The Gingerbread Witch

The Gingerbread Witch #1

by Alexandra Overy

“A magical tale, brimming with heart." —Anne Ursu, National Book Award–long-listed author of  The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy

Maud has grown up in a house made of gingerbread, wanting nothing more than to be a witch like Mother Agatha. But just like all of Agatha's gingerbread creations—from the magical house to the chocolate mousse squirrel—Maud will turn back into crumbs if anything ever happens to Agatha.
This seems unthinkable…until Hansel and Gretel, a pair of witch hunters, push Agatha into the cottage's oven.
To save herself and the other creations, Maud will have to go into the dangerous forest of the Shadelands to find the First Witch's spellbook. But with witch hunters on her trail and others interested in the book for their own means, can Maud bring back the only mother she's ever known…or will witch hunters capture her before she can save her gingerbread family?
 

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Witches, Retellings, Childrens, Fiction, Fairy Tales

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 13, 2022

About the author

Alexandra grew up in London and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her undergraduate degree in history at UCLA, followed by her MFA in screenwriting also at UCLA. She loves writing in all formats, from novels to screenplays to graphic novels, always centring on fierce women and morally grey characters, often with a bit of magic and murder. She is the author of the These Feathered Flames duology and the middle grade fantasy duology The Gingerbread Witch.
When she’s not writing, she can be found baking, fangirling over her favourite books, or cuddling her foster kittens.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young wannabe witch, conjured from enchanted dough, goes a-questing with a saucy squirrel and some frenemies she meets along the way. This is a well-paced, fun story, with a heartwarming ending, and the promise of more tasty adventures to come.

A treat for fairy tale lovers and apprentice witches.



Thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for letting me read this one.

[MissBecka Gee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fabulous retelling of Hansel & Gretel.
I loved how this was from the witches POV and that it is only loosely tied to the original tale.
Overy creates an amazing adventure that ties into where the Grimms started, but in a fresh new story all it's own.
Absolutely loved where she took this middlegrade read!
The way it ends leaves it open for more and I hope she does more. Maybe about the wolves or what Hansel does now or Ludo gets his own book? I would read any of those!
Much love to NetGalley & Inkyard Press for my ARC.

[Kalyn Josephson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an adorable, heartwarming story. Full of baking, animal companions, and adventure, THE GINGERBREAD WITCH is the perfect mix of harrowing, magical, and lovable. It does a fantastic job of flipping the lore of the story on its head, making it fresh and new, while also paying homage to the original story.

Maud is a fantastic main character. She's kind, gritty, and determined, and I loved her dedication to her friends big and small. You'll definitely want to have a few snacks handy while reading this book, what with all it's perfect baking references, and it's the perfect story to curl up by a fire with a cup of hot chocolate.

I can't wait to read more of Ally's middle grade stories!

[Jacq.and.the.readstalk · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I really wanted to like this one...it had fairytales and it had witches, alas it was not to be.

Don't get me wrong there was nothing awful about the book but there was nothing amazing either. I found that it could not grab my attention.

Even though I am an avid middle grade reader I found this to be predictable and lacklustre. I think younger readers will enjoy this simple, magical read, it has good underlining morals and is a fast-paced adventure.

Thank you to the author for providing me with this ARC.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story started off okay. I was intrigued by the fact Maud wasn't a real girl, but created from gingerbread yet she had the appearance of a real girl.

After Agatha was killed, I was curious to learned how it happened...and once it was revealed that Hansel wasn't the one who did it and wanted to know who did.

However, the story started to become boring. And then ending really made everything that happen preventable - I only Agatha had told Maud the truth she probably wouldn't have tried to do magic.

Favorite character was Nuss! The antics that squirrel got in and the joy it had destroying the evil witch's cottage.

[Alexandra Overy]

I just finished pass pages so I think I can officially mark this as read!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

People who feel guilty eating gingerbread men because they look like people, beware.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a fun and clever reimagining of Hansel and Gretel! I loved it and so did my kids.

I loved the visual imagery Alexandra Overy created for this story, as well as the new twist on an old tale that proved both delightful and original.

Hansel and Gretel are—gasp—witch hunters? And witches don’t (necessarily) eat children? It’s an interesting way to rethink the traditional fairy tale. Except it’s not even quite so simple as that, and challenges the original story’s idea of good and evil and allows for a reality that isn’t quite so black and white.

