Gabalter Academy is an elite magical school where young witches and warlocks come to hone their craft....witchcraft that is.
Evie expects this year to play out as all the others have before it, but when her mother tasks her with finding an ancient relic for the Witch's Counsel things get a whole lot more complicated...especially when she finds herself hunting for the relic with Milo, a brooding warlock she can't stand.
If you’re a fan of magic, Harry Potter vibes, YA, romance, the name Milo, potions, fun, joy, happiness, betrayal, immense glee, butterflies, a thousand giggles, and all things good, this is your book.
I was slow to start because . . . Life? But once I had a glimmer of time I INHALED this book in a day, and man oh man did I have a good time doing it.
Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Cuddle is a quick cozy fantasy novella that takes place at a magic school. We follow Evie and Milo, former enemies (sorta) turned partners on their mission to find an ancient relic.
There are owls 🦉 named Nokia and Razor who fly between dorms to deliver You Belong With Me style notes. Need I say more?
If you love Harry Potter you will love this novella. If you don't love Harry Potter but love the idea of Harry Potter, you will love this novella. I devoured this book immediately and am so excited to jump into all of the rest of the books in this world. I will be reading this author's entire back log because if she can make me feel this way in 123 pages, I can't imagine the feels I will be feeling with her full length books.
I started reading this as a standalone and kept wondering when things would start to get more complicated and everything would untwist. When I got to the end, I was like, "How can you end a standalone like this?" But then I realised it’s actually a prequel… So now I'm waiting to read The Witching Flour.
Now, about this book—oh, I liked how Milo and Evie started hanging out, but I had a bad feeling about it and was just waiting for things to go wrong. And, well, I wasn’t wrong. Evie is such a sweet and trusting girl, while Milo is a bit of a playboy who went bad. At least, I think he went bad—but I won't know for sure until the next book.
The story kept me captivated, and reading it was easy; the pages just kept turning. I really liked it, and I’d recommend it—if you're ready to continue with the series. If not, don’t start, because the ending will leave you frustrated!
3-3.5⭐️ This was cute! Very similar to Harry Potter, maybe a bit too similar, but I enjoyed this cozy little magical academy story. My biggest issue with the book is that there are a fair amount of grammatical issues/missing letters in words, but I had a fun time reading it and would be interested in the full length novel that comes next. If you ever wanted Hermione and Draco to get together…you’ll like this one!
Tropes: Jock and the teachers pet, sweet and cute, misunderstood bad boy
Spice: 🧁 Yes, I know that’s not a pepper, this is YA people! No peppers here! 😂 Sweet kisses, brushing of hair out of face, blushing and butterfly flutters, hiding in close proximity.
What it’s about: Evie has orders from her mother, find some old relic hidden on school grounds.. how fun. But to keep the peace she’s doing her best until she stumbles into Milo, the schools ex hot shot. He’s after the same relic so he can get back in good graces after his family made some poor dark magic choices. They decide to work together begrudgingly at first, but the longer Evie spends with Milo the more she sees past his hot shot jock facade. And she might just want a slice of that pumpkin pie. 🥧
Why you will like: Witchy vibes, magical school, sassy friends, owl mail, covert mission, begrudging allies
Why you might dislike: This is a YA book, so there is bashful crushing, high school mind sets and girl chat. Also this is a novella, so it’s short and sweet. Not going to get huge world building out of this. But for such a short read I thought it did a fair job at putting a good base world down.
Notes: I haven’t read a YA book in a bit, much less a YA novella, but was pleasantly surprised with how well written this was! Though it is YA in tone it was still very easy to read, not overly juvenile or bogged down with silly drama. Sweet, funny, light… just a easy enjoyable read. There’s a bit of a cliffhangerrr. Feels like maybe the second book will be a little more action packed? We shall see!
TW: Bullying, mentions of interrogation (no details just insinuations of it being intense), parental expectations, food aversion which leads to skipped meals
Realistically, this could easily be a 4-star read... except I had no idea that this is going to be a series?! I first heard about this on BookTube, and judging by the length (at 120 pages) I thought for sure this would be a nice little self-contained novella. I'd heard this being described as a Hogwarts sidequest, and I could not agree more. It's perfect for people who love the setting of Hogwarts and love the idea of following other students in their day-to-day lives. Which... I honestly need this to be the planned TV adaptation. I couldn't care less about rebooting the Harry Potter series. It's already been done. Let's move on. But a show where there's no heavy overarching plot, and each episode you're just following random students in easy, self-contained plots in Hogwarts and Hogsmeade? I NEED. So this absolutely had that vibe.
The problem, though? The problem is that this book is 120 pages! I cannot tell you how much of a slap to the face it felt when I got to the last page, only for it to end on a massive cliffhanger, followed by “To be continued!”
....With a book this short? That does not justify it being a series! Like, why stop at 120 pages? Why not... just keep going? There is more than enough room to easily continue the story and make this a standalone novel, so this decision to drag it out into multiple books is incredibly strange to me.
