The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches in SpecFic Buddy Reads

Aug 20, 2022 Emma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bipoc, fantasy, magic, netgalley, witches, found-family

This was a very sweet feel good story which was entirely magical. It reminded me very much of the House in the Cerelean Sea. The cast of characters were a delight too. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

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Oct 10, 2022 DivaDiane SM rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, audio

I loved this book.

A quick listen, this was a wonderful story full of wonderful characters, magic and found family. The ending (or the end result) was pretty predictable, but how we got there had several twists I had not expected. There’s a lot of good stuff in here but it’s not all rainbows and unicorns. People will be people and do stupid stuff. I found the 3rd person omniscient narrator who hopped around the characters’ heads a little disconcerting, but I’m willing to forgive that.

The narrat ...more

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May 23, 2023 Lata rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: bipoc-actor, auth-f, sf-f-h, x2023-read, bipoc-author

Mika Moon is masquerading on youtube as a person who can supposedly do magical things. The thing is, she actually is a witch, a member of a secret society of witches who meet periodically, and whose leader (and her foster mother) Primrose Everly is not happy with these fake social media posts as she wants witches to keep a very low profile.

Mika was taken in by Primrose after Mika was orphaned as a baby. Mika had a succession of nannies while growing up, all of whom were let go as soon as they sa Mika Moon is masquerading on youtube as a person who can supposedly do magical things. The thing is, she actually is a witch, a member of a secret society of witches who meet periodically, and whose leader (and her foster mother) Primrose Everly is not happy with these fake social media posts as she wants witches to keep a very low profile.

Mika was taken in by Primrose after Mika was orphaned as a baby. Mika had a succession of nannies while growing up, all of whom were let go as soon as they saw Mika accidentally perform magic. Other than the nannies, and Primrose's stern presence, Mika has led a solitary life, and once adult, has moved house repeatedly before she formed real friendships, or anyone noticed she was magical.

One day, Mika receives an ad in her inbox requesting a witch to tutor three young witches. Having no other responsibilities at the time, Mika checks it out, and meets the girls, Rosetta, Terracotta and Altamira. Mika knows that it's critical the girls are trained, as without it their powers could be dangerous to nonmagical people around them. Also, witches just being in proximity can be dangerous because of the concentration of magic, so Mika has another reason to agree to train the girls so no one gets hurt.

After accepting the job, Mika goes about slowly gaining the trust of the girls (the eldest Rosetta is the most antagonistic and untrusting), getting to know the other inhabitants (a sweet married couple Ken and Ian, a cook Lucie, and a standoffish librarian Jamie). Mika also discovers that the witch who owns the property, Lillian, is somewhere far away and hard to contact, and in order to keep their jobs and the girls safe, they need Mika to teach the girls enough that they can hide the girls' powers when the absent witch's solicitor arrives to meet with the absent Lillian. Her absence is yet another problem they need to deal with, but everyone wants the girls trained first for everyone's safety.

Aaaaannnnd, things go wrong, truths are revealed, feelings are hurt, romance happens, friendships are forged, people are hoodwinked, and eventually, everything is charmingly wrapped up.

I loved this book so much! ...more

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Sep 05, 2022 Lindsay rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, romance

Witches exist but keep a low profile for fear of persecution. They also mostly stay apart because proximity increases the power of the magic around them and the likelihood of magical accidents. Mika Moon is an adult witch who spent her childhood under the supervision of another witch, Primrose who employed a succession of nannies and tutors to bring Mika up. Mika has continued that lack of permanence in her adult life by moving around every six months and never getting close to anyone.

When Mika Witches exist but keep a low profile for fear of persecution. They also mostly stay apart because proximity increases the power of the magic around them and the likelihood of magical accidents. Mika Moon is an adult witch who spent her childhood under the supervision of another witch, Primrose who employed a succession of nannies and tutors to bring Mika up. Mika has continued that lack of permanence in her adult life by moving around every six months and never getting close to anyone.

When Mika is approached to become the witchcraft tutor for three young witches who live together and are being brought up by the staff of a large estate who know they're witches, everything begins to change. Partly because Mika can't abandon these children in the way that she felt Primrose had abandoned her, and partly because of the company of adults who know about witches and accept her as one.

This has a strong The House in the Cerulean Sea vibe, and I think that's high praise. It lacks the cartoonish setup of the Klune book, instead giving a tragic backstory to both Mika and the witches of the post-witchfinder era which makes the wonderful atmosphere of Nowhere House such a delight.

The caring of a group of well-meaning people for each other and the children under their care makes for a wonderfully warm book, and provides healing for Mika in ways she probably didn't even understand she needed. The story comes to a gentle conclusion as a now-strong Mika stands up to the witch establishment for herself and the children that she wishes to keep together.

There's a low-key romance between Mika and Jamie, an earlier generation of stray that the owner of Nowhere House collected and gave a home, and his initial defensiveness of the children provides some great illustration of the care for each other that is the foundation of this found family. The book is also very diverse. Neither Mika or any of the children are white, and the anchors of the found family at Nowhere House are an older gay couple.

I think there's plenty of material for a sequel, or more books written in this universe, and I do hope we get them. ...more

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Sep 05, 2022 Veronique rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read2022, favourites

4.25*

Comfort giving stories are always good and a lot of them feature that wonderful thing that is a ‘found family’. This is a lovely example. Nothing ground breaking per se but done well nonetheless. I read it in two sittings. Beautiful cover too :O)

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