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Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches
A witchy, atmospheric lesbian contemporary romance set in Salem—from the acclaimed author of Fans of the Impossible Life. Perfect for fans of Nina LaCour and Becky Albertalli.
Seventeen-year-old Eleanor is the last person in Salem to believe in witchcraft—or to think that her life could be transformed by mysterious forces. After losing her best friend and first love, Chloe, Eleanor has spent the past year in a haze, vowing to stay away from anything resembling romance.
But when a handwritten guide to tarot arrives in the mail at the witchy souvenir store where Eleanor works, it seems to bring with it the message that magic is about to enter her life. Cynical Eleanor is quick to dismiss this promise, until real-life witch Pix shows up with an unusual invitation. Inspired by the magic and mystery of the tarot, Eleanor decides to open herself up to Pix and her coven of witches, and even to the possibility of a new romance.
But Eleanor’s complicated history continues to haunt her. She will have to reckon with the old ghosts that threaten to destroy everything, even her chance at new love.
Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches is an atmospheric and romantic coming-of-age about learning to make peace with the past in order to accept the beauty of the present.
Seventeen-year-old Eleanor is the last person in Salem to believe in witchcraft—or to think that her life could be transformed by mysterious forces. After losing her best friend and first love, Chloe, Eleanor has spent the past year in a haze, vowing to stay away from anything resembling romance.
But when a handwritten guide to tarot arrives in the mail at the witchy souvenir store where Eleanor works, it seems to bring with it the message that magic is about to enter her life. Cynical Eleanor is quick to dismiss this promise, until real-life witch Pix shows up with an unusual invitation. Inspired by the magic and mystery of the tarot, Eleanor decides to open herself up to Pix and her coven of witches, and even to the possibility of a new romance.
But Eleanor’s complicated history continues to haunt her. She will have to reckon with the old ghosts that threaten to destroy everything, even her chance at new love.
Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches is an atmospheric and romantic coming-of-age about learning to make peace with the past in order to accept the beauty of the present.
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First published May 3, 2022
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About the author
Kate Scelsa
9 books259 followersKate is a writer who grew up in New Jersey and now lives in Brooklyn with her wife and two black cats. Kate's debut novel "Fans of the Impossible Life" was a Fall 2015 Indie Next pick, a Junior Library Guild pick, a 2016 Rainbow List Top Ten Pick, received a starred review in Publishers Weekly, and has been published in ten languages. Kate is a 2016/17 New Georges Audrey resident, a Lambda Literary LGBTQ Writers in Schools author, and the recipient of a Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation grant for playwriting. Her play "Everyone's Fine With Virginia Woolf" had its debut production with Elevator Repair Service Theater in June, 2018 and toured to the Dublin Theatre Festival in October, 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 718 reviews
July 9, 2024
This book made me uncomfortable.
I was mislead with this one. I thought this was going to be super cute and fluffy but the FMC is a drug addict (when she wasn’t taking some she was talking about it nonstop) and a stalker?? And somehow, I felt like those were normalized.
—-•
Pre read ; Trying to attack my physical TBR to bring it down to 0 🔪
I was mislead with this one. I thought this was going to be super cute and fluffy but the FMC is a drug addict (when she wasn’t taking some she was talking about it nonstop) and a stalker?? And somehow, I felt like those were normalized.
—-•
Pre read ; Trying to attack my physical TBR to bring it down to 0 🔪
May 31, 2022
3.50 Stars. This was a good YA story with some bumps. I was really excited about this one. If someone says the words “sapphic witches” then sign me up. This book happens to be much more in the category of magical realism than paranormal or fantasy. This is not like ‘The Craft', instead it has a very realistic coven of teenage witches. At first a part of me missed the over-the-top magic I expected – that is only because I love anything paranormal- but I soon found myself appreciating that the book took a much more realistic approach since we don’t see that too often. There were a lot of good choices here that I enjoyed, but there were a few issues that stopped this from being a favorite read of mine.
I really enjoyed how each chapter introduced a new tarot card, and how it was described and also used to explain events in the main character’s life. I have always been interested in tarot cards but I don’t know anything about them. I remember when I was teenager and my dad came home with this gorgeous tarot set –he is one of those guys that always finds unique things or great deals- and I could not take my eyes off them. However, my mother –raised Roman Catholic- was so superstitious that she thought I was going to accidentally summon a demon to my bedroom or something so she made my father get rid of the deck. I still have regrets not getting to keep them so this book at least gave me a little taste to what I have been missing:) But in all seriousness, the tarot part was really well done and one of my favorite parts of the book.
When it comes to the bumps, I had two that stood out with this first one being the smaller bump. I’ve noticed other reviewers also had similar issues like I did. The first issue I had was that the main character is a pot head. To be clear, I’m not anti-marijuana and the character did live in a state where it was legal –just not for people under 21 (which she was) - but the character smoked a lot and seemed to do it to self-medicate. While it is apples to oranges, I think if you are going to have a character that drinks a lot, or smoke a lot, or whatevers a lot, and when you mention it often in the book, there should be a reason it is included. Here it was such a part of the story, but it just fizzled away with no real explanation. Pages and pages or talking about smoking and buying, and being friends with her dealer, but then nothing happened. All this build-up and I was left wondering why bother at all?
The bigger issue I had, and I’m going to be a little vague in parts due to possible spoiler reasons, had to deal with the main character’s past trauma. This book took place in present time and also flashed-back to the year before. If you have followed my reviews you will know I can’t stand flashbacks. Surprisingly, I thought they were done well so my issue wasn’t the flashbacks themselves, but the content in them. As a reader, you already know something bad happened since the main character is getting over a traumatic year. So of course in the flashbacks something bad happens, and then something bad again, and again. At this point I thought that to myself, okay that is enough bad and hopefully it will be wrapped up and finished with the expected big main conflict. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and instead the author chose to throw even more in which then turned a character into the stereotype of the “predatory lesbian”. This is YA, and we need to do better than to slide into harmful stereotypes. It was unpleasant to read, but I still thought to myself, take out your personal feelings and see if the book had to have this part in it for the plot to work… well, the answer was no. There were so many other conflict parts that it was not needed and it just should have been edited out.
