A fun story about a teen lesbian outcast befriending The popular girls and learning to do witchcraft. This was really great read love all the friendships and the mystery they all stumbled onto. I can’t wait for the sequel.

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.’
Okay, before we get into this review, can we talk about that stunner of a cover for a second? The intricate design, the color gradient? I want this tattooed on my body no matter if I’m part of a coven or not because it is gorgeous!
Now onto the book which felt like a culmination of grandiose 90s Halloween movies and witchy shenanigans with a sprinkle of girl power. There’s an intricate magic system that involves specters, grimoires and devils who used to be books and I think the first book set it up with room to grow and explore in the following books. There are plot twists and mean boys and unexpected knights in shining armor and that will definitely enamor a lot of people.
For me though, my favorite part of The Scapegracers, aside from the spooky vibes and magic tricks that were as enchanting as they were anxiety-inducing, was the depiction of complex female friendships. 
I admit, at the beginning of the book I didn’t like any of the characters, not even Sideways. But in hindsight, I wonder if this was intentional – because with every chapter, we get to know more about the girls, about why they are so abrasive and brash and as we gain insight into what made them they way they are, we learn to fall in love with all of them. Yates is by far the steadfast of the friends, but somehow, combined with Jing’s infallible sarcasm and Daisy’s ferocious snarls, they make up the perfect coven for Sideways. They rarely see eye to eye on anything and I loved their back and forths that eventually ended in compromising. These girls have a lot of bark and they will bite if you dare to touch any of them. There’s unwavering loyalty between the four of them and it was refreshing to see such a strong friend group that isn’t nice and proper but loud and volatile and still the most supportive it can be – even if not in the ways you expect support to be expressed. It’s the type of friendship rarely represented in books and for that, it was all the more intriguing. 
Beyond that, the cast of characters is also wonderfully diverse – there are nonbinary and PoC- main and side-characters.  Sideways is lesbian, several of her newfound friends identify as bi and queer and side characters such as Sideways’ dads are queer as well. And while there was some hint of romance, it wasn’t the driving force in this narrative but gave some proper hints at developments in the future installments of the series.
While we’re on the topic of queer characters, Sideways’ dads were definitely something else – I loved the glimpses we got at their relationship and how they care for Sideways’ in such different but equally supportive ways. Whether it’s the soft and kind energy of making pancakes in the morning or the protective decision to let your child skip school, they were just absolute parent goals even if Sideways is sometimes embarrassed by them. I hope they make a few appearances in the sequels as well!
Lastly, this story is written quite peculiarly and it’s certainly not for everyone. The descriptions are very intricate and unhurried, which reminded me a lot of V.E. Schwab’s atmospheric writing and you can tell that Clarke takes their time to set the scene and overall mood. And while I concede that it was a very fitting style of narration for this witchy story, I also felt that it took the tension and immediacy out of some of the more action-heavy moments in the book. When Sideways and her coven are hiding and doing their best not to be spotted, for example, the urgency of getting out without being caught was somewhat lost because the descriptions of every detail actively slow down the entire scene. Likewise, during one of their magic tricks in the earlier chapters, it was hard to feel the excitement everyone else seemed to have because the lengthy narration took away from the spontaneity and surprise of it all. This happened a few times and impacted the pacing of the story to the point where I thought that it dragged, especially in those scenes where it was about getting further with the plot or revealing a twist. Like I said, the writing style is a fitting choice for this kind of story but it might not be for everyone. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the atmospheric descriptions and the attention to detail for most of it. 
Perfectly in time for the spooky season, The Scapegracers chronicles ferocious friendships, magnificent magic tricks and ominous plot twists that will make fans of girl power and witches fighting back very happy!

A+ for the witchy vibes and queer representation. I found myself really rooting for Sideways. Also, getting revenge on boys who hurt girls is always a win for me. I went into this not knowing it was a series. That being said, the pacing was off to me. There would be tons of action and then get super slow. The end of the book picked up but there weren’t enough pages to finish the story. I will pick up the sequel to this as I am invested in the characters and want to see what happens. Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for honest review.

