Review: 5 Stars

When I first read the blurb for The Scapegracers I thought it sounded right up my alley, so I picked up a review copy. But I wasn’t very excited for it until I was looking through reviews for a good YA paranormal book to read and I came across an incredible review for The Scapegracers. Once my excitement for this book was reignited I started it right away and I quickly found myself hooked. The Scapegracers is the perfect fall read, it’s dark, witchy and written incredibly well. Lately I’ve had difficulty getting into books, but The Scapegracers grabbed me right away and I wound up devouring it over a weekend.

“… I’ve had my eye on you for a while, Sideways. I mean, we’d always noticed you. You were the skulky gap-toothed weirdo who was into occultism and knocked people’s lights out if they looked at you funny. …”

I absolutely loved all of the characters in this book. Sideways is a gritty main character who I instantly connected to. She is an angsty outcast who is incredibly badass. When she made friends with the popular girls, Jiang, Yates and Daisy, I expected them to be bitchy mean girls, I didn’t expect to love them all so fiercely. The friendships forged between these girls as they formed a coven was one of my favorite parts of this novel. These girls took care of each other fiercely. Each character was three dimensional and filled with personality. They felt alive and filled with energy. I couldn’t help but love them.

“.. We’re friends now. Blood is truly thicker than water, is it not? We spilled some blood between us with that glass. If Yates is your sister, I’m your sister, too. And now I have to fucking kill those assholes. Boys don’t touch my girls, I swear to God. I can be a fucking monster when I wanna be. I’m not good at a whole lot, but I’m spectacular at terrorizing people until they’ve lost it. I can ruin people like you wouldn’t believe. And I wanna wreck their sorry lives.”

The writing is what makes this book so incredible. Sideways voice just bleeds off the pages. It’s dark, gritty and beautifully descriptive. The writing has a bite to it that really drew me in. The pacing was also done really well. The book took off right away and the pacing stayed consistent throughout the entire book. I had a hard time walking away from reading for pretty much anything. I loved the gothic witchy vibes and couldn’t get enough of the writing.

“I guess my point is that teenage girls aren’t supposed to be powerful, you know? Everybody hates teenage girls. They hate our bodies and hate us if we want to change them. They hate the things we’re supposed to like but hate it when we like other things even more because that means we’re ruining their things. We’re somehow this great corrupting influence, even though we’ve barely got legal agency of our own. But the three of us the four of us, counting you were powerful. Maybe not in the ways that people are supposed to be, maybe in ways that people think are scary or hard to understand, but we are. Magic is ambiguous. It’s scary and flashy and everybody wants it and it really freaks people out. I guess it fits with the rest.”

The plot was pretty cool too. It’s definitely more of a character driven novel that focused on the friendships between Sideways and the other girls, but it still had a compelling plot. I also think that the magic system was really cool. The way sigils combined with the spells that they created just felt so possible. Magic felt believable and every scene where magic was used was just so thrilling and exciting that it felt magical just reading about it.

“I don’t regret anything. Tonight was awesome. I’m fucking pleased. We need to do more shit like this. The four of us are special. We make things happen. Even if you didn’t find your books, we proved we can make magic on our own. The party wasn’t some fluke. You know what? I say we find some place, hold another party Friday night. We can pull out all the big guns. Scare the fuck out of the whole student body. We’re gonna be legends. They’ll talk about us forever.”

The Scapegracers was a hidden gem that deserves all the witchy hype. It ended on a bit of a cliffhanger that left me hungry for the sequel. This was an absolutely incredible debut and probably one of the best YA paranormal books that I’ve ever read. If you love dark witchy books with fierce characters and incredible prose I highly recommend you check out The Scapegracers.

I cleared my throat, tossed back my head, and threw both my hands toward the vault of heaven. “Who wants to see some fucking magic?”

I'm going to skip on reading The Scapegracers. The synopsis sounds so exciting and promising, however I've had friends and some of the reviews have confirmed that this is a book that takes forever to get into and uses a lot of purple prose versus actual storytelling/plot. That there's too much going on for a debut of a series. I love worldbuilding but if that's all that's there, I lose interest fast.

