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Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

Grady Hendrix

Start date: March 1, 2025

Finish date: March 31, 2025

Discussion: Book of the Month

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Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

May 17, 2024 Trisha rated it liked it

"Power cannot be given, it must be taken."

This is a slow burn story, especially at the start. Get ready for the build up for about 30% - but then the story will get going. You'll meet a flower garden that is tucked away - young girls that are pregnant outside of wedlock in a time before Roe v Wade and a time before women were really taught about childbirth or pregnancy.

Our main character is Fern and, through her, we meet the other flowers - Rose, Holly, Zinnia and others. You learn how the hous ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Aug 13, 2024 Cassidy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arcs-ive-read, netgalley, read-in-2025

This was a slow read for me. I was instantly hooked, and then it lagged in the middle, and then I zoomed through the end. Interestingly, the least interesting parts for me were the witchcraft. I can say that, after the misnomer title of How to Sell a Haunted House, this one tells you exactly what it is.

The horror story here lies in the abject disregard for and mistreatment of “wayward girls” pre-Roe and the absolute trauma that is childbirth, though I can’t speak from experience—and I suppose ne ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2025 Tanya Patrice rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ebook, horror

This book took me in from the beginning and it never let up. A story about unwed, pregnant teenage girls and their treatment by society - family and others. Being shipped off to a home to have their babies in secrets, the mind games to get them to give up their babies - some are willing,others are not. It really takes you through all the emotions and the author was just brilliant with showing us the complexities as seen from multiple points of view. And then through in some witches, or another s ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 30, 2024 Shruti morethanmylupus rated it liked it

Shelves: netgalley

This one had all the makings of a really good women working in solidarity story, but it never quite got to where I hoped it would. It took ages and ages - more than 1/3 of the book - to get to the witchcraft. Even then, this was such a slowwww burn and the ending was overwhelming. By the time we got to the solidarity, it was almost too little too late - especially when it followed a women failing other women moment. I enjoyed very end of the story, but it wasn't enough to make up for the earlier ...more

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Jan 24, 2025 Chris Cummings rated it it was amazing

Wow.

I've read all of Grady Hendrix's books and I love each of them in a different way and to various extents. This book, though, hit on a different level altogether. Moving, heartbreaking, powerful, exciting and with a vast of vibrant, imperfect and incredible characters, this might just be his best work yet. I couldn't put it down but I'm sad it's finished. Fantastic. ...more

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Mar 23, 2025 Keri rated it liked it

Shelves: stand-alone, cover-black, horror, uno-challenge-2025

3.5 rounded down. This moved pretty slow for me, it was easy to put down, but I did want to keep reading.
I didn’t get invested in any of the characters, b it there were some pretty evil ones. I’m very bc character driven so it is hard for me if I don’t really care about the characters. The plot was interesting though.

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