The nature of witches
I was given an arc of this book for an honest review .
I was immediately drawn into this book by the cover and once I began reading , I loved it . The magic system is complex with each season being controlled by witches and being drawn by nature . I loved the idea of the witches being in control and tied into helping keep each season at bay . With evolution and pollution it’s harder for the witches to help us balance the Earth. I enjoyed this real issue being brought forward by this contemporary fantasy book because it’s an important issue dealing with climate change and weather change .
Clara is an Ever Witch , super rare , tied to all four seasons . She battles for control and has wonderful growth thru the book . She has an event in the past that haunts her and struggles to moves forward .
She meets Sang , a spring witch , new to the school who immediately is drawn to her . They have a great connection and I enjoyed their relationship.
Great world issues , magic system , characters, LBGTQ themes ,and beautiful witchy atmosphere . I enjoyed this book

4 Stars

The Nature of Witches has such a unique concept. Witches + climate change = one fantastic debut novel. This was one of those novels that the more I heard about it, the more excited I got. I love the entire concept of witches being tied to the seasons. But even more, I love that it is set in modern times.

Clara, an ever witch a witch tied to all four seasons) was hard to like at first. She struggles with controlling her magic due to past events that left her traumatized. But over time, and thanks to a new mentor, she comes into her own. Sang, the mentor of everyone's dream, is one of my favorites from this book. He was so kindhearted and encouraging to Clara. Their chemistry was *chefs kisses,* I was rooting for them so hard. . I would have loved for Paige to have gotten more page time. Her part felt like it could have been bigger. The only character I disliked was a certain professor who has questionable teaching methods.

Climate change plays a big part in this book. Shaders, non-magic people are destroying the atmosphere, and it's causing some pretty drastic weather changes. Sound familiar? I don't feel like this book was preachy about the topic, but it sheds some much-needed light on it.

If you enjoy beautiful writing, connections with the earth, and some swoon-worthy romance, then pick up this book. I would preorder it as it has the most beautiful design under the dust jacket.

Thank you to the Sourcebooks for sending me a copy to review.

So I’m usually not the biggest reader of contemporary fantasy, but the synopsis of this one was so interesting that I had to give it a shot. I absolutely LOVED the addition of climate change and how that impacted the story, and I wish we had even more fantasy books that had climate change as a topic!

I’ve mentioned before that I have a degree in conservation biology, and helping to preserve our planet is a big deal so I definitely enjoyed making the connections between this world and the real one, and I thought it had a lot of powerful messages both relating to how we re handling climate change as well as how we see ourselves as individuals.

Clara coming to terms with her magic resonated with me, especially when it comes to body image. At times it was a little irritating how she was so set on isolating herself and didn’t give the people around her a chance to make their own decisions, but it’s also understandable as she was trying to protect them.

The tag line saying this is Practical Magic meets Twister I think is pretty accurate, but instead of just tornadoes it’s all types for weather events. I loved the detail that went into describing how these storms started and how the witches predicted them.

Now let’s talk a little about the magic system, which I also loved. The idea that witches have magic tied to a single season, and when their season is over their power dwindles was a fun spin on elemental magic. I also really liked that there were Everwitches, who were incredibly rare but had magic for all 4 seasons! It was also really intriguing that personalities were based off the type of magic, and Clara changed from season to season.

Finally, I loved Sang! He was a great contrast to Clara and I loved the two of them together. Her relationship with her friend Paige is also an interesting one, since they were in a previous relationship until their best friend died because of Clara’s magic and so she pushed her away. There’s definitely still some feelings there, and the dynamic between the three of them was great to see.

This is a thought provoking, quick read, and I honestly think that a lot of people are going to love this book and the messages it has. If this sounds at all interesting to you, definitely give it a chance!

