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B*WITCH

Paige McKenzie (Goodreads Author),

Nancy Ohlin (Goodreads Author)

3.23 · Rating details · 214 ratings · 75 reviews

A lone witch has powers. A coven has a multitude more.

New girl and secret witchl Iris just wants to get through her first day of school without a panic attack. The last thing she expects is to be taken in by a coven of three witches-soft-spoken Greta, thoughtful and musical Ridley, and fiery and spirited Binx. They may be the first witches Iris has met IRL, but their coven ...more

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Hardcover, 336 pages

Published July 7th 2020 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

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Average rating 3.23 ·

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· 214 ratings · 75 reviews

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Mar 28, 2020 Stacy Fetters rated it it was ok

"Death is the beginning of all transformations."

This was supposed to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Mean Girls and maybe throw in a little bit of The Craft for a super binge-worthy read. They’re all things that I love, so I was ecstatic about reading this but it was a disaster.

B*Witch had some great things going for it. It had diversity, a little bit of a mystery, and of course witches but it was poorly executed and extremely predictable.

The mystery didn’t even really begin until I was a hu ...more

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Apr 12, 2020 Krysti rated it really liked it

Witchy, feminist fun! B*WITCH is a spooky, can’t miss YA novel about two covens of teen witches that have to come together to solve the mystery of the murder of a local witch, otherwise one of them just might be next. Brimming with messages about acceptance and inclusion, this book will pull at your heart strings while giving you all the fun, Halloweeny vibes! Out 07/07!

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Aug 28, 2020 Dax rated it really liked it

Shelves: dystopian, activism, fantasy, lgbtqia, wndb, magical-realism, ya-fiction, normalizing-mental-illnesses, wiccan-and-or-witchy, alternative-history

Gahhhh! No where does this say it's a part of a series! Curse cliffhangers! I am intrigued to see where they go from here and hope for more unity and less internal drama. ...more

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Oct 31, 2020 Mireille Chartier rated it it was ok

When I first heard about B*Wicth I was really looking forward to it. I mean Buffy and Mean Girls? Yes, please sign me up. Unfortunately, I have to say that I was expecting more.

I couldn't get into the story and had a lot of trouble connecting with it all. I love the idea behind it and I do think that the book tackles important themes but it fell a bit short for me. It felt like half of the story was just putting in place some characters and the social-context and didn't have a plot. By the time ...more

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Oct 02, 2020 CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian marked it as dnf

Shelves: trans, queer, trans-fem, young-adult, fantasy

Ouch, two DNFs in one day!! This YA book has a very cool witchy cover but unfortunately that's all it had going for it. The writing is just really bad. Cliché-ridden, predictable, a lot of telling instead of showing, hitting you over the head with its message (not that I disagree but still). Oh well. This apparently has some teen trans representation so that's cool. ...more

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Oct 27, 2020 Candyce Kirk rated it liked it

2.5 stars

When I first read the synopsis of B*Witch, I was really looking forward to this story. I'm a big fan of stories with witches and magic. Unfortunately, it just didn't really work for me. My biggest struggle was the constant switch of POVs. It felt like just a bit too much and it wasn't really clear where the main focus was at.

I enjoyed the diversity and the idea of the plot, but it took awhile for the actual plot to get started and it felt rushed near the end. If I'm honest, after finish ...more

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May 17, 2020 Taylor Sue Atkinson rated it liked it

Shelves: arc

2.5 stars.

B*witch had an interesting concept, and I appreciated the themes of diversity and sisterhood. I especially enjoyed Iris' journey with her anxiety disorder. *However*, there is a lot that fell short with me.

First, the number of characters and POVs were a little too much. I couldn't tell whose story we were truly following. A lot of the beginning was repetitive in each POV. There wasn't a clear enough direction to really drive the plot in the beginning, imo. The main inciting incident is ...more

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Aug 14, 2020 Li rated it it was amazing

This book is truly amazing. I loved it. It covered alot of stuff like anxiety, spd, transgender, gas and much more. The storyline I also really enjoyed i have adhd and I never wanted to put this book down it held my attention alot more.
There was no boring bits. When I put the book down I could easily pick back up and remeber what had happened before.
I even tabbed this book.
The ending omg 😲 I won't put anything about what happened as I don't like to give spoilers but omg I want more.
I really do ...more

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Sep 05, 2020 Elysian rated it it was ok

Shelves: i-wish-i-did-not-read

2 stars? Not so sure?