When it comes to the main YA sapphic romance, I thought it was sweet. It has a little angst to keep things interesting, but not too much to overdo it. I did wish we had a little more time to get to know the main character’s love interest. She was a really cool character but we only got to scratch the surface of who she is and really who the other secondary characters are too. I liked all the characters who were a part of the coven, but I wished they were built up more as I could really only tell you who two other character were, not including the two main characters. I think a little less time spent in the past, and more time spent in the present, would have made this a solid 4 stars read.
TLDR: A book that was good, but with too many bumps to be great. It was a nice change to read about witches in a realistic way instead of such a fantasy driven way and there were parts of the book that were really well written. The book is a fast read that easily hooks you in, but it is not without some issues. I think the author just went a little too far in some cases, but not far enough in others. I still enjoyed this enough that I would read another book by this author. There is a lot of really good potential here.
An ARC was given to me for a review.
I really enjoyed how each chapter introduced a new tarot card, and how it was described and also used to explain events in the main character’s life. I have always been interested in tarot cards but I don’t know anything about them. I remember when I was teenager and my dad came home with this gorgeous tarot set –he is one of those guys that always finds unique things or great deals- and I could not take my eyes off them. However, my mother –raised Roman Catholic- was so superstitious that she thought I was going to accidentally summon a demon to my bedroom or something so she made my father get rid of the deck. I still have regrets not getting to keep them so this book at least gave me a little taste to what I have been missing:) But in all seriousness, the tarot part was really well done and one of my favorite parts of the book.
When it comes to the bumps, I had two that stood out with this first one being the smaller bump. I’ve noticed other reviewers also had similar issues like I did. The first issue I had was that the main character is a pot head. To be clear, I’m not anti-marijuana and the character did live in a state where it was legal –just not for people under 21 (which she was) - but the character smoked a lot and seemed to do it to self-medicate. While it is apples to oranges, I think if you are going to have a character that drinks a lot, or smoke a lot, or whatevers a lot, and when you mention it often in the book, there should be a reason it is included. Here it was such a part of the story, but it just fizzled away with no real explanation. Pages and pages or talking about smoking and buying, and being friends with her dealer, but then nothing happened. All this build-up and I was left wondering why bother at all?
The bigger issue I had, and I’m going to be a little vague in parts due to possible spoiler reasons, had to deal with the main character’s past trauma. This book took place in present time and also flashed-back to the year before. If you have followed my reviews you will know I can’t stand flashbacks. Surprisingly, I thought they were done well so my issue wasn’t the flashbacks themselves, but the content in them. As a reader, you already know something bad happened since the main character is getting over a traumatic year. So of course in the flashbacks something bad happens, and then something bad again, and again. At this point I thought that to myself, okay that is enough bad and hopefully it will be wrapped up and finished with the expected big main conflict. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and instead the author chose to throw even more in which then turned a character into the stereotype of the “predatory lesbian”. This is YA, and we need to do better than to slide into harmful stereotypes. It was unpleasant to read, but I still thought to myself, take out your personal feelings and see if the book had to have this part in it for the plot to work… well, the answer was no. There were so many other conflict parts that it was not needed and it just should have been edited out.
When it comes to the main YA sapphic romance, I thought it was sweet. It has a little angst to keep things interesting, but not too much to overdo it. I did wish we had a little more time to get to know the main character’s love interest. She was a really cool character but we only got to scratch the surface of who she is and really who the other secondary characters are too. I liked all the characters who were a part of the coven, but I wished they were built up more as I could really only tell you who two other character were, not including the two main characters. I think a little less time spent in the past, and more time spent in the present, would have made this a solid 4 stars read.
TLDR: A book that was good, but with too many bumps to be great. It was a nice change to read about witches in a realistic way instead of such a fantasy driven way and there were parts of the book that were really well written. The book is a fast read that easily hooks you in, but it is not without some issues. I think the author just went a little too far in some cases, but not far enough in others. I still enjoyed this enough that I would read another book by this author. There is a lot of really good potential here.
An ARC was given to me for a review.
April 3, 2022
This book was literally a therapy session. Why does every single queer person on the planet have trauma centered around someone named Chloe?
November 27, 2022
Kind of mad at how good this book is because I thought the grip of hard hitting queer YA contemporaries has finally let go of me but alas
4.5
4.5
September 22, 2022
A book that demonizes smoking weed, portrays lesbians as sexual predators and obsessive stalkers, AND uses sexual assault as a shock factor? Yeah, it’s a no from me. Utter trash.
April 5, 2022
I've read a lot of YA books centered around witches and magic in the last few years, and you might think that might make me tired of them- but I haven't yet! So I was excited to read Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches when I got my hands on it as it seemed like a fun concept. But after reading it, and enjoying a lot of it, it just leaves me with a lot of mixed feelings.
Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches follows Eleanor who lives where else but Salem. After a really tough couple of years of her mom being sick, losing her ex, then being exiled by her classmates, Eleanor is cynical and jaded to many parts of life but especially magic and the town's general festivities. But this changes when a girl named Pix enters Eleanor's life and claims to be a witch, and wants to open Eleanor's eyes to other parts of life she has been neglecting.
I loved about 80% of this book. I really loved Eleanor. She seemed to me to be incredibly strong despite so much happening to her at a young age. She had such a big heart and I really loved watching Pix open her back up to the world. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book.
The formatting and pacing of this story being told through the lens of tarot cards was very cool and creative too. I appreciate the lens in which we could view events happening to and around Eleanor.