Maude makes for a terrific heroine, and the pacing and magic make it a great read for kids, while the atmosphere and uniqueness make it one that will appeal to adult readers as well.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5

[Spiri Skye · Rating 5 out of 5]

middle grade adventure/retelling with some LGBT+ rep! Gave me cottagecore vibes I really enjoyed it!

[Awhona K.G. Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bewitching tale and a brilliant retelling of Grimm's Hansel And Gretel with a touch of Red Riding Hood flowering in the heart of it all, this was an engrossing read! Maud- a young witchling and favourite of Witch Mother Agatha lives deep in the woods in their cozy charmed Gingerbread Cottage - invisible to all but Maud's no ordinary witchling- she is an Enchanted Gingerbread creation of Witch Mother Agatha along with her favourite companions - Nuss the Squirrel with her Hazelnut Mousse tail and Florian - the Gingerbread Vulture with delicate sugarspun feathers. Maud is desperate to learn spells and become a proper Witch one day but Mother Agatha refuses to teach her anything substantial until one day the tables turn and an intruder trespasses and to keep Maud and her other creations away from trouble- Mother Agatha instructs them to go fruit foraging for the entire day in the woods. An utterly confused and bewildered Maud unknowingly kicks at the invisiblity protection spell thereby endangering the Charmed cottage to outsiders and leaves Mother Agatha vulnerable to attacks & on her return from fruit foraging in the woods- Maud finds witch hunters - Hansel And Gretel or the Wolves inside her cottage with Mother Agatha burnt to ashes in the oven. Maud now needs to bring back Mother Agatha to life or all her gingerbread creations including Maud would crumble away and for this she needs to journey to the Forbidden Forests in the Shade lands to find the First Witch's Spell Book. Peppered with adventure & exciting twists and turns - Maud's journey to the Shadelands and reaching her goal makes this an exciting and refreshing read!!!

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The smell of sweetness filled the warm kitchen as she set to work on her delectable baked treat. Glittering sugar and a warm fire in the hearth added to the coziness of the tiny cottage. All around her were sweets made from the love of witch’s hands, as well as creatures that chattered away as they watched her work her magic.

The Gingerbread Witch is a sweet, enchanting middle grade story about a young witchling named Maud. All Maud wants is to be a full-fledged witch like Mother Agatha, but when she attempts her very first spell things go terribly wrong. To save who she loves and to rescue all she knows, she must set out on a journey to retrieve the first witch’s spell book.

This book was such a delight to read. A fun adventure story with all kinds of fun and even dangerous creatures. Maud’s character was so sweet and lovable and going on this journey with her was a fun time.

If you’re looking for an adventurous middle grade book perfect for the fall season, then look no further than this gem!

TW: Bullying, Murder.

*I received a gifted copy of this book from the publisher for my honest review.

[Ms. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing is what it seems to be in this fairy tale like world. Maud is a witch made of gingerbread or is she? Hansel and Gretel are known as wolves. Witches are good and wolves are bad or is it the other way around?
Fans of stories with fairy tale settings and/or characters like The School of Good and Evil, Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin from the or A Path Begins will enjoy this.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alexandra Overy's middle grade debut is a delightful adventure about friendship and learning who you truly are and the strength you carry inside you. This fantastic spin on Hansel & Gretel features Maud, an earnest girl who just wants to learn magic, and her friends, a delightfully sassy squirrel named Nuss and a sweet wolf pup named Grim. Together they're going to have quite the adventure as they try to put things right after a spell gone wrong. Hansel & Gretel show up too--but not in the way you're expecting!
I loved this book (I just read an early version). The writing is delicious--it will make you laugh and gasp and even cry a bit as you're pulled into the story. It sucked me right in and I couldn't stop reading. This book will also make you hungry, so make sure you have a well stocked pantry with cookies, cakes, and sweets before sitting down to read!
Definitely add this to your TBR!

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was freaking adorable.

It is the perfect mashup of Strawberry Shortcake, Candyland (yes the board game), Hansel And Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood. Throw some witches in there too and you've got The Gingerbread Witch!

There was a squirrel made out of cake, a three legged violet wolf, and a side character who loves plants and science and I would protect with my life. And everything is candy themed, with every metaphor or simile or turn of phrase taking on a candy theme that just made my heart so happy. It's delightfully funny, and just the right amount of sugary sweet with a little bit of darkness thrown. It was everything that my younger self loved, and it warmed my heart. A brilliant, brilliant book.

