Blogtober Day Nineteen: Books With Witches

Hello, lovelies! Who doesn’t love witches around Halloween? That’s today’s topic: witches. I want to talk about some books I really loved that feature witches. Some of them are maybe not called witches, but they are all books with people that do magic. There were entirely too many to choose from, so I tried to stick to the more traditional idea of magic.

Year One by Nora Roberts: This is an ‘end of the world’ sort of story, so if you’re feeling overly anxious in the world’s current state, maybe skip this one. But this trilogy is incredible. A plague spreads through the world, some die, but others awaken with magical powers or identities. I loved the creativity of this story and what the world could look like in a situation like this. I also sort of loved how dark this story was. Nora Robert’s series are usually romantic and dramatic, but this was the opposite. The series was dark and gritty and I loved every page of all three books.

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno: What a sweet summer story. I know this is a list for October books, which this one would still be good for. It’s a story of family and self discovery. The women in this family all have magic, but it’s nearing Georgina’s eighteenth birthday and she still doesn’t have her magic. The twin sisters were my favorite. I loved the family dynamics and the tight knit community.

Witches of Ash and Ruin by E. Latimer: I read this one recently and it was everything I wanted it to be. The setting was stunning and the characters were fascinating. The story follows two covens that have to come together to prevent three brothers bringing something back to life. There was OCD representation and one of the main characters is bisexual. I highly recommend this one.

Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moria Fowley-Doyle: This one is less witches and more someone casts a spell from a mysterious spell book they find and it affects everyone in town. It was full of mystery and incredible characters. The relationship dynamics between all the different character were what made this story so great. There were friendships and romantic relationships that I was easily invested in. I also loved the representation. Two of the characters we follow are bisexual.

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling: Gay witches. That’s all I want to say. This book takes place in Salem, MA (I just love books that take place in my home state). There are all sorts of witches for all the elements. I really liked that the rules oof magic are very clearly defined which is something I always appreciate. There were really great family dynamics too. I just all around loved it.

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg: Ceony has just graduated from magic school and as an apprentice must learn from a master magician. She was hoping to be assigned to a metal magician, but instead she gets paper. She will bond with paper forever. What I loved about this book was the creativity of the magic. Magic works with materials, metal, paper, and glass, among others. I really enjoyed getting to see Ceony learn this type of magic (called folding). It was such a fun and enjoyable story.

The Scapegracers by Hannah Abigail Clarke: Sideways is a witch and a lesbian. When she is hired by the three most popular girls at her school to cast a spell at their first Halloween party of the year. Things don’t go quite as Sideways planned and she somehow ends up absorbed into their friendship. I loved these girls. They’re fierce, they’re angry, and they don’t take shit from a gods damned soul. I loved literally every page and I am so happy it’s a trilogy. I loved that Sideways barely knew what she was doing, but still took the time to teach her new friends what she knew and let them learn new things along with her. They’re my all time favorite girl gang.

That’s all I have for you today. These are a few books with witches or magicians that I really enjoyed and I hope you will too! What books with witches did I leave out that I should know about? Please leave me some recommendations below!

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

The Rise of Magicks by Nora Roberts

GoodReads Summary:
After the sickness known as the Doom destroyed civilization, magick has become commonplace, and Fallon Swift has spent her young years learning its ways. Fallon cannot live in peace until she frees those who have been preyed upon by the government or the fanatical Purity Warriors, endlessly hunted or locked up in laboratories, brutalized for years on end. She is determined to save even those who have been complicit with this evil out of fear or weakness—if, indeed, they can be saved.
Strengthened by the bond she shares with her fellow warrior, Duncan, Fallon has already succeeded in rescuing countless shifters and elves and ordinary humans. Now she must help them heal—and rediscover the light and faith within themselves. For although from the time of her birth, she has been The One, she is still only one. And as she faces down an old nemesis, sets her sights on the enemy’s stronghold, and pursues her destiny—to finally restore the mystical shield that once protected them all—she will need an army behind her…
Review:
The final book in the Chronicles of The One series is one that I was eagerly anticipating to be released and then to be delivered to me. I was so excited when it came. I wanted to start it right away, but school work had to be done first. When I did finally start it, I flew through it.
In the first book, we follow a cast of characters escaping the end of the world. We still get to see these characters in the second and third books but the story is more focus on their children in book three. Specifically, ‘The One’ also named Fallon. I didn’t love this in book two, but in this finale, I came to really enjoy it. I really adored the planning and then the action that this book had. It was full of good overcoming the evil that was plaguing the world.
These characters that we met as fetuses and then follow as they grow into the adults the are in The Rise of Magicks. I thought this was really great considering that I felt the first book lacked a bit of character development. It was certainly made up for in this aspect.
But the best part of this book was the action. There were several battle scenes as those on the side of the light fought to regain control of Washington, D.C., New York City, and then the Shield where all of this madness started. There were significant losses on both sides and Nora really tore my heart out a few times.
I also really loved the magical ideas behind the end of the world as we know it today. I thought this was compelling, the idea that the Doom that killed most of the population also somehow brought out magical abilities or attributes.
All in all, Nora did an incredible job with this series. It’s different from most of the other things she’s written and I just genuinely enjoyed it. I can’t wait to see what other kinds of fantastical stories Nora might come up with next.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