This was a stunning book-it was not at all what I expected, and it was freaking fabulous. It introduces an amazing magical world, and I can't wait to read as many sequels as Hannah Abigail Clarke is willing and able to write!! The young women in this are so badass, unapologetically angry and prickly, strange, and glamorous as fuck (excepting main character Sideways, who slowly comes to embrace her own glamour throughout the novel). This was a galvanizing book, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who loves 'The Craft' (though this is soooo much better--explicitly queer, actually feminist, and anti-patriarchy) or similar narratives.

I wish that I would have had books like this when I was a teenager! How fun but also so relevant to being "an outcast" and struggling to survive high school.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Scrapegracers was such a fun book to dive into! I had no idea I was going to meet such amazing characters and be completely invested in every little thing that they did. Speaking of, you will meet Sideways. She is a witch, an outcast, and a lesbian. One day she is basically adopted by this trio of scary but super cool girls. Together they are just completely bad ass and I absolutely adored each and everyone of them.

Now while thinking about this whole group of girls.. it made me think of some movie trailer that I just watched. I can't remember the name of it because I wasn't really paying attention to it but the trailer did seem like of familiar to the book. Anyhoo, I loved Jing, Daisy, Yates and Sideways.

Each person just made this book that more interesting and a page turner. I loved all the magic and girl power throughout this book as well. I seriously enjoyed the heck out of this and I'm super excited for the second book! Ugh, I already miss everyone and every thing in this book and I can't wait to get my hands on the physical book.

wow, was this book long!
It was well written and the premise is fantastic. However it failed to draw me in completely, I couldn't lose myself within the pages.
The characters were great, and the story was filled with laugh out loud moments.
Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me.

Unfortunately, I had issues reading this book because of issues with the eARC - every italicized word was missing. Great book so far, but I'll have to wait to give it an honest review until I can get my hands on a hard copy!

This book was everything I wanted from a book! I loved the story and it's topic. The friendship of the girls was so lovely to see and I loved the thriller aspect too! It reminded me of The Craft and also The Secret Circle! Highly recommend this book!

I like very specific witch books, and though this one seemed promising, it definitely wasn't for me. It also felt like there was way too much happening in the story for a first book in a series.

The first line of the description "An outcast teenage lesbian witch finds her coven hidden amongst the popular girls in her school, and performs some seriously badass magic in the process." had me immediately interested. My expectations were so high, I was worried I was overhyping it. Luckily, the story lived up to all those expectations and more! I don't want to give too much away, but this was easily a 5 star read for me. The characters were amazing ,the plot kept my attention, and it was the perfect read before Halloween. Overall it was just absolutely amazing!

I received an eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3/3.5 stars.

If you can get through the first nine chapters, things start to really come together.

I was excited about this book due to the synopsis stating bad ass witches with an undercurrent of LGBTQIA rep. And it does have this, however, it takes a long time to get good.

The first nine chapters feel as if you have been dumped into the middle of a story and you have no idea what is happening. It feels as if it should be a sequel, not a first in the series. So much information is thrown at you with no background, and you have no idea what to feel for these characters.

But if you stick it out, persevere, and push past chapter nine, there are some really great moments in this book. Unfortunately most of the main characters are very similar, bar one. So I would have liked a little more diversity and fleshing out of the characters. And the witchhunters barely feature in this, apart from at the beginning, which honestly felt like a middle not a start. So the timeline felt like it could have been tidied up a little. Rearranged.

I enjoyed the deadly undercurrent to the book, and the friendship as it grew and I also liked the new take on what are this world's version of a grimoire.

4/5 stars for this new witchy series!

Sideways is the weird kid. She does magic under the bleachers for a can of coke. Then, the coolest girls of the school invite her to a party and pay her $40 to do some magic. Things get wild, and the girls get closer than they ever thought they would.

