The Scratch Daughters is the second book in H.A. Clarke's "Scapegracers" trilogy. The series is a queer feminist (or well, anti-patriarchy) young adult urban fantasy series featuring as its protagonist Sideways Pike, a lesbian queer teen witch who was always an outcast growing up in school...until a trio of more popular girls ask her to pull a prank with magic and wind up becoming her friends and coven, the Scapegracers, who are not the group of het girls Sideway first thought they were. But in gaining a coven, Sideways gained enemies as well, such as the witch hunting Chantry Boys (led by their sheriff father) and a girl named Madeline...who wants revenge on the boys so bad she'll leave Sideways in a bad place to do it. Book 1 was a really great start to the series even as it ended on a brutal cliffhanger, so I've been super lucky to get advance copies of Book 2 and Book 3 - even if I've been way slow in actually reading them (I'm a year late on this review, sorry!)

The Scratch Daughters follows book 1's cliffhanger and presents a book that remains incredibly queer and against the patriarchy, even as it throws Sideways for even more of a loop than book 1. In book 1, Sideways was largely dealing with suddenly gaining a bunch of friends who wanted to be with her and learn magic with her, even as her greater magic attracted more deadly trouble (I'm VASTLY oversimplifying). This time around Sideways has to deal with conflicts between those friends' wants, their wants and cares for Sideways, Sideways' own depressed state due to what happened at the end of Book 1, and Sideways' relationship with a new major character. It also magnifies the threat of the witchfinders immensely. It's a book that now can become pretty hard to read because of all the struggles it puts its protagonist through, but it's worth it in the end and I can't wait to follow this up with the trilogy's conclusion.

Spoilers for book 1 are present below, be warned if you haven't read The Scapegracers yet.

Plot Summary:
Last year Sideways Pike was the school's resident weirdo, the out butch lesbian who was known to play at witchcraft who didn't really have any friends. Now things are very different - Sideways is part of a coven, the Scapegracers, with 3 very popular girls - Daisy, Jing, and Yates - all of whom turn out to be queer in ways of their own, and with whom her magic had blossomed in ways she never dreamed. Or well did, until she first ran afoul of the witch hunting Chantry boys and then into the very attractive girl Madeline, who tricked her and ripped out her Specter, the very force that gave Sideways the ability to use magic. Sideways has only been able to hold together by accepting the possession of the book demon Mr. Scratch, but even that possession hasn't stopped her from feeling not all there.

Desperate to get back her Specter, Sideways and the Scapegracers search for any lead on finding Madeline, who has vanished...other than the glimpses into her mind Sideways gets from Madeline having her Specter. But when the hunt for Madeline leads Sideways back to the house of the Chantry Boys, she becomes desperate to undertake a dangerous mission back into the house she was once held captive in...and suddenly Sideways finds herself in conflict with the other girls over how far she is willing to go.

Suddenly desperate and outcast once again, Sideways finds that herself in pain not just from the loss of her Specter and the threat of death from the witchfinders, but also from the loss of those she was beginning to call friends, and a chance encounter with another of the Chantry Boys may put both of those problems right at her doorstep....
The Scratch Daughters continues the story of The Scapegracers just a few months down the line. I mentioned in my review of the first book that Clarke took things in a different way than others might've taken a similar plotline - where others might have had the three popular girls who try to use magic with Sideways turn on her, and cause her heartbreak, there it had their friendship turn out to be genuine as the three popular girls - Daisy, Jing and Yates - turned out to be queer themselves, even if none of them were out about it like Sideways and even if they were each sometimes still trying to figure out who they were and who they might be interested in. The Scratch Daughters meanwhile does sort of take that road not travelled in book 1 - due to Sideways' reckless actions without them, for a good part of the book Sideways is cast out from her circle of friends and has to wonder whether that friendship was real or whether it was merely the girls using her...and how Daisy, Jing and Yates handle that breakup while still needing to do magic doesn't help those feelings. But the book doesn't end in that fashion, and really it all comes down to all the characters - whether that be Daisy, Jing, Yates, new character Shiloh, or Sideways themselves going through changes that make them confused and unsure who they are and what they want.