The Scapegracers is a story about an unpopular teenage girl called Sideways who is exploring her magic and starts a coven with some of the popular girls from her school.  The first third of the book was very slow for me and then it really picked up only to drop off again a short time later.  One problem I had was that none of the plot points really finish, she just moves on to something else.  More than once I found myself wondering what happened, how did it happen, or what the meaning of something was.   I found the main characters to be superficial and pretty awful people.  They tried so hard to be the cool ones that it was annoying. The writing is different, which may take some getting used to for some people.  It had potential but fell a bit flat for me.  However, I am curious to see where the story goes and may check out the sequel since this book left pretty much all the plot questions unanswered.

I'm a total fan of this book. An LGBTQ books, a witchy theme, plus a perfect combination of characters. Perfect for fans of The Fascinators. I love the vibes and characters. This is a total lovely witchy lgbtq book!

WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

“The Scapegracers” is a young adult fantasy novel centered around a witch who goes by the name Sideways, who befriends and starts a coven with a few of the popular girls at her school.

Sideways is a bit of an outcast and doesn’t have many friends until she attends a party and meets three popular girls named Daisy, Yates, and Jing, who learn that she’s a witch, become intrigued, and befriend her. The four of them form a coven together, and a lot of this story’s plot is centered around what they learn and do together.

I thought the plot of this story was really interesting and it made this book stand out compared to some of the other books I’ve read in this genre. In addition, I liked how quite a few of the characters brought a lot of LGBTQ+ representation to the book. Overall, I thought this was a pretty good story, and fans of YA and/or fantasy books should check it out.

This is a DELIGHT! Queer, mean witches bonding together into a found family and being badasses. It's great!

Thank you to Erewhon Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

Queer high school coven? Sign me all the way up. The Scapegracers, by Hannah Abigail Clarke, includes all the trappings of something fantastic. Although I desperately wanted to love it, ultimately it fell flat, with some awkward writing and bad pacing overpowering the fun premise.

The book starts with a bang, with Sideways Pike, our angsty queer teenager witch protagonist, doing some awesome magic that even she is impressed by. After a relatively dramatic beginning, the pacing falters and the book turns into, I’m sorry to say, something of a slog. Time and again, Clarke sets up some dramatic piece of action, only to follow it up by the most mundane, slow moving scenes imaginable. More than once, I found myself skimming through the more soporific bits of the novel, including plot expositions literally laid out in pages from a history book, until I was suddenly jolted back into the action. It is enough to give a reader whiplash. 

If the pacing of the plot is sometimes tedious and often erratic, that awkwardness is reflected in the prose itself. Clarke slams from scene to scene with no transitions, a style that could feel deliberate if she did it consistently, but instead, like with so much else in this book, falls short. Clarke has a tendency to repeat turns of phrase too often, which adds to the feeling of tedium, as well as leading to characters that all sound (and act) the same.

There are good bones though, under the glacial pacing and sometimes clunky writing. This book is strongly feminist at its core. The magic is evocative and there is some excellently developed atmosphere. It cries out for a film adaptation — visuals instead of clunky prose, some actors to flesh out the slightly two-dimensional characters, and the time constraint of a two hour movie would all serve the story well.

In book TWs: dead animals, kidnapping, queerphobia (use of the F word), and a non-sexual scene that plays out similarly to sexual assault that could potentially be triggering (reminiscent of that scene in the first Maleficent movie)

I'm not gonna lie, originally, the cover of The Scapegracers is why I was interested in it. It's absolutely gorgeous, with it's intricate design and pale bi pride flag colors. When I read the description I was intrigued though, if not a bit hesitant because of the mean girl trope, which I was delighted to find completely subverted (which they now mention in the description). As shallow as it sounds, the cover is why I read it, but OMG that is NOT why I ended up rating it five stars, the cover is just the cherry on top of this book. Also, if you loved Silas from Sorcery of Thorns, you might really love this.

The Scapegracers follows Sideways, a teenage lesbian witch, who as you can imagine, isn't all the popular at school. She ends up getting hired by the popular girls at school to perform a spell at one of their Halloween parties (delightfully, Halloween is a big deal in their town), and after a series of events occurs at it, they become a coven of friends. It's got a contemporary setting, but I really liked how the magic was incorporated into it, and how everyone just sort of accepted it as real instead of questioning or mocking it. It was a fun twist on the world we live in.