Of Blood and Bone by Nora Roberts

GoodReads Summary:
They look like an everyday family living an ordinary life. But beyond the edges of this peaceful farm, unimaginable forces of light and dark have been unleashed.
Fallon Swift, approaching her thirteenth birthday, barely knows the world that existed before—the city where her parents lived, now in ruins and reclaimed by nature since the Doom sickened and killed billions. Traveling anywhere is a danger, as vicious gangs of Raiders and fanatics called Purity Warriors search for their next victim. Those like Fallon, in possession of gifts, are hunted—and the time is coming when her true nature, her identity as The One, can no longer be hidden.
In a mysterious shelter in the forest, her training is about to begin under the guidance of Mallick, whose skills have been honed over centuries. She will learn the old ways of healing; study and spar; encounter faeries and elves and shifters; and find powers within herself she never imagined. And when the time is right, she will take up the sword, and fight. For until she grows into the woman she was born to be, the world outside will never be whole again.
Review:
Part of me is honestly glad that I waited to read this so close to when the third book is being released. I only have to wait a few weeks for the series to conclude rather than a whole year. I found myself liking this book better than the first. While I always enjoy seeing the world end, I much preferred seeing the aftermath and years after the end of the world as we knew it.
Of Blood and Bone follows Fallon mostly, who is foretold to be The One. The descendant of someone important that I really feel like I should know where I’ve heard it before and I think it might even be from another of Nora’s series. I really liked Fallon. She starts off as a young girl and we get to see her grow and train and come to accept the responsibility that fate has bestowed upon her. She grew into this responsibility gracefully. Obviously, this wasn’t without its teenage moments and I thought that just made it all the better. Fallon was smart and determined, caring and honorable, fierce and strong. I really love her. And even more, I love the love interest that is alluded to.
We get to see the many characters we got to know in the first book and I was glad about that. I think this book gave us a bit more of the character development that was missing from Year One, but also the whole book is pretty fast-paced. It follows a time period of several years, slowing here and there. So, it felt like we didn’t get to know everyone as well as we could have. But I think this book filled in a bit that I thought was missing from the first. We also added a handful of characters, which didn’t really help this. Despite that, I still really liked getting to see the friends and found family that Lana had left behind.
I love the magic. Magical dystopias are not something I’ve read too many of. So, this one was a fun twist on the end of the world. Most I’ve read use magic to prevent the end of the world, and in this one magic came from the end of the world.
Nora leaves us in suspense, giving us only crumbs to try to piece together. I’m dying to know how this story will end. I will be waiting as patiently as I am able to for the final installment of this trilogy.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