[Andrea Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great story of a little witch that finds herself! There is a bit of Hansel & Gretel with a hint of Red Riding Hood, but really it’s just all about Maud. I loved the dark scary bits, but only because I loved all the characters and finding out who was actually who as the going got tough. Would recommend this for kids, teens, and adults alike. Thank you NetGalley!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

The start might seem a bit slow but it's worth the wait because I Alexandra Overy fleshes out her lore in some unique and novel ways. This book is a loose re-telling of Hansel and Gretel. There were a lot of twists and turns, loveable characters, and an ending that pulled at my heartstrings. A great fall read!

[Christen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this fairytale retelling. It involved so many things I love...witches, gingerbread, sweets, & fairytales! So glad I took a trip through this world, and I will definitely be reading the sequel. You're never too old for a good fairytale :-)

[Dogsandbooksanddogsandbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

An updated fairytale with nods to the classics such as Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel & Gretel. In this version, our adolescent wannabe witch has been conjured up from Gingerbread thus she's not actually human. That's a good thing as she sets out on an adventure to retrieve The First Witch's Spellbook which has been buried in the Shadowlands and no human can touch it. It is a journey of self-discovery and ones own value. The Gingerbread Witch speaks to friendships and acceptance with dashes of magic. 3.5 Stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you to Publishers Weekly for my grab-a-galley copy. All opinions are mine.

[Colleen Earle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just okay
I like how the book challenged preconceived notions

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for ages 9-12.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was such a fantastic book! It has everything you could ever want. Magic, adventure, battles, new friends, animal (well, sort of) sidekicks, family and of course Gingerbread!

Maud wants to be a Witch, and she even has the Witch mark but creator, Mother Agatha, still won't teach her magic. When Mother Agatha ends up being killed in an oven Maud must go on the biggest adventure of her life to try and bring her back and find out once and for all why she was never allowed to perform magic.

I had such an amazing time reading The Gingerbread Witch with my daughter. It's such an exciting and fantastical story. The writing is engaging, the characters are lovable and the retelling aspect is done so incredibly well. If you're a fan of retellings and adventures I strongly recommend giving this one a shot. The magic within these pages is perfect for all ages.

Gingerbread has never been so delicious!

[Aneta · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*

[Eule Luftschloss · Rating 3 out of 5]

trigger warning
death by fire, kidnapping, being held hostage, mention of cannibalism

When her teacher gets attacked, apprentice witch Maud is the one who has to set out to save the day, accompanied by a three-legged wold and a squirrel made out of gingerbread.

In this one, it makes sense why a child has to be the one to go on an adventure. Maud is not human, she's been made out of gingerbread by the gingerbread witch, and the place the item in question has hidden can only be safely entered by one who is not human yet a witch. As far as we know, Maud is the first person this description applies to.
Having such an explanation is always nice, though I came here for children going on adventures and probably would have been fine without explanation.

The world is generic european-medieval-times-esque fantasy with frequent mentions of the Grim's fairytales, though with the Englisch names for everything. I am sad to inform you that the boy's name is Hänsel, and that if you don't have ä you can write Haensel. Or, to be really correct, he's probably named Hans and Hänsel is the nickname, as Gretel is the nickname for Margarete. This has nothing to do with the author of this book or the book itself, it simply is a personal pet peeve of mine as a German reader.

Back to the topic. It was an okay read for me, I suppose that this is one of those where it's best to be in the target audience to enjoy the story, which doesn't make it a bad book as it did what it set out to do.

I would not read more by the author, but would recommend it to young readers who are into fairytales and adventures inspired by them.
The arc was provided by the publisher.

[Joc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really ridiculous political pandering. What a terrible way to spoil a tasty story idea. The author also supports abusive relationship (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).

[Jill Jemmett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maud is a girl who was made out of gingerbread by her witch mother Agatha. If anything ever happens to Agatha, her creations will turn back into gingerbread, including the chocolate mousse squirrel and the sugar mice. After Agatha and Maud have a fight, Maud storms off into the forest. When she returns, she finds witch hunters in their home, standing over Agatha’s ashes. Maud runs away before they can catch her too, and she learns that the First Witch’s spell book has a spell that can bring Agatha back to life. To find the spell book, Maud has avoid the witch hunters and other dangers lurking nearby.

I loved the fairytale elements of this story. Maud, her animal friends, and her home were all made of gingerbread or sweets. She encountered witch hunters named Hansel and Gretel. There were also some twists along the way that really surprised me.

One of the major themes of this story was good versus evil. Maud believed that all witches were good, because her mom was a witch. She believed that all witch hunters were evil because they killed her mom. Meanwhile, the witch hunters thought they were on the side of good because they hunted witches who killed children. These lines between good and evil became blurred when Maud got to know the witch hunters. Not all witches were good, and not all witch hunters were bad.