Honestly, I skimmed the majority of this book and probably would have dnfed it. This was one of those weird books that were not that bad that I would like to continue reading it in order to analyse it for a rant review and at the same time not good or interesting enough for me to go on.

Characters

Personally, it was very difficult for me to differentiate between the characters, because there were so many to remember and hardly one of them was properly introduced to me so I ha ...more

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Sep 08, 2020 Aryn Elizabeth rated it really liked it

Shelves: ya-books

Perfect mystery read for fall!

I thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this book. This book has so many cute, quirky elements entangled with a more complex plot. It took a while for the “darkness” of the plot to form, however once it did I was hooked!

I think it’s important that the readers keep in mind that this book is a YA novel. The writing can seem a bit...young (for lack of a better term) with the use of slang and replacing curse words with ‘hex’. For me, it wasn’t distracting but rather enjo ...more

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Dec 26, 2020 Zombi rated it it was ok

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 15, 2020 Mere rated it did not like it

Unfortunately I could not get into this one. I read about 60 pages but it just wasn't working for me.

I'm so sad😭😭😭 ...more

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Aug 22, 2020 Michelle rated it liked it

For a group of teen girls living in a very anti-witch America (seriously, their President is passing a bill that takes away a witch's rights), they sure do use their magic in public a carelessly high amount. Also I was hoping this was a standalone book but it appears to be the start of a series. ...more

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Jun 26, 2020 Ali (readbyali) rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf

DNF @ 35%

CW: anxiety, panic attacks
This book was difficult to get into. There was a lot of info-dumping and pop-culture references. It felt as if the author was trying to throw too much into the book. The characters were indistinguishable. The witches being discriminated against was a heavy-handed metaphor for discrimination in the US. All of these factors hindered any story that was left. The book tried to be quirky and representative and feminist, but it was not well done and left me dizzy try ...more

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Mar 03, 2020 Lila rated it liked it

I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The pacing of this one was so odd. It was rolling, rolling, rolling and then BOOM! Everything went off at once. And then it just...fizzled out? Kind of bizarre. Kind of drabble-like. I assume there will be a second book?

I enjoyed almost all of the characters, and I appreciated the diversity in race, gender identity, and sexuality. It felt a little diverse-just-to-be-diverse at times, and I wished they had integrated the girls' personalities ...more

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Mar 10, 2020 Alexa Blart, Library Cop rated it it was ok

Shelves: witches-history-month, 2020-reads, childrens-and-ya, lgbt, witch-business, magic-to-do, queer-witches

WHY DOES THE RED-HAIRED GIRL ON THE COVER LOOK EXACTLY LIKE MERIDA FROM BRAVE??? IT'S BEEN BUGGING ME FOR DAYS ...more

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Sep 23, 2020 Rosa rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult

Now, the topic of this book is not my usual fare. The only story about witches that has appealed to me on a deep level is the film "The Craft," but apart from that, stories about witches have always left me kind of cold, and I'll explain why a little bit farther down in this review.

So, why did I read a book when it's not my usual premise? Well, for one, I'm always willing to have my mind changed. For another, I had read Paige McKenzie's previous series "The Haunting of Sunshine Girl," and really Now, the topic of this book is not my usual fare. The only story about witches that has appealed to me on a deep level is the film "The Craft," but apart from that, stories about witches have always left me kind of cold, and I'll explain why a little bit farther down in this review.

So, why did I read a book when it's not my usual premise? Well, for one, I'm always willing to have my mind changed. For another, I had read Paige McKenzie's previous series "The Haunting of Sunshine Girl," and really enjoyed it. I also have watched all of her YouTube projects and gotten hours of enjoyment from them, and she requested on one of her Random Video Mondays for people to read her new book and review it, even though it was vastly different from her previous major projects. And since I owe hours of my life's entertainment to her hard work, I figured I could put aside a few hours and read this new story of hers and Nancy Ohlin's (which was the collaborative team in the final book of the Haunting series: The Sacrifice of Sunshine Girl.)

