SOLVED. YA Fantasy book that includes a water portal, shapeshifting crow, and an herb girl. [s]

[Faith]

Hi! So, me, my sister, and mom all read this book about four-ish years ago (so like 2019-2020) might have been before but I don’t remember. I totally forgot about it but randomly remembered this week that I drew a fanart for it a long time ago. Then I tried to remember stuff about it and it’s so vague and so I asked my mom and sister and they remember basically the super foggy stuff that I remember. No one remembers the name or characters or anything.

So I think it’s like fantasy and YA

Basically all we remember is the main character is a girl who lives with her grandma/relative on a farmhouse (i think farm…) Her grandma is like an herbalist or something and teachers her (the MC) about that stuff. Then she’s exploring in these woods close to the house and finds this like…pond? Or stream? Anyways the water is like a magic portal to another dimension or world and she meets a boy who can turn into a crow/raven.

Please someone try and help 😭 this has been burning in my brain for a week and I cannot find it anywhere.

[SBC]

Is there any chance it could be on the Flying Shifters/Shifting list?

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

[Becca]

The living with a grandmother / herbalism / someone turning into a crow elements make me think of Old Magic by Marianne Curley, except that it's the villain who turns into a crow instead of the boy and I don't think there's a pond / stream that acts as a portal. Mentioning just in case!

[Faith]

Thanks for those suggestions! I’m combing that list lol and I looked up Old Magic, so we’ll see!

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Faith, please add genre to your topic header, all headers must contain genre. In addition, sentences are much easier to read and understand than just a list of words.

[Bonnie]

Are you sure it's a crow and not a dog? Because it sounds a lot like Winterling. Fer meets Rook (a puck) who can shapeshift into a dog. The lake on her Grandmother's land is a portal to another world where she is originally from.

Winterling

https://www.thebooksmugglers.com/2013...

[Capn]

If it isn't Winterling, as Bonnie suggested above, there's the "Portal is Water" list as well:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

[Faith]

Bonnie wrote: "Are you sure it's a crow and not a dog? Because it sounds a lot like Winterling. Fer meets Rook (a puck) who can shapeshift into a dog. The lake on her Grandmother's land is a portal to another wor..."


THATS IT OMG TYSM I CANT BELIEVE THIS WORKED THANK YOUUU

[Bonnie]

Faith wrote: "Bonnie wrote: "Are you sure it's a crow and not a dog? Because it sounds a lot like Winterling. Fer meets Rook (a puck) who can shapeshift into a dog. The lake on her Grandmother's land is a portal..."

You're welcome. Glad I could help. Please mark this as solved. Thanks.

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, Bonnie.

Winterling (book 1) of the Winterling series by Sarah Prineas - Bonnie's find.