I am an unabashed Molly Harper fangirl, and I love young adult books set in a historical fantasy setting similar to Regency/Victorian England (I once made a website about them). In other words, I am the perfect audience for CHANGELING, the first in Harper's new YA series, Sorcery and Society.

CHANGELING is a delight. While it didn't have the laugh-out-loud humor I've come to associate with Harper's adult paranormal romances, I enjoyed the sly, sarcastic tone that Cassandra frequently had. Also in contrast to Harper's adult stories, there is little to no romance present here, though there is a sweet budding relationship between Cassandra and a certain gentleman. Cassandra's friends are great entertainment, and the scenes with them together were definitely some of my favorite in the book. The whole book was refreshing with regards to the strong and multi-dimensional women characters. Cassandra learning to not let herself be pushed around, both through the strength of her new friendships and the role model of the politically inclined Mrs. Winters, was a nice thread that I would like to see more of in YA fiction marketed to young girls.

I do have a few minor quibbles. The world building was not the greatest. A bit of Cassandra telling herself things in her head and a bit of her being lectured to by Mrs. Winters. Otherwise, we don't really get a ton of info on the magic system (I'm not even sure what the male magic users were called - maybe witches? I honestly can't remember if it was mentioned). There's a typical villain moment at the end where the bad guy feels the need to pontificate about their plans before they enact the final piece of the puzzle, and I felt that it was a bit too suddenly obvious who the villain was before it was revealed to Cassandra. But these are minor issues that don't really distract too much from the book as a whole.

While I felt CHANGELING wraps up a specific storyline, I feel there is more room for Cassandra to grow and learn about her powers and the new world she finds herself in. I was happy to read that Harper has planned for this series to be a trilogy and I look forward to reading about Cassandra's further adventures!

I am really excited about this series--just from the first book!

Yes, there are a few things that need to be squared away between the editor and the publisher (there are a few times throughout the story that thoughts don't add up. For example, our main character walks into her room with a book in her arms only to realize a few beats later that it was stolen from the locked cabinet she hadn't put it in yet.) but the story itself reminds me (oh no, don't say it!) a bit of Harry Potter (No! Must everything be compared to something like it that you also enjoyed?---Yes, because it is my current frame of reference, back off Christina-brain)

Changling falls into a similar genre and thought. A young protagonist learns that they are not as wimpy as they originally thought they were but instead a magical maven. The go to a fancy school to learn how to control and develop their skills but are hindered by a bully who is awful. Drop in a dash of quirky friendships to ease the snarky characters. But then temper with the secret attack of a most heinous villain.

The books are similar. But each is still good.

Changeling's main character is a girl. And that makes it a different kind of fun.

This is a book series that I will be following. I am already watching Harper's blog for when she mentions the second part's arrival.

I received a complementary copy in exchange for my unbiased review

When it comes to the popularity of Harry Potter, it's easy to understand that there will always be fans looking for something similar. But the popularity of the series did not come from the outline of the story; rather, Harry Potter was so liked because of the incredible worldbuilding and characterizations. So when I read books such as Changeling, I know that the author has to create very nuanced worldbuilding or the book is going to fall flat. In this case, that just didn't happen for me.

While Harry Potter was an urban fantasy, Changeling fits into the alternate universe category. In this instance, those with magic have taken over a Dickensian-like England, imposing their will and subjugating non magic users. It's an interesting premise and honestly makes a lot more sense than those with magic going into hiding. But I am not quite sure it really works in The Changeling since we really did not see much magic to ascertain if it was stronger than mob revolution.

Story: Sarah Smith is a guttersnipe - one of the teeming population who serve an English aristocracy built around magic users. She cleans and does maid duties for the lady of the house while her older sister pines for the self important son and heir. When an accident reveals that Sarah has forbidden magic that was not discovered at birth (which would have meant her death by the aristocracy), the lady of the house decides it is safer to give her a new identity, pass her off as a relative, and develop her talent for the use of the family. Redubbed Cassandra, she will enter a prestigious magic academy and learn to use her skills. But all the while, she must fear being discovered: it would mean the death of her family if so.