The Gingerbread Witch is a great middle grade story!

Thank you Inkyard Press for providing a copy of this book.

[Adriana · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's just something about retellings that I love. I'd never read a retelling based on Hansel and Gretel and far be it to have read a story where the gingerbread witch's assistant was the star of the story. In this original tale, we get all the whimsy of a fairy tale - a gingerbread girl, a talking squirrel, and an epic quest. We get some evil villains that may or may not be so evil and a journey of self-discovery. All great points going toward this book. However, even if the writing was enticing and the characters were fleshed out, the story felt like it was missing something. Almost like it was cut short of its potential.

There were so many characters and friendships to explore that this story could have been longer. Though perhaps it's perfect for readers who want a somewhat shorter read than the usual 320-page middle-grade novel. I discovered that there will be a sequel - The Un-Sleeping Witch - which I wish was alluded to at the end with a cliffhanger of some sort to entice readers to continue. Based solely on this first book it could have used more details and intrigue in the middle section of the storyline.

As a reader who reads for the characters mainly and the plot second, the protagonist Maud, and all the secondary characters were delightful to read about. I enjoyed getting to know this version of Hansel and Gretel as well as Ludo who is a nerd for plants. There was a spark between Hansel and Ludo which was very sweet. I am curious if the same will go for Maud and Gretel in the future. I'd have to see if the second book builds upon the character's personalities in order for me to continue buying the series for my branch.

[Frank Chillura (OhYouRead) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I KNEW I was going to love this book. It is loosely based on the fairytale Hansel & Gretel and by that I mean, the characters are in this, the action of Hansel “pushing” the witch into the oven happens, but they aren’t the MC’s and they were never kidnapped. This is the story of the witch’s gingerbread creation…

Maud was made from Agatha’s magic being sent into a gingerbread girl. That’s something she has known since she was first born… created… came to be. She and all of the other gingerbread creations that live within her candy house will cease to be if anything were to ever happen to the witch. So when she comes home to find her body within the oven, already gone, it sets her onto a path to save the only person who has ever been there for her and all of her friends.

I love that retellings of Hansel & Gretel either have them as witches or witch hunters. And in this iteration they are part of a witch hunting group called Wolves. Hansel takes credit for the death of the witch even though he found her already gone so that he can be initiated into the family business.

There is a lot more to the story that I’d rather keep a surprise for you, so check it out. It is a middle grade retelling and was a total of 6 hours audio. I read the entire thing in one sitting.

[Sai theengineerisreading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect for fans of fairytale retellings and the Descendants series, The Gingerbread Witch is the first book in an upcoming middle grade series which shows new pictures on Brother Grimm fairy tales.

In this one, we'll have fresh takes on Hansel and Gretel who were portrayed as novice members of Wolf Gard set to hunt all witches - including Maud, a gingerbread witch trained by Mother Agatha, the witch who owns the Gingerbread Place.

THOUGHTS

I enjoyed reading this book because of the twisted take on the beloved tales of Hansel and Gretel. I love reading about reimagined classics and since the renowned twins are portrayed as the antagonist witch hunters in this book, I was excited to know what will happen with Maud and how will she fight the forces of the Wolf Gard.

The writing style is easy to digest. Mix it with a consistent pacing that worked well with an adventure-type storytelling and you will find yourself trying to finish this book in one sitting.

This is the first book in a series and I'm already looking forward to reading more of the twisted stories of the Grimm Brothers' books. (Little Red Riding Hood, 👀)

RATING: 4stars

[Shellylovesbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maud lives in a gingerbread cottage with the Mother Agatha who made her from gingerbread and brought her to life. Along with other living confections Nuss the squirrel Florian the wise talking vulture. Though Mother Agatha doesn’t want Maude to use magic she has a witch mark and yearns to learn to use magic. It isn’t exactly safe to be a witch however as witch hunters known as wolves are always hunting them. She runs away after an argument she returns to the cottage to find wolves in the cottage and Mother Agatha reduced to ashes in her own stove. Maude finds out that with Agatha’s ashes and a powerful spell book she could be restored. Maude has limited time before Agatha’s magic disappears. She must undertake a dangerous journey into the Shadelands and pass undetected amongst the enemy to save everyone that she loves. This magical middle grade fantasy is a fast paced read that readers both young and young at heart can enjoy. It would be a good book for Halloween reading for readers who prefer adventures that aren’t too scary . I enjoyed the slightly dark fairy tale feel of this story.