Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches

I have really mixed feelings about this book. I like the set up with the tarot card chapters interspersed throughout the story. But I hate the main character. I don’t know if it’s because she’s a teenager or what, but her view on relationships and

being in a relationship with Pix magically curing her pot addiction

feels so toxic.

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bi_n_large's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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lonely_tardigrade's review against another edition

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This book was a lot more depressing than I expected. A lot of the problems I had with it could be attributed to the imbalance of what I thought the book would be like and what it actually ended up being. I just don’t have the mental capacity right now for the kinds of heavy topics it introduced, which is why I didn’t finish it.

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irisestacansado's review against another edition

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challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really, really wanted to like this book, and for the most part I did. However, the use of the predatory lesbian trope made me uncomfortable and I found myself having to skip through some parts. I feel like the conflict between Eleanor and Chloe could have been created without Eleanor becoming the predatory lesbian -

Harrison was already spreading that she was an obsessed lesbian, perhaps on her walks she didn't stop at Chloe's house, but he spread the rumor that she did, if the trope was completely necessary

I also didn't enjoy the depiction of Chloe as a kind of discount bisexual and as some other negative interpretations. This story relied on using tired tropes to further characters, including having a manic pixie dream girl (albeit sapphic), which made it feel a little dull. However, the MC has an interesting family life, and I appreciate a relatively healthy non-nuclear family being depicted.

I was drawn into this book, finishing the audiobook in a day, and I enjoyed the shorter chapters about the major arcana framing the themes of the chapter after it. The ideas shown about paganism and witchcraft were also really nice to read about.

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kingrosereads's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

A sapphic YA witchy coming-of-age drama that takes place in Salem during Halloween.

This book contains homophobia/lesbophobia, marijuana use, anxiety/panic disorder, chronic illness, bullying, sexual assault, grief, and toxic relationship/friendship.

I liked this book. I wasn’t aware it wasn’t about magical witches and not at all a fantasy until I started reading it. It is about real witches that practice Wicca/pagan-based witchcraft.

Our story follows 17-year-old high school dropout but recent GED recipient and self-proclaimed most skeptical and cynical person in Salem, Eleanor Anderson. Eleanor skips out on her senior year after being marked as a crazed lesbian stalker of her ex-best friend and popular girl, Chloe, and an accident that occurred on Halloween night. Now Eleanor works full time at her mother’s friend, Susan’s, witchy shop to help pay for their bills. Her mom has Lyme’s disease that she contracted two years prior and what had them move to Salem to be closer to Susan so she can help take care of them. Eleanor’s family believes that her mom is faking her illness.

Things change for Eleanor when she receives a hand written guide on tarot in the mail and meets Pix and Ofira on the same day. Pix and Ofira are cousins and Ofira is new to Salem. They also happen to be witches. They invite Eleanor to join their coven and she’s drawn in by curiosity and her interest in Pix. Eleanor slowly works through her tarot guide and process the trauma of the year prior. She and Pix grow closer together and start dating.

We learn that she and Chloe secretly dated because Chloe, though out as bisexual to her parents, was ashamed of dating Eleanor. She ends up choosing to date resident popular douchebag, Harrison, to increase her own popularity, but the girls try to remain friends. Harrison manipulates Chloe and the student body into thinking that Eleanor is a predatory lesbian obsessed with Chloe and tries to erase Chloe’s bisexuality. This builds until it explodes resulting in an accident and Eleanor dropping out.

Eleanor slowly starts to come to terms with the events of her junior year and learns to heal from it and to trust again.

The setting in Salem and time period being Halloween is all pretty much background things to give a reason why Eleanor is hanging out with Pix and the coven and learning to heal. But it is a nice vibe to the story. There isn’t too much development in most of the coven and even Ofira and Gillian are pretty underdeveloped side characters.

I wasn’t a huge fan of Eleanor becoming the “predatory lesbian” stereotype. Or even just the stereotype of being a crazy obsessed girl in the scenario that Chloe was a boy, this would’ve been problematic. But I also know that people that manipulate our feelings and hurt us and gaslight us do eventually make us feel and act somewhat “crazy”, and when you’re a teenager it’s a million times worse because you have no voice telling you to think it through. Regardless, the book could’ve done without this stereotype. I get the idea of Eleanor being bullied and experiencing lesbophobia, but we didn’t need this to accomplish that.

The excessive use of marijuana is an unhealthy coping mechanism, especially since she’s underage, but at the same time it’s better than abusing Xanax or the like, and she eventually stops using marijuana to manage her anxiety and find other non-substance ways to cope.

But I was happy to read about a different kind of grief (the loss of friendship/relationship), and a grief that occurs regardless of whether or not it was toxic (it was). And I do think the use of marijuana to cope and how Eleanor started using it less as she found herself surrounded by friends and support was done well.

Pix and Eleanor don’t really have chemistry, but I thought they’re very cute together. I’m not sure about the accuracy of the portrayal of Wicca or paganism, but the bit I do know makes me appreciate the book as an introduction to this religion. Even thought it all very surface level, it’s done in a way I think will encourage readers to look information up themselves.

Overall cute, albeit, a little boring story.

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