Will I pounce on the sequel the second it comes out? Yes. But will I still be incredibly annoyed? YES.
And as much as I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it did also sort of give me the feeling of a fanfic/Wattpad story, so maybe this explains the, ah... short length and why it's on Kindle Unlimited.
I received an ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review, so here goes. It's the first ARC I've reviewed so be patient with this newbie haha.
I found it a very enjoyable book, it's short and quite entertaining, perfect if you have some reader's block or to read on a Friday night (which I did). I found it very interesting the way the author mixed modern things into the magical universe they are in, especially considering they are in a magical school but still have contact with the mortal world. Although I would have loved it if she had gone a bit deeper into the worldbuilding and the personalities of the characters, but it's understandable because it was only 120 pages, I hope to get to know each of them a bit better in the next books. I found Evangeline to be a great character, very human because let's face it we've all had a crush that makes us blush and have a giggly smile on our face, and I also like that she is a girl with a strong personality, she is intelligent and caring, I feel that she will have a great character development in the future. And as for Milo... I really liked his character, I feel he has great potential and he is very cute, he looks like a black cat but has the soul of a golden retriever (just my type lmao).
The book is perfect if you like light fantasy with romance, it gave me a lot of vibes from the 1998 TV series "The Worst Witch".
- Fantasy, romance, magic. - Personal rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Massive thanks to author S. Frasher for the ARC, I will definitely read the sequel, because that plot twist at the end left me very intrigued.
Though this book is extremely predictable and very cliché, I enjoyed it more than most YA fantasy books. For a moment, it felt like I was back at Hogwarts but make it more modern. The entire book felt like coming home, it was warm and cosy: exactly as advertised. It’s fast-paced, funny and easy to read. I’m looking forward to see how the story continues! :)
Relic of Gabalter : this was owned and protected by the witch who founded Gabalter Nokia: evies owl Evie(Evangeline Crawley) : her mother is the head of the witches counsel. Her father is a field leading crypto zoologist. Joey : evies room mate Circe : Joey and evies friend Gabalter academy : where Evie goes to school Milo Lancaster: he was popular and his parents betrayed the witches counsel and the bureau of enchantment by working for Gideo, the darkest warlock the realm had seen in a millennium. Razor: Milo’s owl
Evies mother sends her a letter tasking her with finding the relic of Gabalter for the counsels museum. Her and her friends set to looking through the library for info and she decides she’ll need to go into the restricted area. So she does an invisible spell. While in there she bumps into someone and they reveal her and it’s Milo. Milo’s aunt pearl also asked him to look for the relic of Gabalter. After they agree to work together he calls her Ace. He has 1 book and she has the other so they’ll share what they found and find the relic together and give it to the counsel. So she can get her stipend back from her mother and maybe he can be in the good graces of the counsel again since his parents messed that up for him. He sends her a note through his owl and that’s how they talk and send feelings. They go to illianas grave. He astroprojects Iliana. They get 3 questions with her before she’ll go back. Evie accidentally wastes one asking how this is possible. Then they ask if the relic is still on the grounds and she says yes. So they ask where it is and she said last she knew it’s in plain sight. “I often used it when I was awaiting the hours of punishment for those who did wrong to end”. And then she’s gone. They research how to cross the bridge to go into the dark wood so they can search her old hut. They find a letter that says “Time will go and it will grow. Keep it from the darkness” Evie found this in ilianas hut but when she handed it to Milo it was blank. I think it was before they went to the hut that they were somewhere and I can’t remember where and they almost kissed and she burned her hand and she had accidentally opened a small dragon out of its box and it did a bunch of damage and Milo took the fall. When they left Ilianas hut he had pinned her against the wall and she thought her love potion had broken because he kissed her and asked her to the ball but she found out it was the truth potion that had broken. At the ball they hear a professor say “that cursed relic of Iliana was obnoxious tonight, mockingly ticking the hours away at a slow pace as I watched afternoon detention” and this makes sense to what Iliana told them “I often used it when I was awaiting the hours of punishment for those who did wrong to end”. They remember there’s an old hourglass on the desk in the detention hall. They go running there and he tells her to use his wand to send it to her mom immediately but then Gideon is there and he says “I tasked Mr Lancaster with finding it because Iliana made it to where only a student of Gabalter could free it from its frozen state. But now that it’s mine, I shall use it to usher in a new millennium!” She tries to break Milo’s from Gideon but Gideon takes him and the relic and they’re gone🥺poor Evie. She was starting to catch feelings for Milo and now she doesn’t know if he was just taken by Gideon or if he was on his side and played her all along. I can’t wait to read more of her witchy books. This was so fun!!! 5 stars because this was such a cozy and fun fall read and the ending having that twist totally wasn’t suspecting sealed the deal for me. Such a cute little name. Bubble bubble because of the potions. But toil is the betrayal and cuddle is them cuddling on the couch and the cuddly snuggly vibes this book gives you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I am continuing to read through this fun set of novellas, except I didn’t realize this one left off on a cliffhanger. While I only have to wait a month to find out what happens next, I will be anxiously waiting to find out what happens to Evie.
