Charmed Life

Wildseed Witch #2

by Marti Dumas

The second book in a fun middle-grade contemporary fantasy series, about a social-media-loving tween—and witch!

After a summer of being the worst witch at a fancy witch school, Hasani can’t wait to get back to the peace and normalcy of Riverbend Middle where she knows all the rules and is destined to be captain of the Mathletes. There are a few little hiccups to work out—like how she’s going to tell her best friend that she’s a witch—but even though the other two members of Hasani’s coven have joined her friend group and her school, there’s no reason to think that eighth grade won’t be smooth sailing . . . That is until her former friend (and fellow witch) LaToya shows up.

LaToya starts trying to take her friends and make Hasani seem like the bad guy. To make matters worse, strange things begin happening around the school—including a termite infestation—and Hasani is so sure that LaToya is to blame. However, when Miss Lafleur comes to visit to help deal with the termites and investigate the magic, she helps Hasani to channel her powers more and realize just how strong her magic has become. But Miss Lafleur also isn’t convinced that LaToya could have caused all this chaos on her own—so Hasani sets out to prove it, and heads to a magical market, 3Thirteen, to find the ingredients she needs to do so. But in all her focus on proving she’s right and learning more about her magic, is Hasani losing sight of the people and things that are most important to her?

Genres: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Magic, Witches, Childrens

384 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2, 2023

About the author

Writer:
Marti Dumas is a native New Orleanian with a passion for storytelling. When she is not teaching or parenting, she is reading or writing. She prefers to do some combination of the above within view of ancient oak trees or the banks of the river. Or both.

Narrator:
For over a decade Marti has narrated and produced audio books for use in educational settings, using her melodic voice to captivate audiences of children and adolescents. More recently, her honeyed tones have been featured in radio plays and television spots, and her first commercially available audio books were released in December of 2012.

Marti is a bel canto trained mezzo soprano and a versatile vocal performer, with a wide dramatic range and more than 20 years of experience in the performing arts. She speaks English and French, and works in a variety of accents and dialects.

Reviews

[Sacha · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

Fans of the first installment in this *magical* middle grade series will find a lot to love about their triumphant return to Hasani and her peculiar world.

Hasani, the m.c., is entering eighth grade, a truly transitional time for all, but she is going extra hard in that transitional space as she continues to explore her new relationship to and awareness of her magic. While much of the first Wildseed book has to do with this aforementioned motif, Hasani's slightly more advanced grip of this part of her life really highlights how unstable almost all other aspects are. From her family relationships to her friendships to her ongoing struggle with right and wrong, she has a lot to learn. Because Hasani is such a generally *charming* character, it's fun to watch her make decisions, learn from mistakes, and find her way back to her friends, family, and sisters in witchery. That noted, as a well-written young person of her age, she has just enough edge to frustrate readers at times...but that's really her job to some degree.

For me, this second book has a slower start, and I think that has to do with the comparatively general setting. Our collective voyage to 3Thirteen really ramped up the pacing.

Even when I have minor challenges with the pacing, or Hasani's at times maybe too young approach, I still really enjoy these books. Hasani learns just enough to keep her satisfying and readable, but there are also seemingly limitless possibilities for continued life lessons and personal growth. That gives me hope that this is still the early part of a lengthy Wildseed series. I know I'll be devouring the next one as soon as I can get my hands on it!

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Amulet Books for this arc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, lots of love to a fellow New Orleanian for doing the dang thing!

Second, this is a great sequel to Wildseed Witch that lets us walk the streets of NOLA with Hasani as she tries to strike a balance between her non-magical home life and the powerful magic within. It was great getting to revisit characters and while, at times, it was difficult to understand Hasani's decisions, it was always clear that she was just trying to do what she thought best. As a middle school teacher, I can definitely attest that unnecessary petty wars are REAL at that age.

