I received a digital copy of "Remedial Magic" by Melissa Marr from Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This will be exceedingly honest.

Ellie Brandeau doesn't know it, but she's a witch. Her powers start awakening after a compelling encounter with a beautiful, mysterious woman named Prospero. A near-fatal accident sends Ellie to Crenshaw, a magical Brigadoon-like place where witches live in peace, safe from the centuries of persecution witches experience in what the witches call the "Barbarian Lands." Except, things are very, very wrong in Crenshaw. The land and water are polluted, witches are dying, and Ellie is the key to fixing all of it.

This is the worst book I have read in a very long time. The marketing for this book would lead you to believe that it's a cozy, sapphic, witchy romantasy. It has a cute cover, a cute description, a cute setting. All lies.

A romance implies a happily ever after. There is nothing happy about the ending. A romance implies two people consenting to being in a loving relationship: THERE IS NO CONSENT IN THE CONCLUSION. I can't describe it without spoiling it, but Ellie emphatically and specifically does not agree to be in the relationship she ends up in. I was horrified.

As far as the technical aspects of the story, here's a quick summary: none of the characters act like real humans with real human emotions. There is only one potentially happy relationship but they are side characters and even then I have my doubts. The writing is awkward. The world-building is superficial at best. The plot would be interesting (Let's save the day!) but the Big Serious Problem is not actually resolved. I mean, at all. The book just ends before the Crenshaw is saved from danger. There are a ton of other, minor dangling plot threads.

I am guessing this is meant to be a first book in a series and that those things will be resolved in a future story. There's a suggestion that even the nonconsensual relationship issue will be resolved at some point. I will not read any further books to find out.

There are two things I liked. First, Crenshaw is a place where members of the LGBTQIA community are safe to live and love whomever they choose. It's about the ONLY thing that's safe in Crenshaw but at least there's that. Second, when people break Crenshaw law, they are temporarily turned into badgers. Why badgers? Who knows, but I did find that amusing.

I would have ordinarily DNF'd this early on because I had doubts very quickly. But I committed to reading it for NetGalley and I take that seriously. I genuinely wish I hadn't. I typically believe that when a book is not to my taste, there will still be readers who like it. So I review accordingly and while I may criticize, I try to consider who might actually enjoy it. My first draft of this review was a pages-long, sputtering mess and I still can't think of anybody I'd recommend "Remedial Magic" to.

This book was not for me. I enjoyed books like Ex Hex and My Roommate is a Vampire, so I got interested in reading witchy paranormal romances, but this is one of several in a long string that I have just not enjoyed, so i think it is perhaps not the subgenre for me. If you enjoyed books like The Very Secret Society for Irregular Witches, Enchanted to Meet You, and The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic, you will likely enjoy this one too. There has just been something in the writing style of these books that just is not clicking for me, but it will be a slam dunk for the right reader!

As much as it disappoints me, I honestly could not engage with this book. There were several times when I questioned on whether not finishing the book, but I want to see the story through.

I believe where the story fell flat for me is how the story started. It was quite confusing and choppy. I couldn't really figure out who the main character was, Sondre’s purpose other than headmaster, and the ending totally confused me which didn't tie out the purpose of the story. The character building needs more love. I need to feel the character’s emotions to fall into their world. 

I appreciate Tor Publishing, Netgalley and Melissa Marr for providing an advanced reader copy. All thoughts are my own.

DNF 15%

I initially was interested and excited about this book based on the synopsis given, sapphic magical story. I was thoroughly confused within the first few chapters as to what was actually going on, especially with multiple different POVs that weren't even mentioned in the synopsis. I feel like the way that this book is promoted is ultimately going to hurt it in the long run.

Thank you to the publisher for the eArc.

For transparency I made the decision to DNF this at around 17% because it was putting me in a reading slump, so I can’t speak to what happens after that.

I went into this book expecting a cute cozy sapphic fantasy with witches but it feels like the marketing was a bit misleading. Instead of following just our main character and the love interest, there are also a couple other POVs that weren’t mentioned at all in the blurb.

I also just didn’t vibe with the writing style, with conversations feeling very stilted and the chemistry between characters felt very off.

I kind of expected a cozy from the book description. Not a cozy. Repeat. Not a cozy. I kind of feel sorry for Dan who either needs to go along or die an ugly lingering death from cancer but the magic users are not good people at all. Mentally manipulating someone into bed with you is super gross at best. If you have to force the yes in any fashion it’s a no…. It’s a pretty disturbing culture the witch village has. I’ll probably read book two eventually from my library but I’ve a fairly thick skin for some things. This isn’t a book I could recommend universally because the magic mental violations are pretty bad. I have a little morbid curiosity how the author is going to drag a happy ending out of this.