Year One by Nora Roberts

GoodReads Summary:
It began on New Year’s Eve.
The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed–and more than half of the world’s population was decimated.
Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magic rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river–or in the ones you know and love the most.
As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. At the same time, other travelers are heading west too, into a new frontier. Chuck, a tech genius trying to hack his way through a world gone offline. Arlys, a journalist who has lost her audience but uses pen and paper to record the truth. Fred, her young colleague, possessed of burgeoning abilities and an optimism that seems out of place in this bleak landscape. And Rachel and Jonah, a resourceful doctor and a paramedic who fend off despair with their determination to keep a young mother and three infants in their care alive.
In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.
The end has come. The beginning comes next.
Review:
Year One was…different from Nora’s other books. I still enjoyed it, but it definitely wasn’t her usual mystery or romance. This book follows a cast of characters as the world as we know it ends. They struggle to find safety and truth in this new world.
I really liked all of the characters we follow. They each brought something different to the story. I’m not going to go into each of them because there are just too many. I really liked all the various abilities that surfaced after The Doom. They were creative and interesting abilities.
I thought this story brought really interesting conversations about good versus bad kinds of people. After people gain abilities, just like regular people, there turn out to be good Uncannys and bad. The characters talk about how, regardless of any supernatural abilities, some people are inherently good and some are just bad.
I liked that this was s dystopian with magic. There are tons of books out there where the world ends scientifically, so the magical twist was something I enjoyed.
I really didn’t love the direction the end of this book went in. A certain character has something happen and things just went so far into left field. I felt like it kind of invalidated everything that happened previously. Though I am interested to see where things go in the next book.
I didn’t love this book as much as I thought I was going to. I enjoyed it and will definitely be continuing the series. I’m interested to see what exactly the magic is that kick-started the end of the world.

Quotes:

“You have to think of the positive, of the light, or the dark takes over.”

“Major, monumental crises bring out the best or the worst in us—sometimes both. And sometimes those major, monumental crises have no effect on certain types. Which means, no matter what the circumstances, assholes remain assholes.”

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.

Book Tag – Book Blogger Confessions

Yes bookworms, another book tag. We found this one posted by Sionna at Books in her Eyes, so go check out her answers to these fun questions.

The Rules – 

Answer the questions truthfully.

Tag five book bloggers to answer these questions next.

Which book did you most recently DNF?

Amanda- I make a point to not DNF books. So the closest I’ve come would be I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman which you can see my review here.

Antonia- Tequila and Tea Bags by Laura Barnard. I was really excited for this one but absolutely could not connect with the protagonist and couldn’t manage to get past about 30% because of it.

What book is your guilty pleasure?

Amanda- This has to be any of the Argeneau series by Lynsay Sands. They’re creative but filthy and I love it when the new ones come out. Who doesn’t love a sexy vampire romance?

Antonia- I probably would have chosen the same as Amanda but in an effort to be different I’ll pick The Dark-Hunters series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Sexy immortals and greek mythology? Yes please.

Which book do you love to hate?

Amanda- This is a tough one because I don’t have one that comes immediately to mind. After looking at my GoodReads list of books that I’ve read, The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco (review here) is definitely a book that I dislike (I don’t really hate any books) but I liked the second one a bunch, so love to hate I guess?

Antonia- I always think this questions a little weird. Usually I just love it or hate it, there’s not much in between for me.

Which book would you throw into the sea? 

Amanda- What bookworm in their right mind would throw a perfectly good book (or even a perfectly terrible book) into the ocean?

Antonia- Yeah, I agree entirely with Amanda.

Which book have you read the most? 

Amanda- Looking for Alaska by John Green. My favorite book in the world. I’ve reread it so many times it’s ridiculous. Check out my review here.

Antonia- A lot. If I had to guess though, I’d say The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. I read it at least once a year and it’s been over ten years since I first picked it up.

Which book would you hate to receive as a present?

Amanda- Well, I wouldn’t hate to receive any books for free. But I much prefer when gift givers ask me specifically what books I need or want.

Antonia- Nothing specifically. I mostly agree with Amanda; I’d rather be able to pick out my own books with the exception of a few people who know my tastes well enough.

Which book could you not live without?

Amanda- All of them? Seriously, I’m supposed to pick just one book?

Harry Potter (all of them) by J.K. Rowling

Looking for Alaska by John Green

A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas

Antonia- The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory

Beastly by Alex Flinn

The Witness by Nora Roberts

The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist

And like 5,000 others.

Which book made you the angriest?

Amanda- The Young Elites series by Marie Lu (reviewed here.) The main character of this series is absolutely infuriating, but like I also totally loved her. She just made me mad like 90% of the time.

Antonia- I’ve talked about this one before but I have to choose Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima. She killed off one of my favorite characters from the previous series and I couldn’t handle it. To the point where I refused to finish it for the longest time.