This book is amazing. I loved every character in it (except for the antagonists), but I especially loved the focus on female friendship. Earlier this year I had read Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin, and fell in love with the vicious, wicked coven of girls in it. I wanted every book I read to have a friend group like that, and thought it would take forever for me to find another one that could compare. I was wrong. A few months later and I now have another all time favorite friend group: Sideways, Jing, Yates and Daisy. Each one of them is uniquely charming and beautiful, with unrepentant layers of rage and destruction for anyone who gets in their way. I adored how much they cared about each other, all four girls (especially the softest, Yates) showed each other physical and verbal affection, though it may have come across as harsh honesty at times.

I really liked how unapologetically queer this book was. Almost every prominent character in it was queer, and it was hinted at that another one might be. Sideways has two dads, she's a lesbian, she's got a (presumably) bi or pan love interest, Jing is bisexual, Yates is a questioning queer and Daisy is hinted at not being straight. There's also a pretty cool gay man (not naming names because of minor plot spoilers), a scene at a gay bar and the whole thing is just such a wonderfully queer space.

Magic wise, I thought that it was a pretty cool take on witches and covens. The Scapegracers might have been in a contemporary setting, but magic was thoroughly incorporated into it's world. I liked how Sideways's dads' business fit into things too. The best part of the magical aspects was by far the side character that appears about midway through the book. I love him dearly, and he reminded me of Silas from Sorcery of Thorns, both in personality and how his related magic fit into the coven's world. A large part of the magical (and creepy) aspects of the book shone through Clarke's gorgeous prose. They used such vivid and dark imagery to convey the setting, and overall had a really unique take on how to incorporate sensory feelings into the story. In fact, he was so good at it, that most of the time I could actually almost feel what she had written, as if it was happening to me.

The Scapegracers is delightfully wicked, with dark and moody prose blossoming across the pages as a backdrop for wild and vicious girls. It's the perfect Halloween book, if you're looking for something witchy, feminist and a tad creepy, look no further! Once you start, you won't be able to put it down, and it'll leave you wishing for book two when you're done.

For fans of inclusive horror and thriller titles, like Wilder Girls by Rory Powers, The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta, or Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand.  The story is character-driven, and packs a lot of creepy atmosphere into a story about discovering your tribe and forming bonds.  I think this could be a book that would appeal to fans of fantasy and realistic fiction both, while the magic (and horror) is definitely real, it is balanced by the relationship and friendship drama, and both aspects work together to keep readers wondering if Sideways Pike has found real friendship, and if her magic will help her, or cause her to lose it all.

4.5 stars/5

The Scapegracers is a the gayest, witchiest book in the world and I loved every second of it. Whilst it is more of a slowburn plotwise, the focus on the characters and this deep connection that is formed between the four witches in the new coven was so brilliant. It completely subverts the mean girl trope and I found it one of the most refreshing and exciting portrayals of female friendship that I've read in a long time. 

The Scapegracers follows Sideways, a lesbian witch who is invited to perform her magic at a party organised by three popular girls who want their party to be the spookiest in memory at the school. But instead of just getting a killer cool bit of magic out of it, the new coven finds friendship and support like never before. The four of them team up to help Sideways with her new crush, as well as fight off the modern day witchhunters who want to take their magic from them. 

The Scapegracers is a slow book, I won't deny it. There isn't a clear enemy or plot across the book as you would expect from a YA fantasy novel. Instead, this book is more of an exploration of friendship with a side of fantasy as the girls investigate and try out their new powers. And whilst I wasn't expecting that, I loved this surprise! The Scapegracers has one of the best portrayals of female friendship I've ever seen. Clarke has taken the trope of mean, popular school girls, and thrown everything you think about them into the bin. Here, these girls are so supportive, so badass and the way they take Sideways into their group is so incredibly beautiful and heartwarming. It's done so well that I found myself tearing up when Sideways is just in awe that these beautiful, loving people want to be her friend because she's so fucked up from being so alone. I also loved that these girls were allowed to embrace their femininity if they wanted and it was amazing because they can still be badass witches too? So often, YA fantasy has to feature "girls who aren't like other girls", ones who need to throw away their femininity in order to be cool and kick butts with magic. But The Scapegracers is just the opposite of that in every way: here are these girls who love make up, who wear tight dresses, who flirt, but can still kick butts with magic. More of this in fantasy please!

