Grady Hendrix is back again with another female driven coming of age narrative. I always say that he writes the best female characters, even better than female authors.

I really appreciated the themes explored in this one. It's both a great coming of age narrative along with a story of female friendship and found family.

While this wasn't a five star read, I appreciated so much about it. I didn't feel entirely engrossed in the story, which is my usual criticism holding back my rating of Hendrix.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Wow, this book is powerful as hell, and not just because it's about witches and witchcraft. I really, really dug this story and how Hendrix tackles the themes of misogyny, reproductive freedoms (or lack thereof in this case), and finding community and connection in the face of serious loss, trauma, and grief. His portrayals of the abhorrent unwed mother's homes in the 1960s and 1970s were stark, bleak, and deeply infuriating, showing these girls, literal children in most cases, being shamed, shoved aside, punished, and abused under the guise of piety and morality all while preparing to steal their babies away to never be seen again and told it's the only and best option. And in may cases protecting the vile men who impregnated them in the first place, be it deadbeat boyfriends or rapist men of religious importance. It's so horrifying, and man does it feel a little too real in these post-Roe days with an incoming power structure that would LOVE to restrict reproductive choices and to bring us back to the days of horrific homes like this one. I also liked the way that Hendrix makes the witchcraft a bit grey in its morality, showing the harm that these naive but desperate girls are causing, but also showing how desperation and trauma can cause decisions and rage that could lead to some of the things they do. I almost feel like I wanted him to be a little less 'both sides' with some of the characters, but I love a story with dark witches taking full revenge on power structures no matter what harm may come from it (hello, THE WITCH) AND I'm pretty rage filled at the moment so that's probably just a 'me' thing. All that said, I really enjoyed this one, finding it creepy and disturbing at times, as well as devastating and hopeful at others. Top 3 Hendrix for me for sure.

Thank you for the free book @penguinrandomhouse and @berkleypub #penguinrandomhousepartner #berkleyIG #BerkleyBookstagram. Thank you for the free audiobook, @prhaudio!

First of all, I want to acknowledge the author for writing this kind of a book. I think I respected him more after reading this one. He wrote about the ugliness of how society treated unwed pregnant teens and did it very effectively with strong female characters and strong smash the patriarchy vibes and I love and respect him for it!

This book is going to be heavy, friends. It won’t be your typical Grady Hendrix book with a mix of horror and comedy. In fact, it read more of a historical fiction with sprinkles of witchcraft as the paranormal element. It’s about the troubled teen industry in the 1970s

The main background of the book is The Wellwood Home - a temporary home for pregnant teens. We get introduced to four female leads and we would see how badly they get treated just because they’re pregnant and unwed.

And that is why this book was very difficult for me to read. But that’s also because the writing was that effective! This book is bingeable! It’s a thick one but I finished it in 2 days! I had to take breaks in between because I get so aggravated with what’s going on in the book 😅 I think this is why historical fiction is hard for me to read at times. There’s some messed up stuff that happened before that will never be tolerated in our present time.

Anyhoo, as for the spook factor, tbh, I didn’t think this was scary at all. The scariest parts for me was the childbirth scene 😅 The witchcraft in this book is not the cutesy Practical Magic vibes. It’s very occult-ish with this one but not spooky at all if you are worried about the book getting super scary. Some parts I think I’d consider as body horror? But it’s honestly not too gory.

The audiobook narrator was so good! was going back and forth the audio and physical book because I can’t pick which format to use because I enjoyed the audiobook too. Although, when it got to the chanting and stuff, it spooked me a little bit hearing it vs reading it 😂

This book comes out Jan 14!! Add to your list if you like historical horror, witchcraft, and reading about the troubled teen boarding homes back in the 70s!

💭 Do you get easily triggered by what you read?
☕️ Yes for me. I always get super immersed with whatever book I’m reading that I can’t help it 😂

Grady Hendrix knocked it out of the park with this one.