The writing was adequate though there were several anachronistic phrases that bothered. If anything, I would have preferred the writing to feel more Dickensian rather than generic YA au/urban fantasy. But at least Sarah wasn't the typical 'too stupid to live' heroine that needs to be constantly saved. Even then, there were some eye rolling scenes of her taking utterly stupid chances with discovery that made no sense considering the consequences.

I can't say that I liked or disliked any of the side characters. I felt that the son of her patron could have been more interesting if given more time (he's not a love interest) and that the love interest needed to be less bland. As well, we have the typical situation where our heroine makes friends with the outcasts and gives comeuppance to the prototypical 'high school cheerleader' popular girl. Yawn.

So while Changeling is not a terrible book, I had a hard time really liking it. There's nothing new here - it felt like a melange of so many popular books right now. Pour into a blender and serve. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

This was thoroughly delightful. Okay, yes - people are bound to draw comparisons with Harry Potter, but JK Rowling herself was not the first to write about a school for wizards. I enjoyed the dry, witty voice of the narrator and all the political/social machinations and drawing-room comedy. I'll definitely look forward to the next in the series.

If 14-year-old Cassandra Reed makes it through her first day at Miss Castwell’s Institute for the Magical Instruction of Young Ladies without anyone discovering her secret, maybe, just maybe, she’ll let herself believe that she really does belong at Miss Castwell’s.

Except Cassandra Reed’s real name is Sarah Smith and up until now, she lived her whole life in the Warren, serving a magical family, the Winters, as all non-magical “Snipes” are bound by magical Guardian law to do. That is, until one day, Sarah accidentally levitates Mrs. Winter’s favourite vase in the parlour.

But Snipes aren’t supposed to have magical powers…and the existence of a magical Snipe threatens the world order dictated during the Guardians’ Restoration years ago. If she wants to keep her family safe and protect her own skin, Sarah must figure out how to fit into posh Guardian society, master her newfound magical powers and discover the truth about how an ordinary girl can become magical.

Changeling is set in a version of our world where those with magic have become the elite ruling class, while those without, not so flatteringly known as "snipes" endure a life of servitude and poverty. It is almost a Victorian style era, with young ladies expected to display manners and good breeding in hopes of securing an advantageous marriage.

The Changeling is a delight. I enjoyed the sly, sarcastic tone that Cassandra frequently had. there is little to no romance present here, though there is a sweet budding relationship between Cassandra and a certain gentleman. Cassandra's friends are great entertainment, and the scenes with them together were definitely some of my favourite in the book. The whole book was refreshing with regards to the strong and multi-dimensional women characters. Cassandra learning to not let herself be pushed around, both through the strength of her new friendships and the role model of the politically inclined Mrs. Winters, was a good read.

A fun fantasy with potential for more to come

Many thanks to NetGalley and INscribe Digital for an advance copy in exchange for fair and honest review.

A really great boarding school mystery! This was a book that I just had to purchase a physical copy for. I loved Harper's narrative style and how Sarah's story progressed at the Institution for Young Ladies.

Meet Sarah - maid, cook's apprentice, Snipe (that's what the Guardians call people without magic) - who is not what she seems. Sarah's got a secret that even she doesn't know. Those vitamins she takes for her poor health are actually magic suppression pills, and when she forgets to take her dose and an expensive vase falls off the mantle while she's dusting, Sarah's powers come to life - right in front of the mistress of the house.

Sarah's in trouble. Her very existence could unravel the principles on which her society is built. So her mistress - Mrs Winter, comes up with the only plan that will let her save face, she lies. Sarah is about to become Cassandra Reed. She will pretend to be Mrs Winter's niece. She will attend Miss Castwell's school of magic. She will hide her working class roots. She will become the prefect example of a good little Guardian in training. Now if only the universe would comply.

This was a delightfully funny book about finding yourself while trying to be someone else. Sarah/Cassandra runs into all the troubles you's expect is this comedy of errors. It shines with Molly Harper's special blend of wit and humour. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series. For fans of Gail Carriger.