I'm personally not pagan but seeing actual pagan practices in a book about witches was really interesting to me. When I first requested my ARC for this book, I assumed it would be a witch book akin to These Witches Don't Burn, (which I did enjoy) but it wasn't really that at all. It was interesting and I was into the story of cleansing Salem too.
But in this book when we learn why Eleanor lost her ex Chloe and was ostracized by her friends leaves me with mixed feelings. Without veering too hard into spoilers, I totally understand why Eleanor was heartbroken over Chloe but the way she handled the aftermath of that heartbreak was not at all healthy and it brought my sympathy level for Eleanor down. It just made me uncomfortable. I understand that it reframes a lot of this book as a redeeming story for Eleanor and it does work for that, but still the way it was handled made me uncomfortable, and I think there are different ways this issue could have been depicted.
Also I think it's worth mentioning the marijuana use in this book. Often when YA books feature alcohol or marijuana I really don't care. I personally both drank and smoked marijuana as a teenager (still do lol). But this book features very heavy marijuana use especially by Eleanor to cope with aspects of her life. And to me this came across as unhealthy and never fully addressed to help Eleanor have healthier coping mechanisms than getting high. I think this could have been a good example of showing Eleanor transferring from unhealthy to healthier coping mechanisms as I think that is an important conversation to have. All the time in my life I see people self medicating for serious things in their life. But this concept in the book didn't get fully fleshed out instead just showing Eleanor high a lot of the time.
This was a fast book for me, I got through it all in about 4-5 hours of reading so it's not a major time investment for a nice little story, though not without flaws. 3.5/5.
Thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches follows Eleanor who lives where else but Salem. After a really tough couple of years of her mom being sick, losing her ex, then being exiled by her classmates, Eleanor is cynical and jaded to many parts of life but especially magic and the town's general festivities. But this changes when a girl named Pix enters Eleanor's life and claims to be a witch, and wants to open Eleanor's eyes to other parts of life she has been neglecting.
I loved about 80% of this book. I really loved Eleanor. She seemed to me to be incredibly strong despite so much happening to her at a young age. She had such a big heart and I really loved watching Pix open her back up to the world. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book.
The formatting and pacing of this story being told through the lens of tarot cards was very cool and creative too. I appreciate the lens in which we could view events happening to and around Eleanor.
I'm personally not pagan but seeing actual pagan practices in a book about witches was really interesting to me. When I first requested my ARC for this book, I assumed it would be a witch book akin to These Witches Don't Burn, (which I did enjoy) but it wasn't really that at all. It was interesting and I was into the story of cleansing Salem too.
But in this book when we learn why Eleanor lost her ex Chloe and was ostracized by her friends leaves me with mixed feelings. Without veering too hard into spoilers, I totally understand why Eleanor was heartbroken over Chloe but the way she handled the aftermath of that heartbreak was not at all healthy and it brought my sympathy level for Eleanor down. It just made me uncomfortable. I understand that it reframes a lot of this book as a redeeming story for Eleanor and it does work for that, but still the way it was handled made me uncomfortable, and I think there are different ways this issue could have been depicted.
Also I think it's worth mentioning the marijuana use in this book. Often when YA books feature alcohol or marijuana I really don't care. I personally both drank and smoked marijuana as a teenager (still do lol). But this book features very heavy marijuana use especially by Eleanor to cope with aspects of her life. And to me this came across as unhealthy and never fully addressed to help Eleanor have healthier coping mechanisms than getting high. I think this could have been a good example of showing Eleanor transferring from unhealthy to healthier coping mechanisms as I think that is an important conversation to have. All the time in my life I see people self medicating for serious things in their life. But this concept in the book didn't get fully fleshed out instead just showing Eleanor high a lot of the time.
This was a fast book for me, I got through it all in about 4-5 hours of reading so it's not a major time investment for a nice little story, though not without flaws. 3.5/5.
Thank you to HarperCollins and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
September 22, 2022
Update:
Sooo a friend asked me about this book and it made me remember a lot of feelings I had about it. Idk. this book had so much going for it (like the tarot cards and witchcraft was really fun), but the more I sit with it (and it's been months lol), I just don't love the way the character development and some of the history of these characters went. Idk. I think the author was trying to make a commentary on the predatory queer trope but I don't this was done well and the more I think about it, the more it bothers me. I initially gave this a 3.75, but I'm taking it down 1.25 for some of these problems. Also, it is a surprisingly dark book and definitely needs to have CWs listed !
This book hooked me in very early! I was sort of surprised. The premise alone was super interesting to me, but I still wasn't expecting to be drawn in so quickly. I think a lot of that had to do with Eleanor. She was a really well thought-out character. Though I felt very different from her, I was easily able to empathize with much of what she went through, especially in her relationship with Pix. I think the two of them were my favorite part of this story along with the magic. It was a very sweet relationship that stemmed from a genuine respect of one another.
Much of this story was flashbacks into the traumatic part of Eleanor's story. Some of it is pretty uncomfortable as Eleanor made horrible, obsessive decisions in the past that ended up changing her life (or, at least, the perspective of her life). Reading these parts were really difficult because Eleanor does have a problem with forming strong attachments/addictions to people/things to help her cope with her own mental health challenges. So when the central conflict came to its climax, it would've been nice to see Eleanor work through that more to really address that, and it didn't feel like that resolution fully happened. This was my biggest issue with the book. The witch vibes were really cool and I LOVED the tarot card aspect of this book so much. The characterization was also great, in particular for Eleanor, Pix, and Chloe ().
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Balzer + Bray for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Sooo a friend asked me about this book and it made me remember a lot of feelings I had about it. Idk. this book had so much going for it (like the tarot cards and witchcraft was really fun), but the more I sit with it (and it's been months lol), I just don't love the way the character development and some of the history of these characters went. Idk. I think the author was trying to make a commentary on the predatory queer trope but I don't this was done well and the more I think about it, the more it bothers me. I initially gave this a 3.75, but I'm taking it down 1.25 for some of these problems. Also, it is a surprisingly dark book and definitely needs to have CWs listed !
