Such a wonderful reimagining of Anne of Green Gables! I have a student who will love this when it releases, and I can't wait to get it in her hands. I loved the relationship between Grace and the witch,. There are so many lessons to be learned from this story, my favorite being to find the strength within ourselves.

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

I enjoy reading reimaginings of classics I enjoyed as a girl, but I can't say that I've ever read one of Anne of Green Gables. The Grace of Wild Things was a delightful story of found family and magic with so many elements of the original that we know and love. The young witch, Grace, embodies Anne well with her persistent cheer, indomitable vocabulary and desire for a true home. Heather Fawcett transforms so many of the iconic scenes into this new magical world with care and the whole thing was super fun to read.

Oh, how I enjoyed this book! I like Heather Fawcett's use of language; I felt as if I could see the forest with my own eyes.

This story is of Grace, her finding a family that she chooses, and learns to use her magic. It is a story of friendship, imagination, and love. Beautiful!

I always loved Anne of Green Gables, so when I read that this was a reimagining of Anne of Green Gables - with witches and magic - I definitely had to give it a try.

Grace, an orphan with a big imagination, a love of poetry, and a belief that she is a witch, shows up on the doorstep of a cottage in the woods. The witch who lives there is probably the one about which the story of Hansel and Gretel is written. Probably. The witch grudgingly agrees to let Grace stay and the two form a pact - if Grace can complete the tasks given to her before the cherry tree blooms again, she will become the witch's apprentice; if she can't, she must give up her magic.

Through it all Grace makes new friends and learns more about who she is. I enjoyed it thoroughly. The story was good, and I particularly liked the poetry at the beginning of each chapter.

Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for the ARC.

Feedback will be provided when a new contract is negotiated with HarperCollins Union.
Feedback will be provided when a new contract is negotiated with HarperCollins Union.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC!

This was a sweet, fun, enchanting reimagining of Anne of Green Gables. The target audience is definitely for the younger side, but as an adult, I really loved the magical world of Grace and her new adventures, her bold decision to leave the orphanage and to try to become an apprentice. I do agree with other reviews that it doesn't need to be called a retelling of Anne and that this story is fun on its own.

Grace is an orphan with no friends except a crow that talks. She feels alone, and she knows she's different - she can look into a person's eyes and see their regrets. That's why she runs away from the orphanage and to the forest where she finds the witch's cottage. Here, she offers her services and asks for shelter. The witch reluctantly agrees and challenges Grace to cast 100 spells by spring. If Grace can succeed, she will become the witch's apprentice. Otherwise, she must give up her magic.
Grace does try hard to cast the spells, but she must also attend school, which takes a big chunk of time. Soon, she begins to make friends and realizes that she needs help. By the end of the story, Grace has collected more friends than she could ever have imagined. And she learns about belonging to herself, to her gifts and to others.
I really enjoyed reading this book. The pace is pleasant until the end when I found myself wishing for more details and a sequel. I also liked the poetry. "Magic (is) like poetry - a poem, after all, could mean more than one thing, or mean different things to different people." Grace respects and appreciates nature as she uses natural resources wisely, and I appreciate that too.
While I don't typically endorse books about witches, this one reminds me of a fairy tale. Except it could happen. We all have unique gifts that make us special. Like Grace, we often need support, time, intuition, and help to discover and nurture those gifts. That's what Grace does. Until she could believe in herself, she was not fully present to her gifts. I really like how this book supports belonging, vulnerability and hope.

This is a sweet and fun book that will be loved by anyone who loves witches, has quirky friends, or feels like they don’t fit in. The story is geared toward youth, but can easily be enjoyed by adults.

What I liked: I loved the relationship between Grace and the schoolchildren and how that changed over the course of the story. Rum’s grumpiness made him my favorite character, especially when his desire for an escape from his regular life kept him coming back to Grace.