In terms of what I like: the characters are diverse and fun, and it is wonderful to see LGBTQIA representation in a mass produced young adult book. Not only that, but it's one of the main characters. In fact, there are several characters that are openly part of those communities. Another plus is that this universe is a lot like ours, and the geography is the same, but there is a changed history. There was a Great Purge at some point in the US's history, and a lot of witches were burned at the stake, and since then, witchcraft has been outlawed in the United States. This makes for interesting correlations to modern world politics that cannot (and should not) be ignored.

However, this also led to one of my bigger problems with the novel. It could not seem to figure out exactly what it wanted to be or how witchcraft should work. It is stated from the beginning of the novel that being a witch is hereditary, though it often skips generations. However, every time witches get together to do a major spell and combine their powers, they have to pray to a higher authority. To me, this indicates that part of being a witch has to do with a belief system and is NOT so much a hereditary thing. And in that scene, all the women are praying to different things, including angels (which I didn't really understand. Angels are soldiers for a higher power, but they only operate at the behest of said higher power; they cannot grant prayers.) While I have no problem with witchcraft being a belief system, I think if I was a practitioner of Wicca, I would be offended at people harnessing the gifts of Mother Earth by worshipping gods other than the Goddess (to say nothing of one of them summoning powers through Pokemon.)

Also, the concept of magic as depicted in this universe is too simple. The supposed bad guys of Antima are laughable in the face of what these witches can do. How am I to believe that humans who are constantly made to forget what they have seen are reason for these witches to fret? (In fact, in one scene, Div is attacked and left for dead -- her lips even turn blue -- but then the rest of the two covens save her, but no one thinks to wonder about who may have attacked her? Seriously, this is never brought up after they save her, and I was very confused.) And the end of the book felt so rushed. I mean, it sets up for the next book quite nicely, but it felt a bit...contrived. Everyone looks around at each other confused and then just shrugs their shoulders, like, "Eh. No big deal." These kids are terrified of powerless teenage boys, but don't freak out at all when they find themselves in the middle of a recently burned down house with no memory of what they were even talking about before that. That's a huge change of tone and attitude from the previous 300 pages.

I'll check out the rest of the series, as some of these issues will doubtless be addressed in the future books. And maybe when I reach the end, my rating will change, but for now, the most I can say is that the series has potential, though there are some issues. ...more

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Oct 10, 2020 Sophie Brown rated it liked it

Next up is a YA choice with strong political leanings. In B*Witch by Paige McKenzie and Nancy Ohlin, the existence of witches is common knowledge but the group is persecuted in ways reminiscent of America’s stance against Black and homosexual groups. A specific law bans witchcraft although it has largely been ignored in recent years, however, the recent election of a vehemently anti-witchcraft President has ignited anti-magic sentiment, and new groups calling themselves Antima (Anti-Magic) have Next up is a YA choice with strong political leanings. In B*Witch by Paige McKenzie and Nancy Ohlin, the existence of witches is common knowledge but the group is persecuted in ways reminiscent of America’s stance against Black and homosexual groups. A specific law bans witchcraft although it has largely been ignored in recent years, however, the recent election of a vehemently anti-witchcraft President has ignited anti-magic sentiment, and new groups calling themselves Antima (Anti-Magic) have risen to prominence.

In the midst of all this, Iris – a witch in hiding – just wants to get through her first day at a new high school, unaware that the school is already home to two rival covens. The first coven, led by Greta and home to cyber-witch Binx and secretly trans witch Ridley focuses on natural magic, while the other (nicknamed the Triad of Evil by Greta) is more willing to experiment with other, potentially darker, forms of magic.

Both covens are immediately interested in trying to recruit Iris, along with another new potential witch named Penelope and tensions quickly begin to mount, opening up old wounds between all the girls. But when one of them turns up dead, obviously the victim of dark magic, and more and more students begin brazenly wearing Antima patches to school, the witches realize they will need to work together to keep themselves safe.

B*Witch was an interesting book with a fantastic premise but that could have used some better editing to help make it clearer and easier to follow. The book alternates between the perspectives of five different characters – all high school age witches – and I found it difficult to remember who was who. The diversity here also felt forced with some characters having so many traits layered on top of one another that it felt as if the authors had a checklist of attributes they wanted to include and simply assigned a bunch of them to each person to make sure everything was covered.

That being said, I did particularly enjoy the chapters from Ridley’s perspective. Ridley is a trans girl using witchcraft to physically alter her body so she still appears in her male body in her conservative home, but has a female body at school and out with her friends. This ability allows for lots of discussion about what it means to be male or female, and how that meaning would shift in the face of magical (or potential future scientific) abilities that would allow a person to freely alter their body at will.

