Witches have maintained the climate for centuries. The book focuses on a girl called Clara. Each witch at birth is assigned that season which influences their magic. Their power is only available throughout that season. Clara is an Everwitch. Her power changes throughout the seasons matching which ever season they are currently in. As she grows up, Clara notices that each time she feels a strong connection to someone that person inevitably ends up dying. One spring, she falls for a guy, Sang. She then has a choice to make... her power, her happiness, her duty or the people that she loves.

Clara is an extremely likeable character. You really feel her emotions. She tries her hardest to protect the ones she loves even if it means hurting herself. She is stubborn and strong-willed which is something I appreciate.

Her love interest, Sang. You really feel the love he has for others. For a love interest, he is extremely sensitive. He isn’t one of your typical ‘male leads’ you find in other books. This makes for a refreshing change.

The book is relatively fast paced. It is easy to understand and digest. I didn’t once get confused with what is going on. Witchy books aren’t normally my thing but this one definitely held my attention.

Throughout the book I was willing for Clara to succeed. To find a way to keep her power and protect the ones she loves the most. Does this happen? I am afraid you’ll have to read the book to find out 😜

So I loved this book so much more than I thought I would. I loved the love story in it, I loved the magic system, the only gripe I have is the lazy worldbuilding. We don't really see anything of the world outside of the school, I felt like it could've been built up a lot better, there was no feeling of history in this.. But I read it one day, so it define held my attention. This is definitely a contemporary urban fantasy, don't let the cover fool you into thinking it's anything else.

But if you love The Magicians or Motherland: Fort Salem, you'll really enjoy this book.

Honestly, I was so happy when I finished this book. It seemed too preachy about climate change, which I know is a serious issue, but I felt like this book took it too far. I found Clara to be an unlikable main character and couldn't help but roll my eyes at her every few pages. Overall, I disliked this book.

This was not what I expected and I was pleasantly surprised to have enjoyed the book!
The climate change message was strong but not preachy. The tale of witches fit in quite well in a contemporary setting which I hope more books would do the same

Thank you so much to Netgalley for my copy of The Nature of Witches. I loved this book for so many reasons. I’m always hunting for books about witches, and this is definitely one of my favorites. Rachel Griffin writes so beautifully that you can’t help but fall in love with the characters she creates. I would highly recommend this book!

I’m constantly on the hunt for captivating witchy stories, and this is definitely one to read. I would compare this book to those written by Paula Braxton, Laurie Forest, or V.E. Shwab (three of my favorite!) and perfect for a younger audience.

This is a beautiful coming of age story, where traumas and persistent self-doubt haunt the main character, Clara. With a fantastical spin on climate change and how the magic of our fellow witches can help maintain our Earth’s energy, you’re in for it!! 5 stars all around.

This was definitely one of my favorite reads of the year so far. It was so beautifully written and the messages throughout this book were impactful. The magic and nature connection was well developed and fed my nature loving soul. I don’t often read urban fantasy, but I throughly enjoyed it!

***spoilers below***



Clara’s struggle with feeling the need to isolate herself and not be allowed to care about people safely really hit me deeply. I related to that feeling as someone who is living with some debilitating chronic illnesses. It sometimes feels like the closer I get to people, the more they have to suffer by watching me suffer. So I really felt the pain of her pushing people away to keep them safe.

Overall, this was a 5 star read for me, and I can’t wait to read future books from this author!

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our library collection and recommended it to students.

What an enchanted story, this feels unique, modern witches dealing with climate change.

Clara studies in a magic school, but she lives apart from her classmates, she is not like them, each witch is stronger in a season, they have powers granted by their birth season, but not Clara, she is an Ever, a witch who has an affinity with all seasons.

Clara lives in eternal fear of hurting someone, accidents have occurred in her past and blames herself for them. She has decided to be apart from everyone and instead of trying to use her magic and understand it, she tries to make it less. But Clara has people around her who support her and believe in her power, even though she hates it and wants to get rid of her power.

This is a descriptive story and with lots of inner thoughts, two of my favorite writing styles, The chapters are divided by seasons with little epigraphs, I loved them, I will write down some on my journal. I really liked the descriptions, especially those referring to nature, each change of season you feel on your skin, the frozen cold of winter, or the soft breeze of spring.

The magic system, its very original, each witch are stronger in their season, but with the unpredictable climate change everyone must learn to fight outside their season, specially Clara, she needs learn to control her magic and above all, trust in herself. .

Im happy how Clara grows emotionally and begins to trust, as it is a novel written in the first person, you can get to know her better and empathize with her. She has a good support system, of the secondary characters Sang was my favorite, he is calm and stable.

It was a great read, its about Clara grow up, its slow pacing, emotional driven, beautiful nature descriptions.
All the things that I love.

This was an absolutely beautiful and evocative story about witches who are tied to the magic of the season of their birth. Each season of witches is gifted with stronger powers and a unique set of abilities that manifest during their season each year...all except one. Clara is the first Everwitch in a few hundred years and with her gift comes a strong and awful power. A power she believes will isolate her her entire life, terrified of the magic that is supposed to make her great because of the dangerous ties that magic has made to everyone she’s ever loved.

