TEXT Ô Toil Trouble Ö Tess Sharpe

A young adult fiction anthology of stories featuring contemporary historical and futuristic stories featuring witchy heroines who are diverse in race class sexuality religion geography and era Are you a good witch or a bad witchGlinda the Good Witch Elphaba the Wicked Witch Willow Sabrina Gemma Doyle The Mayfair Witches Ursula the Sea Witch Morgan le Fey The three weird sisters from MacbethHistory tells us women accused of witchcraft were often outsiders educated independent unmarried unwilling to fall in line with traditional s ARC provided by HarperCollins in exchange for an honest reviewFriends when I first heard about this anthology staring witches I almost sold my soul for it Instead I sent a begging reuest to Harleuin but I would have tried any amount of magic to get my hands on this And with good reason because this was nothing short of amazing I know this doesn’t come out until late August a day after my birthday to be exact but something about this ARC just compelled me to read it this early And I mean it I couldn’t put this down And when I did each night I found myself being like “just one story before bed” and then I’d back to back read three or four staying up way too late I loved this and I truly believe that it is nothing short of magical I think three stories really stood out for me but there is honestly so much to love here But my favorite was easily Why They Watch Us Burn by Elizabeth May It meant so much to me that I instantly reread it with just as many tears in my eyes It was powerful and important and is going to change so many lives I feel so blessed to have read it and I’ll carry it with me forever Love Spell by Anna Marie McLe was also a masterpiece and one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read in my entire life And The One Who Stayed by Nova Ren Suma also left me speechless from all the emotions it was able to evoke from me I promise you there are so many good stories in this anthology but these three were my personal favorites I'm going to break down each short story with my thoughts opinions and individual star rating➽ 1 Starsong by Tehlor Kay Mejia ★★★★ “People find me when they need to see the beauty they feel” This was so adorable This is an ownvoices Latinx story about a sixteen year old girl who loves painting and make up and reading charts and horoscopes for people She has a very large social media presence and people pay her to show them the things that they are unable to see But this beautiful bruja is still living with the conseuences of one bad decision she made a year ago TW drug use Luna feels lonely since her journey of changing her life but that changes one night when a cute girl messages her Also I loved seeing Luna uestion if the girl she was talking to was ueer or not Like so relatable I swear The story turns into two cute girls texting about science vs magic and I need so much I loved this Also this talks briefly about a polya relationship too that hires Luna and give me all the polya rep and support and normalization ➽ 2 Afterbirth by Andrea Cremer ★★★ “In the eyes of the village my truths cannot be suffered to live” I really enjoyed this little tale set in 1600s New England during the witch trials We are shown a very difficult childbirth scene TW complications during childbirth that brings suspicion to the woman that delivered the child Throw in mysterious spell books a trial that a woman has no possibility of winning and maybe even the Devil himself and we have a very fun and spooky witch story that was perfect for this anthology ➽ 3 The Heart in Her Hands by Tess Sharpe ★★★ “He can’t fill the empty space in her because there are none There is no emptiness in a devoted heart” Okay first off this is a tea lovers dream of a short story I was filled with so much happiness just by all the tea descriptions in this book Next this was a wonderful story about soulmates and who you choose to love is the one you should be with This is also ueer and beautiful And it really talks about the expectations you

TEXT Toil Trouble

Toil TroubleOcietal expectationsBold Powerful RebelliousA bruja’s traditional love spell has unexpected results A witch’s healing hands begin to take life instead of giving it when she ignores her attraction to a fellow witch In a terrifying future women are captured by a cabal of men crying witchcraft and the one true witch among them must fight to free them all In a desolate past three orphaned sisters prophesize for a murderous king Somewhere in the present a teen girl just wants to kiss a boy without causing a hurricaneFrom good wit This was okay but Emery Lord’s story was the only real stand out for me Definitely not my favorite YA anthology ———STARSONG by Tehlor Kay Mejia 35 starsAFTERBIRTH by Andrea Cremer 35 starsTHE HEART IN HER HANDS by Tess Sharpe 35 starsDEATH IN THE SAWTOOTHS by Lindsay Smith 45 starsTHE TRUTH ABOUT UEENIE by Brandy Colbert 35 starsTHE MOONAPPLE MENAGERIE by Shveta Thakrar 35 starsTHE LEGEND OF STONE MARY by Robin Talley 35 starsTHE ONE WHO STAYED by Nova Ren Suns 35 starsDIVINE ARE THE STARS by Zoraida Córdova 35 starsDAUGHTERS OF BABA YAGA by Brenna Yovanoff 45 starsTHE WELL WITCH by Kate Hart 35 stars BEWARE OF GIRLS WITH CROOKED MOUTHS by Jessica Spotswood 35 starsLOVE SPELL by Anna Marie McLe 35 stars THE GHERIN GIRLS by Emery Lord 55 starsWHY THEY WATCH US BURN by Elizabeth May 45