Really that theme underlines this entire novel. For Sideways, those changes come from the loss of their Specter, which makes them feel disassociated from the world at times and just feel like they're not actually there, with only Mr. Scratch's voice in Sideways' head able to help them keep it just a little bit together. For Mr. Scratch similarly there's the struggle to keep his new charges alive when the witch finders hunted down his last coven. For Daisy, Jing, and Yates, well the trio is all struggling with their own newly discovered queerness in various forms, something they've been more willing to admit to themselves after hanging around Sideways, but those revelations make them each vulnerable to the point where a minor change in the equilibrium, caused by Sideways doing things without them like heading to check out the Chantry house without them against their advice, cause them - especially Daisy - to freak out and temporarily break Sideways away from the group. And for Shiloh, the discovery of the extent of their queerness by their father resulted in them being cast out from their family and in them having to truly recognize how horrible their prior actions were. The only thing that can help them all keep it together is the friendship and caring of others - like Sideways' gay parents, who help Shiloh drastically, or Mr. Scratch, who keeps Sideways together both literally and figuratively.

Because well, as the book makes clear, the world is a brutal one out there for those who don't fit in the patriarchy, whether they be witches or just people who aren't cis-het males. The threats of the Witchfinders only become more horrifying here, and how their actions affect others and result in cycles of trauma like what afflicts Madeline is made all the more apparent through this plot. But through Queers sticking together and realizing how much they each care about and can help each other, well, the Scapegracers and others can find a way to grow into the people they truly want to be. And what they turn out to be isn't some set path, nor is it something determined by who their parents are, as Sideways has to realize at one point.

I've said very little in this review about the actual plot, because well it works and really the characters and themes are the big stuff here, and they work very well. My one problem is that the book ends on a brutal cliffhanger for one of the characters again, one whom I really was hoping would be able to get a happy ending, and well now I need to not wait so long to read the trilogy's conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an advanced copy of this.

I read Scapegracers back in 2021 and promptly requested to read the sequel, however I never got to it in time and waited for the last book in the trilogy to be released before attempting a reread. Which I'm glad I did because these are so intertwined and I would not have been able to just pick up the sequel without a refresher.

The way this book covered Sideway's disassociation following the spectre steal from Madeline was horrible but a cool way of showing the side effects of such a cruel use of magic. It was rough seeing the events that led to the Scapegracers falling out for most of the book but it was good to learn more about Sideways discovery along with having conversations with Shiloh that helped things fall into place when they reunited with the Scapegracers, even though that ended in a housefire. Sometimes the middle book of a trilogy feels the most out of place or the heaviest, this was just a perfect way to move along.

Another reason why I'm glad that I waited for The Feastmakers to be published before reading this, I would not have had the patience to see every loose thread just be on a small cliffhanger for so long.

A strong follow up to a well loved book. My lesbian heart adores the bright and powerful lesbian rep in these books, as well as the depth of friendships shown.

Great second book to this series. I love Sideways. She (they?) is so snarky, and funny and I love her narrative. Her parents/guardians should win awards for being the best parents ever. I love the evolution of Mr. Scratch too, and also of Shiloh, and their changing relationship with Sideways and her group of friends, and their family and the world around them. The plot here is great as well, I was super hooked throughout the book, and was on tenterhooks as to what would happen next. I'm super looking forward to book 3.

