I had high hopes for this middle-grade witchy read, but was left sadly disappointed.

The story follows 14 year old Raya, an orphan in a foster home, as she runs away from home and discovers that she has unexpected powers. Accompanied by a very sarcastic cat called Oscar she finds herself thrown into a dangerous adventure as she accidentally travels to 1645 Istanbul/Constantinople

The story seemed to like jumping from plot-point to plot-point with no reason or explanation. It took me a good while to even realise that witches are apparently normal and quite commonplace in this world?
I think?
I felt like I wanted MUCH more explanation for things and less rushing through the story.

And I found the main character Raya to be annoying and whiney; often doing stupid things which would make me sigh in frustration.

Overall, I disappointing read.

I really wanted to like this book, I love witches from The worst witch to Terry Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters but the whole book just fell a little flat.

It's whole premise with Raya being a tough foster kid who'd had a hard life was a little cliched and frankly I didn't find the character that likeable.

I also feel there were too many 'supporting' characters who were there for window dressing and could have been cut out with no real impact on the story.

The redeeming feature of the book was Raya's relationship with Oscar the cat, a familiar with whom she could speak with in her mind. I really could have read a book with those two in it.

This was my first book gotten through NetGalley, so plenty of thanks to that wonderful site!

Being a Witch was a bit of an up-and-down book for me. It's a rather charming book in some ways, and might go over better with the younger range of YA readers, but I felt like I was on an rough wagon ride drawn by a horse who wasn't quite sure where it was going. First we're thrown into a fairly normal situation, with Raya being a rebel-type kid who's sick of foster homes and wants to run away to London — except that there are also witches. Are witches very common? Are they accepted in society? Does everyone believe in them? We don't know. It's just not explained. That was this book's first mistake. Before you start jumping from one time to another, make sure we know what's going on in this time period.

So then there’s time traveling. I was intrigued by the idea of where a witch time travels to being triggered by subconscious emotions such as guilt, but time traveling in general is kind of a question mark. We don’t know why Raya can’t do it on purpose until she suddenly can, we don’t know why there’s a time limit for her to return to her rightful time period, and there are many other questions that aren’t answered.

I also wasn’t a fan of the pacing. I felt like the parts I was interested in, the action parts, went by in a flash, while the setting up parts dragged on and on. I didn’t mind that in Istanbul, where learning about that time period was interesting, but I needed more time spent on the exciting plot twists.

I did enjoy Raya as a character, though. She was a realistic teenager, even when that made her slightly unlikeable: scrappy, a little whiny, and sort of reckless. Seeing her character development is a delight. I did think the ending of the book muddled up that development though. When Raya ignored the kids who were making fun of the Chakma's it surprised me, because it made her unlikeable again. I thought the Raya we were watching develop would stand up for everyone, not just turn her back on the rude kids.

Unfortunately, the heartwarming story with a side of time travel that we could have had was bogged down by a confusing lack of explanation about a basic premise of the book and too little time spent on the action. I would recommend it to younger readers who are interested in history and don't feel the need for as much background information on the magical elements, but it was not the book for me.

Being a Witch, and Other Things I Didn't Ask For is a riviting book full of suspense. With unexpected moves at every turn, this book is a real page turner.

DNF @ 4%

I don't think I'm coming back to this since I really didn't interest me like I thought it would.

I did not finish this title. It would be great if Non-Native people could stop calling makeup "war paint".

This book just wasn't for me. I found that the book just reacted badly with my own views and this just wasn't what ideas hoping for.

Book Title: Being a Witch, and Other Things I Didn't ask for.

Author: Sara Pascoe

Time it took me to read: 22 Days

Review: Despite this book being for a younger audience i did enjoy the story and characters. Oscar the sarcastic talking cat was funny and i did enjoy his character the most. My favourite quote from the book was "Oh No Naked with your social worker-maybe even weirder than time travel" this quote did make me giggle. I would of given this book five stars but the word Paki cropped up twice in the story and the context it was used made me feel a little uncomfortable so i gave the book four stars, other than that it was a nice humorous read.

