Ich weiß ehrlich gesagt nicht, wie ich dieses Buch bewerten soll, da ich es aufgrund relativ kurzer Ausleihdauer (ohne Verlängerung) nicht lesen konnte.

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

For being in the teen/YA category, I found that it read a bit younger as far as the writing style. The relationships gave me a case of whiplash, and it just felt off.

i really enjoyed this read! i love absolutely anything witchy, and the setting of the university being in salem was just so much fun! I would be cautious about recommending this book without a content warning only because of some of the possibly triggering themes. overall i liked the writing, enjoyed and felt connected to the characters, and was invested in the story!

This definitely has the vibes & gothic ideas that I love!

I grew up loving Charmed, the Craft, and really loving sisterhood and queer longing (unknowingly to me at the time, lol). This book had some of the same qualities that I adored from these shows/movies & ideas, and I think it did a good job. Sadly, it just did well enough; it didn't add anything new or refresh them for me, and I found many of the arcs & much of the story predictable.

I really wanted to enjoy this one more. The really liked the concept and some of the characters were pretty cool but I didn’t really relate/bond with any of them which made it hard to care about what happened to them in the story. Sadly just a middle of the road read for me.

I read a lot of books with witches next year, and I'm happy I found this one because it gave me a different take on magic--in this book, witches cast spells using poems, which I found both unique and lovely. I also liked the academia idea, with a big part of the story basically taking place in... the dorm rooms!

But... that's mostly the only things I like about this book. It wasn't a bad one, but I know for a thing that I will have forgotten it in just a few weeks.

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I couldn't appreciate the characters, for some reasons. Apart from June, they all seemed super sassy and obnoxious. And--I know, it was written in the trigger warnings at the beginning, but still--all the alcohol and weed absolutely drove me crazy. How can you be in a school and drink so much? And also, how can this group of girls drink so much when one of them has a father who is an alcoholic?
This is typically the kind of 'small details' that this book is filled with, and that just bugged me a lot.

There were also a lot of things that I thought were not very clear and quite confusing, one of them being Eddie and what he knows about magic. At firts it feels like he doesn't know about magic (which is probably the case), but then when Charlie uses magic in front of him it feels like she's just doing something totally random. I think it should have at least triggered him, at least just a little?

There's also one of the girls, June, who goes missing at some point. The rest of the coven goes looking for her, but after saving June, they realise that... it was actually not her, but their number one enemy who had taken her appearance. So June is actually still missing. For, say, at least three days, but perhaps even more. And that's it. Cool.

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I really wanted to enjoy this book more than I actually did, but some things (not necessarily those stated in the TWs) just didn't hook me.

It’s a queer, witchy, boarding school book. I’ll read pretty much any queer book and adding witches is just a bonus. This was an entertaining and quick read. I can’t wait to read more like this by the author.

there were so many things about this book that i loved, but unfortunately, they were not enough to outweigh the issues i had with the book. i loved the characters, i loved the setting of a private school with a secret coven of witches, and i absolutely loved the magic system. but the pacing was way too fast, where it felt like skipping weeks and months in terms of story, when most of the book takes place throughout one academic semester. and the development of rose's relationships with the girls, particularly charlie, just felt way too fast. like they went from hating each other to being besties to being in love in two seconds. and even rose's character development was all over the place. one moment she's begging her parents to let her go home, then she's basically forgotten about them and doesn't care about seeing them again. and as for her "relationship" with nathan, she spends half the book fully convinced that it's mutual, that it wasn't abuse, until the girls tell her otherwise and all of a sudden, her mind changes just like that?

like i said, i really loved a lot of aspects of this book, but the bad unfortunately outweighed the good here. i received an advanced copy from netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

The writing in this book was very simplistic despite it having heavier topics like SA and being queer. I think this novel would have benefitted from some more elevated language as I would expect this book to be marketed towards 15+ year olds but it read more as a book for 11-13 year olds. This book was fast paced, which I enjoyed and I liked the friendships between the characters. However, I found the characters fairly one dimensional. The motivation behind some of the things they do is not apparent and comes out of nowhere. How did Rose go from being straight to bisexual in a matter of a few pages? I can appreciate that this wasn't a main plotline, however as someone who went through this myself, there is a lot more thought that goes into your sexuality when you are questioning it. At least for me. There also wasn't a lot of history given behind the plot and the antagonist. Why was Blake after the Grimoire? It never really is fully explained aside from he is a witch hunter. For this reason, I did not enjoy the book.

Wowowow, I really liked this one. The characters were interesting and realistic. The witchy dark academia vibes were perfect, I must admit, and the magic system? Please, I loved it. I liked the plot and the pace, which was easy to read!