Going through the seasons with Clara was such a wonderful journey. It broke my heart, made me cry and the ending was an absolutely beautiful and perfect conclusion. This was one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read so far this year and I highly recommend to everyone.

I was delighted to read an e-ARC of The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin. With a magic system that I’ve never seen before and a lot to say about environmentalism and global warming, this was a unique and different read. And look at that COVER 😍 https://www.instagram.com/p/CNOZG6DgHgR/

Let me start by saying I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy the book but I knew it sounded good. Clara is a witch. She attends a witching school. The witches essentially keep the humans safe from catastrophe. But with the humans continuously building and expanding on land that the earth isn’t happy about- constant issues arise. Clara however is special, she’s the only witch that can channel all 4 seasons rather than being a witch of one season. She is what they call an Everwitch. Something that is rare and not known very much about. She is distanced from everyone out of fear of what her powers can do. But Sang comes in to teach her and in doing so opens her heart and eventually she saves countless lives. I love how fiery Clara can be. The growth in this book from her is amazing. I couldn’t put this book down! Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to review this!

3.8⭐️

This book is the perfect example of that feeling of how a book ends changes your feeling as you go though it.

I was not sure at the start, not convinced that there was enough besides Clara. But there was, she was enough. For herself, for her world, for this story.

Also, while more drastic than our own Earth (at this time at least) I really liked how there was so much mention of how we’ve harmed the planet. How bad things are happening and it’s our fault—and our opportunity to fix it.

“together is where the magic lies”
I felt like this sums up the book, and was a powerful statement and reminder to us in our world.


Thanks netgalley and Sourcebooks for this arc in exchange for an honest review

This is a cute YA tale about witches and the environment.

Most witches favor a season but Clara is an Ever, so she favors them all. The witches are in a race to figure out a way to counter extreme weather conditions caused by damage done to the environment. Clara has to learn to use her power but she is afraid of it and afraid of what it might do to anyone else she loves.

It's pretty basic, but I think it's intended for a younger audience.

A refreshing young adult novel where there are no bad guys. The main antagonist of the novel is climate change. The young witches try the hardest to learn magic to combat climate change and save the world from its troubles. In the end, everyone recognizes that the Witches are unable to solve these problems on their own and with help from the "Shaders' (non-magic folk) they work together to start changing the world. Danger, Fear, Love, Friendship, Hope, everything exists in this wonderful book.

I wanted to like this book so much. I really did. I thought the idea of a contemporary fantasy novel was fabulous, and I did really like the concept of this book. The characters, though, just ruined this story. The main character especially was so unlikeable that her flaws leaked into the story until I could see in the story were flaws. I didn’t form a single attachment to anyone in the story, and honestly, the content and quality of this book pales in comparison to other recently released fantasy novels with a similar backdrop (magical, etc).

I tried really hard to like this book, and it just didn’t happen for me. I feel like the characters needed more flushing out, the storyline needed more development, and the plot just wasn’t strong enough to compare with other fantasy novels. I am very thankful for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review, and I sincerely hope other readers DO enjoy this book! It just wasn’t a book for me.

Rachel Griffin told an utterly beautiful tale, both exploring a new time of magic in a world similar to our own while highlighting just how dangerous our human desire to consume and expand has affected our environment -and how our whole doesn't have witches to help us; fix the problem!

BISEXUAL REPRESENTATION always makes me feel so happy. It connects me to a character easier (since I myself am Bisexual), so I adored the representation and how healthy the past relationship was -yes, it ended because of a tragedy. Still, it was pure before and pure to have a healing relationship after.

I LOVE Paige, Sang (Asian Representation was done lovely) & Mr Hart!
Mr Burrow is an asshole, and I will die on this hill! I don't care if he was doing what needed to be done, he put people in danger, and I will fight him.

My only dislike is that Clara got too in her head, and sometimes that was too wish-washy for the scenes that followed and made it pointless in my head. The other dislike is not really negative; I just wanted it to be A) longer and B) a series because I need more!

The Nature of Witches includes a lot of magic and a little bit of romance: what’s not to love, right? And that cover is to die for! The writing is descriptive and the pace makes for an intriguing read, but it did take me a little while to get into it the story and I wasn’t a huge fan of the main character, Clara. But if you have a paranormal-type itch that needs to be scratched, this could be the book for you!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy, and congratulations and best of luck to the author!

CW- fire, grief, death
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The Nature of Witches follows Clara, an Everwitch, as she fights to find a way to control her powers while also finding love.
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I don’t really have strong opinions on this book. I was super excited, seeing as it was one of my most anticipated reads this year, but I just felt like the plot fell short.
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There was very little plot, and eve though the book moved quickly, some plot points did have too much time spent on them. I did love the seamlessly integrated climate change discussion though,
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The same thing happened with the main relationship in the book. It was fine, but really just not that great.
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Overall, I would recommend this to fans of Practical Magic.
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love the subject of the book. Witches.

I felt the author did a great job by breaking the book up into sections based on seasons. It was a lovely read though slow at moments.

That said I really liked Clara I wanted to protect her. She was a young woman who was given powers that she could not control and yet she has to for the well-being of others. However, she wasn't the strongest heroine.

I loved the author's description of the setting and how she described some of the scenes using magic.

Overall not a bad read but not my favorite either. It fell somewhere in the middle.