I am a big fan of stories of girlhood, girl power, and overall just examining what it means to be a girl & woman in society. I was so impressed with how Hendrix was able to capture so many of these feelings as a male author, and thought it was done accurately.

Even though “witchcraft” is in the title of this book, it wasn’t a super heavy part of the story, or at least not in the way I anticipated. I’d say there was a heavier emphasis on the connection and loyalty the main characters had with one another, and the witchcraft plot was one way that was showcased.

I really felt for Fern and the other girls at the Home. They were so young, and the way they were treated by both their families and the adults in charge of taking care of them was infuriating and sad. I really loved seeing their bonds grow, and how they learned to be there for each other in a situation that only they could understand. The last chapter wrapped everything up so beautifully, even if it felt a little bittersweet.

I found interest in this novel because of the way Grady Hendrix perfectly rides the line between light-hearted comedy and horror, but was warmly surprised with this masterful, emotional, gut-wrenching tale of young girls living in a world with no control over their lives, who finally have an opportunity to take charge-even when everybody around them are actively trying to oppress them.

I was not expecting a book like this from Grady at all, and am so impressed with what he created here. It is great to see that he is just as talented of an author when it comes to topics as serious as this. He does a great job at giving a voice to those who are constantly feeling helpless and held down, which makes this book feel very important; especially in today's political clinate where women are losing the ability to make decisions for their own body-just like the girls in this book.
The story was wonderfully immersive and each of the characters felt so alive, which had me feeling frustrated on their behalf throughout the entirety of the story, yet I'm so glad I read it. Amazing job all around.

Excellent book, though it is less about witchcraft and more about the varied horrors of child birth.

This book gave me all the feelings. I swung from pity to terror to anger to joy. My favorite Hendrix book, so far.

I'm not going to give this one a star rating on Goodreads because I think this ended up not being a book for me but I think it's very well done. I come to GH for thoughtful, well written horror heavily influenced by camp. This had very low camp and very low paranormal elements, meaning it's basically the horror of the reality of how these girls are treated. And that level of on page child abuse is something I generally avoid in my reading because I can't take it. So this was a mismatch of my expectations vs. what the book was doing

CW: child abuse of every kind, traumatic pregnancy & birth

I'm a huge fan of Grady Hendrix, but this one didn’t quite hit the mark for me. It wasn't "bad," but it just didn’t feel like the usual dynamic I’m used to with his characters.

"Witchcraft for Wayward Girls" is mostly about a group of pregnant teens surviving the summer in a “home” for troubled girls. The problem is, everyone in the story is awful, and the girls seem completely helpless.

A librarian visits in a bookmobile, handing them a book that reveals small spells they can use to get back at the adults in their lives. And honestly, it's deserved because everyone, including the witches and their coven, are terrible. It was about 25% witches and spells, and 75% focused on the stereotypical teen pregnancy tropes of the '70s.

The girls' storylines also become repetitive, rehashing the same themes over and over. It had a lot of potential but ultimately felt a little flat for me.

Trigger Warning: sexual abuse and graphic delivery scenes. As someone who had a baby, I found the delivery scenes especially intense and made me squirm

I want to thank Netgalley for this ARC

yo, i wanna like grady hendrix so bad. i've heard his work described as goosebumps for adults and i don't think that's necessarily a far-off description if you read all his book synopses but his books are awful hit and miss for me.

in this book, we have fern, a fifteen year old girl who is pregnant and being ported to a home for unwed pregnant girls. is this a common thing that happened in the 1970's? i don't know. anyway, she arrives and becomes part of the house "bouquet" with all the girls in the home shirking their real names for plants or flowers. she's also subject to a lot of bullshit - her dad straight up abandoning her, an unfeeling male doctor who aggressively examines her without her consent upon meeting her, an insane diet of no salt. ever. on anything. but a ton of cigarettes if she wishes.

the girls head over to check out books from the portable library and come into possession of a book on witchcraft. and they, fed up with their mistreatment, work together to decide to enact a few curses.