This book hooked me in very early! I was sort of surprised. The premise alone was super interesting to me, but I still wasn't expecting to be drawn in so quickly. I think a lot of that had to do with Eleanor. She was a really well thought-out character. Though I felt very different from her, I was easily able to empathize with much of what she went through, especially in her relationship with Pix. I think the two of them were my favorite part of this story along with the magic. It was a very sweet relationship that stemmed from a genuine respect of one another.
Much of this story was flashbacks into the traumatic part of Eleanor's story. Some of it is pretty uncomfortable as Eleanor made horrible, obsessive decisions in the past that ended up changing her life (or, at least, the perspective of her life). Reading these parts were really difficult because Eleanor does have a problem with forming strong attachments/addictions to people/things to help her cope with her own mental health challenges. So when the central conflict came to its climax, it would've been nice to see Eleanor work through that more to really address that, and it didn't feel like that resolution fully happened. This was my biggest issue with the book. The witch vibes were really cool and I LOVED the tarot card aspect of this book so much. The characterization was also great, in particular for Eleanor, Pix, and Chloe ().
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Balzer + Bray for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
January 11, 2022
Disclaimer: I work for a bookstore, all thoughts and opinions are my own and not affiliated with the store or company.
Thank you to Netgally and Harper Audio for providing me with a VoiceGalley audio version of this book.
This book was a pleasure to listen to, and was easy to follow. I will admit I listened to it while painting a room, so I did not necessarily pay attention to every single sentence, but the writing flowed well enough that I never felt lost and was able to maintain the story.
I won’t be speaking too much about the audio aspect as it was a synthesized voice which will not be the finalized version. This thankfully did not affect my enjoyment of the book but I can’t wait to see the narrator give personality to these characters and truly bring them to life.
Now for the story. I loved the scenes that take place in the present. Although I personally do not know much about Pagan practices it was interesting to get an insight into this religion. I am interested to see reviews from those that practice it personally to get their opinion on the representation. I loved the friend group and the way that they included Eleanor. While there was not too much opportunity to show their growing relationship with Pix, I still enjoyed the encounters they had. I really enjoyed the way this book was very brutal in its portrayal of mental health and going through unhealthy relationships, especially in the LGBTQ+ community as so often young queer kids don’t always know how to recognize when a relationship is damaging. The only part of the book that had me questioning was when we relive past memories. Spoilers for plot discussion: While what happened to the main character was awful and should never have happened, I really wish the part of Eleanor sitting outside of her ex best friend's house was not included. Eleanor was put in a very tough situation that no one should go through, but this felt like it definitely pushed boundaries by showing up to someone's home unsolicited multiple times, and personally this felt like the stereotype of queer characters being predatory. I do understand that mental health, especially depression, can make us want to do wild things, but I was slightly uncomfortable when reading this. As for the rest of the story it covers a lot of hard topics in which the main character had to cope with. This book was big on pro drug use (specifically marajuana) which is another tough conversation to have surrounding teenagers and YA. At this point I am not sure where my opinion is on the main character's use of it. I can see both pro’s and con’s, and would also love to see more opinions from fellow readers. I definitely felt this story was more coming of age than romance as it mainly focused on Eleanor's journey through mental health, but this was not a negative for me.
Overall this book was an easy read and I listened to it in two sittings. While I enjoyed it I am not sure if or who I would recommend this book to in my personal life. However, I would recommend it to those wanting to give it a shot if they have read the content warnings and feel that it would be a suitable read for them.
Again thank you to those that let me read this story early.
Thank you to Netgally and Harper Audio for providing me with a VoiceGalley audio version of this book.
This book was a pleasure to listen to, and was easy to follow. I will admit I listened to it while painting a room, so I did not necessarily pay attention to every single sentence, but the writing flowed well enough that I never felt lost and was able to maintain the story.
I won’t be speaking too much about the audio aspect as it was a synthesized voice which will not be the finalized version. This thankfully did not affect my enjoyment of the book but I can’t wait to see the narrator give personality to these characters and truly bring them to life.
Now for the story. I loved the scenes that take place in the present. Although I personally do not know much about Pagan practices it was interesting to get an insight into this religion. I am interested to see reviews from those that practice it personally to get their opinion on the representation. I loved the friend group and the way that they included Eleanor. While there was not too much opportunity to show their growing relationship with Pix, I still enjoyed the encounters they had. I really enjoyed the way this book was very brutal in its portrayal of mental health and going through unhealthy relationships, especially in the LGBTQ+ community as so often young queer kids don’t always know how to recognize when a relationship is damaging. The only part of the book that had me questioning was when we relive past memories. Spoilers for plot discussion: While what happened to the main character was awful and should never have happened, I really wish the part of Eleanor sitting outside of her ex best friend's house was not included. Eleanor was put in a very tough situation that no one should go through, but this felt like it definitely pushed boundaries by showing up to someone's home unsolicited multiple times, and personally this felt like the stereotype of queer characters being predatory. I do understand that mental health, especially depression, can make us want to do wild things, but I was slightly uncomfortable when reading this. As for the rest of the story it covers a lot of hard topics in which the main character had to cope with. This book was big on pro drug use (specifically marajuana) which is another tough conversation to have surrounding teenagers and YA. At this point I am not sure where my opinion is on the main character's use of it. I can see both pro’s and con’s, and would also love to see more opinions from fellow readers. I definitely felt this story was more coming of age than romance as it mainly focused on Eleanor's journey through mental health, but this was not a negative for me.
Overall this book was an easy read and I listened to it in two sittings. While I enjoyed it I am not sure if or who I would recommend this book to in my personal life. However, I would recommend it to those wanting to give it a shot if they have read the content warnings and feel that it would be a suitable read for them.
Again thank you to those that let me read this story early.