Thanks to Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for providing me with a digital review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Witches are tied to seasons and they are most powerful during their time in the sun. Clara Densmore is an Everwitch, the first in a very long time, which means she is tied to every season. She experiences them all, changes with them all, and she’s tired of being so important. Clara’s feelings and emotions are tied to the seasons and her power is becoming increasingly overwhelming. She is terrified of not having control, not being able to get close to people, and terrified of hurting someone else.
**
The atmosphere is in danger of plummeting into complete chaos due to the fact that non-magical folk, shaders, have pushed the Earth to her breaking point. Demanding too much from Mother Earth and relying completely on the witches to hold everything in balance. Time is running out. The seasons are experiencing abnormal weather which is causing depletion (death) in witches who are trying to maintain the balance in seasons that are not their own.

**
Clara is the only one who can help heal the Earth, but in doing so she must come into her magic and make the decision to master her overwhelming strength. Her magic has never been kind to her, always seemingly out of control and extremely volatile. She has hurt people before, unintentionally; her magic seems to seek out those she holds dearest, and Clara is tired of losing those she loves to the magic she didn’t ask for.
**

I sincerely enjoyed this book. The story was heartbreaking and beautiful, Clara was a strong female lead who was extremely relatable, especially at 17. It was enjoyable to watch Clara grow and come to an understanding of her magic while attempting to lead a normal teenage life.

The Nature of Witches is set in a world where witches have maintained the climate for hundreds of years, witches have an affiliation with the season in which they are born and that is when their power peaks. However, their control is now faltering as the atmosphere becomes more erratic and witches are losing their lives trying to keep the world in check.

Main character Clara is the first ever witch in generations, she retains her power throughout the year and her affinity changes with the seasons. However, she associates her magic with pain and loss. Can she overcome her misgivings and use her unique talents to help heal the world?

I really enjoyed this novel and found it both engaging and easy to read. I enjoyed Clara’s descriptions of how her moods and powers changed through the year and the development of her relationships both with other characters and her powers throughout the novel.

The writing style was really easy to fall into and I felt this could have easily been the start of a new YA series.

3.5 stars

I was drawn to this book because of the combination of witches and nature. I really enjoyed it overall. I am also happy to see a standalone fantasy in the world of series.
This book centers on our main character Clara, who is an “Everwitch”, meaning she can control the weather of all seasons while most witches can only control one. I thought her character and her journey was really interesting.
I really liked the themes of climate change and feminism in this book. I really liked Clara and her journey to self-love and acceptance, however I thought that there were some issues with the pacing of the book. Overall, I think this is a book most readers of YA-fantasy will enjoy.

"Just remember: the choices you make today will be felt by who you have yet to become."



Plot
Clara is a seventeen-year-old who is special. She is an Everwitch. Which means her magic is tied to all four seasons. She is the first Everwitch to appear in almost 200 years so it's a relief when she arrives. But being an Everwitch has its struggles. She has to go through each season while changing and becoming a different person. So she has a personality type for each season. She is forced to evolve and change and move forward but she still remembers her past traumas, with the death of her parents and her best friend Nicki, Clara can't afford to get close to anyone emotionally. So she is moved to a Cabin in the Woods where she can't hurt anyone.
As an Ecological disaster starts to get out of hand, Clara is forced to get out of her comfort zone and use her powers, but she needs training if she's going to be able to save the world.
So she is paired with botanist Sang who is a spring witch and can soothe her worries while training her. But Clara finds herself starting to get attached to Sang, and the last time she had done that - she had killed 3 people.
While still grieving and suffering the loss of her loved ones, Clara can not let this Ecological disaster kill anymore witches so she trains with Sang and develops her magic to the fullest. She starts to let her guard down and trust Sang but getting emotionally attached with him will end bad + she has been planing on stripping herself of magic when the Eclipse arrives. So Clara is left with the ultimate decision. Will she forever live without magic and never have to hurt anyone again while letting other witches die? Or will she take up the duty that has caused her so much pain and loss while risking the people she loves to save the entire world from the ecological situation?

Yeah... theirs a lot going on.