iiiiiiiiiiiiiii think a white, cis man has no business writing a story about pregnant, unwed girls. i don't want to hear about the tortures of maternity in general (well-documented on hating books about motherhood, picked this up before i realized what it was about), but i definitely don't want to hear about violent childbirth from a man.

i also very much hate that some to of the pregnancies in this book were a result of rape/sa and i simply have no interest in reading about that from a person within the demographic that perpetuates 99% of that in society. and i don't especially feel like the rape/sa arc in this book was well-written, appropriately explored/handled, or nuanced in any way. this, coupled with the fact that it had a LOT of women being slut-shamed almost constantly turned me all the way off. this book very easily recounted and enacted a lot violence against women without talking about female resiliency. like, it felt like torture porn about women. by a man.

and for my final critique: this book has a problem in the way black people are written. holy fucking shit, the black characters only existed to do things for the white characters and we're utterly underwritten and uninteresting beyond that. seriously - the primary black character in this book works in the kitchen, helps out the main (white) characters, and makes a quippy remark or too. she's a caricature. also, this book was set in a year that was VERY recently pro-civil rights era and while, once again, i don't think it's the place of a white, cis man to write about that, it felt obscenely bizarre that it was almost entirely glossed over. the most we got was a racial slur. which was unnecessary.

"Power cannot be given, it must be taken."

This is a slow burn story, especially at the start. Get ready for the build up for about 30% - but then the story will get going. You'll meet a flower garden that is tucked away - young girls that are pregnant outside of wedlock in a time before Roe v Wade and a time before women were really taught about childbirth or pregnancy.

Our main character is Fern and, through her, we meet the other flowers - Rose, Holly, Zinnia and others. You learn how the house works and wait with the girls as their due dates get closer.

This story was deeply moving. I was sad for all the ways these girls had been let down and abandoned. When the witchcraft was introduced, I was excited to see where the story would go. I loved the spells and the language, the book, the corners and the secrets. I loved the little coven and the things we learned. It was a quiet power that ran through the book and I liked that I felt in on the secret.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I think Witchcraft for Wayward Girls might be my new favorite Grady Hendrix novel, finally unseating My Best Friend's Exorcism from its long-standing top spot. While it’s undeniably a horror story, it’s also so much more—a deeply moving tale about the intersection of magic and motherhood.

The book is set in a group home for young, unwed pregnant women in 1970s Florida. The protagonist, known as "Fern," just wants to have her baby and get back to her life as a high schooler. But things take a wild turn when the traveling bookmobile librarian gives her a spellbook. What starts as an escape from her grim reality spirals into unimaginable danger, as Fern discovers the costs of wielding power in a world that’s already stacked against her.

What I loved most about this book is how carefully it draws parallels between magic and motherhood. As someone who gave birth this summer, I found myself connecting with Fern on a personal level—especially since, unbelievably, we share the same due date. Hendrix also does a fantastic job exploring the impossible choices and dangers women with unintended pregnancies face, especially in the pre-Roe era. It’s eerie and heartbreaking how relevant those themes feel today.

Overall, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is a beautifully written, emotionally charged story that packs all the thrills and chills you expect from Hendrix. It gets an A+ for balancing horror with heart and delivering a story that’s both terrifying and thought-provoking. Fans of Hendrix and anyone who loves layered, feminist horror won’t want to miss this one.

3.5✨
Wow, what a ride this one was. I’ve read a few Grady Hendrix books prior, however, I still wasn’t prepared.
To start off with, I felt as if the first 50% of the book was really slow and drawn out. Nothing was drawing me in and I felt pretty dang bored. Thankfully it picked up after that half way mark. The rest of the book was what I craved the entire time (except for those birth scenes. I mean, I get it, Hendrix has a knack for gory gut wrenching moments. It just felt too much for me).
The ending was so beautiful done and honestly saved this whole book for me. It was absolute perfection and made me feel so many things! I felt connected to each individual girl and loved the outcome.

Very slow start, I have paused reading and I am not confident I will return to it. This may be because I was hoping for some magic by now, but also perhaps personal preference (southern stories don't resonate with me for some reason).