Changeling by Molly Harper certainly lives up to the tagline on its cover. it is certainly a novel of magic and manners.. I have always been a fan of boarding school stories, from the jolly hockey sticks adventures of Enid Blyton's St Clare's series, to the classics like A Little Princess, and of course the more recent phenomenon that is Harry Potter. Changeling is set in a version of our world where those with magic have become the elite ruling class, while those without, not so flatteringly known as "snipes" endure a life of servitude and poverty. It is almost a VIctiorian style era, with young ladies expected to display manners and good breeding in hopes of securing an advantageous marriage. While the status quo of the power balance between those with magic and those without has held for generations, it is threatened when our heroine, Sarah, a "snipe" suddenly displays an alarmingly powerful magical gift. This should be impossible, and to avoid a scandal that could threaten the fabric of society, it is decided that she must pretend to be a young Lady, and attend a magical boarding school to learn how to develop and control her gift. Fitting in to a new environment is always difficult, but even more so when you are hiding such a huge secret, and it soon becomes apparent that the truth coming out is not the only danger Sarah faces.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and found myself caught up in a world of witches, familiars, magic and even a hint of romance. While the plot may not be startlingly original , it is well executed and while the pacing feels a little slow at first, it soon picks up.
A fun fantasy with potential for more to come
I read and reviewed this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Initial thoughts: "Molly Harper breaks away from her adult paranormal romance stories with this adorable young adult novel about witches and magic. Ms. Harper does away with her trademark snark in favor of teen angst, but she uses the angst to create a highly credible and relatable young woman who captures your attention and earns your respect. The setting is equally charming. With the typical boarding school antics as well as Victorian socio-economic differences, Ms. Harper builds a lot of tension and create ethical dilemmas for our heroine without delving into melodrama. All this to say that Changeling is simply adorable and refreshing in its simplicity. I did not want the story to end and am going to be impatiently waiting for the second story in the series!"

Now: Yes, Molly!!! I started Changeling with much trepidation. Change is scary, after all, and it is always a little nerve-wracking when a beloved author deviates from her preferred storytelling genres and tries something new. Thankfully, I lost all fear after the first chapter and quickly found myself engrossed in this utterly charming fish out of water story. The world-building is thorough, providing readers with a clear understanding of this alternate Victorian-era universe, its history, and the social and political highlights of the time, and Ms. Harper does all this without stultifying the story. Cassandra is endearing in her attempts to navigate the unfamiliar world of magical families and boarding school and quickly proves herself to be a heroine worth admiring. I so thoroughly enjoyed Changeling that it ruined my selection process for my next book to read because I wanted something that would make me feel as happy and light as Cassandra and her antics did. I love that Ms. Harper took a chance on YA, and I am even more in love with the product of that chance.

Going into this book I had never read a Molly Harper book so I went in with ZERO expectations.

I actually really liked this book! You wouldn't help but compare a little bit of this book to Harry Potter but I didn't let that influence my opinion of this book. I loved the magic aspect as well as the boarding school and the movie Mean Girls popped into my head more than once which I wasn't mad about.

The main character Sarah was really well-developed and relatable which each character introduced were interesting and fun to learn about.

I will for sure be looking out for the res of this series!

This is one of my newer ARCs and one I was attracted to because it seemed to have the mixing of historical and fantasy and the good reviews didn’t hurt either. And this turned out to be a really pleasant read.

The Changeling is about a world that was like ours before the Restoration, when the magical people of the world took control and make all the non-magical people ‘Snipes’, which is short for Guttersnipe. Sarah is a Snipe at the start of the book, a non-magical girl destined to be serving the Guardians for the rest of her life. Until she shows magic in front of her Guardian matriarch, something which has never been seen by a Snipe before, and has to go to special boarding school disguised as a Guardian.