While I found the political elements of B*Witch fascinating, and obviously written to reflect current political tensions against specific groups in the US today, I found the main storyline somewhat lacking. There were simply too many characters vying for attention and too many simultaneous plots happening that no one idea or individual had an opportunity to shine. The book is also the first in a series so many of those plots were left hanging by the end, leaving more questions than answers.

This one had potential but could have been executed better, meaning I wouldn’t put it high on my must-read list this Halloween. ...more

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Jul 04, 2020 Jenny Balsamo rated it really liked it

A big thanks to the publisher for providing a digital copy thru NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Such a witchy, queer read! B*witch follows a story of two covens of teens witches who come together to solve the mysterious murder of another local witch before one of them is next.

I really enjoy reading books about witches, that’s why I didn’t hesitate to request to have an early access to B*WITCH. I actually thought this would be just your normal teenage high scho A big thanks to the publisher for providing a digital copy thru NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Such a witchy, queer read! B*witch follows a story of two covens of teens witches who come together to solve the mysterious murder of another local witch before one of them is next.

I really enjoy reading books about witches, that’s why I didn’t hesitate to request to have an early access to B*WITCH. I actually thought this would be just your normal teenage high school drama plus witchy stuff. That’s why I was actually surprised that it included themes like diversity, a little bit of racism and homophobia, and sisterhood. The premise was really interesting, and there are a lot of things that I like, as well as things that I wasn’t so fond of.

In this novel, witches were discriminated, so witches like Iris had to keep it a secret for her own safety. On her first day of school, she met three witches for the first time, Greta, Ridley, and Binx. Ultimately, she was taken in by Greta’s coven. What she didn’t know was there was another coven who used dark magic. When one local witch was murdered, the two covens worked together. While investigating, they would stumbled on something more sinister than the anti-witch ideology. Something that would put their lives in danger. The story was told by numerous POVs. I had to get used to it first, since it was quit challenging to follow. The pacing was okay, not too slow and not too fast. I also like the whodunit plot. It kept me thinking and guessing while reading the book. However, there was not enough pay-off, and it felt a little bit unsatisfying. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the ending. I was a little confused about the twist that happened, so I think I just had to read the sequel to make those things clearer.

I really like all the characters, and I commend the author for adding the diversity in race, gender and sexual identity. The characters were amusing and charming, but I wished there were more fleshed-out.

Overall, B*witch has an intriguing premise and charming characters. It was definitely a quick read, and I recommend it to readers who look for a book with Halloween vibes.

3.5 stars! ...more

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Jun 05, 2020 Denise Andre rated it liked it

I received an electric advance reader through Edelwiss
For my honest review.

So apparently Page Mckenzie is a YouTuber and she is now the second YouTuber who wrote a book that I have read and they both were disappointing. Now, I’ve read other books from Page that I loved (Haunting of Sunshine Girl) and I loved it so I was really excited to get my hands on this copy. I can’t believe Amount of let down I felt when reading this book.

Let’s start with the positive things that I enjoyed. First, I love ...more

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Jul 06, 2020 Pei rated it liked it

Actual rating: 2.5

Enjoyment: 2.5/5
Execution: 2.5/5

In a world where magic is forbidden, high school witches from rival covens band together to solve a mystery.

I loved the concept of this book but the execution fell a bit short for me. All the characters individually were quite interesting, and I loved the queer and anxiety rep, but the writing and the multiple POVs didn't do it for me. The plot was intriguing but the pacing would wax and wane, with several mundane scenes stretching out over a few ...more

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Jul 15, 2020 Stéphanie Louis rated it it was amazing

Shelves: review-copy, ebook, arc, mystery, glbt, young-adult, favorites, paranormal, fiction, contemporay

In B*Witch we are following teen witches that are separated into two covens. Both covens received threats from an anti-witches group that want to see them gone. After the murder of a witch, the teen girls have to find out who the culprits are. Otherwise, they might pay with their own lives. If you want to find out more then I invite you to read B*Witch yourself.