Which book made you cry the most?

Amanda- I feel like I’ve mentioned this a million times at this point but, The Air Awakens series by Elise Kova made me cry for like an hour. My husband just hugged me and asked me if I was okay like a hundred times. He definitely thought I was never going to stop crying.

Antonia- All of them. Not literally of course but there’s a lot and almost always, if a book made me cry once, it’ll make me cry every time. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman has always been one of the worst. Most recently is probably Year One by Nora Roberts. A character dies suddenly which would be tragic enough but he has the same name as my husband so I found it harder to read than I might otherwise.

Which book cover do you hate the most?

Amanda- I just talked about this with someone the other day. I don’t have any specific book covers that I hate, but I don’t particularly love book covers with faces on them. The faces that their making are always so awkward and I just think they could have done better with something other than a random face.

Antonia- I also hate the awkward face covers. Especially when half the face is cut off. It just doesn’t look appealing to me in any way.

Tags – 

Danielle at YAAllegience 

Sara at Bookish Traveling Wife

Jess & Teagan at Fiction No Chaser

Ashley at Thrifty Bibliophile

Alana at The Bookish Chick

Feel free to complete this tag even if we didn’t tag you specifically and link back to our page! Thanks for reading bookworms.

Antonia’s Top Ten Tuesday- Red, White, and Blue Covers

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week we’re given a new prompt for a top ten list of all things bookish. This week is top ten books with Red, White and Blue book covers (in honor of the 4th of July). I was a little surprised how many books I have with these colors though not many have all three. Here are my choices for this week:

Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn

School’s Out – Forever by James Patterson

The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan

Eragon and Eldest Omnibus by Christopher Paolini

 

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

 

Gameboard of the Gods by Richelle Mead

Iron Gold by Pierce Brown

Year One by Nora Roberts

 

Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Shadowcaster by Cinda Williams Chima

 

 

I’d loved to see all the pretty covers everyone else came up with. Thanks for visiting!

-Antonia

Antonia’s Top Ten Tuesday- Travel Bug

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week we’re given a new prompt for a top ten list of all things bookish. This week’s topic is – Top Ten Books That Awaken the Travel Bug in me. I had trouble with this one because most of the books I read don’t take place in the real world. So I came up with five books I’d want to travel to and five books I don’t.

 

Places that Awaken the Travel Bug in Me

 
1. Beastly by Alex Flinn- This is the only book that’s ever made me want to visit New York City even though it barely even takes place there. (The characters rarely leave the house.)
2. Paper Towns by John Green- ROAD TRIP. Their crazy, headlong trip up the East Coast (including pit stops timed to the second) just seemed like so much fun.
3. Friday Harbor series by Lisa Kleypas- I immediately wanted to visit this cute little island off the coast of Washington. I actually now live on another cute little island off the coast of Washington so I plan to visit Friday Harbor sometime soon. (It’s just a ferry ride away.)
4. Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy by Nora Roberts- Ireland has always been at the top of my travel list but I’d love to visit almost all the settings from Nora’s books.
5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen- Yes, I know this takes place in the past. However, the regency era books are the ones that always made me want to visit England.

Places that Don’t Awaken the Travel Bug in Me

 
1. Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout- I loved this series but most of it takes place in West Virginia which, no offense, but I have no interest in going to.
2. Bloodlines by Richelle Mead- I also loved this series but I’m definitely more of a beach girl. The desert just sounds awful.
3. Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts- This one takes place in Montana and I have never in my life thought to myself, “I’d like to go there”. (Again, no offense to Montana.)
4. Year One by Nora Roberts- Fantastic book. However, I could really do without two-thirds of the world’s population dying.
5. Maximum Ride by James Patterson- For me, this one’s mostly included because so many negative things happen to the characters that it skewed the way I thought of all the places they went to.

 

Well these are my answers for this week. I’d love to hear what everyone else came up with. Thanks for reading!

-Antonia

Antonia’s Top Ten Tuesday- Book Worlds

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.Each week we’re given a new prompt for a top ten list of all things bookish. This week’s topic is top ten bookish worlds I’d want to (or wouldn’t want to) live in. As usual, I agree with Amanda so I’m going to take her idea and do five book worlds I do want to live in and five I don’t.

