Single Witch's Survival Guide

Jane Madison #4

by Mindy Klasky

Jane Madison’s life is perfect: She’s left her unsatisfying job as a librarian, moved to the country with her boyfriend David (who just happens to be her hunky astral warder), and opened a school for witches.

Alas, Jane never counted on her students running roughshod over every school rule she creates… And she never expected a mandate from Hecate’s Council to complete a Major Working by the end of the first semester… And it never crossed her mind that she and David would fight over every little thing that goes wrong.

Before long, Jane wonders if she should ditch the Madison Academy and retreat to life in the city. But that would mean giving up on her professional dreams – and tossing her love-life in the trash. Jane desperate needs the Single Witch’s Survival Guide!

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Fiction, Witches, Chick Lit, Magic

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 7, 2013

About the author

Mindy Klasky learned to read when her parents shoved a book in her hands and told her that she could travel anywhere in the world through stories. She never forgot that advice.

Mindy's travels took her through multiple careers, including copyright lawyer and law librarian. Mindy now writes full time. Her books fall in a number of genres -- including romantic comedies, paranormal romance, and traditional fantasy.

In her spare time, Mindy knits, quilts, and tries to tame the endless to-be-read shelf in her home library. Her husband and two cats do their best to fill the left-over minutes in her days.

Reviews

[Sherwood Smith]

Chick lit with magic.

When I'm in the mood for humor, romance, and action that involves relationships between people rather than blood, guts, and the fate of nations, this sort of book hits the spot.

And this particular one hit the spot with an engaging heroine who is not only still trying to learn what her style of magic is, but how to make it work with her love life. This is complicated by the fact that her sweetie is also her warder; in Klasky's magical world, witches not only require familiars but warders, rather like electricity needs its ground wire and its pvc casing.

Jane lives with her warder sweetie David outside Washington DC, and she's contemplating starting a magic school. She finds herself pushed from theory to practice by her well-meaning but volatile mother, sending her a pair of students who (it turns out) have been rejected by covens elsewhere. Compounding that difficulty, someone shows up from David's past determined to see the school fail as paybacks. And if that isn't enough trouble, Jane's best friend is getting married . . . and her entire family is "helping" her plan the wedding.

This last problem is closer to a real life problem, which is why the book worked so well for me. There is the wonderfully described magic, the quest to master it, but interweaved are problems that resonate with real life, like dealing with one's difficult mother, how to teach when there is no real guide, working with difficult personalities, and how to find boundaries when one's work and love lives intersect.

All told in a wryly funny, vivid first person. I read this book three times as a beta reader, and I'm looking forward to the next.

[Carrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good one

I love this series. However, I have only one issue with this book: why is the word 'alas' suddenly a favorite?

[JoLene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Between a 3 and 3.5
I really enjoyed the first trilogy about Jane Madison, a librarian who discovers that she is a witch. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite as engaged with this one. Jane has decided to open a magic school where she wants to teach magic differently than the typical rota (think traditional school to Montessori). Her mother sends her two witches to teach and each witch comes with their own warder and familiar.

On the plus side, the world building around the magic system is complete and interesting, however, it was a bit overdone. On the minus side, there were too many characters and many of them were a bit one-dimensional. Also, there was not a good conclusion as this is part of a new trilogy.

[Ken Finlay · Rating 2 out of 5]

There should be a law preventing authors from saying a book is the first in a series when it actually the fourth.
I was wondering why I found it so difficult to read "Single Witch's Survival Guide" and it was only at that point I discovered that, while it may well be the first in the Jane Madison Academy series, it is the fourth book overall.
I made it to the halfway point before I decided not to finish it. The pace is remarkably slow, the characters are under-developed and the back story (i.e. the first three books) is not explained.
It is certainly possible to read it as a standalone but I wouldn't advise it.
2 Stars.

[Nathalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jane is back at it and is not only living with David *insert swoon* but has started her own school of basically misfits. Trying to get students is difficult, but not as difficult as the two Clara gifts her. Of course this book would be nothing without its villain, and quite a nasty one at that. I haven’t wanted to punch a character in quite a while but I definitely want to punch that jerk. Between training her students and trying to save her school, this book is a lovable drama filled addition to the series, with our favorite hot mess witch doing what she does best!

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a while since I read the first three books, but this was a satisfying conclusion. Things are pretty bleak and tense until the end. Jane is having trouble with David, with the new students, her mother, and a Court official hellbent on ruining her because of a beef he has with David.
My favorite character in the series is the familiar Neko. I'd love to read a book about his history and current life.