Clara
Surprisingly enough, not annoying. I thought she would be an annoying Character to follow but that honestly wasn't the case. Clara was so realistic. The way she tries to isolate herself so she wouldn't hurt anyone and the way she's so honest with herself. It's beautiful! What's also beautiful is seeing her struggle but still be herself. While changing through the seasons she was still true to herself.

Sang
Sang is a really warm and sweet Character that I adore and can't wait to see more of! (Will we?) I loved how protective he is of Clara! Also, the way he can be both careful and careless at the same time!!!! His love for Plants and Nature really brought out that environmentalist in me to protect what we have because we never realize how much we have until it's gone ;)

Paige
Yessss! This gurl is puuurfect. She's badass, loyal and SO FREAKING hot. I just love her. That's all I'm gonna say.

The Seasons
This book makes me appreciate each and every season even though I'm not a big fan of Summer. ☀️ This book brought out both the good and the bad in all the seasons and that was really nice to see. Also, I loved seeing how they were all connected and had a part to play in keeping the world sane and orderly.

Writing
The writing wasn't my favorite part of the book. In fact, it was the worst BUT the book did make up for that with the plot and great characters so... I'm not complaining.

Confusing things...(bear with me cause these are quite a few)

What is the connection between humans and witches? / What's up with the humans?
So in this world witches rely on humans and humans rely on witches. But what is their CONNECTION. We get that they need each other but do they like each other? And since when do ALL the humans know about witches? Ok...I get that this is a fictional world and the author can do whatever but it at least has to be realistic. I don't understand how everyone could just be ok with the Witches...I don't mean to break the fun but humans are ✨ complicated ✨. There would be some dumb people who are against the witches even though they are literally saving their lives every day.

If Clara's behavior is supposed to be changing every season, isn't it supposed to be more obvious?
We're in Clara's head but it doesn't feel like she's changing and becoming a different person every season. Other people that know Clara point out that's she's so different from last season's Clara but I don't see any difference.

I was also really confused with the little Epigraph we got at the beginning of each chapter because they were so beautiful and I kept searching "A Season for Everything" on Google and I didn't get where the author got the quotes!! But all those quotes tied up for a precious surprise at the end which is always lovely.

Overall
Overall this book made me CRY. It is a beautiful addition to my nature books and will always hold a place in my heart.

"Women are discouraged from being direct and saying what we think. That's why I love winter: It taught me to stand up for myself when the rest of the world is happy to walk over me."


Thank you Sourcebooksfire and Netgalley for an Advance Readers Copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Practical Magic meets Twister" is the perfect description for this book and I loved it! Clara is a witch, who goes to school at Eastern to train to help protect the Earth from the damage being inflicted by humans causing turbulent weather and climate changes.

I liked the nature aspect with the witches being able to control the climate to help save lives and that they have specialities and personalities specific to each season depending on what time of year they were born making it similar to Hogwarts with the different groups. The global warming issues they have to deal with to protect the Earth and all the weather elements that are included make this such a unique take on a storyline about magic. I'd love to read a sequel and would recommend to anyone that loves books about magic.

***Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book!

I received a digital advance reader’s copy of The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin. The Nature of Witches is scheduled for release on June 1, 2021.

The Nature of Witches follows Clara, a young woman who is also a very rare thing. Not only is Clara a witch, she is an Everwitch, able to draw on magic from all four seasons. The only Ever for over 200 years, Clara is both celebrated and feared. She has the ability to be a fantastically powerful witch, but her magic carries danger, lashing out and killing those she cares about when she loses control.

Clara is reluctant to use her magic, afraid she will unintentionally cause the death of more loved ones. Unfortunately, her power is needed. Shaders (non-magic humans) have pushed the atmosphere past the point where the magic of witches can easily correct the issues. The climate is quickly changing, nature throwing massive weather events at the planet outside of their seasons. Witches are working out of their seasons of power, causing them to deplete their magic and die. Everyone believes that only Clara has the ability to hold things together, fight the ever shifting climate, and save everyone and the planet itself.