One of my favorite trilogy. This is truly at core a lesbian book about what it means to be a lesbian, to identify as a lesbian and what it feels like to be an alienated lesbian facing the heteronormative world

I put off reading The Scratch Daughters until it was closer to The Feast Makers release because I knew once I started the series again I wasn't going to want to wait, and boy was I right. The Scratch Daughters picks up closely to where book 1 ended, with the Scapegracers trying to help Sideways, until they start falling apart from in fighting amongst each other. While I usually get annoyed over friend fights in YA because they happen so often for no real purpose, this not only fit the story but felt so natural to it that I can't imagine it happening any other way. Also, I am SO glad we got more of Mr. Scratch, I fell in love with him in book one and was delighted to get to know him and Shiloh better. Clarke is a master at creating deeply flawed but easily lovable characters, and I can't wait to see what happens next in the series!

I like witchy books. I like the inclusion of queer characters. Thank you for the opportunity of having read this in advance.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

I remember having such a visceral reaction to The Scapegracers when I read it back in 2020. Sideways felt like someone had scraped the inside of my brain (the way I viewed the world, myself, gender, sexuality, my friends) and made it a little younger and a lot heavier. Sideways was a character that resonated with me as an adult (and probably would have terrified me as a teen).

Where this book shines is in the bonds of the main cast. The four of them have what I always dreamed a true friendship would be. Closer than anyone else, almost to the point of blurring the edges of the self.

However, the plot was... Rather negligible. The little side business hexing boys, the lack of progress on the overall quest... It felt like a second book, filling the space between the beginning and the ending, but not much more.

I absolutely loved The Scapegracers, so I did reread it before finally picking up its sequel. I am very happy to write that i Loved this book just as much as the first. I loved the angry women, the queer cast, how they showed kindness even when it isn't always deserved. I cannot wait to see how the series ends.

In this book we come back to our favorite magical and badass group of girls that are taking things into their own hands. With the way the first book ended (That cliffhanger left me shattered and wanting for more), I expected this book to do even more than the first, and I wasn't disappointed one bit. This book was even better than the first! Sideways was such a fun character to follow and I loved seeing her interact with her friend group. This book was really worth the wait and I absolutely recommend reading these books if you haven't already.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the e-book in exchange for an honest review.

So did it take me forever to get to this one? Oh yeah. Why? because I kept forgetting I had it. Netgalley I am so sorry lmao.
Scratch Daughters is the sequel to Scapegracers, a book about witches forming a coven in a small town. But Scratch Daughters is more than that. It's an unapologetic tale that shows queer people can be anyone, whether it's the cheerleader with the big mouth, the alt girl you think might stab you, or the sweetest person in the entire school. It's a story about the unbreakable bond between queer people- no matter their past, and a story showing that your family doesn't define you if you don't let them.

Scratch Daughters is another magical adventure for four girls and their book devil just trying to survive senior year (and get into colleges). It's also the first book which used the word "unalive" in a serious context and christ the second-hand embarrassment was real.
It's a wonderful witch tale filled with queerness and danger and if that's something you think you'd enjoy, you should try it!
(And if you despise the censorship of modern media as much as I do maybe stop at book one so you don't have to read "unalive")

I did not think you could top the Scapegracers and yet somehow this did.

I cried many, many times. This is such a beautiful story about friendship and queer solidarity and religious trauma. I don't even know what I ship anymore. I have so many strong feelings about these girls and their relationships, but I love that their friendship always comes first.

In addition to queerness, The Scratch Daughters has such beautiful representation of gender! Non-binary characters! Lesbianism as gender!

Rarely have I felt so seen by a depiction of depression and disassociation. The supernatural elements were woven into the protagonist's mental state so beautifully.

This is one of my favourite series of all time!

Absolutely feral witch book. I love the writing in this series, I love the ride and die obsessive friend group for life (where you at raven cycle fans) I love the dangerous magic and more we learn about it, I love supportive adults in Ya fiction, I love the witty banter. This was such a great read I can’t wait for the next one.

this was the perfect sequel! I loved the first book so I had super high expectations for this one. Luckily they were all exceeded. I liked this one even more than its predecessor, which was a surprise.
This doesn't allow for half stars, even though I think it deserves 4.5 stars, so I'll just round it down.