[Tori Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Jane Madison series is such a fun group of stories. It’s been about 8 years since I read the first 3 books about the world of Jane Madison and David Montrose. Yet, I easily fell right back in with this novel. If you enjoyed the first 3 books in this series, the 4th won’t disappoint.

[Starla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I read this book as fast as humanly possible. I couldn't put it down. Jane and David living in the country. Her witches school and the test. This was a page turner and I could not read fast enough. I have to read the next book and see what happens next in Jane's new life as a witch.

[R. Jetleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic read! I loved this book. Klasky blends magic, humour, awesome plot and loveable characters into a terrific read. I especially loved her afterword explaining how the book and all its various elements came to be.

[Donna Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading

Another good book by Mindy Klasky. Introduction of some interesting characters, and further development of the main characters, along with an interesting storyline, make this fourth book in the series very much worth reading.

[Tillie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loving this series. Want to see more.

[Sue Q · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed it :) Quick read.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this one. Jane is coming into her own, they introduced a villain we can hate, we saw David really stumble so Jane had to be the strong grown-up one. All around a good story.

[Melliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book to go...

[Anne Patkau · Rating 3 out of 5]

x-rated. Mom Clara sends Jane students, but Hecate's Court slimy Chief Clerk sets school tough tests in revenge against her warder David.

[Tsana Dolichva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Single Witch's Survival Guide by Mindy Klasky is a sequel to the author's Jane Madison trilogy and the first in the Jane Madison Academy series. Unlike the earlier books, this one was self-published. I read the original Jane Madison trilogy several years ago and, in fact, books 2 and 3 were two of the very first ebooks I ever bought (from Fictionwise to read on Stanza, back when both of those existed). You don't have to have read the original series to pick up Single Witch's Survival Guide, but I think readers who have read the earlier books will enjoy this book more. This review (and, quite frankly, the blurb) does contain spoilers for the original series, but not really any that weren't totally predictable.

The cover sort of screams "chick-lit with magic" which is a fair description, despite the unpleasant moniker of "chick-lit". Jane has set up shop on a farm just outside of DC and is planning to start her own unconventional magical academy. Then she actually gets a couple of students and her life is thrown into disarray as she tries to work out how to a) teach them magic b) deal with them as people and c) not yield to external pressures to give up on the school and on inherited collection of magical books and paraphenalia.

The external pressure comes in the form of an unpleasant Council employee with a grudge against David, Jane's boyfriend/warder, who goes out of his way to make their lives difficult and tries to have the Academy shut down. The main action the centres around Jane's relationships with her witches and David, and her striving to jump through the hoops Hecate's Council has set up for them. I was a little disappointed that Jane's best friend did not feature as heavily as she did in the earlier books, but it mostly made sense given Jane's new living arrangements. Still I would have liked more resolution on that front in the end.

The two witches introduced certainly added to the tension by introducing new conflicts with Jane. One (attempted to) compulsively film everything around her and was bordering on being a drama queen. The other was relatively normal in her behaviours except for having an affected British accent (and, quite frankly, a slightly inconsistent one in terms of regional word-choice, but anyway). Her accent annoyed Jane disproportionately, in my opinion, and if the character had actually been British, instead of from Arizona, Jane's thoughts would have been really quite racist xenophobic. As it was, it still made me feel rather uncomfortable. (And confused, since obviously British accents are superior to American ones, yay, colonial brainwashing.) But that was my biggest problem with the book.

I also had very little opinion on the new witches' entourages of a warder and a familiar each. Although in the context of worldbuilding their existences made perfect sense, I didn't feel they added much to the plot except for the one warder who managed to distinguish himself. I also thought there was a little too much wording spent on waxing lyrical about the magic spells. Obviously some description and explanation of the magical system is good, but I found it too repetitive and skimmed through some of those pages (which at least weren't as long as they could have been).

Obviously, Single Witch's Survival Guide is not for everyone. But readers after a relatively cheerful suburban/rural fantasy with witches and hunky guys and a gay cat-man will find it a pleasant read. Good for a non-serious diversion.

4 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews on my blog.

[Amanda Ryan-Romo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went into this book with pretty high expectations given my love of Klasky's original Jane Madison series, which I thought was quite brilliantly put together. This book sat on my "kindle shelf" for quite a while before I finally cracked it because I was afraid I would regret reading it. Fortunately, Klasky did not fail and pulled off the start of a new, but definitely connected, series.

First, the original trilogy is relatively light on drama (particularly for this genre). This book is much different, but in substantial and meaningful ways. In the original trilogy (which you MUST read before this one), Jane does a lot of growing up. In this book, she actually has to function like a mature adult and a leader; while she clearly has matured, her capacity for leadership is pretty questionable, and that is a major premise in this book. It is Klasky's depiction of Jane growing into that role that causes this book to shine. Klasky really captures the emotional roller-coaster that Jane experiences as she learns to lead her new coven. The problems and issues that come up are very much character-driven and are very believable.

