Disclaimer: I received this e-arc and physical arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: The Witchery

Author: S. Isabelle

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 3.5/5

Diversity: Black characters and MCs, Sapphic character, f/f romance mentioned

Recommended For...: young adult readers, supernatural, fantasy, witches, witchcraft, werewolves, LGBT, urban fantasy

Publication Date: July 26, 2022

Genre: YA Supernatural Fantasy

Age Relevance: 14+ (alcohol consumption, romance, cursing, religion, religious trauma, racism, panic attack, gore, violence, death, grief, murder)

Explanation of Above: There is some alcohol consumption mentioned early on in the book very briefly. There is some romance in the book. There is some slight cursing and some religion and religious trauma shown and mentioned. There is one instance of racism being mentioned in the book and one panic attack shown. There is some gore, violence, a few deaths, and a murder mentioned. There is also some grief shown and mentioned.

Publisher: Scholastic

Pages: 371

Synopsis: THE HAUNTING SEASON IS HERE AND THE WOLVES ARE AWAKE.

Haelsford, Florida is a Hellmouth. Or at least, that’s what Logan, a baby witch struggling to control her powers, thinks as she arrives to the witchtown to begin the new school year at Mesmortes Coven Academy. She is immediately taken under the wing of the infamous Red Three. Iris is a deathwitch who wants nothing more than to break the town’s curse; Jailah is one of the most powerful witches at the academy but her thirst for power may lead her down a dark path; and Thalia, the talented greenwitch, is on the run from her religious family and a past that still haunts her.

Fear and prejudice still fuel the uneasy truce between humans and witches who are forced to work together when the Haunting Season begins and Wolves rise from the swamp to feed. With this approaching, two Hammersmitt boys prepare to make their first sacrifices to the witches in exchange for protection. But as they become involved with the Mesmortes witches’ plan to end the Wolves’ reign of terror once and for all, old dangers lie in wait.

The cost to break the curse may be greater than any witch or human could ever know.

Review: For the most part I liked this book. I thought that the book did ok with the multi-POV from 6 perspectives and that this would be a good HP replacement book. The book is action-packed and really focuses on friendship and the connections we make. The book is also fun, set in a supernatural world where witchcraft is kinda normal. I felt like the character development was well done and the world building was as well.

However, there were some issues I had with the book. The book is kinda weirdly wrote and is disjointed. I had to read the summery to figure out what was happening in the beginning and it was a really confusing book is a lot of the parts, but especially the beginning. All of the parts are there for a great novel and I have no doubt in my mind that it’ll be polished up for the finalized version, but for the arc it was just a bit of a mess in the beginning and with little confusing aspects here and there throughout the book, it makes it feel like a second book in a series rather than a first.

Verdict: It’s good, but needs a little more love.