 

Book Worlds I Would Want to Live In

1. The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory- Magic, dragons, elves, unicorns, and tons of other magical creatures? Yes please.
2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien- I’d like to live in this one only after the events from these books take place and the war is over. I’d hole up in the shire with books and food and gardening. It would just be perfect.
3. Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling- Again, I would love to live here after the war was over. I just can’t imagine anything better than being a witch and going to Hogwarts.
4. Dragon Jousters by Mercedes Lackey- Have you guys figured out yet how much I love dragons? I seriously loved the way they were portrayed in this series. Almost like very large, slightly dangerous pets.
5. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis- These were the books that really got me into reading. I mean the staying up all night, crying over fictional characters kind of reading. I would LOVE to be able to go to Narnia.

2. Book Worlds I Wouldn’t Want to Live In

 

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins- Were these books amazing? Yes. Would I ever so much as visit this world for even five seconds? No.
2. The Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima- I loved this world. It had fantastic characters and the setting and cultures were extremely interesting, but there was just as much about this world that I didn’t like. It’s on the brink of an all out war, they only just got rid of a semi-corrupt government and for a country that only ever has female rulers, the treatment of women was sometimes annoying.
3. Year One by Nora Roberts- I love Nora Roberts and I love dystopians but I would never want to live in one of these post-apocalyptic worlds.
4. Graceling by Kristin Cashore- This one actually sits between the two categories for me. I loved so much about this world but it was also very flawed.
5. The Devouring by Simon Holt- I’d blocked this one out until I was looking through my booklist while making this list. This. Series. TERRIFIED ME. Demons called Vours that possess people. The whole thing was creepy and frightening and I want nothing to do with it.

Well these are my choices this week. I really loved this topic and want to see what everyone else came up with as well. Let me know what you think in the comments. Thanks for reading!

-Antonia

Antonia’s Top Ten Tuesday- Best Character Names

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week we’re given a new prompt for a top ten list of all things bookish (feel free to put your own spin on it). This week is “Best Character Names (make this as narrow/broad as you’d like)”. Now since TTT is almost entirely based on opinion I don’t know that I would say these are the “best” names; however, they’re names I particularly liked.

1. Kvothe- The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss- Just try to pronounce that. The narrator actually tells you how at the beginning of the first book; “pronounced nearly the same as ‘quothe’. ” It might just be because I love the character and the book so much or because it’s so unique but this name definitely tops my list.

2. Pug- Riftwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist- For a guy who becomes the most powerful magician in the world, his name is extremely underwhelming and I love that.

3. Raisa ana’Marianna- Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima- While I think Raisa is a very pretty name, that’s not why it’s on this list. I love the way the woman of the Gray Wolf Line are named. The princess’/queens’ first names are followed by “ana'(her mother’s name)”. So Raisa’s sister is Mellony ana’Marianna and their mother is Marianna ana’Lissa. I just though this was such a cool detail.

4. Maximum Ride- Maximum Ride by James Patterson- I’m sorry but how could anyone not love this name. She’s a girl named Max (I love when authors don’t gender stereotype names) and she and the rest of her flock named themselves. Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel. I can totally see a bunch of kids naming themselves like this and I absolutely love it.

5. Ember- Talon series by Julie Kagawa- I don’t normal go for names that are really obvious (she’s a dragon named Ember), but I couldn’t help liking this one. It’s pretty and tough at the same time.

6. Aza- Turtles All The Way Down by John Green- I’m not sure why I love this one so much. It’s simple and unique and pretty.

7. Antonia- Year One by Nora Roberts- I just had to include this one. I NEVER find my name in books so I was ridiculously happy when I read this one.

8.Everyone- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien- This HAD to be on this list. Every name Tolkien created is unique and amazing.

9. Everyone- The Obsidian Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory- My reasons for this one are very similar to why I included Tolkien; all the names (especially the Elven ones) are unique. I could barely pronounce half of them and that just made me love them more. I’m weird like that.

10. Everyone- The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer- Particularly the women each of the books are named for, i.e. Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter. I really love the little twists they have on the original fairytales.

These are my choices for this week. I’d love to hear your own opinions and as always, thanks for visiting our blog.
-Antonia