This was an incredibly readable book, with a writing style that had me continuing to read on and able to finish it within the day. The plot moved quickly as Sarah (Cassandra) had to deal with being a Guardian, losing her family and trying to fit into a boarding school filled with unwritten rules and currents. There were a couple of predictable plot points but a few others that took me by surprise and I found this a great start to the series, wrapping up the main plot but leaving just enough open that I wanted to continue the series. The characters were varied, especially Sarah’s friends at the school. I want to find out more about Alicia’s condition and Ivy’s background and thought they made a nice little group with Sarah. Sometimes I was a little frustrated with Sarah but she bounced back sooner than I thought she would and I could identify with her as the main character. Yes, she was a little ‘Chosen One’ esque but since I really like that trope, I enjoyed it.

I will say that I found it a little slow for the main plot to start. Up until about halfway through the book, I could have easily put this book down and not come back to it. I was enjoying it but I wasn’t especially eager to read on and find out what happens, until the main plot came up. The build-up and Sarah learning how to be a Guardian was interesting enough but it was definitely not part of the main plot.

Despite this, this is definitely a series I would like to continue. This is a four star read for me!

Despite some few menial flaws (probably corrected in the last update), "Changeling" was a very good read.
I appreciated that the classical themes weren't a pretext to over broached some happy clichés. For instance, if there are two young boy, there isn't any love triangle! (Shocking I know, one of them is just a childhood friend and nothing else). And if the heroine encounter her future nemesis at school, she doesn't refuse her interested friendship at first: she must be very prudent and chose wisely, even if it saddens her. A very logical and coherent choice in the context.

The alternative magical school is well featured, in a rich Victorian young ladies way.  The school is quite comfortable, the young boarders are being waited on, there are rich young ladies after all! There are some Harry Potter winks, as presents publicly received by the most pampered girls, and the presence of animals, any animals in fact - the familars' development is quite nice and fun!

All in all, the story is a very entertaining YA story, with mysteries and danger. The characters are always credible in the context - if always in a YA way -, especially the heroine's family members. Mrs Winter's character is particularly well done, I loved the interactions between her and Cassandra!

To conclude the author manages to keep true to her word and never err for some YA expectations sake. I admire that as an exception in this kind of rather classical story. I'll read the sequel without any hesitation!

I wanted to like it, I really did. A Victorian Steampunk society with magic to boot! But even though the main character's story seems interesting (being always kind of sick and suddenly learning she isn't and that she controls magic!) I just couldn't seem to relate to the characters or the story per se...
Also, I was a bit lost on the world the author creates, personally I would have benefited of being more grounded in it before the story began picking up when Sarah discovers she can do magic once she stops taking the pills her mother gave her for her fragile health.
Probably the book wasn't for me as it has very good reviews, but I had to stop reading it as it didn't appeal to me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I was immediately intrigued by the synopsis and so, when the ARC came through via NetGalley I jumped straight in. This is my first book by Molly Harper, so I wasn't sure what to expect but I immediately fell in love with her writing style and was hooked straight away.

This book gave me such strong Charmed vibes!! The only way I can describe this book is sort of Charmed meets The Worst Witch, Harry Potter and Mean Girls! I love the mixture of themes and subplots that were woven into this story.

Admittedly, I did identify the villain quite early on and it almost felt like I was in the audience at a pantomime at times, just wanting to shout at Cassandra/Sarah, "They're behind you!" But, despite this, I didn't enjoy the story any less.

I actually also bought the Audiobook from Audible (so that I could listen whilst painting my nails - I have to do this at least once a year otherwise my girl card is really going to get taken away) and listened to parts of it in between reading the eARC. The narration by Amanda Ronconi was really great (despite the less than stellar English accent) and helped to skim over some of the editing inaccuracies (see below), I loved the voice she gave to Cassandra/Sarah.

Changeling has great pace, a fun magical plot and great characters. I particularly love the various relationship dynamics, especially Cassie and Own who I absolutely love together. Their sarcastic, playful, and teasing relationship drew most of my smiles and is definitely something I want more of from this series.

All of the characters are individual, with unique personalities and voices. They were great to discover, especially as new layers were revealed about most of the main characters as the book progresses

The only reason that this book has a slightly lower than 5-star rating is because of the editing of the eBook. I'd highly recommend that the editors give this book another once-over because of the spelling mistakes and a few occasions where a sentence or more is repeated.

