Evelynn “Evie” Marston is a witch and 1) she does not know it and 2) she is not sure she likes being a witch. After an accidental, disastrous fire at her high school, for which she bears all the blame, Evie transfers to a new school, Despaign Academy, named after Connecticut’s last convicted witch. In this story, unlike so many others, Evie has friends at the new school as well as friends at other schools, mostly because she knows these friends due to the proximity of their homes and not through school. Her best friend Bree is a perfect example of this. Their houses are next to one another. Bree comes from a large family, and members of this family figure in the story. Evie, on the other hand, has no sibs. For some reason not really given in the story, Evie resides with her uncle. Her mother has gone off with some new guy to places far away, currently residing in India, and her father has remarried a new, younger wife, with whom Evie really does not get along all that well. Evie, as I noted, lives with her uncle, who teaches at Yale and who gives her a lot of freedom in life. At this point in time, however, she is somewhat constrained because of the incident at her high school.
Evie’s life is turned upside down when she goes to this new school. She learns she has a grandmother—which no one ever told her, though she is almost sixteen. This confuses her. The new school also confuses her a bit, and she has a bit of trouble adjusting. Then, there are the two men in her life: Bree’s brother Josh and Dylan, Josh’s best friend and also a student at Evie’s new school. The two are interested in and vie for Evie’s attention. Can Evie succeed in the new school? Can she adjust to her newly found grandmother in her life? Why did her mother and/or father, or even her uncle, never tell her about this grandmother? What other secrets is her mother hiding? Can she figure out what is going on with Josh and Dylan—does she care about one or the other or both, and in what way? How can she maintain her friendship with Bree, who also has eyes for Dylan? Evie definitely has lots of unanswered questions, which form the framework of this novel.
This is a pretty good book. The characters are developed well. The situation, though not always, are somewhat realistic. I would have liked more back story on Evie’s relationship with her mother and father, but that may be for another book. The story flowed reasonably well, though there were times when I though it could have flowed more evenly or better. I think anyone who enjoys a funny but not overpowering funny story about witches and/or the paranormal or who just enjoys a good story with only a hint of romance will enjoy this one. I recommend it to everyone. I look forward to reading more about Evie and her life. I received this as part of the Amazon Scout Program.