The strengths of this novel was in its unique take on witches and magic. In this world, witches are born on either a solstice or an equinox and thus granted the magic of the season. Each year, they reach their height of power with the start of their season, and become weak as their season ends. The nature of their magic is also tied to their season, with different skills granted to each season and the weather events that tend to come with it. As an Everwitch, Clara has the power of all four seasons, but sees her strengths change with the seasons. I also loved the connections to our shifting climate, both how non-magic events have contributed to the changes, and how magic might be used to stabilize the changes.

While the story was intriguing, and the themes powerful, I did find the writing lacked a bit in some areas. Overall, I found Griffin’s writing a bit choppy. The novel is written in first-person, present tense. Griffin delivers the story through Clara, as events occur, but with little variation in sentence structure. This presentation kept the story moving quickly forward, which made the pacing very fast. It also seemed to leave little room for Clara to really reflect on what had happened or was currently happening. Clara frequently states that something happened, without any explanation of why or how it happened, and without any true response or feeling for the events. For example, Clara tells us that her magic spiraled out of control, killing both her parents. Clara cites this as a reason she wants to be free of her magic, but as a reader, I didn’t see any actual impact of the event on Clara. Without these responses and reflections from Clara, it was difficult to feel close to her, despite the story being told from her perspective.

I really appreciated that the magic in this story was connected to nature and that Griffin had clearly done a great deal of research to link the magic of the witches with the science of the weather events. There were some connections that did not work so well for me, however. Outside of weather events, Griffin pulls in some other scientific explanations that did not ring true for me, and veered toward misconceptions and misunderstandings regarding how some processes work. Many readers may not have taken issue with these, but as a science teacher, they pulled me out of the story.

Overall, The Nature of Witches was an interesting take on witches and magic. While I did have some issues with the writing, Griffin created a world that balanced magic and nature and pulled me in. As this is Griffin’s debut novel, I look forward to seeing what she might come up with next.

Clara is the only Ever witch in her generation, not connected to any one season but them all, making her an anomaly that her magical school is not really sure how to train. To make matters worse, it seems like her uncontrollable power targets those closest to her and hurts them. Clara is drowning in her loneliness and on the verge of doing something radical and extreme when she gets a new training partner and her life makes a drastic change.

I think my biggest problem with this story was that I read the first two chapters (after having not read the synopsis but a friend wanted to read it together so I was all in) and I thought this was going to be a cool paranormal urban fantasy read about witches being know and helping the average joes better the world (in the style of the show Motherland: Fort Salem). Instead this was very much an angsty, introverted story about a lonely girl who just wants to be loved and her internal struggles with coming to terms with her powers and what she wants out of life. This was a coming of age romance that happened to have some magic thrown in for flavor- which is cool and all, but not for me (at least not right now). Most of the story took place in the main character's head, slowly going over her feelings repeatedly and how the world would be better without her, ect, and there was very little dialogue or actual interaction with other characters (seriously, we could go an entire chapter without her speaking to anyone and the book took place at a magical boarding school full of people).

Overall I am positive other people will love this story full of feels and romance, I was just not into it and found it to be slow and moderately predictable with little plot and not enough world building. If you like coming of age novels and stories with magic then give this a whirl.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book to review.

The Nature of Witches is a story that combines witches, nature, and climate change. It fit together really well since witches are always portrayed as connected to nature. Each witch has a season that the bare connected to. Clara Densmore just so happens to be one of a kind, an Everwitch, who is connected to all seasons. However, tragedy has struck her while using her magic and killed several people close to her including her best friend and parents. She is overall cautious with her abilities and this causes friction at her school.

She needs to learn to control her magic because she has to power to turn the tide in the fight against climate change. In her world, witches have been helping “shaders” (non-magical people) in the fight against climate change. The weather and weather patterns are messed up and the world relies on witches to help do things like 1. Blow away intense thunderstorms, 2. Dissipate summer blizzards, etc. Except the witches aren’t strong enough and many are depleted of their magic and/or are killed. Here is where Clara’s abilities come in. They think she is the answer. And she is scared of hurting people.