I loved the relationship between this new coven - The Scapegracers. It seemed so authentic to a teenage friendship. Sideways never really had friends, so while she relishes their attention, she is also questioning why they want her around. Do they really like her, or want her for her magic? It made me remember some of the teen friendships I had and how I felt. The language used in the book felt very authentic too. Just the slang and terms they used. It was very 2020's teenager.

The magic system was very interesting. There were witchchasers, who aim to take magic, and girls who hunt witches, too. You don't really know who you can and can't trust.

I can't wait to see where book 2 takes our new coven! Definitely recommend if you like witchy books, strong female friendships, and something spooky!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Whoa.
This certainly packed a punch! Full of magic, queerness, and unapologetic girlhood.

Content warnings include: garphic descriptions of physical discomfort and injury, underage drinking, vomiting, animal death, homophobia; Mentions of: death of parent, car crash, foster care, bullying, torture, burning.

The Scapegracers was an experience.

So much was happening, all the time. It was like there was five different plotlines at once, and at times it felt quite jarring bc it seamlessly switched from one to the other, seemingly forgetting about the previous ones. It made my head spin, but it all tied up extremely neatly in the end, which I both admired and appreciated.

Jarring too was the writing style. Especially the first chapter felt foreign to read because it was so physical. It’s magic, but it was disproportionally conveyed through physical sensation, which I found uncomfortable, even off putting at times, as it awakened something visceral in me. It was masterfully done, because it managed to do that even when describing something utterly mundane. It’s am extremely tactile book, in a way, and I found that intriguing.

I loved how central friendship was, though the book wasn’t introspective or focussed on the girls’ relationships. Nevertheless, their dymamic as a group, as a coven, was center stage and glorious. I loved the conversations about girlhood, how girls are viewed and feared and despised, and the power these girls tale unapologetically for themselves because they can and because fuck the world.

There was also a tangible queerness, which I enjoyed, throughout pretty much all levels of the book. Sideways obviously, but so many other characters, their actions and more, too, all around her.

The book itself plays in October in the weeks leading up to Halloween, so I read this at the perfect time. It wasn’t exactly a scary or spooky read, but some parts of it certainly creeped me out!

Overall it was masterfully done, a great debut that wormed it’s way under my skin slowly but inevitably, all the way down to my bones. I’m very excited for the sequel!

The Good:
-I’m glad that female friendships and its nuances are written into the friend group. I’m glad that this book did live up to one of its offerings–that it avoids the catty ‘mean girls’ trope and focuses on girls uplifting each other instead!
-I love the concept of teenage girls (especially queer teenage girls) being unapologetic about their anger.
-I do like that this book critiques sexism and toxic patriarchal societal standards through witchcraft and its histories. I also like that it has lgbtq+ representation

The Bad:
-Some side characters have more interesting and compelling backstories than the main characters.
-There’s a LOT of purple prose in this book. I normally don’t mind purple or poetic prose but it was used in this book excessively, to the point that the book just solely relied on purple prose to carry it. There were also paragraphs that got repetitive
-There was also plenty of telling, not showing.
-There are lots of times where I felt that the dialogue (even the internal narration) was trying too hard to be “edgy” and cool that it ends up sounding bizarre (even within the book’s setting) instead.
-This book has a VERY SOFT magic system. There are no explanations to the seemingly synergetic relationship between sigils and incantations, and how they harness or conduct magical powers; how do these witches know which sigils or shapes to use for protection, attacks, etc.? The knowledge and instinct seemed to just work out for the coven every time, which…wasn’t that believable for me. There aren’t established consequences to breaking magical contracts, no price for using magic, no limits, making everything seem overpowered. In this book, the magical rules and access are so loose that it pretty much says ‘do whatever’ and leaves the readers lost on what to make of the magic system.
-, A lot of characters were hard to tell apart because the way they all spoke sounded so similar.
-The glamorization of characters' problematic behaviour without consequence shows lack of nuance in portraying these problems and that “seemingly badass” things were put in the book to sound cool without thinking how they would affect impressions of the characters. I
-This book drags the story out as much as it can and forgets to actually focus on problems that it really should have.