The pacing of the book starts off a little slower but picks up about halfway through. Also, love the life lessons that are throughout (the importance of being honest with friends and not engaging in mess, just to name a couple) as well as the wonderful relationship between Hasani and her mom. I'm not sure how satisfied I am with the ending; it feels like Hasani made some pretty poor judgement calls throughout and the slate is mostly wiped clean by the end of the book without it feeling like she actually learned a lesson.

Looking forward to the next one in the series! I will definitely be stocking this in my classroom library!

[Em Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

WILDSEED WITCH was one of my favourite MG reads last year, so I was delighted by the opportunity to read the sequel! Marti Dumas brings back all the wonderful things I loved about the first book: the pitch-perfect voice, the humor, the *drama*, and all the delightfully girly magic (unicorns! kittens! makeup!) I would've adored as an MG reader.

I will caveat that CHARMED LIFE doesn't quite reach the magical heights of its predecessor, imho. There are lengthy chapters where the pace meanders, and Hasani's ... uh, judgements felt a little less understandable this time around. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing heroines make mistakes and act imperfectly. But there were periods where she was quite difficult to root for, and I'm unconvinced the ending settled those threads well enough to justify it -- especially because everyone seemed so keen to insist nothing was her fault.

Nevertheless, there is so much to love about this series. SO MUCH. The rich, evocative New Orleans setting. The word of witches, which is delightfully expanded and deepened compared. The fun interplay of technology and magic. It's shimmering, glittering, heart-filled witchiness, and I can't WAIT to see where Dumas goes next

[Linda Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're looking for a fun read for your kid, look no further. The Wildseed Witch series is not only well written, it is also a delight to read. Book One centered mainly around Hasani attending the secret training school, and Book Two is centered around her home life. It was supposed to be centered around her starting eighth grade, but due to a little witchy mishap, the reader gets to see Hasani doing her best to reverse some bad magic...again! Oh, and the social media aspect... I loved it! And kids will too. This is such an accessible novel for middle-grade readers. I highly recommend it!

[Destiny Bridwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. I read the first book in this series and it was great and has Hasani at her witch school. This is more of her being home and going into the eighth grade. She thinks she has things all figured and what she wants this year to be, but a fellow witch shows up at her school. Cue the drama and strange happens. She thinks the fellow witch is to blame. Someone else shows up to look into the magic. I do have to say this one was a little slow in places and I did like that MC did struggle a little more in this one.

[Antoinette · Rating 4 out of 5]

CHARMING! I loved revisiting Hasani, Dee and Angelique. The lessons Hasani had to learn about friendships were on point for 7th grade girls. Balancing wanting to be a witch but not wanting to mess things up keeps coming up for Hasani and asking for help is not a strength for her. The best lesson the story offers is about influence being magic. That type of power was brought to life and explained so well. I really loved 3Thirteen and want to see the coven explore it more in the next book. Great sequel to Wildseed Witch!
Thanks NetGalley!

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

The first book has circulated very well in my library, so I'll definitely be purchasing. There was a lot of YouTube details, and a lot of girl drama. I would have liked a little more magic other than the termite infestation, which creeped me out. Again, never ever moving south of Ohio.

[JordynLovesReading · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t really get all of the magic stuff, I read the first book and rated it 2-3 stars, but this one is really bad. I don’t quite understand the things going on in the book, and the fact that the author wrote every character to be black, seems kind of boring because there is no diversity, but that’s just my opinion.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is just as charming as the first in its series, maybe even more charming. I love that the books infuse life lessons seamlessly into the fantasy world. I have no idea if there's another book in the series, but I'm hoping that there is.

[Cara (Wilde Book Garden) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found some of the main plot elements kind of confusing at points, and some of the conflict between characters was more frustrating than I think it needed to be, but overall I really liked this sequel!

And I LOVED Channie Waites' narration.

CW: References to bullying

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book for middle schoolers that addresses their feelings well and complicated relationships with others with a mystical twist.

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good. Hope.there is more to this series both books ordered for my middle school library..

[T.A. Beasley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed book one, but this one didn't keep my attention as much. I will do a re-read and come back with thoughts. I believe i read it at a time that wasn't good for me.