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is less a book searching for a theme, and more a story wandering around in hopes that a theme will land. Grady Hendrix takes a very long time to get to the witchcraft (30% into the book) and even longer to get to the horror (50% in), and risks losing the reader with a boring tale of flat, uninteresting characters before getting to either of those progress markers.

It feels like he was trying to write a Stephen King style novel about relatable characters in an unfortunate situation with a dose of cultural commentary thrown in, but it just feels awkward and disjointed. Even after we get the first mention of witchcraft, I found myself skimming to get to anything that advanced the story, and let me tell you, that was a fair bit of skimming.

Eventually, we get a villain to go with the witchcraft, but not a very compelling or frightening one. As for the witchcraft, it does lend itself to a small handful of amusing, well-orchestrated scenes, but they are too few and too far between to maintain any sense of drama or pacing. It doesn’t help that Hendrix attempts to establish a time period with nothing more than a bunch of hippy references and an embarrassingly bad (and lazy) reliance on the magical negro trope to save the day.

Ok, so Grady Hendrix is such a polarizing author. Some books have been incredible, or at least entertaining, and others maybe not so much. The premise allowed itself for so much more but the payoff just wasn't there. I wanted these teen girls to turn to witchcraft much sooner and maybe go beyond what they did in the plot - it just has so much potential as a story but it sucks that it fizzled out.

Fifteen year old pregnant Fern arrives at the Wellwood home summer of 1970 and feels all alone, until she meets the other girls in her same predicament. They have no control and are expected to give their babies up and forget this summer. This all changes when they meet a librarian with a book on the occult.

Witchcraft is not one of my favorite tropes, but unwed mother homes and teenage girls bonding in unusual situations certainly are; add in the fact that Hendrix is the author and I knew I’d love this one. It is quite thick but flies by as you are instantly connected with the main character as she drives to the home dealing with her father’s anger. The magic and witchcraft is a bit light and the focus is mostly on the relationships between the girls, which really makes the story.

“You can’t beg the world to do what you want. You can’t ask it nicely. You must force the world. You must bend it to your will.”

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls comes out 1/14.

This was an average read for me. The premise of teen girls in a home for unwed mothers turning to witchcraft for power sounded so intriguing, but the execution left me wanting more. While the story had some interesting elements, like the historical setting and the mix of fantasy and social commentary, it felt uneven overall. The pacing dragged at times, and the characters, especially the main one, didn’t feel fully fleshed out.

The witchcraft angle had potential, but I wish it was more of the focus of the story... it took way to long to even get to the witchcraft aspect. I also struggled with how some of the plot relied on secondary characters solving problems for the main character, which felt a bit lazy. The last chapter was the highlight for me, but by then, it was too late to save the rest of the book. If you’re into historical fiction with a touch of fantasy, it might be worth a try, but it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for.

Our main character, at fifteen, is pregnant and sent to a home for unwed mothers in Florida. In the oppressive summer heat, she and several other girls meet a witch and try their hand at magic. Of course, there is a price and they are not willing to pay that price.

This is not horror, although there are some pretty graphic descriptors of childbirth. It feels more like a fantasy and historical fiction mash-up. The characters were not particularly likable. The use of Hagar and Miriam to solve most of the white girl's problems felt lazy. It would have been fascinating to read this story entirely from Hagar's point of view.

While well-written, it is strange reading a book where almost every character is female being written by a male.

The last chapter was by far the best chapter in the whole book...

Thank you to Net Galley, and Berkely Publishing Group for the DRC. All opinions are my own.

Enjoyed this one! It felt a little different from his previous books as he takes on group homes for teenage unwed mothers in the late 60s/early 70s. It had some social horror in terms of the group homes for teen mothers, and then there was more traditional with the witchcraft piece later in the book. It did move slower in terms of pacing than his other books, but that may have been deliberate for you to see how awful the group home situation was. Hard to really pin down a genre on this one, and I love that.