August 15, 2022
C/W:
Eleanor is trying to navigate her relatively new lonely life in Salem after a fallout with her former best friend, Chloe. When she receives a mysterious tarot book at the gift store she works at, it seems like Eleanor's life may be starting to change for the better.
Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches does a great job balancing a lot of interesting storylines. There's Eleanor's relationship with her mom, a very sweet romance, an interrogation of past trauma, and new friendships to navigate. These storylines came together to make Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches feel like a slice-of-life contemporary with a wonderful hint of magic.
I was a bit surprised by how heavy parts of this book are. The romance between Eleanor and Pix was a nice counter-balance to the heavier parts of the story without attempting to erase them, which was well done.
Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches was an atmospheric slice-of-life contemporary that blurs the lines between reality and magic. If you're looking for a book that addresses a lot of themes well while also being a tightly-plotted story, this is definitely the book for you.
Eleanor is trying to navigate her relatively new lonely life in Salem after a fallout with her former best friend, Chloe. When she receives a mysterious tarot book at the gift store she works at, it seems like Eleanor's life may be starting to change for the better.
Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches does a great job balancing a lot of interesting storylines. There's Eleanor's relationship with her mom, a very sweet romance, an interrogation of past trauma, and new friendships to navigate. These storylines came together to make Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches feel like a slice-of-life contemporary with a wonderful hint of magic.
I was a bit surprised by how heavy parts of this book are. The romance between Eleanor and Pix was a nice counter-balance to the heavier parts of the story without attempting to erase them, which was well done.
Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches was an atmospheric slice-of-life contemporary that blurs the lines between reality and magic. If you're looking for a book that addresses a lot of themes well while also being a tightly-plotted story, this is definitely the book for you.
Want to read
October 12, 2021best cover of 2022 i think so
https://twitter.com/katescelsa/status...
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dnf
November 18, 2022DNF at 40%
I feel like this one started off strong, but the plot started to meander and get bogged down in the details of Eleanor's past which made the pacing feel stagnant.
I feel like this one started off strong, but the plot started to meander and get bogged down in the details of Eleanor's past which made the pacing feel stagnant.
February 2, 2023
How the hell was this published
January 13, 2023
Loved this book! I liked how it went back and forth in the timeline (past and present).
September 21, 2025
help, why cant I finally read a good book?😔😔
reminded me of the movie Ingrid goes west
reminded me of the movie Ingrid goes west
October 18, 2022
I went into this expecting a super wholesome, witchy love story, with maybe a bit of real magic thrown in. While some parts of the story are pretty sweet, it's actually pretty dark, and I kept thinking the main character needs therapy instead of a new love interest.
The book wasn't bad, exactly, but I was a bit disappointed. First of all, the magic element is more that the love interest and her friends practice witchcraft, like real-life Wicca (sorry if that's the wrong term), and there's no Harry Potter- style magic. Which, okay, that's fine I guess. Then I didn't really understand the third-act misunderstanding between Pix and Eleanor? Like, I get that Eleanor has trust issues, but I don't fully understand why she's so mad at Pix? It's the whole "you weren't as nice to me before you actually knew me and were only pretending to like me" trope, except that Pix actually was trying to be kind to Eleanor before she knew her. I don't know, maybe I'm dumb, but I don't get it.
I also want to take a minute to share my thoughts on the part of the book that everyone seems to be uncomfortable with. (Spoilers ahead!!) So, like I said, Eleanor needs therapy. She becomes obsessively attached to a girl, Chloe, convincing herself that they're in love, when in reality Chloe is pretty obviously using her and doesn't care about her. At this point, honestly, I don't blame Eleanor. Lots of people, myself included, have had issues with choosing the wrong person to get attached to and convince ourselves that they really do care about us when they actually don't. But where Eleanor gets a little too obsessed and even creepy is when she stalks Chloe at her house. Yeah, it's wrong, and yeah, the book doesn't try to present it as okay. It just adds to Eleanor's guilt because she believes she deserves to be punished. I think it's supposed to make readers uncomfortable. However, I didn't feel like I stopped sympathizing with Eleanor because of it. Like I said, she needs therapy, and she clearly crossed a line, but I don't think she's a horrible, awful person, especially since she's just a teenager and she knows what she did was wrong. I think it's important to look at situations like this and be able to acknowledge that the behavior was wrong and requires censure, while simultaneously recognizing that the person's actions come from deep-seated issues with self-esteem, anxiety, etc and not because that person is a horrible monster. Too often we dismiss these people as evil, they brought it upon themselves, etc instead of stepping in to help. So I do appreciate the author showing that even good people can do terrible things if they have unaddressed mental health issues, and that there's hope for them.
Now that I'm down off my soap box, I will say that while I appreciate this approach to the stalker situation, it still felt like Pix was the manic pixie dream girl who stepped in to "fix" Eleanor. Like, Eleanor needs therapy, not a new girlfriend. But otherwise their relationship was cute.
Now excuse me as I go relive all the times in the past where a supposed friend has treated me like chopped liver and I kept being friends with them.
(Okay, that was supposed to be funny in a dark way, but I think it got too real. So I'll just end by saying that the book was cute, and sad, and thought-provoking, even though I had some issues with it. )
The book wasn't bad, exactly, but I was a bit disappointed. First of all, the magic element is more that the love interest and her friends practice witchcraft, like real-life Wicca (sorry if that's the wrong term), and there's no Harry Potter- style magic. Which, okay, that's fine I guess. Then I didn't really understand the third-act misunderstanding between Pix and Eleanor? Like, I get that Eleanor has trust issues, but I don't fully understand why she's so mad at Pix? It's the whole "you weren't as nice to me before you actually knew me and were only pretending to like me" trope, except that Pix actually was trying to be kind to Eleanor before she knew her. I don't know, maybe I'm dumb, but I don't get it.