It’s never easy to be the new girl at school and, for Rose, this year promises to be even harder. For one, she’s starting as a Junior, and for another, it seems like more than one teacher knows exactly why she’s here at the new school. The isolation of having no friends is almost as bad as the hurt of betrayal when all of her old friends turned against her after it came out that she was having an affair with Nathan, her teacher, a man who was twice her age. Livingston, an all girl’s school, was the only place that would take her, so now she’s away from home with a roommate who hates her, teachers who look at her like she might have the plague, and no idea how she’s going to get through today, let alone all the tomorrows yet to come.

Somehow Rose finds it in her to persist, trying hard to make friends with her roommate, Charlie, and Charlie’s friends Billie, June, and Ronnie. And, for a wonder, it works. Maybe it’s kismet, maybe they feel sorry for her, whatever it is Rose will take it. She follows them out to a cave on the edge of the property where they smoke, drink, and discuss poetry. And witchcraft.

It turns out that Charlie and her friends are witches, and they’re offering to let Rose join their coven.

Livingston Girls is a book that focuses more on character than it does plot. Rose is a girl made of emotions, and who spends a great deal of time lost in her own thoughts. When she realizes she has feelings for Charlie, it takes her time to first understand and then acknowledge to herself what she feels. There’s also the fact that Charlie is seeing a boy, Eddie, the son of the headmaster of the neighboring all boys school, which makes Rose hate him at first sight. That and his dad is a rival magic user who wants to steal the grimoire held by the Livingston Coven’s head witch, the school headmaster.

However, because the attention is all on Rose and her feelings, the other characters — including Charlie — feel like set pieces for Rose’s journey of self-discovery. Charlie, whose sister died very recently, is first torn up and then just seems over it. Much as she gets over her romance with Eddie as soon as she realizes Rose likes her. The romance between Charlie and Eddie was confusing, to be honest, and I thought (considering Eddie’s dad is the evil magic user) that Charlie’s hot and cold fixation would end up being magically induced. When she’s with Eddie, she’s gooey and in love; when she’s not with Eddie, she wants to break up with him. Charlie feels like the idea of a person, there to be mean to Rose so she feels bad, then to suddenly turn around and invite her to come join the girls in the cave so Rose can join the coven. She’s the love interest without really feeling like a person; she seems in love with Eddie to make Rose jealous, and then as if she falls out of love with him so Rose can have a girlfriend.

The plot is a collection of pieces that never really fit perfectly together. Things happen coincidentally and loose ends are ignored. For example, when one of the girls is kidnapped, the group is kind of upset, but because the focus is Rose and her love affair with Charlie, it’s never addressed. This girl is missing for days, but one seems to care beyond a token line from her girlfriend. Days, weeks, and months pass in a random moment or two, but Rose never grows or changes or seems to have opinions on it. If Rose were a stronger character, one who took actions rather than standing around while the plot happened to her, this might have worked. Instead, it felt messy and chaotic.

The magic system is interesting, with spells being lines of poetry — so long as you grasp the poem’s true intent, which felt odd, since the girls are using a variety of poems from a variety of authors. How do they know the true intent? Do different people get different results, or can you only read a poem one way, understand it in one way? Magic spells in this world have a backlash; cast a spell, get a cut. Cast a stronger spell, your ribs break. However, Rose reacts to pain the same way she does to everything else, which is to say she doesn’t.

The book felt very unfocused, to me. Rose wasn’t a strong enough character to cover a book, the other characters didn’t feel real, and the plot left me with more questions than answers. The writing was fairly solid, but the pace was uneven, and in the end I’m afraid to say this book is a pass for me.

An entertaining witchy dark academia novel. I enjoyed it, the world building is well done and the characters fleshed out.
There's a lot of potential and i think that the next book by this author will be even better
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Livingston Girls is a fast-paced and witchy coming-of-age mystery full of found family and queer discovery, for fans of Wednesday and These Witches Don’t Burn.

This was pretty good. Briana Morgan is an excellent writer who writes characters that are easy to relate to. I enjoyed this.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
🧙‍♀️🏫📕🔥🏳️‍🌈

If you liked Wednesday/The Craft/ These Witches Don't Burn/ Motherland: Fort Salem, this book is for you.
This queer YA dark academia book is filled with witches, queers, and self-discovery.

This book intrigued me from page one, and I read it in one setting because I couldn't put it down. I liked the plot, the characters, and the way the magic was done.