What I didn’t like: The book ended abruptly and some things weren’t resolved. Why was the brother the only magic that reversed? It needed another chapter or epilogue.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Delightful! Grace knows she is magical and so leaves the orphanage for the witch's cottage in the woods in hopes of becoming an apprentice. The witch is not inclined to help, but strikes a deal with Grace. If she can complete the 100 1/2 spells in her grimoire before a cherry tree blooms, she can stay. If not, Grace must sacrifice her magic. What follows is a story about a magical pact, but also one about friendship, community, and finding a home.
This book is inspired by Anne of Green Gables, and in the very best way. It's not a slavish re-write but a wonderful re-imagination of Anne's story. Grace is like Anne in many ways: a fanciful, poetry-loving, lonely, kindhearted creature. There are characters and situations that harken back to Montgomery's original, but there are important differences too. It captures the spirit of Anne while delivering a magical story with a charm all its own. I loved it.

An imaginative and entertaining retelling of a classic story! Those already fans of Anne of Green Gables will enjoy the nods to the original while those who have never visited Anne’s world will be equally enchanted with Grace’s. Hoping that there may be more adventures of Grace and her friends to come!

Grace is a young orphaned witch alone in the world. So she seeks out an reclusive witch to teach her to use her magic. Unfortunately, the witch she finds wants nothing to do with her. She eats children, she doesn't teach them. But Grace is a very persistent girl, and she makes a bargain with the witch that allows her to stay in her house if she can complete the task the witch has assigned.
A magical retelling of Anne of Green Gables, there are versions of all the beloved characters. But unlike many other reinterpretations, this book has created a different world where there are enough changes to keep the reader interested in what will happen next.

The Grace of Wild Things is a fast paced adventure following a young witch named Grace who travels to another witch's cottage to try and become her apprentice. When she gets there, things do not go quite according to plan, and the witch does not want anything to do with Grace, or having an apprentice. Finally, it is agreed that if Grace can cast all 100 and a half spells in the witch's grimoire, she will take her under her wing; if not, Grace will give up all of her magical essence to the witch. With a task at hand, Grace sets out to do the impossible, and well, makes it possible. I found Grace incredibly engaging and spunky, and indeed all the characters likeable and fun/funny. I connected with the grumpy witch the most, though that's probably the grandmotherly side of me. I give this tale a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

This was utterly delightful. It was so whimsical and honestly more emotional than I was expecting. While this is following children I think this is suitable for all ages; the writing is lyrical enough to be reaching a higher level middle grade of reading. The only potential is in chapter 20 Grace refers to Mrs. Crumley criticizing her cooking in the past when I think she might have been referring to the old headmistress? Of the orphanage. Other than that the pacing was perfect the characters were lovable and I cannot wait to get this as a physical copy.

I'm pretty much a sucker for anything related to Anne of Green Gables so when I saw that this book was a retelling, I was all in. I'll be the first to admit that fantasy is not always my favorite genre but the idea of the story including a young girl learning about being a witch and tying into a retelling of one of my favorite series piqued my interest.

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters in this book. Grace was a delight with so many throwbacks to Anne. Her love poetry, her fanciful stories and her string desire to find a place to belong. The witch was so much fun right from the start and the evolution of her character over the course of the book was lovely. I also loved the inclusion of Rum, the fairy, as our male main character and Sareena as the best friend Grace always wanted/needed. While the book could be read by anyone including those who have never read Anne of Green Gables, I really enjoyed the connections to the original storyline that the author embedded throughout the book.

There was just the right amount of fantasy and magic in this story to keep it moving and fresh. I wasn't sure what to expect at the ending but I enjoyed where the story took me. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a magical fantasy.

