This is a fun selection of stories. They are all very girl power with a bit of magic. I enjoyed every single one of them. I requested this because Brandy Colbert was one of the contributors. And I love her, but every single one of these stories was entertaining and enjoyable. If you're looking for something light and you enjoy short stories, I definitely recommend this.

It’s been close to three months since I read this book and my memory of some of the stories is a little foggy, but I’ve got enough brainpower and memory to tell you a little about this anthology. You like witches, paranormal shenanigans, and magical realism? This book GIVES you all of the above and then some because y’all, this anthology is SO QUEER. The queerest anthology I’ve ever read that wasn’t specifically themed around queer people like Saundra Mitchell’s All Out and Out Now.

The two stories that tie for the best of the anthology are Tess Sharpe’s “The Heart in Her Hands” and Elizabeth May’s “Why They Watch Us Burn” because WOW. Both stories are f/f as well. Sharpe’s story, in which a young witch meets her soulmate and rejects him for the girl she’s always loved, dissects the idea of soulmates and what that means for free will. Meanwhile, May’s highly allegorical tale draws powerful parallels to how the media and awful people treat women who speak out against men who abuse them. In a labor camp where she’s been sent, the heroine falls for a fellow witch-prisoner and all the girls imprisoned there reclaim both their names and their powers in a blaze of glory. It’s amazing.

That’s not to say those are the only good stories because they aren’t. If your jam is closer to magical realism, Zoraida Cordova’s “Divine Are the Stars” (in which a matriarch’s heirs come to collect their inheritance and contend with a mother tree) and Tehlor Kay Mejia’s “Starsong” (in which a Latinx girl’s business of making star charts from her star-related abilities brings her into contact with a cute but skeptical girl) are both vivid, intelligent delights. I could dig into most every story and tell you why I like each one of them, but I just don’t have the time.

But the book’s strongest draw is its diversity. It’s a diverse set of authors with a diverse set of characters, yeah, but each story draws on a different magical tradition from across different cultures the world over. In the United States, people tend to think of the Salem Witch Trials or popular but very white examples from popular media. Think Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Hocus Pocus and the Harry Potter books. Toil & Trouble disrupts that narrative and gives the readers brujas, girls connected to Baba Yaga, a Comanche girl who can feel water like it’s part of her. Witches and magic aren’t just for white girls and it also digs into the role of sexism in why women face specific persecution as witches.

Even one of the weaker stories, “Death in the Sawtooths” by Lindsay Smith, isn’t bad so much as it is not suited for being a short story. The worldbuilding that goes into this mystery and the idea’s potential is large enough for a novel, but trying to compress all of that into a few dozen pages makes the magical abilities of the characters and the events of the story confusing. If Smith ever wants to expand this story into a full book like Ibi Zoboi is doing with her own story from the Black Enough anthology, I’m game for it.

Just two of the stories, “Daughters of Baba Yaga” by Brenna Yovanoff and “The Love Spell” by Anna-Marie McLemore, failed to leave an impression on me, so I consider them the weakest by default even if they’re not necessarily bad. I genuinely have NO memory of what was in either story.

Though I read the book in February and March 2020, it’ll be a fun book to break out again when Halloween comes around and the tide of witch stories comes back in. One of the most varied anthologies out there in terms of who took part, what stories they’re telling, and what their inspirations draw from.

Loved this anthology of witchy short stories. I also really enjoyed how queer many of the stories were. Always love to see that kind of representation in fantasy and YA!

I always find it a little difficult reviewing anthologies, but this one was a diamond in the rough! I found that I enjoyed almost every story, but specifically loved Why They Watch Us Burn by Elizabeth May. I need to get a physical copy to add to my personal collection. Pure Love!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

All the stars. I love witches and I love the way these stories were told. I liked some more than others (as per usual with anthologies) but I loved that each other brought something new and special to each story.

A wonderfully diverse collection of short stories about all kinds of witches. The genres span from horror, historical, magical realism, and fantasy. Many stories include LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC characters.

It’s been close to three months since I read this book and my memory of some of the stories is a little foggy, but I’ve got enough brainpower and memory to tell you a little about this anthology. You like witches, paranormal shenanigans, and magical realism? This book GIVES you all of the above and then some because y’all, this anthology is SO QUEER. The queerest anthology I’ve ever read that wasn’t specifically themed around queer people like Saundra Mitchell’s All Out and Out Now.

The two stories that tie for the best of the anthology are Tess Sharpe’s “The Heart in Her Hands” and Elizabeth May’s “Why They Watch Us Burn” because WOW. Both stories are f/f as well. Sharpe’s story, in which a young witch meets her soulmate and rejects him for the girl she’s always loved, dissects the idea of soulmates and what that means for free will. Meanwhile, May’s highly allegorical tale draws powerful parallels to how the media and awful people treat women who speak out against men who abuse them. In a labor camp where she’s been sent, the heroine falls for a fellow witch-prisoner and all the girls imprisoned there reclaim both their names and their powers in a blaze of glory. It’s amazing.

