The November Witches
- Written by Jennifer Claessen
The November Witches is the follow up to the excellent October Witches .
The October Witches follows Clem, a young witch experiencing her first time with magic. Coming from a family of witches, Clem has watched every woman in her family grow and play with her magic. But due to an ancient curse on their family, they can only access their powers during the month of October every year. SO Chemmie is delighted when November arrives when there shouldn’t be anymore magic….
No witch is excited about gloomy magic-free November apart from young hag Clemmie who is relieved to finally be done with October’s magical mess. But if there’s no more magic, then where are all the armour-clad knights coming from?
When even their enemy coven, the Morgans, don’t have any answers, the Merlyns are on the run. Neither the Morgan or Merlyn covens want to burn so they will have to work together to solve the mystery of where the witch-hunting knights and the all-engulfing flames are coming from.
Will Clemmie be able to find her voice in time to save her family? Continuing directly on from The October Witches, this November sequel is full of bonfires, knights, family disasters and one very important round table.
This is a great sequel that follows straight from the first book.
Told from Clemmies point of view this is as heartwarming as the first.
It’s another magical caper, except this time the covens must work together to solve their issues. Which, of course, is not going to be easy. I really enjoyed seeing their respect for one another grow across the book, though with several rocky spots.
I am hoping that there will be move to come.
In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen
- Written by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
As soon as I saw the cover for this book I knew I needed this in my life.
In the lakes, the wolf queen sharpens her spear.
In the mountains, an ancient girl opens an eye.
In the forest, an orphan is summoned by the trees.
Our story has begun …
Ysolda has lived her life in the shadow of the wolf queen’s tyrannical rule but, safe in her forest haven, she has never truly felt its threat.
Until one day when a mysterious earthquake shakes the land and her older sister Hari vanishes in its wake.
Accompanied by her loyal sea hawk, Nara, Ysolda embarks on a desperate rescue mission. But when she is forced to strike a bargain with the wolf queen herself, she soon finds herself embroiled in a quest for a magic more powerful – and more dangerous – than she could ever have imagined …
I really love her writing, the way she writes her characters are always great. The world building is also really good. It is one of those books that is written so well that I can picture every single scene in my mind. Ysolda was very likeable and an excellent main character., and I enjoyed her point of view. Though she was supposed to be 13, she felt quite grown up at timesIt was really easy to forget her age until someone in the story brought it up and I found myself surprised again.
I really enjoyed a lot of the side characters, though I did wish I’d been able to see some of them for a little longer but as this is the first in a trilogy I’m hoping to see a lot more of these characters
The inclusion of so many animals from start to finish was absolutely fantastic. The wolves and Nara were so interesting to hear about throughout, and their bond with the humans who raised them. There are a few tough moments when animals were either in pain or unfortunately died. There was one moment in the middle of the book that had me crying. It was fantastic writing, but it was also worth noting in case that is not something you can stomach. This in my opinion is for older MG readers as there are a few moments that younger readers might struggle with, but it is still an amazing read and I look forward to reading the next in the series. I only hope the wait isn’t to long.
Gargoyles, Guardians of the Source
- Written by Tamsin Mori
- Published by Uclan
First of all just look at that beautiful cover, the cover alone made me want to pick the book up.
I couldn’t wait to start this book and what a book it turned out to be.
A crumbling mansion
A magical source
A living gargoyle
Callen’s Dad has always been secretive of his past but when the family have to move into his childhood home, the last thing Callen expects is a boarded-up mansion covered in gargoyles. It’s enormous, the doors are nailed shut, the gardens are overgrown… and long-forgotten magic is returning. When a disgruntled gargoyle wakes up in his presence, Callen must befriend Zariel and earn her trust before it’s too late. A dark threat is growing in the shadows and only a Gargoyle Guardian can stop it.
“Magic is neither good, nor bad – it simply multiplies the dreams you feed it. Be careful what you wish for…”
This is such a great first book in the series, a series which I hope will be a long one. As you read this you begin to imagine that it is yourself moving into the mainson, you trying to work out the mystery. It’s totally believable and the more you read this the more you start to picture the characters in your mind. By the time I had finished this book I definitely wanted my own Gargoyle and I definitely wanted to live in the mainson.
I liked how this book showed that some friendships don’t come naturally and that some needed to be worked on.
I am really looking forward to the next in the series and I only hope the wait isn’t too long.
Alyssa and the Spell Garden
- Written by Alexandra Sheppard
- Published by Faber
I love nothing more than discovering a new author, so when I got my hands on this book, I dived straight in.
When 11-year-old Alyssa is forced to spend the summer holiday with her mum’s family, who she’s never met before, her latent magical powers explode into life. Her great aunt runs a secret magic school in her Spell Garden where local kids can hone their power. The garden grows magical spell ingredients that have protected their family and the wider neighbourhood for decades – ever since they arrived from Jamaica with their mother Effie in the 1960s. But something is going wrong and the magic is running out! Can Alyssa use her new, unpredictable magic to set things right?
There is so much that I loved about this book.
While Alyssa’s parents are heading for a divorce, they decide to send her to a great aunt’s house for the summer holiday. It would be ok but Alyssa has never met these people. As soon as she gets there strange things start to happen.
Turns out that both Alyssa and her mother have magic in them and they all need to come together to stop evil.
This has so many powerful messages running throughout the book.
We see how separation and divorce affects some people, and how sometimes it’s for the best and will work out ok.
We see how we can work together to protect our community and how it can make us stronger people.
And there is an important environmental message.
I enjoyed experiencing the Jamaican culture that ran throughout the book. I absolutely loved how the chapter beginnings have a lovely illustration of wildflowers.
I’m hoping there will more to come.
Skylar and the K-Pop Headteacher
- Written by Luan Goldie
When 11-year-old K-Pop obsessed Skylar inexplicably switches bodies with her super strict 71-year-old headteacher, Ms Callus, she’s thrown into a hilarious world of dancing old ladies gone viral and school rules thrown out the window, as she tries to figure out how on earth to swap back! But then the chance to meet her favourite boyband AZ8 in real life changes everything, and Skylar must decide whether her K-Pop dream come true is worth risking being stuck as an old lady forever…
Singing with laugh-out-loud moments, this is a joyful and uplifting tale of friendship, fandom and chasing your dreams.
I’ll hold my hands up and say before I read this book I did have to google what a K Pop band was.
After I did this I settled down with the book.
This was extremely funny and I can see this being very popular.
This is extremely modern especially with all the social media involved in this story.
It reminded me of Freaky Friday.
I enjoyed how the two characters experienced the other person’s life.
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