I was so happy to be back in the world of the Scapegracers, and this sequel did not disappoint. The plot is intriguing and thrilling, but the heart of the story is the relationship between these witches. Not to mention the distinct narrative voice that makes for some of the most compelling prose in recent memory for me. Crossing my fingers for a third installment.

A fantastic sequel to the first book, I loved the LGBTQ+ representation with the witch focus! Right now, I cant get enough of this book and cant wait for my re-read!

After falling for Sideways & crew in "Scapegracers", I knew I'd love the sequel just as much. Clarke's writing is so compelling and relatable and beautiful, more than what I've normally come to expect from novels targetting a YA audience. The internal struggles within the coven made my heart break for every single character and the resolution was exactly what I had hoped for. Needless to say, I can't wait for book 3!

Thanks to Erewhon & NetGalley for the digital ARC!

WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN?

I fell in love with the world of the Scapegracers when I read the first book and my love affair continues. I honestly can't even tell you what I loved the most, but let's start with the writing. It is SO SMART. Not only is the narrative structure so very clever, but the writing itself is also excellent. As I read the last few chapters, I couldn't even believe my eyes. Every word felt exquisite and like it was a huge privilege to be able to even read them. The sentences are sharp where they need to be and lush, visceral and sensory when they need to be. What an absolute treat, man.

And the CHARACTERS?

I mean, they are just as easy to fall in love with - and I'm talking all of them, from Sideways and their coven, through their coven, all the way to Shiloh and Julian & Boris. They all have such palpable personalities.

But, okay, I think I know what I love the most about it.

It's the same thing I loved about the first one - it's about so much more than the plot. The plot is there, of course, as the driving force, but the DISCUSSIONS. All these dirty feelings these characters are feeling; the love they reaffirm over and over again; their struggles and first-ever experiences. And so much of these books is about identity - and that can be seeing yourself represented, or accepted, or figuring yourself out, or sharing yourself with others and finding pride in it; or just the very fact you exist in this world.

These books feel like a Nirvana song but so much better.

4.5

I read The Scratch Daughters immediately after I finished Scapegracers and I absolutely loved both of the books. This novel picks up right where we left off with the first one, with Scapegraces having to look for Sideways's soul after it has been borrowed, so to speak. Sideways is, understandably, getting impatient when no progress is made. Besides their search, they're dedicating time to helping out girls when they're dealing with abusive men. I will not go into too many details, as this is a sequel and I would like to try and remain as spoiler-free as I can.

Sideways and the rest of her coven are great characters to follow, and all of the strengths of the first book are present here too. I loved how the first book talked about the experience of being a teenager (specifically that quote about the world hating teenage girls), and how that helped create the bond between Sideways, Daisy, Jing, and Yates. The relationship they all have is truly the strong point of these books and what I loved so much about them. That is clear in book one, and it carries over here and I loved seeing these characters have so much love for one another.

In terms of plot, this book is slightly messier and maybe a bit slower than the first one. It makes sense, given we see everything through Sideways, whose feelings are now altered by the lack of their soul. In that way, I maybe enjoyed the first book a bit more, it was faster-paced and had some more direction, if that makes sense. But I really do not mind this as much, as it brings us more of the characters, which I enjoyed, and more of Mr. Scratch, which I also enjoyed (I really did like his character, even if the eye scene was a bit gross).

Last, but certainly not least, I love how this book centers on the queer experience, and especially lesbian experience (again, as Sideways is our POV character). The talk about gender, and sexuality and how much love there is all around in this book is really just healing something in me a little bit I think. This book was really queer in every way, and it did fix me a little. Sideways's dads are also a great addition to the cast of characters, I always love seeing happy queer parents living their best lives and their love for Sideways was just heartwarming to read about.

All in all, I won't go into any more details, so if you haven't read Scapegracers, I would highly recommend it. It's a delightful witchy read, and if you love queer found families and just fun, adventures I'd say pick this up.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!