This one took me by surprise – a slick, fat paced dark fantasy that was easily accessible to older readers despite being firmly YA. The main character was great and his relationships with his friends, boyfriend, family and even enemies were deep and believable. What could have been a very pedestrian horror plot was given wings by the fresh style, excellent characterisation and emotional authenticity. Genunely couldn’t put this down. Excellent.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

Very enjoyable & horror filled read. Took me a minute to get into it at first but once I was drawn in I was hooked. It definitely fills you with a feeling of dread while reading. The narrator did great.

Now, Conjurers is full of heart. At the beginning, I was reading for the love story. This tragic story of last words said with anger, of secret meetings, and queer love struggling against being smothered. But I ended up staying for the wholesome found family in Now, Conjurers. In their friendship, their love for each other, the ways they call each other out, and poke fun. And then by the ending, I had to figure out the supernatural, the secrets of the town, and the dangers of ambition.

Giordan Diaz's narration infuses Now, Conjurers with emotion. The friends become personalities and it gave this book almost a cinematic feeling - especially towards the ending!

While I don't think I was the target audience for this book (which is completely on me for requesting), listening to the audiobook was a very enjoyable experience! Would definitely recommend the audiobook to those interested in picking this book up.

When I saw the cover for this one I admit I hesitated as it didn’t draw me in, but once I got into the story I was enthralled. I started with the audiobook but only made it about 25 percent before I switched to physical book and devoured the rest. The narrator did a good job, it was me not the book. This book truly is The Craft meets IT. It was pretty dark for a young adult book, but that totally works for me. I also absolutely adored the queer representation which I especially value in a horror story. Nesbit and his friends make up North Coven and things are going ok until the body of Nesbit’s boyfriend is found. The murder is gruesome and the coven decides they need to figure out who killed Bastian no matter what it takes. But things get weirder than even a coven of witches could have imagined. This book was full of rich emotion and dealt with some tough issues in between the horror bits (which were also good). The timeline thing got a little wonky for me for a minute, but once I decided to just flow with the story it worked for me. Overall I gave this one 4.5 stars rounded up for star selection and I can’t wait to see what kind of twisted story this author comes up with in the future.

The feeling and characters in this one started out strong. I love the found family vibes of this friend group as the commit to each other to figure out who killed their group member. However it lost me and felt a bit slow and dragged out after the funeral scene for me.

I read this as an audiobook through NetGalley and let me just say it was so much fun right from the beginning. I think if you are a fan of the TJ Klune, Erik J Brown and Aiden Thomas variety, you will love this. It’s so creative and I love how the magic system in this works, I feel too commonly these days the kickback to magic is just depletion of energy but this! Real consequences and I loved every second of the coven navigating it.

I saw this the other day while I was looking around the bookstore and let me tell you the second I have “book money” again, that book its mine.

When I started this book I was immediately hooked. I loved to get to know the characters and I found the main mystery and time bending quite interesting.

However as the book moved forward the dual timeline started to get a bit hard to follow and it was more of a dark fantasy book than a horror. This is where the book started to lose me around 60% and I was completely detached from it all by 80%

I still decided to finish the book because I believe this was just a book that was not for me but it was a well written book that I am sure specially dark fantasy lovers will enjoy.

It's set in the 90s but I didn't feel immersed in the time period.

It all starts in 1999 with the discovery of the dismembered body of all-star student and athlete Bastion Attia by his classmate and self-proclaimed nemesis in the woods surrounding the small town of North Dana, Massachusetts.

We are then introduced to Nesbit, Dove, Brandy and Drea. They all together form the North Coven.

I think the narrator's voice and breaking the fourth wall were things that did not work for me in the end. The story started to drag and to get almost annoying to me.

The blend of humor, charm, and supernatural elements is well balanced. Overall I do think this is a very strong debut novel.

Now, Conjurers by Freddie Kolsch
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

To start, thank you to NetGalley for the ARC copy of this audiobook! The cover and title drew me in and I'm so glad it did.

This novel follows a group of teenagers who have some pretty serious powers, as well as a connection to a world beyond their own. Nesbit is the most recent addition of the group of witches that include Bastion (who becomes his secret boyfriend), Dove, Drea, and Brandy. The five of them make up the North Coven... until five become four after the untimely death of Bastion.
Or should it be less of a surprise than it is?

Told in a mixture of flashbacks and the current day, we follow Nesbit through things that he's just now piecing together as missing pieces of the puzzle that was - and still is, even after his death - Bastion. I don't want to give too much of this one away, so I'll keep this one short and sweet and let you discover the magic yourself.

It was a lot of fun to follow these teenagers through their personal relationships, their family dramas, the weight of influencing the world around them with their magic, and on top of it all the daily struggles of love and schoolwork. With strange deals with stranger rules, magic is never easy, and the outcomes are never as simple as one may hope. So what will they give up, what are they willing to risk, in order to use the full potential of their powers and save the ones they love most?

The writing captures the dramatic up-and-downs of teenage emotions, how the smallest things can feel like the end of the world, and how the actual end of the world can feel like nothing at all when you have the right people by your side. It's a story of love, of loss, of building and losing trust... and throughout, chilling elements of horror and the supernatural abound to keep the reader on their toes.

