Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Witchcraft and Mayhem is a non stop adventure. Serwa has spent her life fighting creatures of black magic only to find out that she is half vampire. She struggles to understand who she is and what that means while learning more about her family, the past, and her rival. This story is fused with Ghanaian folklore which is absolutely fascinating and enlightening. I hope the series continues and readers get the opportunity to learn more about Ghanaian culture and what happens next for Serwa.

Thank you to @Netgalley @DisneyPublishing and @RoseanneABrown for the audiobook ARC.

Serwa Boateng is a half-vampire, who has been trained as a slayer and is now dealing with puberty. I love anything Buffy-adjacent, and this cute series is perfect.

Serwa Boateng's Guide to Witchcraft and Mayhem by Roseanne A. Brown, narrated by Soneela Nankani, is the second book in a series about a preteen vampire slayer, inspired by Ghanaian folklore. This series is one that must be read in order to understand the characters, their connections, and context of most of the action.

After a lifetime of fighting creatures of black magic, twelve-year-old Serwa Boateng has just learned a devastating secret: she herself is half vampire! Now not only is she dealing with vampire puberty, she's on the run from the organization of Slayers she trained her whole life to join. Serwa's only ally is her aunt Boahinmaa, an obayifo who urges Serwa to embrace her vampire side. Boahinmaa and her underlings are on the hunt for the Midnight Drum, from which they hope to free Serwa's grandmother. When they learn that the Abomofuo have hidden the Midnight Drum deep within the Smithsonian Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., what do they do? Stage a heist to steal it, of course! For their plan to succeed, Serwa will have to get close to her rival, a Slayer named Declan Amankwah, without revealing her true nature. Declan gets under her skin like no one else...and might just force Serwa to confront some truths she's tried hard to deny. With both sympathy and laugh-out-loud humor, Rosanne A. Brown captures all the discomfort of a girl stuck between two worlds.

Serwa Boateng's Guide to Witchcraft and Mayhem is a fantastic follow up to the first book in the series. Serwa's emotional and magical troubles are engaging and completely understandable to me even as an adult. I thought the story was well written and everything fit together well. I am very thankful to be listening to the audiobook version of this series. The reader is phenomenal and I think I could listen to them read an instruction manual- to something I do not own- and still enjoy the experience. Also, I am horrible with pronunciation and would be spending half my read looking p the correct way to say things- so I love that I get to have the book read to me with perfect inflections and tone for the story rather than my own mental stumbling attempts. I have to admit that I was so engrossed in the story that I was surprised, and more than a little disappointed when the book ended. I felt like this book definitely built on the larger story, and Serwa's personal growth, a great deal. However, it also left me with so many more questions and loose ends than answers. I cannot wait for the next book to see where the story goes from here.

Serwa Boateng's Guide to Witchcraft and Mayhem is a wonderful addition to this series. I highly recommend this series (in print or audio) for middle grade and older readers.

Serwa's first adventure left off on such a HUGE cliffhanger.. I knew I needed this book as soon as I saw its cover! Serwa had just discovered that her mom is an obayifo... a vampire. And her mom knowingly fell in love with, married and had a kid with a vampire slayer. Talk about complicated and confusing. When Serwa's dark magic is released, the only one around to help her and guide her through the confusion is her Auntie... an abayifo. Serwa is left questioning everything her slayer upbringing taught her. Can she navigate life trying to help both sides? Can harmony be achieved between two people who HATE each other and have done unspeakable things to each other?

Read on to find out! Fair warning: this novel leaves off on a HUGE cliffhanger too... ahhhh!!!

What I loved most: Who doesn't want to read about a two headed crocodile who shares a stomach? Funtunfunefu-Denkyemfunefu is a fun name to pronounce, but you don't want to get on this guardian's bad side. Without a password, they may decide to eat you! The misunderstanding between Serwa and Declan and their attempt to repair the damage. The honest feelings about friendship in Serwa's friend group, the complicated family allegiances.

I LOVE SERWA BOATENG. This series is so, SO good and this one was even better than the first! And I loved all of not only the pop culture references, BUT the nods to Percy Jackson. So fun! I really enjoyed this and am SO excited to see where this goes from here! I mean, her friends can’t bail now!

Serwa is trapped between the world of slayers she has trained her whole life to become, and her newly found vampire side all while going through puberty. Serwa is with her aunt, her only ally and the one person who encourages her to try and use her vampire side. But she also has a job to do as the midnight drum that they need to get her grandmother back is hidden in the Smithsonian and a slayer she knows Declan is the one doing most of the guarding, Serwa must get the alarm code to get into the room so they can steal the drum, can she do it?
I don’t think I have read a Rick Riordan presents book I didn’t like and I still haven’t as I loved this one too. I like how the lore and heritage that each nationality is used and enlightening. There are parts of the book where you feel sorry for Serwa and times you will be laughing, but I think I felt more concern for this poor girl going through and caught in the middle of all this mess. This is still a very fun book and I can’t wait to see where Serwa goes from here.

Thank you Disney Audiobooks, Rick Riordan Presents Audio, and NetGalley for the advanced electronic audio review copy of this great book. This is a second installment in the Serwa Boateng series and it’s just as good as the first one. Plenty of twists, turns, and fast-paced adventure. Looking forward to volume 3!