Second, I liked the development of the relationship between Jane and David. I could very easily envision a couple struggling with the issues they struggled with. The other characters were well-written as well, with Raven and Emma being deep enough, and the other supporting characters being necessarily shallow. I loved Jane's Grandmother's role - it fit in perfectly and kept a lovely character connected to a plot that really could have included her far less.

While the character-development and realism is quite good, there is nothing terribly thought-provoking about this book, hence 4 stars. I gather Klasky was aiming to spread messages about environmentalism, but when you solve major environmental issues with magic, that really undercuts those messages. Aside from that, this book was well-worth the read.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this from Library Thing to read and review. Having read the other books in this series by the author, I was eager to begin this one. The story is a continuation of Jane, David and Neko, but it really is not necessary to have read the earlier books in the series to understand this one. I really enjoyed seeing how the characters mature and grow into each other and the storyline. I did think, however, that the author spent a bit too much time discussing and describing the witchcraft processes and procedures. I found it often confusing, difficult to really understand these, and I am not really sure how necessary it was to the book’s plot. In this story, Jane opens a school for witches. There are two new character witches introduced, Raven and Emma, and a warder and familiar for each. Just learning to get along is one of the group’s bit challenges. The big problem is that Jane really hasn’t gotten to the point where she is ready to start the school, and now obviously must jump in feet first. Along the way there are numerous stumbling blocks as well as visits from the clerk from the court who will approve her school, who turns out to be working with others to make the school a failure from the get-go. The witches, led by Jane, work toward the big day, when they will create a magic event to pass the court’s big test. However, David, Jane’s warder, is on a mission to find out what exactly is going on with this court rep who is working to ruin their school. I found this book a good read, but found myself skimming over the many, many passages of witch processes and procedures. They quickly served to make the story drag for me, and, as I said, may not have been an integral part of the story anyway. If you enjoyed the others in this series, I am sure you will enjoy this one.

[Jaime Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been eagerly awaiting the next chapter of Jane Madison's story since I closed the book on "Magic and the Modern Girl". I'm THRILLED that Ms. Klasky has delivered with book one of what looks to be a promising new trilogy!

'Single Witch's Survival Guide' begins several months after we last encounter Jane. She's got the idea of her Academy brewing, but she's yet to put plans into action. The basic premise of this book is that two students arrive at her doorstep, along with a mandate from Hecate's Court that gives a deadline for the completion of a Major Working or else the Academy will lose its Charter and Jane will lose her collection of magical goods.

The premise is not dissimilar to other books featuring Jane and her friends. But, there is an introduction to a new supporting cast of characters within this story, as well as several reminders of those we've already grown to love - Gran, Clara, Melissa, Neko, David. The one slight disappointment I had was that the descriptions of the preparations for the Major Working seemed to drive the book. There wasn't a lot of outside plot woven in and that made some parts a little tedious.

I would've loved more subplot or, even better, some further delving into the lives of the newest characters - Jane's two students, Emma & Raven. It felt like there was a bit of a disconnect between them and the story, when they should have been much more integral to the action.

That being said, I also recognize that this is the start of a new series. So a few cliffhangers can certainly be expected. Overall, I'm sad I finished the book so quickly because now I'm back to my waiting game for Book 2! :taps foot impatiently:

[Gabby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from Library Thing's Early Reader Program. For anyone who wants to know just what it is that Witch's do, this is it. Forget all the stuff about ugly hags with wart-on-top-of-wart faces, or a bunch of old crones stirring huge cauldrons full of bats, Hemlock, and spider webs. The witches of today simply want to perfect their skills, and possibly do some good in the world. Not to say the bad witches aren't out there complete with political agenda and wands, but Jane Madison wants to start up a Witch's Academy to teach wannabe novices how to be the best witches they can be. She believes she can accomplish this by employing the help of her Familiar (who used to be a cat), her Warder (a hunky kind of guy and Jane's boyfriend), and various other characters who show up in this, the first in a planned series about Jane Madison's Academy.



For anyone who likes to read about witch activity from the point of view that The Wicked Witch Of The West is not all there is to it, this is an entertaining and fun place to start. That is what prompted me to give the book a 4 Star rating. The writing is good, the characters are engaging, and the plot is well developed. The problem for me is, I found out by reading this book that I just don't care that much about Witches. There's good use of humor in this book, particularly in exchanges between Jane and her mother. That along with likable characters kept me interested in reading to the end. I think the pluses are more than sufficient to keep readers on board, and I believe many will want more. I just don't know anyone to whom I could recommend this book. Witches just aren't my thing in this particular context.