Got all the "a little bit spooky, a little bit rock and roll" vibes from this book. Now, Conjurers had me hooked from page one of this story. The characters, the myster, the coven, it all had me wanting more.
Now, Conjures is a fun, heartwarming, and heartbreaking wild ride. Highly recommend.

Really beautiful story now beautiful is not a word I would use to describe horror but it was beautifully written it had such an amazing friend group it was actually scary too I loved this book. I don't think I will ever look at red gloves the same

This book shocked me! I was expecting YA fantasy what I got was YA fantasy, a murder mystery with just a tinge of horror and adventure. And LGBTQ+ leads in a book based in the nineties!!

It was The Craft meets IT. The jounal-esque narration filled you with a sense of urgency when reading this book and it led me (the ADHD case) to listen to the entire book in two days. We had horror and love, crushes and crushed. Queer love and discoveries and everything that goes along with 16/17 year old misfit kids. And a little Y2K madness mixed in because... well! 80s kids will get it!

Four stars because the pacing was a little choppy in parts and the others felt rushed. The Narrator was top-notch!

This was okay. I had a hard time getting into it. Perhaps because it was so gruesome from the start. I did like the perspective of the queer narrator grieving his boyfriend and the mystery of the book.

This was an interesting listen, and boy, did the author write and the narrator convey feelings of loss and grief well. For being a story about sorcery and evil beings the things I remember the most is the emotional work laid out in the text. The sorcery bit and the coven part was – also – really interesting and well-thought out.

Now, Conjurers by Freddie Kölsch audiobook - Narrated by Giordan Diaz

It’s November of 1999 in Massachusetts and Nesbit has discovered a body… A partially devoured body of Bastion Attia, the star quarterback, secret witch and boyfriend of Nesbit.

Bastion had his issues. He couldn’t say his own name and had issues with speech but it didn;t stop him being the most brilliant young man. The members of his small coven want answers, especially as no one can even remember Bastion. What they find scares them to their core.

Something had a hold of Bastion and something living under the mausoleum and Bastion died setting up his friends to destroy it but can they do it before anyone else dies?

I didn’t not expect such excellence from a YA novel but I was pleasantly surprised by how well written it was and the depth of the storyline without losing its way. Often stories like this loose threads and get muddled but not this one.

The characters were on point. Well developed and solid. They all came together well and complemented each other in a really flawless way.

The plot! Holy Heck!!! The idea that an entity takes a human, grants them wishes but these wishes come at a cost to others and then when the person dies, everyone they knew forget that they existed. GENIUS! That’s one smart demon. I loved that Bastion knew that he needed his people to help stuff it all but couldn’t come out and tell them so his whole plan was well put together. I was on the edge of my seat.

I haven’t enjoyed a YA horror book more. This one has set a very high bar. I had that underlying dread for what was going to happen and I could feel my pulse racing. Don’t let the fact it is a YA fool you, this book hit every nail on the head for a perfectly spooky horror book.

5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @dreamscapemedia for my gifted ALC

I loved the 90s horror plot this had, I found it to be interesting and engaging. The friend group getting involved in something darker than they know, the various murders, and out of control magic made this an enjoyable read.

The timeline jumps around a bit and a couple of times I was a bit confused about what was happening. I liked the North Coven group and how they were able to rely on each other as things descended into chaos.

This was a YA solid debut and the audiobook narrator did a great job with Nesbit's character.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the copy.

I received a free Advanced Reading Copy via NetGalley in exchange for a complete and honest review.

Ananda Lima's debut short story collection is a beguiling blend of magical realism, horror, and intimate character studies. Craft showcases Lima's talent for infusing the mundane with the fantastical and extracting the deeply unsettling from the seemingly ordinary. While the tones and narratives vary widely, the stories are unified by their gorgeous prose, sly wit, and underlying exploration of power dynamics. Lima's vivid imagination conjures everything from haunting folklore to dystopian nightmares. Some tales feel more fully realized than others, but at its best, this collection announces Lima as a unique new voice in speculative fiction with the ability to captivate and unsettle in equal measure.

I'll admit, I don't think I was in the right mood for this, and I really struggled through the first 30% - there's a lot happening, and I was just kind of confused and not sure if I wanted to keep going (it doesn't help that the narrator talks REALLY fast - I usually listen to books at 1.25 speed but I had to put it back down to 1 for this). But then around 30% something finally happened that grabbed me, and I was invested in the story from then on.

This is not a romance book - the characters are queer, but romance is not a focus. The mystery and big-bad are intriguing, and I think if you're a fan of the Honeys or Beholder by Ryan la Sala this book might be a good one for you.

So 90s nostalgia and witchiness? I’m in. This book was so much fun and I ended up binging it in a day. Our little gang of friends is so dang lovable. And the bond between them and the deceased? Beautiful. The villain is also just the right amount of creep. The audio of the villain literally has be shivering 🥶 Even though this is a YA novel, I dealt with some pretty deep issues. And overall I just loved this one

A gorey queer murder mystery horror that keeps you on edge with major stephan king and vc andrews vibes!!
Nesbit Nunez is devastated after his secret boyfriends body is found devoured and mutilated
The coven they were apart of must now work together to find the murderer and solve the mystery of the Red Gloved demon Mr. NOOSE
Has so much representation, terrifying and sad moments.
This would be a perfect horror movie!