That’s not to say those are the only good stories because they aren’t. If your jam is closer to magical realism, Zoraida Cordova’s “Divine Are the Stars” (in which a matriarch’s heirs come to collect their inheritance and contend with a mother tree) and Tehlor Kay Mejia’s “Starsong” (in which a Latinx girl’s business of making star charts from her star-related abilities brings her into contact with a cute but skeptical girl) are both vivid, intelligent delights. I could dig into most every story and tell you why I like each one of them, but I just don’t have the time.

But the book’s strongest draw is its diversity. It’s a diverse set of authors with a diverse set of characters, yeah, but each story draws on a different magical tradition from across different cultures the world over. In the United States, people tend to think of the Salem Witch Trials or popular but very white examples from popular media. Think Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Hocus Pocus and the Harry Potter books. Toil & Trouble disrupts that narrative and gives the readers brujas, girls connected to Baba Yaga, a Comanche girl who can feel water like it’s part of her. Witches and magic aren’t just for white girls and it also digs into the role of sexism in why women face specific persecution as witches.

Even one of the weaker stories, “Death in the Sawtooths” by Lindsay Smith, isn’t bad so much as it is not suited for being a short story. The worldbuilding that goes into this mystery and the idea’s potential is large enough for a novel, but trying to compress all of that into a few dozen pages makes the magical abilities of the characters and the events of the story confusing. If Smith ever wants to expand this story into a full book like Ibi Zoboi is doing with her own story from the Black Enough anthology, I’m game for it.

Just two of the stories, “Daughters of Baba Yaga” by Brenna Yovanoff and “The Love Spell” by Anna-Marie McLemore, failed to leave an impression on me, so I consider them the weakest by default even if they’re not necessarily bad. I genuinely have NO memory of what was in either story.

Though I read the book in February and March 2020, it’ll be a fun book to break out again when Halloween comes around and the tide of witch stories comes back in. One of the most varied anthologies out there in terms of who took part, what stories they’re telling, and what their inspirations draw from.

This was so beautiful and interesting! loved the diversity in these stories. I will be getting myself a hardcopy at some point in the future. This was such a great collection, very atmospheric. A winner.

Thank you Netgalley and publishers!

I was thrilled to receive a copy of this for review. After reading the blurb there was no way I could pass it up. Witches, short stoies, Zoraida Cordova!
Normally short stories and multiple authors to a book are a huge deterrent for me. This was a great read with so much diversity. It was refreshing. It was magical and mystical.
An extremely fun read, especially in October, that I would highly recommend.

Toil & Trouble was such a fun collection of short stories. There were so many stories I really loved and have continued to love since reading this book.

I loved the diversity of the stories with some being the more traditional view of witches as well as the modern day internet wiccans. I had a blast reading each story and this book made me realize that I need more anthologies in my life.

Would recommend to anyone who loves witchy tales, YA readers, and those looking for a fun halloween read.

I ended up giving this one 4 of 5 stars.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read this book for my honest review. I just had to request this read when I learned what it was about. Witches are fascinating to me. It was great reading all 15 of the different stories. They were all really good, but I had some favorites among them.


There are many witches of color, and who are part of the lbgtq+ community, which is great! Within Toil and Trouble there are 15 unique stories. I would recommend this story to anyone, not just girls.

An interesting collection of diverse, creative and compelling stories of women with unusual powers, or "witches". Thank you NetGalley, authors and publisher for the e-copy for review. All opinions are my own.

Thumbs up for diversity, girl power, and a whole bunch of witchy goodness! There's a great variety here, with lots for everyone. The beauty of an anthology is that you don't have to read every story if you're not interested in all of them. I liked Emery Lord's story the best. I love having a book I can recommend to readers who want a Halloweeny book, but not something that will keep them up at night. This was just enough atmosphere to be fun without causing nightmares.

Not my favourite short story collection. I read this on net-galley and will not be buying my own copy. I've learned that I prefer full length novels more the anthologies, because it allows me to get to know the characters a lot more.

Anthologies are tricky for me when it comes to reviewing and rating. Overall, I liked this collection of stories. As always there were some that I liked and some that I didn't like. It was a prefect thing to read around Halloween though so if you're looking to read this , this time of year is perfect. I will be picking up some other books by some of the authors in here because I enjoyed their writing.

I am wayyyy behind in my NetGalley reviews, which is good in the case of this book because I can talk not only of my personal love for it, but my students and friends' as well. I picked up this collection because of its subtitle: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft. However, I was in love with the collaborators. Brandy Colbert (author of Little and Lion), Zoraida Córdova (Brooklyn Brujas series), Anna-Marie McLemore (Blanca & Roja), Jessica Spotswood (A Tyranny of Petticoats), and Robin Talley (Pulp) among others. The stories themselves were riveting and I am glad to have shared them with my friends Danielle and Amanda who, in turn, raved about the book in their podcast, YA Cafe.

I don’t read many anthologies, but I was drawn in by the gorgeous cover, the concept of women and witchcraft, and the line-up of authors. I enjoyed Toil & Trouble for the most part; while I didn’t dislike any of the stories, many of them were just okay. Some of the stories left me sort of scratching my head and wondering what the point was. They felt incomplete, and more than just in the way that some short stories do because of their brevity. I liked the variety of stories - modern, historical, witches with different abilities, and I especially appreciated the diversity in race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.

