The perfect spooky middle grade story. It was so fun, fast-paced, and atmospheric. The perfect Halloween read!

A family of hunters, a curse, and one girl who is on the quest to save her brother before the curse takes him, yet that would mean facing hard truths about her family and everything she was raised to believe. Anna Grimsbane comes from a family of hunters, hunting down cryptids and witches. The men of the Grimsbane family are all cursed by the Watcher, the most powerful witch in the midwest who has cursed them to die in untimely and unusual deaths. Anna is proud to be a Grimsbane and is determined to be a hunter. Yet her twin brother isn't so excited as their 13th birthday is coming by and the curse will activate on the day. With only hours until he becomes cursed, Billy runs away to find the Watcher. Anna is determined to prove to her family that she is ready to be a hunter and to save her brother. But that means she'll now enter into the deadly forest, face off against cryptids, and other creatures who hate humans with her two friends.... yet Anna finds herself questioning everything when she faces these cryptids and talks to them, when she discovers that her families "honorable" history isn't as honorable as she thought. As Anna gets closer to finding her brother the closer she becomes to unraveling her fundamental beliefs about her family. Can she save her brother in time before it's too late? This was definitely an interesting book that deals with prejudices. It takes the idea of prejudice and turns it into a very interesting lesson and shows how our beliefs can change. I liked the way it was approached in the book and the fact that this is a children's fantasy adventure book definitely was a fun read.

Release Date: August 20,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing | Aladdin for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This was a cute book, perfect for middle school age kids. I recommend it if your kid enjoys witches, likes the show Wednesday. They would enjoy this story then.

THE GRIMSBANE FAMILY WITCH HUNTERS is a spooky, fast-paced MG novel full of witches, cryptids, family, friendship, curses, ghosts, and the power of forgiveness and having an open mind. It’s the perfect read for lovers of spooky MG!!

Thank you, Netgalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing | Aladdin books for this advanced reader's copy. This book was so much fun. The Grimsbane family of women have always hunted witches and monsters, but the men have been cursed for just as long. The men are cursed to die young and unusual deaths. Anna and Billy are twins, and both are about to turn thirteen. This is the age that Anna will learn to become a hunter. This is also the age that the curse will take affect for Billy. Only hours before midnight, Billy runs away to find the Watcher, the witch who cursed the Grimsbane family generations ago. Anna teams up with her friends, Suvi and Rosario to find Billy before the curse takes effect. As Anna and her friends head into the woods to look for Billy and the Watcher, Anna realizes she may not know the truth about those around her and her real family history. She must face up to what really happened in the past to save her brother and her entire family. This was a great book about not judging people and forgiveness.

A spooky Halloween read full of action and emotion! Anna and Billy are 12-year-old twins born into the cursed Grimsbane family. For over 300 years, at age 13, the boys in the family are at risk of horrible death so they are taken out of school and work in the family’s funeral home. At age 16, the women of the family become witch hunters. The twins had hoped the curse would have been broken by now, but all hope seems lost when before their birthday Billy begs to stay in school, saying he isn’t ready to retreat from the world, while Anna makes her case to go monster hunting early to change their destiny. These are such emotional scenes! My heart truly broke for them, and it all set up for me to believe what happened next: Billy runs away to try to break the curse himself and Anna follows to save him on Halloween, the one day of the year Grimsbanes aren’t supposed to hunt! This is an action-packed monster book perfectly timed for Halloween reads this fall, but wow!!! it is also a powerful story of siblings and families (whether human, witch, or cryptid), reckoning with the wrongs of one’s ancestors, and the act of love it can be to change what your family had always taught you in order to create a new future.

A funny, spooky and genre-bending good time. I will definitely stock this in my class library. This book contains some of the most fierce female characters and I love the twist of the males in the family having a curse that makes them have to be afraid of their own shadows. A huge cast of great and eccentric family members, I will recommend this to anyone that loves the spooky side of stories.