I also want to take a minute to share my thoughts on the part of the book that everyone seems to be uncomfortable with. (Spoilers ahead!!) So, like I said, Eleanor needs therapy. She becomes obsessively attached to a girl, Chloe, convincing herself that they're in love, when in reality Chloe is pretty obviously using her and doesn't care about her. At this point, honestly, I don't blame Eleanor. Lots of people, myself included, have had issues with choosing the wrong person to get attached to and convince ourselves that they really do care about us when they actually don't. But where Eleanor gets a little too obsessed and even creepy is when she stalks Chloe at her house. Yeah, it's wrong, and yeah, the book doesn't try to present it as okay. It just adds to Eleanor's guilt because she believes she deserves to be punished. I think it's supposed to make readers uncomfortable. However, I didn't feel like I stopped sympathizing with Eleanor because of it. Like I said, she needs therapy, and she clearly crossed a line, but I don't think she's a horrible, awful person, especially since she's just a teenager and she knows what she did was wrong. I think it's important to look at situations like this and be able to acknowledge that the behavior was wrong and requires censure, while simultaneously recognizing that the person's actions come from deep-seated issues with self-esteem, anxiety, etc and not because that person is a horrible monster. Too often we dismiss these people as evil, they brought it upon themselves, etc instead of stepping in to help. So I do appreciate the author showing that even good people can do terrible things if they have unaddressed mental health issues, and that there's hope for them.
Now that I'm down off my soap box, I will say that while I appreciate this approach to the stalker situation, it still felt like Pix was the manic pixie dream girl who stepped in to "fix" Eleanor. Like, Eleanor needs therapy, not a new girlfriend. But otherwise their relationship was cute.
Now excuse me as I go relive all the times in the past where a supposed friend has treated me like chopped liver and I kept being friends with them.
(Okay, that was supposed to be funny in a dark way, but I think it got too real. So I'll just end by saying that the book was cute, and sad, and thought-provoking, even though I had some issues with it. )
June 7, 2022
I fell hard in love with this book.
It is a story of overcoming, learning and acceptance.
I just couldn't put this book down. The protagonist caught me, I needed to know her, understand her and without a doubt, she earned much more than acceptance.
A beautiful story that is neither simple nor innocent and for that very reason, it gets all the standing ovations.
A true marvel.
It is a story of overcoming, learning and acceptance.
I just couldn't put this book down. The protagonist caught me, I needed to know her, understand her and without a doubt, she earned much more than acceptance.
A beautiful story that is neither simple nor innocent and for that very reason, it gets all the standing ovations.
A true marvel.
October 3, 2023
A quick and atmospheric read that's perfect for fall. The story moves along smoothly and there are a few parts that are seriously emotion. The main character's whininess occasion grated on my nerves. An average read overall.
January 29, 2023
myslalam ze będzie to kozę takie połączenie sabriny i heartstoppera … i było tak w 1/3?
była to okay książka, ale nie było w niej nic takiego wow co sprawiło, że zostałaby ze mną na dłużej
była to okay książka, ale nie było w niej nic takiego wow co sprawiło, że zostałaby ze mną na dłużej
October 10, 2023
This was so nice!! And Halloween-y 🎃
At first I was a little put out by the drug use but I got over it and the romance was very sweet and there wasn’t really much miscommunication so that was a win!! Also Pix is a cute name so bonus points for that
I also really liked Eleanor’s backstory and also having realistic magic - as in, the kind of everyday magic people might practice in this world. The tarot cards were also very cool and made me want to practice reading some more
Would definitely recommend!!! And now I’m in the witchy mood 🌙💫✨
At first I was a little put out by the drug use but I got over it and the romance was very sweet and there wasn’t really much miscommunication so that was a win!! Also Pix is a cute name so bonus points for that
I also really liked Eleanor’s backstory and also having realistic magic - as in, the kind of everyday magic people might practice in this world. The tarot cards were also very cool and made me want to practice reading some more
Would definitely recommend!!! And now I’m in the witchy mood 🌙💫✨
July 30, 2025
A YA coming-of-age story, featuring the mystery of tarot, witchcraft, grief, sapphic romance, chronic illness and so much more.
June 10, 2024
2.75
probably would’ve taken me longer or dnf’d if i hadn’t listened to the audiobook.. main character was an insufferable teen and did a little stalking in the past..for weeks?! also the glorification of teens smoking weed..
it was boring and i rly didn’t like the main character i’m SORRYYYY
probably would’ve taken me longer or dnf’d if i hadn’t listened to the audiobook.. main character was an insufferable teen and did a little stalking in the past..for weeks?! also the glorification of teens smoking weed..
it was boring and i rly didn’t like the main character i’m SORRYYYY
May 25, 2022
ARC provided by NetGalley, thank you.
Very sweet. Very witchy (in case that wasn't clear from the title). I wouldn't call it fantasy, even though there's the word magic in the title. The love story is pretty mellow and low-angst, which is good because the main character's got a lot of life angst.
This is structured around tarot and the major arcana, which is fun.
There's teen love, loss, learning to trust again, good friends, community.
Fun read overall.
Very sweet. Very witchy (in case that wasn't clear from the title). I wouldn't call it fantasy, even though there's the word magic in the title. The love story is pretty mellow and low-angst, which is good because the main character's got a lot of life angst.
This is structured around tarot and the major arcana, which is fun.
There's teen love, loss, learning to trust again, good friends, community.
Fun read overall.
Read
September 22, 2022Very witchy and cute
May 27, 2022
I received an advance copy from the publisher via Netgalley for review purposes; this in no way influences my review.
Content notes:
I wanted to read this book for a witchy, sapphic romance, but this delivered so much more. If you need a story about finding true friends, healing after tragedy, and a sweet sapphic romance as a bonus, this book is for you.