However, that didn't prevent me from loving Changeling and I can't wait for book 2! I need to find out what happens next!
​
Changeling is a magical story filled with passionate, strong, and courageous women, true friendships, a dash of budding romance, bullies, magical surprises, adorable animal companions and a villainous plot!

Cassandra Reed is getting ready to start school at Miss Castwell's Institute for the Magical Instruction of Young Ladies. As you can tell by the name, it's a school for girls with magical abilities. The thing is, Cassandra shouldn't have magical abilities. She's actually Sarah Smith, and she's a snipe. Snipes are non-magical people that serve the Guardian families that do have magic.
Sarah didn't know she had magic until she was under stress, and she used magic in front of her employer Mrs Winter. Knowing that she could be killed for being a snipe with magic, she's terrified. But, Mrs. Winter knows that if people found out about Sarah's magic, the scandal would ruin her family. So instead of turning her in, she creates Cassandra Reed.
Now Sarah will have to forget who she really is so no one will find out her secret.

I really liked this book. It was funny, I loved Sarah, Ivy, and all the girls. Even the mean ones. This is a quick, light read. I look forward to more.

I love everything by this author, and this book is no different. Such a unique take on magic and the story itself. I jumped in with both feet, and I didn't want to come up. The author weaved a perfect introduction to the characters and set the stage for a magical journey. I cannot wait to read more.

Sarah is a Snipe. Born without magic she is part of an underclass under the charge of a Guardian family. When she demonstrates magical ability her life is in danger. This causes a change in her condition, her Guardian family claims her as a distant relation and she is sent off to school. On edge and having to be careful to not betray her origins Sarah has to navigate high society, learn how to use her magic and once she is chosen to become the guardian of The Mother Book a magical artifact she is in even more danger. This book is amazing and a fantastic read. I loved the characters and the world is so interesting. I cannot wait for the next book

Sarah Smith thought herself unmagical. After all, she was a Snipe (kind of like a muggle), growing up serving as a maid in the Winters household. Until one day she stops a vase from falling by levitating it. Suddenly Sarah Smith becomes Cassandra Reed, cousin of the Winter family. Elevated into magical society and sent off to boarding school. Talk about culture shock! Cassandra must hide who she really is, and somehow look as if she’s lived in this world her whole life. If anyone finds out she was once a Snipe, their whole society might crumble. But would that really be a bad thing???

I thought The Changeling was a lot of fun. It didn’t take itself too seriously and I was allowed to enjoy each moment in the story without overthinking the plot. Cassandra was ok as a heroine. She spent the first half of the book in shock and when she finally accepts her role her character started to grow and become interesting. Her experience as a Snipe, living unnoticed among the magical society made her see their world through cynical eyes, although those eyes did not always see things very clearly. I enjoyed the good vs evil sub plot and I was kept guessing on the bad guy.

If you’re jonesing for a quick Harry Potter-esque novel I think you’ll enjoy The Changeling. At times I expected Hermione would walk around the corner of this girls school and join in the fun! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I was given an ARC of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest!

I'm a fan of Molly Harper and found this book delightful.
Even if the plot can somehow reminds of Harry Potter, there's a lot of world building and interesting characters.
I loved the style of writing and was hooked since the first pages.
I look forward to reading the next instalment in this series.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

This is a decent book for those who like plucky girls overcoming the odds and doing daring things. It's not particularly original -- sort of a Harry Potter meets My Fair Lady meets Georgette Heyer at a boarding school -- but it's cute and an easy read. The concept deserves some fleshing out -- how did the magical class so neatly take over the Western world and do away with ALL the political structures, really? Why does the misuse or hiding of magic make women consumptive? -- but from Sarah/Cassandra's limited point-of-view, it works. I particularly enjoyed that she has a platonic friendship with a boy, and felt that the additional boy stuck in for a romance subplot was unnecessary. Let's have more books about women and girls' friendships without a shallowly conceived romance tacked on, please!