Elmwood Inclusive Magic Academy

Covens and Clans #1

by Remi Lebeau

A witch, a wolf, and a magic academy full of secrets...Maggie Hall just wants to go to a normal college with her normal boyfriend. So when her three witch mothers force her to attend a new, inclusive magic academy before they’ll pay her tuition, she’s determined to get through the year without any trouble.

But not everyone is happy about an inclusive magic academy, and strange things keep happening. The other witches play pranks on her, the shifter packs are at each other’s throats, red-eyed demons follow her around, and her beautiful wolf shifter roommate is very distracting.

Rae Arundel is also trying to lay low. After her pack was exiled and their alpha imprisoned, it’s a dangerous time to be a wolf shifter. Then she discovers that her fated mate is the daughter of one of the witches who exiled her pack, who doesn’t understand her world or take it seriously.

Neither of them realize that there’s an even greater threat to the academy...and a secret that will change their lives.

Fans of exciting magical worlds will devour this fun, fast-paced story about love and finding a place to belong. This book can be read as a standalone, or as book one of the Covens and Clans series.

this book is intended for mature audiences and includes some sexual content and adult themes.

Genres: Fantasy, Lesbian, Paranormal, Romance

227 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 5, 2024

Reviews

[Siddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maggie wants to go to a local college with her boyfriend, but her mothers persuade her that she can spend one year at Elmwood Inclusive Magic Academy, where magical persons of all species and types can learn together. The academy stopped teaching for a few years because of inter-species wars, and now it is restarting to teach magic, but also to try to teach all magical species to coexist.
One of the groups at the academy is werewolves, and Rae is one of the youngest. Maggie has always felt different, apart, but now at Elmwood she makes friends - Rae being the best, which soon develops to something more.
More than one character here is non-binary, and this is mentioned only by the use of their pronouns. I think that’s good, not overthinking or drawing special attention to them, just acknowledging that they exist, and handling them in an empathetic way.
I really enjoyed this story - it has friendship, romance, love, adventure. It won’t win awards as a certain other magical series has, and I think it’s unfair to hold this to the same standards, but it is still a fun story, and a good romance.
There is a fine line between ‘believable’ magic stories and non believable, and this story skates very close to that line at times, occasionally showing its face on the other side.
This could do with some editing. Overall it is well written, it doesn’t have as many mistakes as many self published books do, but it does need a look through for errors. For example, in one chapter the author did a search and replace on the word ‘time’ which changed all occurrences of it to ‘Timothy’.

[Mya Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a lesbian romance

The book deserves 4 stars, I knocked 1 off because both MCs are bi/pan and not lesbian. Ordinarily that wouldn't bother me, but this book literally has "lesbian romance" in the title, and the romance, again, is not lesbian. So this is for any other lesbian readers or any readers looking specifically for a lesbian romance, you won't find one here. The book is sapphic, but one of the MCs has a boyfriend for about half the book, and the other one (spoiler) is betrothed to a man who shows up at the end, and she considers staying with him.

[Roger Weetch · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story combining witches, shapeshifters and vampires in an uneasy attempted alliance. I am always irritated by the use of a plural to avoid using male or female pronoun, and in this case it is even more confusing as Ms(?) Lebeau also frequently does use he or she for some characters. Personally, I write 's/he' if I want to avoid identifying someone's gender.
Apart from this, I found it a fairly enjoyable book until its ending, which did not fit with the rest of the story and was, for me, rather unpleasant.

[Meli]

I thought about it and decided I would not rate this book. I always try to not give negative reviews when it's a debut novel and when it has little reviews. It's not that it's bad, it has potential which is why I decided to write this: you can't write a queer book (with non-binary characters!!) and mention H*gw*rts out of nowhere! This wasn't even needed. We're in 2024, don't act like mentioning HP isn't harmful.

[Rtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

New adult. I really enjoyed this book. 4 and a half stars. It's immersive. It centre's around a young witch called Maggie that actually just wants a normal life.

But het moms make her go to a supernatural university.
It's really cool. A little like hogwarts, filled with vampires, witches, shifters and mermaids. I didn't see the twist coming at the end. This is the 1st book of the series.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic

It takes courage to find yourself again. Fear often binds us, limiting ourselves to who we truly need to be. By building trust, we gain the confidence to be and maybe even find our fated along with a group of friends that can protect us.

[Charles Clayson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a concept we have witches plus werewolves add in mermaids and these are the occupants of the Elmwood Academy of Magic. This was a invigorating start to what has so far turned into a three book trilogy that has great entertainment quality. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟❗

[Tricia AvidReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome series

I started out with the vampire series and then discovered these other titles set in the same world. I love how, with each book, more pieces click into place as I learn about the characters. I will read all of Remi Lebeau’s books!

[Trippentigger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the read

Was unsure about this one but turns out it was enjoyable. Wondering if I read things out of order as the next in the series seems to go back a generation. Will see what happens as it goes along. Worth the snag for a nice quick read.

[Sn8wflake · Rating 3 out of 5]

academy

A coo, it all comes down to politics. The classes were interesting. The relationship was bi with an ex in the background.

[Lynne Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this

A book that shows just how much kids can do.
The right thing to do and they blossom into amazing people! Enjoyed this book, want to get the next one!!

[Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

no point in her having 3 moms when the third one does shite all for the story