This is a story about discovering one’s love of self, accepting one’s self, and also allowing for one’s own needs to be met.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it!

The Nature of Witches tells the story of Clara - an Everwitch - who goes on a journey of discovering herself and learning to trust her magical abilities. It's a contemporary fantasy standalone set in a world that's not exempt from the pain, disasters and heartbreak that normal humans go through.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this was one of the best written Young Adult contemporary fantasy books! Every paragraph is clearly structured, the sentences flow naturally and there is a sense of coherence throughout the pages. Rachel Griffin is a very talented writer and I'm sure that this debut will be followed by other great works!

The narrative is from the point of view of Clara and sometimes the story may feel a bit too centred on her, but this is completely understandable since she is the one narrating the novel. You won't feel tired of reading her thoughts because the interesting thing about this story is that Clara doesn't stay the "same" throughout the seasons. Part of her powers is that she goes through some subtle (and not so subtle) shifts throughout the four seasons. Clara in Spring is not quite the same Clara in Autumn... But I'll leave the rest for you to find out!

Without revealing too much, I'd say that this book is not your typical YA fantasy novel. There is an element of environmental and climate change awareness that's skilfully interwoven into the story. I told you that you'll be surprised!

I have kindly received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and SourceBooks Fire in exchange of a fair review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Instagram Review:

The Nature of Witches
by Rachel Griffin

Releasing June 2021

POSITIVE - 3.5/5

YA | Fantasy | Witches

High five me for reading my first YA since becoming an Adult, and my first Fantasy since devouring Harry Potter as a teen. I’m glad I ventured off my usual TBR path and added a little magic and imagination to my day. I was drawn at first to the GLORIOUS cover!! Check out my previous post for the colour version. I would like to frame it I love it that much.

As this book is yet to be released, here’s what you’re in for:

For centuries, witches have maintained the climate, their power from the sun peaking in the season of their birth. But now their control is faltering as the atmosphere becomes more erratic. All hope lies with Clara, an Everwitch whose rare 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.

This debut novel from Rachel Griffin is full of imagination and charm. Clara, the Everwitch who is our protagonist, is a very likable character who feels it all and struggles to be comfortable living out her lot in life.

Basing the story around the seasons added to the uniqueness of this book, forming the plot, the atmosphere, and the relevance to real world climate change issues, and it also allows the reader to put themselves into the story. I’m a ‘Winter’ and I’m not at all mad about that - it’s my favorite season and I feel pretty drained in the long, hot Australian summers.

🙏 Thank you @netgalley for sending me this @sourcebooksfire e-book in return for my honest review.

This is a great book, the characters are developed with rich nuances. The story is full of love, hope and understanding. I loved the main character and her struggle to find herself. This is an awesome coming of age story, in a world filled with uncertainty. Believing in yourself is a struggle and our heroine finds herself and finally understands. I highly recommend this book.

Execution: 2/5
Enjoyment: 1/5
Final rating: 1.5/5 (rounded up)

I'm sorry but this was probably one of the most boring books I've ever read. Even the moments of conflict were dull. This was partly due to the pacing; the book opens up with a conflict and then nothing happens for the next 40% of the book. In the meantime, you get lots of mundane descriptions and Clara's wordy and extensive inner musings. The writing style is dry and very wordy. While the magic system and overall premise of the story is really interesting (seasonal magic and climate change! I was so excited to pick up this book!), the worldbuilding really falls flat. More time is spent on descriptions and explanations than on intertwining the concepts with the story. The overarching issue of climate change is skimmed over in favor of Clara's internal struggles. Unfortunately, this is a character driven story with an incredibly unlikable and annoying protagonist. Clara is frustratingly stubborn and antagonistic, and while her reluctance is understandable, much of the book is dedicated to it and it prevents the story from moving along. If the first 40% of the book had been condensed into a few short chapters, perhaps this would've made the entire experience more enjoyable but I just found myself rolling my eyes and desperately wanting to DNF instead. Every time Clara takes a step forward in her training, something happens immediately after that causes her to take another step back, and we end up moving at a snail's pace until the final resolution at the ~85% mark which is passed over in half a chapter. Nothing there is ever explained. Suddenly, everything is ok, and the book wraps up with a cheesy finale that feels like the end of a Hallmark movie. Additionally, Clara's relationship with the other characters is very shallow. I was the most intrigued by her relationship with Paige, which is muddy and messy, but the main romance between Clara and Sang felt very cheesy and there was no chemistry between the two of them other than forced proximity.