There are books I read as an adult that I wish had been around earlier for my younger self to read and The Grace of Wild Things is absolutely on that list. What a magical and beautiful story! I didn’t even realize it was an interpretation of the world of Anne of Green Gables until about midway through. The similarities are there, but not so heavy handed that I felt like I knew where the story was going. Grace was so funny and imaginative and resilient. I absolutely loved her. Honestly, all the characters were so well written. I especially loved Sareena and the witch. There were times I was laughing while reading this (the backwards hiccups killed me) and times where I was crying. It will definitely tug at your heartstrings. This is a book for the daydreamers, the ones full of imagination and curiosity, the ones who feel like they don’t quite fit in.

Thank you to NetGalley and Balzar & Bray and Harper Teen for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was interesting ...a character who thinks she is wicked (because she is a witch) discovering that she can actually be good and kind.

"Maybe you are a wicked witch, but I don't see any reason why you can't also be a kind one. Who says you can only be one thing?"

We all have both light and dark inside of us, and so I think a story like this would be so good for a child who struggles with the hypocrisy that is inherent in every human heart.

There was souch I enjoyed about this book....but the obvious links to Anne of Green Gables (think Anne Shirley meets Hansel and Gretel) were a bit overdone. It almost felt as though those items were just stuck into the book to make the comparison to A of GG more obvious. I would have preferred a few subtler references rather than the sense of overly-contrived parallels.

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins Children's Books, and Balzer + Bray for the opportunity to read an advanced reader's copy of this book for an honest review. (Publish Date: February 14, 2023)

“The Grace of Wild Things” by Heather Fawcett is an inventive Sci Fi and fantasy retelling of the 1908 classic “Anne of Green Gables” by L.M. Montgomery.

To properly prepare myself for reviewing this book, I read “Anne of Green Gables” for the first time and loved it so much that I was appalled at myself for not reading it sooner! What an incredible coming of age story that has captured hearts over generations of readers!

As you can imagine, I had high expectations going into this book. I was promised “Anne of Green Gables” but with magic and witches - and I was not let down!

The story follows Grace, an orphan with magical powers who runs away to become a witch’s apprentice. The problems start when the witch turns out to be bad - like the witch in “Hansel and Gretel” bad. However, Grace is determined to learn how to properly use her magic and cast spells, so she makes a deal the witch can’t refuse: If Grace can learn all 100 ½ spells in the witch’s grimoire (her personal book of magic spells and invocations), she gets to be the witch’s apprentice. If she fails, the witch gets to take all of Grace’s magic for herself and Grace will return to the orphanage. The witch agrees thinking there's no possible way a novice child witch could complete all the spells.

As time goes by, Grace slowly disarms the bad witch with her curiosity, kind nature, and expansive imagination. Grace loves having a room and place to call home in the witch’s cottage, and she even begins making unexpected friends as she races to complete the nearly impossible spells.

I was pleasantly surprised by how similar Grace was to Anne from the original novel, and I greatly appreciated the author sprinkling highlights from Green Gables throughout this modern retelling with impressive ease. However, I did lower my review to 4 stars instead of 5 for this book, because Grace’s alluring spark and the magic of the story in general started to dim in the last quarter of the book, and the ending felt a bit rushed and abrupt with too many loose ends for my liking.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the magical twists from the original story. It was a fun read that would appeal to children, middle grade, and even teens who enjoy a good fantasy and coming of age story.

Anne of Green Gables meets classic fairytale by way of Hansel and Gretl in this middle grade. Wholesome and sweet with a few dark shadows, this book has witchy cottage-core woven around relationships which feel remarkably real between Grace, an orphaned witch seeking apprenticeship and nurturing of her own magic. It has its own twists and turns.

I really enjoyed this book! I liked how Grace was based off of Anne from Anne of Green Gables and how her personality was carried over. I really enjoyed this book!

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in return for an honest review.

An enjoyable reimagining of Anne of Green Gables as a fantasy complete with magic and witches. Fans of Anne will appreciate some of the nods to the original book in The Grace of Wild Things and fans of fantasy will enjoy the magic, witches and spells of Grace's story. With just one friend, a crow, Grace sets off from the orphanage determined to find the witch and convince her to take her in. But things don't go quite the way Grace planned.