thank you to the publisher & netgalley for the advanced reader copy.
I was really excited to pick this one up, who doesn’t love a spooky sapphic witch story!
I think overall this book has a meaningful storyline. I felt for the characters and really enjoyed reading about them. I loved the unique spin with telling the story through tarot cards and including them. that’s something I haven’t read before! I fell into this book very easily but I felt multiple times throughout the book that I was bored. I’m not sure if it was the writing or just overall storyline.

I had a really difficult time getting into this book. It took forever to get to the point where I felt like the story was going anywhere. I also got a lot of negative vibes from the get go. It didn't get much better throughout the rest of it either.

I liked the premise of this book, and I thought the characters were so cute! It gave very witchy vibes and I was really looking forward to it, but the execution felt a bit flat to me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I really wanted to love this book. I liked it a lot in concept, but the execution fell flat for me. I liked the book's formatting, pacing, and how the sapphic main character is a bit toxic. I loved the cover and the friend group dynamics. I thought the magic was done a bit strangely, and the unhealthy overuse of weed bothered me a bit. I didn't love Eleanor's redemption arc - I felt it was hasty and a bit surface-level. I also didn't appreciate the way SA was handled in this book.

I received this book for free from netgalley for an honest review.

Another queer book to add to my library. Please keep writing books for people like me ❤️

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches left me, well, cynical at first. I thought the magic was a little hokey, but ultimately this was a very cute book. As a Massachusetts resident the descriptions of Salem were a lot of fun.

I super enjoyed this book. It was a fun read with great characters and wonderful world building. I would definitely recommend it!

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this! Good characters and background storyline, well told. Good audiobook narrator too.

I would say that the witchy vibes and the fact that it was a combination of sapphic and witchy really made this story stand out to me, but unfortunately it felt a bit flat. I think that there are a lot of topics that are covered in this story that felt a little thrown in there and took away from the story as a whole. I love the concept but not so much the execution.

I liked how each chapter starts with a tarot card and what it might mean. It was an interesting way to sort of foreshadow what we were going to see unfold.

The narrator’s voice was easily one of my favorite parts of this story, she had a believable adolescent inner monologue, which I loved. As we got to know her better, we also learned she was anxiety-riddled and, that too, was entirely believable, in the way any kid who has had a bad experience burned into their memory they are doomed to revisit every day can attest.

There were times I wasn’t sure where this story was going, because we eventually learn who the mean kids are, but they aren’t very much a part of her world. There’s the implication that something terrible happened, and that is the final mystery we unravel. I found myself guessing what it might be, but I was never 100% right (which was sort of a good thing, because I had some pretty dark ideas). It definitely explained why Eleanor was wired the way she was.

My favorite part was when she realizes that not everyone perceives her the way the mean kids do, but those were the only voices she heard, so she believed them.

I laughed. I cried. I would recommend it to friends.

DNF at 40%

I feel like this one started off strong, but the plot started to meander and get bogged down in the details of Eleanor's past which made the pacing feel stagnant.

Thank you Netgalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pretty cute sapphic love story featuring a bit of magic. The book was overall OK but the characters at times were a bit much. The book explores the trauma of the main character which is a valid and important story to tell. But from the cover and description of the book I was expecting something more in the rom com genre and not a realistic gritty style.

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches
<description> Seventeen-year-old Eleanor is the last person in Salem to believe in witchcraft—or to think that her life could be transformed by mysterious forces. After losing her best friend and first love, Chloe, Eleanor has spent the past year in a haze, vowing to stay away from anything resembling romance.
But when a handwritten guide to tarot arrives in the mail at the witchy souvenir store where Eleanor works, it seems to bring with it the message that magic is about to enter her life. Cynical Eleanor is quick to dismiss this promise, until real-life witch Pix shows up with an unusual invitation. Inspired by the magic and mystery of the tarot, Eleanor decides to open herself up to Pix and her coven of witches, and even to the possibility of a new romance.
But Eleanor’s complicated history continues to haunt her. She will have to reckon with the old ghosts that threaten to destroy everything, even her chance at new love.
Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches is an atmospheric and romantic coming-of-age about learning to make peace with the past in order to accept the beauty of the present.