Eleanor has felt ostracized from the community in Salem since a tragedy last Halloween, but when she receives a book detailing the Major Arcana of Smith Rider Waite tarot deck and meets Pix and Ofira, she begins a journey of healing and growth. She doesn’t believe in magic, but Pixie believes in everything and as she welcomes Eleanor into their coven, Eleanor starts to see the everyday magic around her, as well as falling in love with the way Pix trusts her intuition and listens to her feelings.
This in some ways reminds me of Who I Was With Her by Nita Tyndall with the flashbacks to Eleanor’s history with Chloe and the past she’s trying to run from, doesn’t want Pix or the rest of the coven to know about, but this is also a very different story. I loved the way moving through the Major Arcana was used to show Eleanor’s journey and progress through her pain and trauma, and a way to start healing. The casual, everyday magic feel of it hit so perfectly and does a fantastic balancing of what can be magic if you believe it is.
This is a book that gave me so many feelings, in the best way, and absolutely had me crying at points. This is so gentle and careful, but doesn’t shy away from processing painful emotions or experiences. And I just really adored the romance between Eleanor and Pix, their communication and navigation of sore spots when they came up. The romance is such a highlight, and the care between the two of them is evident from very early on, even when Eleanor is still at her most skeptical and raised walls.
Overall, this book hit some perfect notes for me between the Tarot, the friendships, and the romance. It is such a delightful, sweet, emotional story full of the ways finding a community and believing in something can help you process and heal from past trauma. I highly recommend this if you like witchy stories, sapphic romances, and friendships between teen girls.
Content notes:
I wanted to read this book for a witchy, sapphic romance, but this delivered so much more. If you need a story about finding true friends, healing after tragedy, and a sweet sapphic romance as a bonus, this book is for you.
Eleanor has felt ostracized from the community in Salem since a tragedy last Halloween, but when she receives a book detailing the Major Arcana of Smith Rider Waite tarot deck and meets Pix and Ofira, she begins a journey of healing and growth. She doesn’t believe in magic, but Pixie believes in everything and as she welcomes Eleanor into their coven, Eleanor starts to see the everyday magic around her, as well as falling in love with the way Pix trusts her intuition and listens to her feelings.
This in some ways reminds me of Who I Was With Her by Nita Tyndall with the flashbacks to Eleanor’s history with Chloe and the past she’s trying to run from, doesn’t want Pix or the rest of the coven to know about, but this is also a very different story. I loved the way moving through the Major Arcana was used to show Eleanor’s journey and progress through her pain and trauma, and a way to start healing. The casual, everyday magic feel of it hit so perfectly and does a fantastic balancing of what can be magic if you believe it is.
This is a book that gave me so many feelings, in the best way, and absolutely had me crying at points. This is so gentle and careful, but doesn’t shy away from processing painful emotions or experiences. And I just really adored the romance between Eleanor and Pix, their communication and navigation of sore spots when they came up. The romance is such a highlight, and the care between the two of them is evident from very early on, even when Eleanor is still at her most skeptical and raised walls.
Overall, this book hit some perfect notes for me between the Tarot, the friendships, and the romance. It is such a delightful, sweet, emotional story full of the ways finding a community and believing in something can help you process and heal from past trauma. I highly recommend this if you like witchy stories, sapphic romances, and friendships between teen girls.
August 2, 2022
3.75 Stars. I received both the e-book and audiobook ARCs in exchange for my honest opinion.
So, this was an interesting read, to be sure. This is a bit of a mystery with a hint of an unreliable narrator that challenged me when I read it. Eleanor is a sympathetic narrator when the story begins with her having become pariah at school because of a dramatic falling out with her best friend and first love, Cloe. She also self medicates by smoking marijuana to get away from the bullying and the fact that her mother is dying and Eleanor has to be the sole source of income in her family. When she meets and makes friends with a young woman named Pix, she slowly starts to open up.
This isn't as bad in the audiobook, but because a lot of Pix and Eleanor's early interactions revolve around Eleanor's magic shop and tarot cards, sections of the book are themed after the meaning of most of the cards themselves. I feel like it breaks up the narration a little too much, and I lost some of the tension of the slow reveal of what happened between Chloe and Eleanor the year before.
What makes it really good, though is that slow reveal and the decisions that lead up to the event that changed Eleanor's life forever. I don't want to give away anything, but I believe the book does challenge the idea that a protagonist must always be a hero or good person. After I finally knew what happened to Chloe and Eleanor behavior leading up to that event, I'd say that it really complicates things. You have to decide if Eleanor's actions were understandable, if wrong and very much misguided, or if you lose your sympathy for her. I believe the book wants the reader to be, at the very least, understanding, but it might be a difficult ask. It will come down to the reader's willingness to adjust their expectations for Eleanor.
For folks who enjoy mysteries and complicated protagonists, I think this will be a great book to pick up. I do not think that the reveal will appeal to all readers though, as Eleanor is revealed to have been unhealthily obsessed with Chloe and she made some poor decisions because of it.
So, this was an interesting read, to be sure. This is a bit of a mystery with a hint of an unreliable narrator that challenged me when I read it. Eleanor is a sympathetic narrator when the story begins with her having become pariah at school because of a dramatic falling out with her best friend and first love, Cloe. She also self medicates by smoking marijuana to get away from the bullying and the fact that her mother is dying and Eleanor has to be the sole source of income in her family. When she meets and makes friends with a young woman named Pix, she slowly starts to open up.
This isn't as bad in the audiobook, but because a lot of Pix and Eleanor's early interactions revolve around Eleanor's magic shop and tarot cards, sections of the book are themed after the meaning of most of the cards themselves. I feel like it breaks up the narration a little too much, and I lost some of the tension of the slow reveal of what happened between Chloe and Eleanor the year before.
What makes it really good, though is that slow reveal and the decisions that lead up to the event that changed Eleanor's life forever. I don't want to give away anything, but I believe the book does challenge the idea that a protagonist must always be a hero or good person. After I finally knew what happened to Chloe and Eleanor behavior leading up to that event, I'd say that it really complicates things. You have to decide if Eleanor's actions were understandable, if wrong and very much misguided, or if you lose your sympathy for her. I believe the book wants the reader to be, at the very least, understanding, but it might be a difficult ask. It will come down to the reader's willingness to adjust their expectations for Eleanor.