My favourite stories in the collection were the last three: Love Spell by Anna-Marie McLemore, The Gherin Girls by Emery Lord, and Why They Watch us Burn by Elizabeth May.

Thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

“- the most terrifying thing in the world is a girl with power.”, Why they watch us burn by Elizabeth May.

Toil and Trouble is an anthology of short stories that feature: love, friendships, witches, magic and most importantly, some badass women.

Starsong by tehlor Kay Mejia

A beautiful short story. This is told from the POV of 16 year old Esperanza Luna Mendoza, who writes horoscopes by reading the Stars with an old magic in her family. So much was conveyed in this short story. From a small amount of pages it’s told that Luna had a past drug/drinking problem, she’s strong and fights every day to stay atop her demons. While the start of the story had a sad feel to it by the end we see Luna start to hope. She’s excited and off on a date with a girl. I loved this story so much. The anthology started of to a great start with Starsong as it’s first story.

5/5

Afterbirth by Andrea Cremer.

Set in a time when women were accused of witchcraft this is told from the POV of Deliverance Pond, as she tells the story of her mistress and the birth of a baby that changed everything. This was really good and a little heartbreaking. I thought it was an interesting short story that showed the differences in classes and how one powerful man can make many people suffer to keep his secrets!

3/5

The Heart In Her Hands by Tess Sharpe.

What it is about Tess Sharpe’s writing that always makes me cry! This story was amazing and I expected nothing less with this author. Told from the POV of Bette, a healer who is determined to tell the fates to suck it! She’s her own women and she will love who she wants. This was wonderful and it had me a little worried there with the whole “soul mark” thing. However I should never have doubted Tess’s ability to write because, Everything worked out!

5/5

Death in Sawtooths by Lindsey Smith

I liked it but I didn’t love it. It had an interesting plot and I loved the friendship. Though I did feel a little bored reading it to be honest.

3/5

The truth about Queenie by Brandy Colbert.

This is a story of a girl in love with her best friend who has a girlfriend. This is one of my least favorite stories of the anthology. Personally, while I did like Queenie I just couldn’t agree with her actions and steps she took to get the guy!

2/5

The moonapple Menagerie by Shveta Thakar

Another outstanding short story. Told from the POV of one girl who will risk everything to save her friends after a deal gone wrong. It features, witches, demons, the stress of play writing and the power of friendship. This one has no romance and focuses solely on friendhsips.

5/5

The Legend of Stone Mary by Robin Talley.

Another I really enjoyed. This story is about a girl whose family is accused of being cursed due to the death of her ancestor Mary; she died because her village believed she was a witch. It was really spooky and the perfect read in preparation for Halloween. It also had a sweet f/f romance!


4/5.

The one who stayed by Nova Ren suma.

This short story follows the voices of different witches who have been raped. It was heartbreaking and inspiring. A story that will stay with me for a long time.

4/5

Divine are The Stars by Zoraida Córdova.

Family turns vicious in this fabulous short story. This is told from the POV of Marimar who is called back to her grandmothers house along with the rest of her family, while her grandmother determines who will get her land when she dies. This was really interesting and I loved the magical way the story was told.

4/5

Daughters of Baba Yaga by Brenna Yovanoff.

Dnf - I really liked the writing but I just couldn’t get into this story.

The Well Witch by Kate Hart.

A badass water witch shows some soliders who’s the boss when they show up on her land. This had a really slow start but picked up at the end. I enjoyed it.

3/5

Beware of the girls with crooked mouths by Jessica Spotswoood.

I thought the story was interesting but I expected more from the ending. I also hated Joe!

2/5

Lovespell my Anna Marie Mclemore

This was a beautiful story featuring the love between a witch and a priest. It had an unique plot and It’s not said outright but the Love interest is trans.

4/5


The Gherin Girls by Emery Lord.

This story is told from the POVS of three sisters and while I loved their bond, I didn’t enjoy this one as much. It felt like too much contemporary and less paranormal. I did like that we had both bisexual and lesbian representation though.

3/5

Why they watch us burn by Elizabeth May.

My absolute favorite out of all the stories! My heart shattered throughout this whole story but I was also inspired by the fight the women have. This is told from the POV of Faye, a women accused of witchcraft and sent to cut wood at a camp, run by a horrible priest. At this camp the women are made pray for forgiveness while they work. It’s here that’s Faye develops bonds with all the women and a secret romance with one. Honestly I adored this!!!

5/5

Overall; I enjoyed this anthology. My only issue would be that the stories are majorly romances, with one or two based one friendhsips only. I would have liked some asexual and/or aromantic MCs.

Anthology about witches, yes please! I was super excited to dive into this, and while I liked most of the stories themselves I should know myself enough by now that I never end up loving anthologies. Overall it was a neat idea and it was fun to see the writing styles from the various authors.

Toil & Trouble is a collection of 15 young adult stories featuring a variety of stories about witchy heroines who are diverse in race, class, gender, religion, etc. I feel like many people could find themselves in these stories. Definitely fun to read them around Halloween.