Willa will learn how to be a good witch & maybe even save the kingdom while she's at it. Fantastically ridiculous. Such a fun read. I can see kids having a blast trying to act out the spells. Curses are spaghetti turning to worms & voices being stolen. Punishment is the rapscallions cage. Good spells can make you fly or turn brussel sprouts into chocolate. Completely appropriate & a great fantasy read.

A very cute and fun read for the middle grader who loves to read about witches. I would definitely recommend it to many children in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

A really cute book about a young girl who has been told she's ordinary only to find out she has powers. But these powers come with a catch: she has to choose a coven by her 13th birthday or she'll explode! This was a really interesting world to dive into with Willa as an awesome main character and handful of great side characters. Can't wait to hopefully get more in this series!

Cute! Definitely a bit slow at time, and maybe a little too immature for middle grade readers, but otherwise enjoyable.

Willa lives in a world with one accepted truth: Witches are bad.
Willa is on her own since her parents were cursed by an aberrant spell cast by a witch caused them to float away upon clouds. Spells going awry is not uncommon as two witch covens are constantly fighting each other and casting spells and curses across the valley at one another, causing the people of the Wilds to detest them. On top of constantly dodging curses, Willa works for a horrible man, and she constantly feels unsettled and like she can't be herself. One day a wayward spell causes chaos in town and Willa is accused of being a witch. She now must be trained in the ways of witches so that she can chose which of the two covens she will join, or she will explode.

This book was a lot of fun to read, full of crazy and ridiculous things happening. There is also an undercurrent of deeper discussion of listening to yourself and not letting other people decide your future and your happiness. While this book is advertised as middle grade, I think it would be better suited for a young reader, the book lacked a sense of maturity and wit I was hoping for. It would make a fun family read along or bedtime story, just keep in mind that there is loss of parents in this book so be mindful in case that would be hard for the young reader in your life.

I really do think this will be a brilliant read for kids, there’s a great message of being yourself and a relatable main character who doesn’t seem to fit in etc!

There’s also plenty of wacky humour and originality to this as well as action to keep young readers in engaged! I did, however, find this a little bit repetitive and the wackiness wasn’t really my kind of thing but like I said, the intended audience will love this!

I ended up not finishing this book - it started out so great and I was so excited to read a fantasy book - but it was pretty much like watching a cartoon and the similar things happening to this girl over and over again - way too repetitive for me. So…onto my next read - something with something I can really get into it.

Cute quick read full of magic and mayhem. This is a perfect book for younger readers who want a little magic.

Cute story for kids. My daughter enjoyed reading this along with me. We love reading books together and this one was great

This is an interesting take on the usual witch books - a little bit more drama and trauma in the back history than some other books.

I found I had to concentrate on the made up words but that the descriptions were quite vivid

Thank you to the publisher Clarion Books for giving me the opportunity to review A RELUCTANT WITCH'S GUIDE TO MAGIC by Shivaun Plozza.

Loved the names of the characters.. Thought the name of the town Bad Faith was perfect.

This is a funny and quirky middle grade fantasy novel about a non magical girl who discovers that she has magical powers.

Highly recommended for Halloween reading.

While I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review, all opinions remain my own.

This was a cute book about a girl who finds out that she's a witch and reluctantly comes into her powers. It has a different feel then many of the other magical books that are out there. Might not be great for kids who have an overactive imagination or are prone to nightmares (some of the creatures are nightmare fuel!) This story does a great job of showing strong friendships and female characters. One thing I didn't love is the confusing spell words. They are gibberish and were difficult for me to read. A bit longer then I think they needed to be. Just my opinion.

I would not hesitate to buy this for a young girl in my life.

This is a good book for young readers (middle school) looking for a light, fun read. The magical world is sweet and original. We loved the funny spells and magic-gone-wrong scenarios that followed Willa around. There are lots of twists in the story to keep you engaged. Would recommend to any new and young reader.

"A Reluctant Witch's Guide to Magic" is a delightful and relatable story perfect for middle grade readers.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this e-arc.

I really enjoyed this MG fantasy novel! The magic was fun, and I thought Willa was a great main character. This was a charming MG book that I would definitely recommend trying!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

What a fun little middle grade story! I wasn’t expecting much from this, and I was so pleasantly surprised. We follow Willow, a girl who is trying her best to be normal but is actually a witch. She has to stay at the palace to learn and harness her powers and ,eventually, chose a coven to join.

Her journey is crazy but fun, and very relatable. We watch her make her first friends, and come into her identity as a witch. There’s so many colorful characters in the palace with her, most of whom made me laugh, and will be so fun for students to read. I thought the magic was so unique, and so interesting to read about. It involved dancing, hopping and all sorts of nonsense words. I’ve never read anything like it.

I figured out who the bad guy was pretty early on, which is to be expected. Also, I’m an adult, and the book’s intended audience probably won’t have this issue. I can’t wait to add this to our library’s collection, and am crossing my fingers for a sequel.

The Wild is a city caught in a war between two witch covens, leaving the nonmagical subject to the whims of their spells. Willa's parents had been turned into clouds by accident, and since then she has lived on her own. When someone sees her deflect a spell, she's forcibly enrolled in lessons to control her unruly magic. If she can't do it within a year and choose a coven to belong to, she'll explode. As if that wasn't bad enough, a rogue witch is targeting the nonmagical. Willa must unravel the identity of the rogue witch in order to save herself and her city.

This is billed as a cross between Kiki's Delivery Service and Cressida Cowell novels. Our middle-grade-aged heroine certainly fits the age of those heroes. Willa is twelve, and the pent-up wild energy of witches born to ordinary folk is more powerful than the dancing and wiggling of the silent Silverclaw or the cursing and spitting of the Irontongue clans. Don't worry, the cursing is of the nonsense word variety. It's fun to read, as is the fact that everything in the kingdom has a form that must be filled out in triplicate, delaying everything. A wild magic child years ago hadn't chosen a coven and exploded instead, leaving behind a wasteland, but he had been certain there was another way.

The back and forth between covens mirrors the struggle that Willa has over her magic. She thinks she must cage it, just as everyone around her insists she must control herself and conform to their ideas. Gaspard is a horrible teacher, but not everyone in the castle is horrible. Willa makes friends with two children around her age and concern for their well-being as well as the place she grew up drives her forward. She is a fun and relatable character. I hope the ending means we can see her further adventures.

A Reluctant Witch’s Guide to Magic is a delightful middle grade fantasy about a girl named Willa who lives in the land of Ordinary Folk between two warring witch covens. She soon finds out that she is a witch and has until her next birthday to harness her magic and choose a coven. Or she’ll explode. No big deal.

In the meantime, the Ordinary Folk must deal with errant spells that cause raining frogs or vomiting daisies – that is, people vomiting daisies, not daisies that vomit. There are some roses to watch out for specifically on Tuesdays, but I digress.

This book is just plain fun. The story is exciting, Willa’s character is thoughtful, and the spells are silly. This will be a lighthearted romp for 10-12 year-olds certain to tickle their funny bones while also delivering an adventure.

Thank you to Clarion Books and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.