<review> Author Kate Scelsa did a great job in this fun and fall themed YA read. The main character, Eleanor, has been dealt a shitty hand, to say the least, and high school/being a teenager often sucks. Enter Pix and her coven of witches to shake things up for Eleanor. Learning about tarot cards through a queer love story is certainly a first, but I really enjoyed it, and I now I want to know more. This is a sweet, teen, queer romance that is perfect to read before Halloween!

Copy provided by @netgalley. Author @kate.scelsa #queerbookclub #lgbtq #lgbtqia #pride #wlw #sapphic #witches #salem #queerbookstagram #queerrepresentation #fiction #young adult #fiction #queerromance #lesbianromance #lesfic

Eleanor is a young woman with problems; her mother has Lyme disease and can't work, so Eleanor is supporting them both, working for her mother's best friend, to get that job they had to move to a new town the previous year when Eleanor was just starting 11th grade, her best friend chose her boyfriend over her, and she has no other friends. Then one day Pix and Ofira wander into the store where Eleanor works, and Pix invites Eleanor to a party, which turns out to be a meeting of a coven, one which consists of teenage girls - and slowly, Eleanor begins to develop relationships with the coven members in general, and Pix in particular. But will Pix be interested in her the same what that Eleanor is interested in Pix?

This is a nice story, set in Salem, Massachusetts, in a store that sells witch-themed items for the tourist trade, about a young woman who had to grow up quickly because of her mother's illness, and who had a bad experience along the way. What it is not is a book about witchcraft, so if that's what you're looking for - and, to be honest, what I was expecting - this isn't it, except as the coven performs Wiccan magic, rather than fantasy magic. It is, however, a good coming-of-age story, about the difficulties of dealing with a family member with a chronic illness, along with the peer pressure and related social issues that impact high school students. Recommended for readers high school through adult.

This book was amazing. I feel like it healed some part of my inner child. It was at times sweet and other times heartbreaking. A must read for anyone, especially queer women and girls just out here trying to get stuff right despite all of the inner (and outside) voices working against us.

Thanks to NetGalley & HarperCollins Children's Books for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Sadly, I was unable to continue after the 30% mark.

This book follows Eleanor, a jaded gay teen still struggling with a past breakup. She meets Pix, who is literally a maniac pixie girl from the 2000s, and really into witchcraft. They also happen to live in Salem, Massachusetts.

Reaaaalllly slow pacing and confusing timelines/flashbacks. I wasn't a fan of the tarot card chapters, I'm even more cynical than Eleanor herself with tarot/witchcraft stuff so that probably didn't help either.

It didn't seem like any magic existed in the book and these random high school girls were just so sure of themselves being witches in Salem and "purifying" Salem with their good vibes. Ha, yeah right. Pix was really annoying too so I couldn't see what Eleanor saw in her. This book is definitely more of a realistic fiction romance story and maybe there's some magic toward the end but I didn't see anything 30% of the way through besides stoned teens thinking they're witches.

I’m not really sure what my problem was with this book, but I absolutely could not get into it. It’s possible I’ve read TOO MANY voice-y YA stories this year, it’s possible that I should have waited until fall to read this, it’s possible that there were too many flashbacks where bad things kept happening — I just feel like I never fell into this book like i desperately wanted to, based on the cover. And it is a VERY good cover. Also this book review was due months ago and even the deadline could not drag me to the finish line. Could be a me problem! Could be an actual problem with the book! Three stars.

Cute easy simple read. Great for when you need a break. I personally enjoyed it and thought it was a cute story. There’s not much I would change and I really like it.

2.5 stars, rounded up

It is my opinion that this book made a mockery of the descriptions of tarot, perpetual harmful bisexual stereotypes, and took advantage of the concept of intuition to propel an unneeded storyline further.

See my full [covid-brain addled] review here: https://littlesmaug.wordpress.com/2022/08/10/review-improbable-magic-for-cynical-witches-by-kate-scelsa/#more-607