For folks who enjoy mysteries and complicated protagonists, I think this will be a great book to pick up. I do not think that the reveal will appeal to all readers though, as Eleanor is revealed to have been unhealthily obsessed with Chloe and she made some poor decisions because of it.
Read
September 3, 2022DNF after the 2nd chapter.
I am not here for the MC being a drug addict who can't stop thinking about needing marijuana 24/7. It is very boring to me. And after reading some reviews, I know that it doesn't get better.
This is a shame, I was looking forward to this book.
I am not here for the MC being a drug addict who can't stop thinking about needing marijuana 24/7. It is very boring to me. And after reading some reviews, I know that it doesn't get better.
This is a shame, I was looking forward to this book.
dnf
October 29, 2024DNF @ 66%
I wish I had DNF'd this sooner but I kept waiting for it to get better... It's not that this book was horrible, but I struggled so much with the main character and the structure of the story. As a reader, you know right away that Something has happened in the past that made the MC lose all of her friends and popularity, but it's unclear what exactly happened. You slowly get flashbacks, though they are always in the middle of another scene. I would have really preferred this to just be dual timeline. My main issue, however, was just the lack of awareness around queerness in the MC's town. The antagonist felt so 90's movie bully to me, the homophobia was so blatant and over the top. On top of that, the MC just had no self-worth and still experienced so much internalized homophobia in a way I found so grating. I just wanted her to grow and learn things about herself, but two-thirds in and there was no growth, just her continuing to rehash the same things and not giving us any growth or any new information about the past. I was getting bored and annoyed. I thought this would be a cute witchy book for halloween season but alas!
I wish I had DNF'd this sooner but I kept waiting for it to get better... It's not that this book was horrible, but I struggled so much with the main character and the structure of the story. As a reader, you know right away that Something has happened in the past that made the MC lose all of her friends and popularity, but it's unclear what exactly happened. You slowly get flashbacks, though they are always in the middle of another scene. I would have really preferred this to just be dual timeline. My main issue, however, was just the lack of awareness around queerness in the MC's town. The antagonist felt so 90's movie bully to me, the homophobia was so blatant and over the top. On top of that, the MC just had no self-worth and still experienced so much internalized homophobia in a way I found so grating. I just wanted her to grow and learn things about herself, but two-thirds in and there was no growth, just her continuing to rehash the same things and not giving us any growth or any new information about the past. I was getting bored and annoyed. I thought this would be a cute witchy book for halloween season but alas!
August 26, 2022
Well that was disappointing.
I really wanted to like this one, but the more I think about it the more I struggle to find anything nice to say. And it wasn't even, like, a bad book! It just never clicked with me at all. I was hoping it would be like an autumn-themed, witchy Summer of Salt where it was about trauma and being in a magical town but instead everything moved way too quickly, from the relationship between Pix and Eleanor (especially given what went down involving the last relationship Eleanor had) to Eleanor joining the coven after spending the first chunk of the book referring to herself as the "biggest cynic in Salem". I'm sure some people will love this one but it just wasn't for me.
I really wanted to like this one, but the more I think about it the more I struggle to find anything nice to say. And it wasn't even, like, a bad book! It just never clicked with me at all. I was hoping it would be like an autumn-themed, witchy Summer of Salt where it was about trauma and being in a magical town but instead everything moved way too quickly, from the relationship between Pix and Eleanor (especially given what went down involving the last relationship Eleanor had) to Eleanor joining the coven after spending the first chunk of the book referring to herself as the "biggest cynic in Salem". I'm sure some people will love this one but it just wasn't for me.
October 25, 2022
I’m really disappointed. I thought I would love this because it’s about cynical, queer witches. What I didn’t expect or want was the blatant stalking behaviors and justifications and toxic relationships and shit characters. Ugh.
May 27, 2022
Received from NetGalley, thanks!
I liked this book, though it wasn't anything too spectacular. It's a sapphic YA about witches in Salem, MA, and it was good.
I've been to Salem a couple of times, so it was fun to read about it and be able to picture the places they were talking about. Yes, I have been to the fairly unremarkable and mildly creepy Salem wax museum, because, why not?
I liked the MC and I thought her overall story was well done. I liked how each chapter started with a different tarot card and that the chapter then followed that theme.
I got this as an audiobook, and I have to say, that it was the strangest audiobook I've ever listened to. It specifically says at the beginning that it is not narrated by a person, it is narrated by a computer, and you could tell. The intonation wasn't always quite right, the different characters didn't have different voices, there were bits where a human would have known to emphasize a word, but this strange narrator computer didn't. Overall, I would not recommend this as anything that should ever happen to a book again. Not quite uncanny valley territory, but definitely I-don't-want-to-listen-to-this-anymore territory.
I liked this book, though it wasn't anything too spectacular. It's a sapphic YA about witches in Salem, MA, and it was good.
I've been to Salem a couple of times, so it was fun to read about it and be able to picture the places they were talking about. Yes, I have been to the fairly unremarkable and mildly creepy Salem wax museum, because, why not?
I liked the MC and I thought her overall story was well done. I liked how each chapter started with a different tarot card and that the chapter then followed that theme.
I got this as an audiobook, and I have to say, that it was the strangest audiobook I've ever listened to. It specifically says at the beginning that it is not narrated by a person, it is narrated by a computer, and you could tell. The intonation wasn't always quite right, the different characters didn't have different voices, there were bits where a human would have known to emphasize a word, but this strange narrator computer didn't. Overall, I would not recommend this as anything that should ever happen to a book again. Not quite uncanny valley territory, but definitely I-don't-want-to-listen-to-this-anymore territory.
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