Like the previous two I’ve read, these novellas have been perfect as I feel ready for fall but it’s still super hot here in AZ. There’s just something about looking for an ancient artifact on the grounds of a school of magical people that has me ready to drink apple cider and turn on a fake fireplace.
Evie’s situation feels exactly like something anyone with a well-connected mother would be thrust into. She handles it like a pro though, and doesn’t let it impact her self-worth, which is great to see. I can’t wait to see how she continues to navigate it when the next part of her story releases in a month.
For as beautiful as this book is, it was pretty disappointing. I don’t understand how someone is your sworn nemesis over a single, petty encounter. Not only were they ‘enemies’, but then they pretty much immediately fell in love. No gradual build up, no longing, no connection. There were certainly things I enjoyed. I liked the magical elements, although it was almost too similar to Harry Potter to call it “inspired by”. It was Harry Potter, with modern day technologies included. However, the ending and synopsis of the next book does leave me curious to how this plays out. I seen the twist coming from a mile away, but for some reason I still need to know what happens next.
This was a cute, quick read that was a perfect pallet cleanser. I read it after a longer novel that was much heavier and darker, so this was just what I needed.
It has HP vibes, but much better in my opinion. The author's ideas for magic and spells were unique.
I found myself smiling and giggling while reading, and rooting for Evie to get the guy.
I did not see the ending that was coming and didn't realize it would end on a cliffhanger.
I enjoyed the story and would like to read more about these characters.
Fun, quick, cute and cozy read!!! I’ve been in a slump with my reading within the past couple weeks. Wanted to read something light and fun. This definitely checked the boxes off for me. Characters were fun and relatable. Plot is pretty good. Nice romance elements that didn’t take away from the experience. Will certainly pick up book 2.
This was such a cute and fun witchy novella. I can't wait to find out what's in store for these characters next. This would be a perfect fall/spooky time read but I want to yell and beg you all to read it now because I'm obsessed.
✨Vibes✨ Harry Potter Magic School Witches Swoon-worthy lines Cliffy YA romance
YA ✅ Cozy ✅ Magic ✅ Romance✅ Hp inspired… a lot! If you love HP vibes you’ll love lots of this book ( Potion classes, restricted section of the library, dark wood, invisibility stall) and some points are just great.. how do not love an Owl named Nokia? It’s a cheesy reading, more a novel than a book but…the end is just a rushed mess. And it’s not even an end. It says you’ll get more of Evie and Milo ( and Gideon) in the next book… but the next book has completely different settings. Just can’t rate it, it wouldn’t be fair
It was a fine read but i feel like it was too short and ended too abruptly.... It ended on a big cliffhanger that was too sudden... It's kind of a cozy story in the harry potter universe but it has a "mission"... Anyways i would have loved it more if it was longer and had more development between the main characters... It was too insta love for me...
Quick little 120 pages that ends with a "to be continued" - hmmm. Cute read for sure with lots of Harry Potter vibes, but just ok plot. Maybe not fair since so short, but too weird her relationship with Milo (is she that young and naive? - yes, I guess).
Harry Potter vibes during gen z-alpha time. It would have been a lot cozy without the romance. It doesn’t feel magical because the setting of the story isn’t original. It was cute but it was eh. I feel like there’s just a lot of things that need improvement.
With a title like this, it’s definitely a must read for Halloween.
Ok this was the perfect quick read right before Halloween. Evie and Milo are just the cutest things ever. Enemies to kissing while trying to find this relic?
This is a great *enemies to reluctant allies to friends to almost lovers to enemies* novella! I can’t wait to find out what’s coming with the ending it left us with! Not a huge cliffhanger, but definitely unanswered questions! I want more for E and M 😭
Okay, so I thought this was actually super cute! I'm surprised by the low ratings here (although maybe that's why I liked it so much better than I expected?). I might just keep this in mind for an "underrated book" prompt in the future!
Cute short story that gave Harry Potter vibes, as if Hermione and Draco were dating. VERY predictable plot. Honestly, the ending « to be continued » ruined the story and doesn’t make me want to read the next book.
Me hubiera gustado mucho más si fuera más largo y la historia fuera desarrollado más detenidamente, pero igual lo disfrute mucho y se me hizo entretenido, y a pesar de que fue extremadamente predecible ya quiero que salga la continuación para saber como continua la trama.
This wasn't my typical read, personally. That being said, I found this to be a cutesy, low-steam, quick and easy read that would be ideal for a younger audience. 14 year old me would have adored this, and for my inner child, I saw this was good!
this is definitely a cheesy read but i was enjoying the Hogwarts vibe until the ending was rushed and left with a cliff hanger that is unsatisfactory. i did not realize that it was a prequel to another book, it was advertised as a stand alone but i don’t regret reading it
This was a really cute book but felt like it abruptly left off on a major part of the story. Short pallet cleanser book. Harry Potter retelling if HP was a girl, with her two gal pals, her parents are alive and well off with a fast burn enemies to lovers.