I also want to praise the casual queerness in the book which was so great to see. We have a lesbain main character, bisexual and queer side characters, and Sideways has two dads! And that leads me to my second favourite part of this book: Sideways is so. fucking. gay. She is such a clueless lesbian, it is amazing. I loved her pure awed joy when interacting with Madeline, which lead to lines like this: "Hell, if Madeline offered to beat me up, I'd probably weep with joy and give her a hearty tip when she was done" and "She wanted my number in a potentially gay way. Oh God, I wanted to die." I couldn't help but laugh at her, she's such a great character who is a complete mess when she has a crush and it was so great to see.  

I enjoyed the bringing of witchhunters into the modern world. Although it was only a small section, I loved finding out about the history of these witchhunters, it was so fascinating how they came to be and how they track witches. The reason I didn't give this a full of five stars is because it did slow quite a lot, particularly in the middle of the book, when the witchhunters seemed to dissappear. I think they could have been a bit more prominent to add a sense of tension and urgency to the book as they were a great, creepy villain! 

All in all, I really loved this book! Whilst The Scapegracers was almost nothing like what I expected. I've been having a bad run with YA fantasy recently, but because this was so different to what I expected from "YA fantasy", it resulted in something so much better than I hoped for! The Scapegracers is a really lovely look at female friendships and had such a kickass group of queer witches, so much casual queerness, and a clueless lesbain crushing so bad it made for the funniest lines. Highly recommend this one! 

Book review will be posted online closer to pub date.

When I see the words Lesbian witches I’m sold I love all things LGBTQ in Young Adult books. Witches as well. Also her name sideways I love that so Weird but I really like that. Also love the friendship aspect of the story the whole book was very enjoyable and I’m excited to read the next 2

As a book lover, there’s almost no worse feeling in the world than getting about 75% of the way through a book before realizing there’s no way it can all be wrapped up by the last page. I didn’t realize that this book was the first in a trilogy when I started it - if I had, I probably wouldn’t have read it in the first place, and I would have been missing out. This book created a world I didn’t want to leave - between the fully-fleshed, complex characters and the incredible magic system the author created, I just wasn’t ready for the book to end.  In reality, I would rate this as 4.5 stars (there were some stylistic and clarity issues that served as stumbling blocks for me, hence the loss of half a star), but I rounded down because I guess I’m just cutthroat that way.  I hope the galley for the next book is available soon, because I can’t wait to spend more time with the Scapegracers and the inimitable Mr. Scratch!

First off, I want to say that the writing for this book was beautiful, This is one of those cross-genre books that toes the line between literary and commercial. In addition, I love a good witchy book and Clarke flips the teen-witch trope on its head by making it dark and queer. This book has a total Sabrina meets Mean Girls vibe.
That being said, it was a bit dense and hard to connect with the main character. There was a lot of voice, but the stakes were unclear in the beginning so it was difficult to get into the story. None the less, it was interesting and I'd recommend it.

Interesting characters. Intriguing plot. Dynamic prose. My attention was held the entire time. I enjoyed my time reading this one. I’d suggest this story to everyone who likes a more contemporary stuff.

LGBTQ+ representation, healthy friendships, sarcasm and lots of angst - there’s not much more you could be looking for in a book that you won’t find here! The story moves quickly so the world around you isn’t fully fleshed out, but considering this will be a series there’s plenty of time for improvement on that front!

The Scapegracers is slick like new magic, fitting like a second skin. Gay witches, rural small-town queerness, the anxiety of new friendships, and the terror of being hunted.

The prose hums and clicks, conveying a train of thought without getting sidetracked. It's full of fricatives and phrases begging to be spoken into the air, hurled at the sky. The blend of literal descriptions and visceral metaphors conveys a sense of physicality, of being in a body while magic is in the air and winding through Sideways' skin. It has the teenage friend-group version of "feeling lonely in the middle of a crowd"; capturing a feeling of awkwardness and surprise at being wanted, being invited, being anywhere and having it finally feel right; dreading the possibility that it's all a trick, that anxiety that everyone is just pretending to like her and that they might inexplicably stop. 

There's a traumatic event early on (which I won't spoil) and the aftermath affects how they navigate the world throughout the rest of the book. It made that event feel grounded and immediate. It would have been easy to have it kick off the main plot and disappear, but instead it shows up in little ways through to the end of the story, continuing to have emotional impact. 

This is one of those where I'm having trouble talking about it without spoilers, but it's full of tiny moments and turns of phrase that just felt right to me. I could always follow the plot but never could predict where it would go next. I loved reading this and I'll definitely read the sequel.