The Magicians meets One Last Stop is what the blurb tells us to expect in this book. Well, I know better than to expect much of blurbs, but can I just say that I haven't been this disappointed by the marketing for a book in a long time?

Remedial Magic isn’t just a subpar book–it’s a subpar book with poor plotting, average writing, creepy and unlikeable characters, an underexplored magic system, poor worldbuilding, and random spice scenes that are just plopped in like quotes in a bad college essay (that is to say, suddenly and with no warm up).

This book just doesn’t make sense to me. It started off well enough. It was witty, even engaging. Everything started to fall to pieces as soon as the “new students” started arriving in Crenshaw, in my opinion. Then it all started unraveling quickly and never regained any ground. I don’t even know why I finished the book, save that I hoped at some point it might redeem itself, considering this is a series and there are more books after this.

I think I’ll be stopping here, though. I don’t need to know more.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All opinions, thoughts, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. As this review has a rating of three stars or less it will only appear on review sites and not on social media. Thank you.

File Under: Book Series/Fantasy/Fantasy Series/LGBTQ Fantasy/Spice Level 1

I very much enjoyed this read! Melissa Marr has created a unique and intriguing magical world within the real world with an interesting dynamic between the two. The characters are delightfully queer and their interactions are full of witty banter. I was also happy with the cliffhanger ending that left me excited to see where Marr takes the story next.

- First in a series (A Course in Magic)
- Multiple character POV
- LGBTQ+ representation
- Will they of won't they
- Morally gray witches
- Mixture of open door and fade to black spice

There was a LOT packed into this book, which did make the pacing feel a bit rushed at times. But that did not detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. It just left me wishing I knew a little more, which I assume will be provided in future books.

DNFed around page 100.
I sadly could not get into this book. When I read the summary of this book, I was super excited as I love paranormal romance books. Though sadly I was not getting what was promised to the 100 page mark and didn’t want to keep on going. There were too many povs and it was a struggle to keep track of the characters, especially in a new world. I most likely would have kept on going if there were less. For a new world, I have to say it was hard figuring out what was going on, what everything was, and the purpose of certain things. (Not being specific just in case of spoilers).

*this arc was sent to me by the publisher to give an honest review in return*

Thank you to NetGalley and the Tor Publishing Group. I did DNF this book at 46% and want to explain a little more about why I did not finish this book.

The writing style is a little old fashioned and reads closer to a classic novel. It may be due to the third person perspective but I felt like each character was very detached. There were also a LOT of characters to introduce at the beginning and it felt too messy. Each chapter seemed to switch to another character and nearly halfway through the book, I could not connect to a single character. Maybe focusing on only a few characters instead of every character that is introduced. Now it may have been relevant towards the end of the book to have a POV for everyone but I just didn’t make it that far.

Additionally, it felt weak that every single character instantly has attractions to other characters. No build up, no intrigue or mystery? For a romance book, I just didn’t feel like the romance was there. It was some kissing/hooking up here and there but the romance was flat and forced.

I loved the diversity of the characters. I thought that the setting was well described and interesting. I liked the idea of the town having issues that the new characters needed to resolve. I thought that this book had a lot of potential but it just wasn’t for me.

I’m a sucker for sapphic cozy romances and witchy settings, but I cannot with magical cures because that is some ableism that needs to be unpacked and we need books to interrogate their white supremacy, not uphold it.

I really wanted to like this. The concept was there - magic, witch school, sapphic love story… but it just fell flat. The story felt disjointed with too many character POV chapters. The contemporary references to Harry Potter also rubbed me the wrong way, especially in a story that has prominent LGBTQ characters and storylines.

Overall the story really didn’t grab me. It took me awhile to get through the book because I didn’t really find any of the particularly compelling. I feel like if the author had really focused on the Ellie/Prospero story primarily and added more details to their budding relationship it would have been a better choice.

A lighthearted, romantic tale of self-discovery and magic. Full of delight and emotional warmth, along with an interesting magic system.

Somewhere between the cover and the synopsis, I fully thought this was a rom com. It is not — though there was a bit of “romance” here and there.

The concept of a magical witchy Brigadoon (the book’s reference, not mine) plagued by a mysterious poison was fairly interesting, but it felt like the concept didn’t quite get fully fleshed out.