[Traci Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 I just finished this book, and re-read the first 3 in the Jane Madison series. Once I finish the series to date, including the novellas, I plan to come back and do a detailed review of the first 3 and the last 2.
Before leaving this here though, I do want to say if you are looking for a light foray in the magic world with some fun side characters to give this series a shot. While the author does some recapping I would definitely recommend starting with book one "Girl's Guide to Witchcraft" in the Jane Madison series and not starting here. The original series is a very easy read and takes no time to get settled into the story, it is lighthearted and a fun way to pass the day.

Happy Reading!

*Thoughts from before I read the book - Very confused as to why this is being shelved as a "new" series in some places and book 4 of the regular Jane Madison series in other places. Book 5 just came out in the Jane Madison series and that is what made me go back and look around for her other books as I only remembered there being 3 in the original Jane series, which I loved. Someone really dropped the ball unfortunately with promoting this series and the books that followed the original trilogy. Though now that I know there is more I will be on the lookout.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoyed the first three Jane Madison books you’ll enjoy this one as well. I have to admit, I don’t really understand how this is the start of a new series – it’s the same character and a continuation of the same story. It references people and events from first three books. I think it would be very difficult for a new reader to pick it up here and understand who is who and what is going on.

Confusion about the series progression aside, I enjoyed this book a lot. I was thrilled to see more of Jane after thinking that her story ended with the original trilogy, and I wasn’t disappointed. Fans of David can rejoice because he is an important part of the story and we learn even more about his backstory. One little bit at the end made me roll my eyes, though: David’s marriage proposal. I’m a huge fan of David, and thought I would squeal like a little girl if they got engaged, but for some reason I just wasn’t into it. I think it felt a bit rushed after all of their relationship turmoil earlier in the book.

I definitely recommend this for fans of Jane and her unorthodox magic.

[Kim Power · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great third novel in series

The plot ratchets up with a return to the enmity between David and Hecate's Court, with the barely established Jane Madison Academy as the stakes. There is a rupture between Jane and David that never impresses as a contrivance to maintain sexual tension between them. Rather, it feels entirely consistent with both their personalities. An incident that happened me might expect to happen given their personalities. Clara, Gran and Melissa remain, but with lesser roles to play. Foregrounded are Jane's new students. Raven and Emma. Plus assort d wardens and familiars.

[Beth Agejew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three witches, three familiars, three warders, one house, one spiteful and mean clerk of Hecate's Court and a Major Working required within a couple of months.....does the Jane Madison Academy stand any chance of getting and keeping it's charter? Find out and you laugh and cry your way through the Single Witch's Survival Guide by Mindy Klasky. It is an entertaining and enjoyable read, perfect for relaxing in front of a fire or catching some rays on the beach. Whether you are a fan of the supernatural, romance or both, you are sure to enjoy!

[Mitch Please · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this series at first, but I am sick of how weak Jane is and how incapable of communicating everyone in this series is. I thought she would develop over time, but it’s been three years in the plot timeline since she first became a witch, and it’s as if no one has bothered to tell her anything since then about being a witch, despite her living with a Warder and having a familiar. She and David never express anything about their emotions (how is that a relationship?) and all the characters feel cardboard. I quit reading and will not read the rest of the series.

[SL Reads and Reads]

I'm so glad I stumbled upon Klasky. What fun. I enjoy the strong heroines. I'd love a little more interaction between the main characters, though. I feel like we rush-rush-rush through the plot without quite enough understanding of what's in Jane's head. Does it really not affect her at all when her boyfriend moves out of his own house? She just keeps chugging along without thinking too much about it?

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun read, this one beginning the new Jane Madison Academy series. Jane is now living with David in the country & is trying to get motivated about opening her school for witches, when her mother Clara sends her two witches from Sedona to be trained. Enter into the picture the nasty Clerk of Hecate's Court, who has it in for David, and there are busy times for Jane & company. Good, quick story, with a satisfying resolution to it all.

[Shiv · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super.. could not put it down. Love the characters and Clara surprised me.
Off to happily hand over money for the next one...

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very excited to see that there was a new Jane Madison story available. So much so that I reread the origin series. This newest story was a perfect addition and I can't wait to see what else Jane gets up to at her academy!

[Colleen Krcelich · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy, quick read. Kept rooting for everything to work out great for Jane, the witch that starts her own "magicarium". Some of the magic scenes were a bit drawn out for me, but otherwise enjoyed it.