There are quite a lot of triggers to be aware of, which are at the front of the book, so you know what you're getting into, but I wish there was a little more explanation about Rose and why she left Salem. I feel like that should have been explored a bit more and what the reputations it had on her and her mental health.

I loved the queer awakening though, and it's always good to read about someone that thinks their straight until they meet that one special lady. Rose and Charlie were so perfect. I think they evened each other out.

Thanks to NetGalley and 8th Note Press. This review is left voluntarily.

A cute dark academia YA novel with witches. I liked the diverse characters and the unique way that spells were cast. Unfortunately the writing seemed a bit juvenile for me so I did struggle to enjoy this book all together.

Posted on GoodReads:

Welcome to a world of dark academia, witches and sapphic attraction. This story follows sixteen year old Rose who's been expelled from Salem for having a relationship with her English teacher. At Livingston Academy she's a new student, not as a freshman, but as a junior transfer. Her roommate and her friends dislike her. Her male professors set boundaries and her parents barely acknowledge her feelings. She's lonely.

Things change when her roommate invites her to Poetry Club which turns out to be an invitation to join a witches coven. This coven protects the academy and fights off a witch hunter who's salivating over gaining their power. Because power belongs to men, not young stupid girls.

This is a very YA book, with young love, self discovery and found family. Though the relationship wasn't a top focus of the book for me it semi worked. I say semi because it felt a little forced at times. However, the main attraction for me was the way spells are invoked. It is through poetry. I was obsessed with thinking about some of my favorite poems and what kind of spell they could create. It is this area that I would have loved to have had more of. The grimoire was fascinating and how the spells were organized was a nice little detail. The way the spells came to life on page was entertaining and left me wanting more.

All in all this is a fun easy read. And I very much liked that it was a standalone. Because the story could have continued.

I would like to thank Netgalley, 8th Note Press, and Briana Morgan (who's a gem and I love following on TikTok)

This was one of those books that I didn’t want to end. I read it in less than 24 hours, and I’m not even ashamed of that. As much as I didn’t want it to end, I couldn’t put it down.

It had all the vibes I love; dark academia, mystery, fantasy, witchy, coming-of-age, queer characters, queer discovery, and I’m sure there’s more I’m not thinking of.
Anyone who knows me, and has been following my reviews long enough knows that I LOVE anything witchy and queer.

Briana Morgan did a PHENOMENAL job writing this beautiful book. Not only did it have me on the edge of my seat with mystery, but it also had me crying with the “found family” aspect it had. A group of teenagers coming together, and finding a place they belong.

Her writing was absolutely amazing, and the detail of it all was perfection. I easily imagined myself there inside my head as I was reading along with these characters.

This will definitely be one of the books I can say I’ll come back to and reread, and I don’t reread books often. It’ll be a comfort book.

If you love queer witches, with some mystery, coming of age, and found family vibes, I cannot recommend this book enough 👏🏻👏🏻

**I received a digital ARC from netgalley and would like to thank them, the publisher, 8th Note Press & the author, Briana Morgan, for allowing me to read and review this book! All thoughts here are my own!!**

After sixteen year old Rose is abused by her teacher she is sent to a boarding school for girls. At Livingston it hasn’t been easy to make friends. However, when Rose is given the opportunity to join a witch coven it seems like she is finally fitting in. Except there’s a witch hunter that is trying to steal their spell book.

I wanted to love this book. I was willing to look past all the plot holes and underdeveloped characters but after about 60% it just lost me. There were so many things that happened that just didn’t make sense. For example all the girls in the coven hated Rose until their “leader” shows up and invites her to the group. It was very unrealistic. There are some very heavy topics in this book that really just felt out of place. They were just kind of brushed off. I also don’t love how race is portrayed in Briana’s books. Race feels like an after thought and most POC don’t seem authentic.

This book has some really great qualities. The magic was fun, the setting and plot were all themes I love but unfortunately it just didn’t work for me.

An interesting magical story about a coven trying to protect their school from a Witch hunter.

Rose transfers to Livingston boarding school after her affair with a teacher became public. But Rose's beautiful new roommate Charlie seems like a mean girl until Charlie invites Rose to join a coven and learn magic. When a threat comes from the nearby boys school, Rose and the other girls have to find a way to defeat the witch hunter before another person dies.

This is one of the few instances where I enjoyed the first half of a book more than the second half. The first part felt emotional and real with Rose's loneliness and desperation to fit in. But the second half felt rushed with trying to tie up all the pieces of the plot and the emotional story. There were parts that didn't make sense either - like why Charlie's sister had committed suicide. I do enjoy a Sapphic magical mystery, and this isn't a bad one by any means. I just wish the last third would have been a little more developed.