The way the town functioned didn’t feel rational. The superficial chemistry between Ellie and Prospero wasn’t enough to account for Ellie’s indecision. Maggie and Dan were interesting enough, though their relationships were also surface level.

I kind of love the way it ended though. Especially if it were a standalone.

Thanks to Bramble for providing me with an advanced digital copy to review!

The book was okay. I enjoyed the first half of the book. I found the different POV interesting for a story like this. In the description of the book it’s doesn’t really talk about the others. Only Ellie and Prospero.. Which I did find odd in the story. I would have appreciated if they were already in college and then had a back story of each character.

I try to finish books I've been given for review, but I just couldn't do it with this book. The description doesn't match up with what's inside. Instead of just Ellie and Prospero, which are the only ones mentioned in the blurb, there are several more POV characters whose stories are equally divided. Why focus the attention on just these two characters when the book contains so much more?

The Harry Potter reference early on gave me the ick and almost made me stop reading right there. But the ableism (cancer is gone when you're a witch but not if you go back to the human world--so the witch world is "free" of illness and disability) was just too much. I can't push forward in a book that has the elements, but especially not for a book that I just wasn't enjoying even without that.

Read if you like:
✨ Magical Systems
🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ character rep
♥️ Insta-Love
#️⃣ Multiple POV

I have watched most of the seasons of The Magicians so when this was compared to that I was so excited to read it! Unfortunately, it didn’t give me the vibes of that show other than the fact that there were lots of characters and multiple storylines, but I just don’t think that worked for this book unfortunately the way it was done.

Additionally, I am really confused by all of the HP references that we are still getting in books and find it unnecessary.

I also really disliked the ableist aspect of the magical cure for chronic illness- like yes, we wish we could remove that from the world, but it felt like erasing lived experiences of so many in such a trivial way.

Thank you to the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

I enjoyed the story, but I think the blurb/cover is a bit off for the content. I felt like I was pitched a two-character romance, but that ended up being only about 1/3 of the story.

– non-witches are called barbarians (a very unfortunate word choice baked into every world-building bit)
– a lot of ‘hot person equals ripped/tight/lean’ and ‘insecure person equals pudgy/chubby/etc’
– so many POVs that aren’t fleshed out enough to mean anything
– bonus: my personal gripe, a librarian that doesn’t do any job duties

Thank you to NetGalley and Bramble/Tor Trade for providing me with an egalley of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
This was my first Melissa Marr book. I have heard really great things about this author but have not had a chance to read anything by her before now. I was excited to read this for the magical aspect as well as the LBGTQ+ representation I was promised as I'm trying hard to expand my reading palette. Unfortunately, I wasn't impressed with either of these in this book.
My first issue is the blurb versus what you actually get in the book. I thought I was getting Ellie and Prospero's story, which you do to an extent. But we also see several other points of view in the book, which was not evident in the blurb at all. So now, rather than having to focus on two POVs and their romance blooming, I was forced to watch multiples POVs and romances. Normally, I'd be ok with several POVS, but six? It was just too much for my brain to be happy with. The marketing of this one needs to be tweaked. Maybe give a hint there are other POVs when showing what it is to the public. On top of that, all the characters suddenly have romantic interests and it just all seemed so impossible to believe, even for a fantasy.
From the beginning, I could tell what would happen to Ellie. It was very obvious to me and I would have liked a bit more mystery there. She's a normal functioning human then POOF she's a witch. And after trying her hardest to figure out what happened to all these people who disappeared, now it was her turn? It was just to contrite for me.
The world building for this one isn't bad. I enjoyed the magical aspect. And I love a good magical academia book. But I didn't see as much of that as I would have liked. Even at half way through, I was still trying to figure out when the characters would take part in classes that would help them with their magic. It took way too long to get going.
In all honestly, I was bored with this book. I tried to be invested in the characters but since they were barely developed it was hard to really care about them in any deep way. I didn't connect with them or want to know how their stories would turn out. The author gave me no reason to want to know.
There was nothing drawing me to pick this book up and read. I read it only because I knew I'd have to review it, so I pushed myself through chapters. But I also had the hope things might pick up later on in the book and they didn't. I ended up skimming many of the chapters.
I will admit, I was initially drawn in by the cover art (I can't pass up a beautiful cover) and then the blurb drew me in further. But even with those, I was disappointed in what was presented.
I am doubtful I would move on to the rest of this series, even with the cliffhanger ending.