I was ready to think this was a copy of Harry Potter because I love JK Rowlings stories so much. Its not! Being A Witch, and Other Things I Didn't Ask For is good story on its own and Sara Pascoe has done a fabulous job!! With wonderfully written characters and a new take on a young girl finding out about her powers, it is thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end. I will be recommending this to anyone I know who is a reader and has any interest in the genre, as well as definitely recommending it to all my Mom friends to have their kids read it. I give it a strong 4.5 stars

“Be careful what you wish for..” A line from book exactly goes for the book.
This story is about a girl who never had proper relationship with anyone in life, who will learn to value people in her life and respect their love for her during her time travel.
Characters- I loved Oscar in this book. He was fun and wise cat. I really wish I have a talking cat.
Raya- (protagonist) I didn’t get her initially, she was so irresponsible and selfish, not ready to accept her witchy things and all. As she does her first time travel, I was interested to know her more. Her character develops very smoothly and steadily as the book progress.
Bryony- she was nice, her character was important in this book, but I think the whole focus was on Raya, maybe that’s why she gets less attention. When you picture a tutor in mind you want them little strict, smart, and influential but here she was exactly opposite. Well, I don’t want judge anything.
All secondary characters were nice too.
Few thing I liked about book were- the historical period and lifestyle of people linked with the main theme of the book. Social issues- racism and xenophobia pointed out remarkably during the time travel. I felt the time travel that solely depended on the Raya’s wish was believable, I enjoyed that part the most. Raya’s past and her thoughts about life was well explained. Well thought out moral behind the story.
The only thing I didn’t like was- Pace of the book, it had on and off effect on me. I feel, there was little more seriousness than the fun it required. Otherwise everything was fine. Something different than regular witch books.
This is a kind of a book that all parents wish their teens to read. Both adults and YAs will enjoy reading this story.

14-year-old Rachael's inability to control her newly found witch talents lead her and her friends into dangerous territory in this historically based, time-travelling adventure. An interesting read with an endearingly flawed protagonist.

Rachel, AKA Raya, is a teenage girl in foster care in London. She lives with Angie and Jake, another child in foster care. She’s almost 17. She wants to run away and live on her own. She goes to a hostel that someone recommended but it isn’t what she expected. She meets Pavel, who brings her to his friends, Ian and Emma, who own a cafe and have a spare room for her to stay in. She works for them for about a week but eventually her social worker finds her. Her foster brother has also run away, and he took Oscar, their social worker’s magical, talking cat, with him. Raya feels terribly guilty for influencing Jake to run away. They find him in a coma in the hospital. He ran in front of a truck to save the cat. Oscar was still in the hospital, so Raya and the social worker, Bryony, go to get him back. But when they reunite with Oscar the cat, Raya suddenly transports them back in time. Raya and Oscar arrive in England in 1645, just in time for the Essex Witch Trials. This isn’t the best time to be a teenage witch who travelled from the future, with a talking cat. Raya has just discovered she has powers, so she isn’t strong enough to bring them back to the future. Bryony comes back and finds them, but that isn’t the end of their adventure. When Raya attempts to send them back to the future, they only travel to Turkey, during the same period. Now Raya is faced with the challenge of learning how to use her powers to return them to modern England and how to survive in 17th century Turkey.

I enjoyed this book. At the beginning I was a little confused about how witches are perceived in the London of the book. Of course, since it’s called Being a Witch, I knew that the main character was going to be a witch. But she called her social worker a witch like it was an ordinary thing to say to someone. And her social worker agreed with her. Plus, she could hear a cat speak. No one addressed if this was a normal part of their life. There was also a part of the police department dedicated to “integrators,” which is the term used by Pavel for people with magic powers.

I enjoyed the story once she got to Turkey. The last half of the story was quite exciting, with her travelling around Istanbul, Turkey and learning how to use her new powers. I liked the historical aspects of the novel too. They were accurate depictions and added some truth to this fictional story.

This book was amazing. At first I thought yep she has Schizophrenia like her mom and then BOOM WITCH. Loved this book so much! Can't wait to read more from this author.

I found that Being a Witch, and Other Things I Didn’t Ask For by Sara Pascoe was a very fun book to read! Raya is a teenage girl that is in foster care and does not realize that she is a witch. She and her cat Oscar go on a series of adventures all while learning and adapting to her new found powers. Being a Witch is written with amazing characters and plot line. The setting for this book in unreal. Pascoe does an outstanding job in creating and writing about the settings so that you feel as if you are really there enjoying the fun Raya and Oscar. The story time travels back to the witch trials and teaches you a little about the history of the trials. I found this book fast paced and very exciting to read. You really do not want to miss out on this young adult read.