If you are following me since day one you’re probably already guessing with what I’m going to start. The writing style. I loved it! It w ...more

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Jul 20, 2020 Jenny Ashby rated it liked it · review of another edition

Good witchy fun! I'm always drawn to books with witches but so many of them end up disappointing because the witches don't really have their powers yet and can't do anything interesting. These witches, however, have some neat abilities in general as well as some specialization for each of them such as being a technomancer. And I love the concept of the trans character using magic to switch between her real self and her assigned sex to keep her family unaware. As well as the possibility that she ...more

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Sep 17, 2020 aro rated it liked it

Shelves: representation, sapphic

3.5 stars?

the book started off very promising. at first, it was kinda hard to remember all of the characters, but as i got a bit further into the book, i could differentiate between them.

what was my problem with this book? i honestly can’t tell you.

i kinda had problems with the sudden genre change, where a dark mystery was introduced, since it was so abruptly. i feel like i also had to suspend my disbelief, since a bunch of weird cult like stuff started to happen.

my biggest problems with this bo ...more

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Aug 03, 2020 Jaynie rated it really liked it

Ohlin, Nancy and Paige McKenzie. B*Witch. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2020. 978-1368028769. 336. $17.99. Grades 7-12.

All Iris wants is to get through the first day of school without a panic attack and to keep her magical abilities hidden. After all, being a witch in contemporary society is not easy due to the President’s resolve to prosecute all witches and a new bigot gang, Antima, who search for witches all across the United States. Used to hiding her witch identity, Iris is thrill ...more

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Dec 31, 2020 Paiton rated it it was amazing

Wow. B*Witch is quite possibly the best novel I read in 2020, and I am so thrilled to end the year on this sort of book. First and foremost, the storyline is unique, intelligent, and all out amazing. I have yet to read a witchy novel like this one, and it truly kept me guessing the entire time (which is really cool especially because I am an adult reading this teen fiction novel). Outside of the plot, Paige McKenzie handles 101 social issues with record beauty and she does so in a very short 320 ...more

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Jul 04, 2020 Frank Chillura (OhYouRead) rated it liked it

Listen! This book has EVERYTHING I look for in a book. There is a Diverse cast of characters, some of which are Queer, and it’s about Witches. When I read the synopsis, I got “The Craft” vibes... and The Craft it was not.

From the info dump in the beginning to the crazy plot twist ending and really most of the in between, I was like... what am I reading? I had such high hopes for this book and I’m sure some very excited Tweens are going to pick it up and LIVE FOR IT! But then 20 years later, the ...more

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Oct 13, 2020 Kassy Nicholson rated it liked it

Shelves: teen, fantasy, lgbtq

This honestly wasn't as bad as most of the reviews made it out to be. Was it great? No. But I feel like a good editor could have fixed most of its problems, and I don't understand why the publisher didn't seem to bother with that. It took forever to get to the point. It's billed as a mystery, and yet the body isn't found until 180 pages in? That's annoying. And there was absolutely no resolution. I'm guessing that's a setup for a sequel? But honestly, if the fat were trimmed from this writing, t ...more

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Dec 30, 2020 Alissa rated it it was ok

I wasnt a fan of this book. It did not really have a satisfying resolution, which may be because it could be the first in a series, I'm not sure. Either way, I did not enjoy reading about the characters, they were not really developed in my eyes. Also, I was not a huge fan of the writing, it was really simple, which doesn't mean bad at all, but the writing detracted from the story and didn't add to it with its simplicity. There was a lot of information in the story I would have loved to watch be ...more

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Jul 01, 2020 Melissa rated it liked it

Shelves: arcs

In a world where witchcraft is outlawed and antiwitch sentiment is growing stronger, Greta, Ridley, and Binx are a small coven of their own. When new girls and fellow witches Iris and Penelope arrive, a rival coven called The Triad wants to claim them for their own. Everything changes when one of the witches is murdered, and the two covens must come together to uncover what’s been going on in their town.

Its always hard for me to adjust to multiple perspective books, but once I did, I really lik ...more

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About Paige McKenzie

Paige McKenzie

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Paige is the young star of the hit YouTube channel The Haunting of Sunshine Girl. What began as a simple “girl and her haunted house” story has grown to a multi-webisode network with stories of zombies, ghosts, Sasquatch and lots of Sunshine! Full of positivity, humor and plenty of scares, The Haunting of Sunshine Girl has allowed Paige to spread her unique brand of adorkableness to other teens (a ...more