season. The magic system was very interesting. The whole book is very descriptive and it makes you feel like you are right there experiencing it as well. I found myself not wanting to put this book down.

Clara was a great character and you really sympathize with her as she learns to control her magic. Sang is so charming and I just really fell in love with him. Paige is fierce but she’s a loyal friend. I loved the LGBTQ rep in this book too.

Overall it was a bewitching fantasy with a little commentary on climate change that I think will be an enjoyable read for a lot of readers.

Witches are born to a season, a time when their magic is strongest each year. Clara is different. She's a rare Everwitch, able to channel the magic of each season, always changing with them. The world is in danger, weather out of control after too much damage to the earth, and an Everwitch is needed more than ever to protect them. The problem is, Clara hates her magic. She doesn't understand it, but she knows it hurts those she loves.

This book was a 5 star read for me. I loved it. There's a bisexual main character with a fantastic romance-- and I rarely ever enjoy romances. The magic system is beautiful. The prose is lyrical. I wanted to be in this world and feel the nature they were feeling. It was all so perfectly tied together. The characters were rich and complex.

I have nothing bad to say about this. If you love earthy magic, you'll like this book. Clara's struggle is very moving, and even when she's being completely frustrating, you can't help but also love her.

CW: abuse

Clara is the first Ever in a couple hundred years, meaning she can handle each season’s unique magic and changes with the seasons. She’s struggled to master her magic and it’s crunch time - the witches who typically regulate the weather are struggling with unusual climate changes. Will Clara be able to overcome her devastating past and use her magic to save everyone or will she destroy all the people she loves and be destined for loneliness and isolation the rest of her life?

What a beautiful, beautiful book! I will be the first to admit that I’m not typically drawn to books about witches and/or magic. This book really did it for me though. The writing flows smoothly and gives the book the amazing atmosphere. I absolutely loved that the book got into a bit of weather science - that’s something outside of the norm. Overall, it is quite the journey!

If you are looking for a book with a touch of magic, weather, and a young woman trying to overcome her tragic past and blossom, definitely pick this one up!

A unique and fantastical book that caught my eye and made me want to read more from this author. Great job, Rachel!

I really loved the fact that Clara was an Everwitch because it was really interesting to watch her powers and feelings change with each new season. My heart definitely broke for her because she kept herself secluded from others due to the fact that her magic is dangerous. All I really wanted was for Clara to be able to love someone and be loved in return.

There are a lot of very interesting characters in this book and I found myself gravitating towards two of them. Sang and Mr Hart were my favourite characters because they cared about Clara so fiercely. My favourite part of this book is definitely the ending because it is beautiful and absolutely perfect.

I recieved an advanced copy for free, and this is my honest opinion.

Thank you Netgally for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I absolutely loved this book. This is the story of Clara, a 19 year old an Everwitch. Clara is an orphan who is trying to totally isolate herself and keep away from everyone with whom she forms an emotional attachment because she cannot control her magic.
In this world there are Shaders (people with no magical abilities) and Witches who control the weather in each of the seasons. Clara is an Ever. If you know more about why she is special, read the book. She is very special and powerful.
In this world, the Shaders have destabilised the environment and the Earth and its weather patterns are highly unpredictable which leads to witches struggling to control the weather and rectify abnormal weather patterns. Clara is the only one who can help, but she is afraid she will hurt someone else if she uses her power again.
Clara is still at school and training to control her powers with Mr Hart, but after an accident she is forced to resume her training with a new teacher, Sang. Sang is a Spring with an interest in botany. The two form a very strong relationship and they become very close. Clara finds herself trusting him more and more, but also, she finds her attraction to him growing.
I have enjoyed this book very much. The magic system is new and refreshing, the characters are likeable and well developed. The story is fast paced and the twists unexpected.
I would have liked the book to be longer and some of the relationships and struggles delved in more.

I enjoyed reading this book about witches whose magic is tied to a specific season. I found it a pretty quick read that I could come back to after setting it down. I really enjoyed the story and the characters and I didn't want to put it down when I had to! Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the ARC but all opinions are my own.

It’s clear I’m in the minority for reviews of this book, so please take my opinions with a grain of salt. I found the storyline repetitive, and there was a lot of day-to-day explanation, but not necessarily exploring the various powers of the different seasoned witches. When Clara started training with Sang, we didn’t really see what they did other than the first day. So when they are suddenly close, it felt forced, especially because Clara is a weak heroine, which I am not a fan of.

The book is richly descriptive and will appeal to a lot of readers. I appreciated the commentary on climate change, but that wasn’t too workable because it’s set in modern-day, where we aren’t quite reaching those temps on the Eastern coast. So it fell short of dystopian and weakened the fantasy aspect. So I couldn’t really pin down a proper niche. While this isn't the right fit for me, that doesn’t mean it won’t be the right fit for others, and I encourage people to give it a chance. Thank you, Sourcebooks Fire, for sending this along.

The Nature of Witches was a delight! I loved the unique magic system and was hooked when I read how Clara transitioned with the seasons. The romance is so sweet. Sending messages using flowers—I die.

4⭐️ This was such a beautiful and fresh debut to read. I loved how Rachel walked us through the beauty and purpose of each season and how naturally the magic system was woven in. TNOW dives into our connection with nature and the very real consequences of what happens when we abuse the world around us. Clara’s struggle of self acceptance, isolation and volatile relationship with her magic struck such a deep emotional chord within me. It was lovely to see her fear turned into a lesson of trust, acceptance and seeing one’s true worth. This is a debut you don’t want to miss!