The Scapegracers held so much promise in its premise that it doesn’t fully fulfill. It promised a magical world where powerful witches (queer & straight alike) wreak vengeance upon misogynistic, abusive, power-tripping boys on behalf of their non-magical sisters, but instead we got teen girls way in over their heads, too busy trying too look badass and cool to actually pursue vengeance and protect their coven. If the goal was to portray how inexperienced these witches are, then this book definitely succeeded at it.

Full review here: https://fictionfixerreads.wordpress.com/2020/10/06/arc-review-the-scapegracers/

The opening chapter of Hannah Abigail Clarke’s The Scapegracers is a little rough. It starts with a group of girls gathering in the middle of a party to do some magic and freak everyone out. Then the narrator breaks off to do more magic with a girl she’s only just met, and the feeling that this is one of those YA books full of unrealistic teens more stupid than human was palpable. But that’s not the case! In The Scapegracers the teens are clever, compassionate, caring, and...also so fucking stupid.

3,5 stars

This was definitely a great first reading for the month of Halloween! I loved its synopsis (who wouldn't be attracted to a book with the words lesbian witch on it?) and how it was developed, I really like books that show modern day young witches. I loved all the girls in the group and how they're all so unique individually, how Sideways is so tough outside but a softie on the inside, how Yates is a baby nerd, how Daisy is so freaking intense and protective, and how Jing cares so much about her friends! Above all, I really liked how they all came together and formed their group and how they stick so easily together, having fun partying, cursing boys and finding Sideways a girlfriend. I ended up not rating it much higher though, because I did have some trouble getting into it in the first chapters, I also thought some important things were left out (*) and, finally, I could predict some major events, but nevertheless, this was a really enjoyable, lowkey spooky book that I really liked.

*SPOILERS: like, do Sideway's dads know she's a witch? I don't think that was addressed, and also the whole witch thing, I was hoping for more background info, but that might come in a sequel

Unfortunately, I'm starting to realize I don't do well with strange witchy stories. This book proved that for me once again. It's really not a bad book, but it wasn't my kind of thing at all, so I didn't end up finishing it. If you do like this particular brand of witchy reads, which I know a lot of people do, I would still recommend this.

DNF at 49%
The story was very dull and took way to long for anything to happen.
I like the premise and message of girls being strong and not putting up with verbal and physical abuse from the men in their lives. But I detest the message that is paired with that it's ok and even good for girls to be abusive. One of the main character's, Daisy, whole personality is that she's violent and beats boys up all the time and she is glorified and praised for it. No thank you. Abuse by women is still abuse.

DNF @ 39%

It hurts me so bad to dnf this book. I was so excited about The Scapegracers. It was such a highly anticipated book for me. I was even more excited when I received the ARC for it earlier this year. I immediately started reading it. But I had the hardest time getting into it. I’ve tried reading it for months. I would pick it up and read a little bit of it before having to put it back down.

The moment I saw lesbian witches, I knew immediately that I had to read this. I thought this would be the perfect book for me. Oh boy I was so disappointed. The characters were so bland. There was hardly anything happening plot wise. Which normally I wouldn’t mind if the characters were great. But unfortunately there was neither.

I also struggled a lot with the writing style. There was so much going on, but nothing actually happening. It’s a book that is meant for a young adult audience, but it felt kinda outdated and awkward. Like the author didn’t exactly know how to write for a younger audience.

It really is such a shame that I was not able to finish this book.

**ARC provided by NetGalley and Erewhon Books in exchange for an honest review**

Books about witches, when done as well as this one, are my favorite. And so few books focus on female friendship without turning it into in-group fallout, but The Scapegracers is like The Craft if the coven grew stronger and more connected rather than imploding. The voice in this is spectacular, and the magic system is really well-developed without being info-dumped constantly. I can't wait for the next book in the trilogy (that ending!! I need closure!). A great debut and I'm looking forward to everything Clarke writes from now on.

And the cover is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS. More matte black with holographic colors, please, publishing world.