Overall, interesting concept and description but slow pacing and unlikable characters make it a hard pass for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Witches and nature; two things that I always seem to love in books! Especially when the book includes an incredible magical structure that is based on the solar system and gives each witch powers based on the season they were born in and provides them with more strength in that season itself. Additionally, the witches are responsible for keeping the atmosphere and the climate in check, which is so very current, and makes the story even better.

The story is based around Clara Densmore, the first Everwitch in a hundred years. Her powers change along with the seasons and she has the potential to make a great difference in the world, especially now that the atmosphere is in tatters and witches are more and more necessary to fix natural disasters around the world. There’s just one problem: Clara is afraid to actually use her powers. In her last year of magical training at Eastern she tries to overcome that fear and grow into her powers the way she’s supposed to before the world truly falls apart and hundreds of people are killed.

I absolutely loved this tale, however I do wish that more of the story was set in the outside world instead of just at school. Clara’s training was interesting, but the story definitely got better when she was taken out into the real world to perform. I think the book would have made even more of an impact in that way than in already did now.

Wasn't my favorite, felt like the pacing was off because it took place over a year so we didn't get to see a lot of the resolution to events and it was a lot of just the high points. The prose was gorgeous though, and the romance was great!

I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

This novel started out really strong and felt super awesome with a lot of action similar to the show Motherland: Fort Salem and I was SUPER excited to delve in. However, as the story went along it quite pettered out and just turned into more of an internal dialogue and angsty romance with a lot of subtle commentary about climate change. After that the novel got super predicatable and finished in a very 'meh' manner. I had hoped this would be more of a strong, awesome witch novel and it didn't feel as such in the end.

This novel follows Clara, an Everwitch, who is able to manipulate the magic of all the seasons rather than just the season the witch was born in. Clara is the first Everwitch in quite a long time as the climate around the world is devolving, storms are getting bigger, stronger and more destructive and the seasonal witches are not able to help contain these destructive situations. Clara is sent in and is supposed to be able to help, however, she does not entirely understand how to control her power and this causes her a great deal of fear. Clara is tested through the novel and has to learn to not be afraid and embrace her place as an Everwitch. Not a bad novel, interesting and entertaining, just not entirely what I had expected.

I absolutely adored the concept of this book. Combining magic with the science of climate change was so interesting to me. It was super well written and I was engaged throughout the whole story!

I got a little annoyed with Clara. I thought she took a little too long to evolve out of her fear and while they were understandable, it got a touch repetitive. Her relationship with Sang was my favorite part. It was a nice change to see a soft male love interest instead of the usual tough guy you usually find in fantasy stories and I loved him.

Overall I think everyone should give this book a try. It has such important topics addressed and is super well written. I was never once confused about the magic system or what was going on. A new and captivating take on witches and the magic humans need to save the planet.

For a tale that starts with so much pain, this is truly a remarkable story of self-discovery, new forms of magic, and how important the relationships with the people you love are.
This book had everything in it from a wonderful bisexual protagonist and a diverse cast of characters to a truly original take on witches and their magic.
This book was so beautifully written, the words flowed off the page and straight to my heart, and is one of my favorite books of 2021.
I am in complete shock that this is a debut novel as it reads like it was written by a seasoned writer.
I highly recommend you pre-order this wonderful book.