Such a fun read that makes the environmentalist in me happy. I loved the magic system and they way the author connected the seasons to personality.

First of all, thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for an electronic ARC of The Nature of Witches , gifted to me in exchange for my honest review.

Spoilers ahead, read at your own risk!

Griffin's premise was promising, a modern world in which magic exists and witches with seasonal powers work to protect humans from natural disasters but are finding it increasingly hard to do so in the face of climate change. It sounded like it would be whimsical yet highly relevant. Sadly, the premise falls short due to adragging plot, weak characterization, underused setting, and purple prose.

On the plot, the book starts with protagonist Clara leaving her fellow witches at her magical boarding school in a bind, refusing to use her unique Everwitch powers because, in the past, her lack of mastery over them led to the death of her best friend and her parents. In the present, they kind of, sort of kill her mentor. Griffin introduces a ticking clock here, when Clara decides that she'll have her powers stripped by the next eclipse. According to the - underdeveloped - magic system, witches can lose their powers if they cross paths with an eclipse. So, we know that an eclipse is coming and that Clara could choose to end her Chosen One suffering then. However, the stakes remain somehow very low for a story where failure means the end of the world after a series of cataclysmic events.

For nearly 40% of the book, the plot consists of dry, flowery descriptions using words that ring false due to their lack of connection to the protagonist. We're in Clara's head, but we might as well be in a cottagecore Thesaurus. Later on, a few events take place in which Clara is forced to use her powers and, once the Love Interest is introduced - a soft but generic cinnamon roll called Sang - the ticking clock is fully forgotten and instead Clara becomes determined to control her powers. She's tested and she succeeds. She mouths off her teachers in that typical "I know better" attitude of Chosen Ones. The climax comes and it's very anti-climactic. She wins, the world will not end. She rides into the sunset with Sang. Well, or flies to London. Same difference.

As I alluded before, Clara is a poorly characterized Chosen One stereotype. The one word that comes to mind when I think of her is: whiny. She's this super-powerful witch who has powers all year round, whereas her peers only have powers during the season to which said powers belong. And yet, she spends about 95% of the book complaining and hating her powers and crying about how her inability to control them killed her loved ones. Yet, for half of the book she doesn't even try to learn how to control them, which in turn kills people. Makes zero sense. Then, suddenly, through some convenient fast forwarded training sessions with Sang, she not only controls them but discovers new powers.

Clara is bisexual, and a plotline about her romantic relationship with one of her girlfriends (the one she didn't kill) could have been interesting if it hadn't been seen through flashbacks only and present scenes in which the other girl is basically her therapist for her current relationship.

The romance is laughable in that for half the book there's no tension between the two characters and all the scenes fall flat and then, suddenly, the love interest is declaring how much he likes Clara. Why would he? She's been nothing but rude and condescending to him. And then he's declaring how much he loves her, and how she's his forever and ever, ever, ever. That's a direct quote. Why? How? It felt like Griffin wrote this just so Clara's internal conflict would be activated, since she spends most of the book thinking she can't be in love with anyone for longer than a season or love anyone in any shape or form without killing them. An interesting but transparently false misbelief.

The other characters are basically cardboard placeholders: Boy Love Interest Discarded, Real Boy Love Interest, Kind Mentor, Cold Mentor, Mean Mentor, Cool BFF and former fling. They were written very two-dimensional and existed only in relation to Clara.

The setting, a boarding school somewhere nature-y, is underused throughout despite paragraphs upon paragraphs of description. It felt like it had been inspired by She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and Harry Potter, but the magic of Hogwarts is that you feel like you know it, like you could be there, walk those hallways, turn a corner and see the moving staircases, or run into one of the many students named throughout the series. Here, I couldn't even picture the school. There were houses, but Clara lived alone in a cabin. We barely ever saw her spend time with the other students in a collegiate manner.

Something that also confused me about setting was the choice to have the book take place in modern times. Clara has a cellphone. There are cars. I understand that part of the premise of the book was making a metaphor for climate change and the impending doom, so having these technology devices is a reminder that the story isn't taking place in the 1800s. However, they don't really do much for the plot and they just took me out of the scene abruptly since they felt out of place. They made it obvious that the magic system wasn't fully developed.

As I said, the prose was too flowery yet fell empty to me. The words could have been anyone's, there was no reason to believe Clara would have said them. There were even some sentences that made me pause and wonder if a 17-year-old, witch or not, would have ever phrased something like that. I read them out loud, they sounded artificial.

The decision to use first person POV and to be very much in Clara's head throughout felt claustrophobic and redundant, since her thoughts were very circular. Perhaps a close third person omniscient would have served this story better.

The final point of confusion for me, which I am aware is even more of a personal opinion than the rest of this review, is the use of quotes at the beginning of a chapter from a book that, we find out at the end, is written by Clara after the events in the book. The quotes are the sort of superficial-deep inspirational quotes you expect from an Instagram page that posts only using the typewriter font on a white background. "You're allowed to love yourself," "You are stronger than you think," "There is nothing more powerful than being understood." They do not serve the story, in my opinion, and just constantly broke any illusion the plot or prose might have created.

I can appreciate all the boxes The Nature of Witches ticks, there's some sexual representation, an Asian love interest, cottagecore aesthetics galore, pretty language, a powerful heroine. I'm sure many readers will love it, but to me it felt disjointed and devoid of true meaning.

What I liked? The gorgeous cover. The concept of natural magic based on seasons, which was unfortunately not sufficiently explored. The premise as a whole.