The first thing about The Scapegracers that drew me in is that cover of this book is gorgeous. Then when I saw the words “outcast teenage lesbian witch finds her coven” I knew I had to read this book. I’m a huge fan of anything to do with magic and witchcraft, as well as strong female friendships, and found family. This book is also a lot of fun. It’s dark and witchy in parts, but it’s also just a really enjoyable read. It’s the kind of book younger me would really have adored and appreciated, because I would have obsessed over it’s depiction of female friendships and own voices queerness, and I think it does an amazing job of capturing teens at their best and messiest.

This book was a bit of a breath of fresh air – the characters actually felt like teenagers. Throughout the book, they mess up and make mistakes, had anxieties about their everyday lives as well as the events of the book, and actually went to school! They definitely focused on the wrong things (like going on dates and finding Sideways a girlfriend) rather than the bigger issues at hand, because that’s honestly what most teens would probably do! Everything seems like life and death when you’re that age, so not having your priorities in order felt like such natural thing!

The female friendships in this book are fantastic. I love that instead of Sideways being the outsider who hates the ‘mean girls’, instead we get Sideways becoming friends with them, forming fast friendships and there being so much female empowerment and strength between them all. There was such a focus on them all supporting each other, and a feeling of it being them vs the world. It was such a beautifully positive thing to read about! There are so many books where women are pitted against each other Sideways has always been a bit of a loner, and so her slightly awkward response to being part of a group was so perfectly written! Each of the main characters had their own distinct personality and feeling – Yates was a total ray of sunshine and a sweetheart; Yates was protective and ruthless; Jing was confident and badass; Sideways was spiky and awkward in the best way. I loved all of them so much, and they really made this book what it was! An additional mention goes to Mr Scratch who is honestly my favourite character.

The magic in ‘The Scapegracers’ was really interesting, although it wasn’t well explained. I think this is because Sideways doesn’t really understand it herself, and we learn most of our information through her, and she has no idea how things work or what is going on. I’m really looking forward to learning more about magic in this universe, and more about the coven as they grow and learn together.

‘The Scapegracers’ is so beautifully written, with a lot of sumptuous descriptions and the writing style was honestly really gripping and pulled me into the world. It was a bewitching read and I loved the journey it took me on. There was a slightly predictable plot twist in this book, but honestly guessing what what would happen didn’t alter enjoyment of the book at all. It kept me wanting to know HOW and WHY everything would happen, especially because of the engaging writing.

Overall this was a really enjoyable and positive reading experience. This book had a lot of amazing queer rep including lesbian, bi, questioning, gay and non-binary characters, which made my queer little heart sing! It was such a brilliantly fun read that left me desperate for more. I’m so happy I read this book and I really can’t wait to read the next in the series, and anything else Clarke writes in the future!

“Fresh scapegracers, making their own little band. Doesn’t happen much anymore.”
“It’s a bit archaic, I know. Means you’ve escaped the grace of God. It was up there with rascal for a while. Implied a particularly nasty kid. I like it.”

This book is not dainty, or sweet, or soft. This book is about the feral energies all teen girls have to some degree. Add a little magic into the mix and you have Sideways Pike, Daisy, Jing, and Yates. Sideways has been on her own most of her life, but the rest of the girls claim her as their own after a dramatic Halloween party.

I adored this book. It was so much fun to read. The girls felt real, their emotions felt like ones I’d had myself. The concept of feral but popular girls finding witchcraft and making their own coven was everything, but then you add queer representation to the mix? Hell yes. This was what I wanted “These Witches Don’t Burn” to be. Their stories were built well, as was the characters as a whole. The story building was subtle but interwoven neatly.

“You girls freed me. You freed me and showed me your talent and cunning and curiosity, your marvelous disregard for authority, your relentless care for one another...”

“It’d felt so real when we’d cast it. There was the rage, the rush, and the glittering satisfaction. The fucking Ken doll had deformed. The four of us had clicked together like chain links and we’d made something, dragged it out of the universe, and forced it to bloom.”

The unholy trinity, as dubbed by resident town witch, Sideways, hires her to cast a spell at one of the popular girls’ legendary parties leading up to Halloween. When she pulls it off, what she doesn’t expect is to find herself drawn into their group and becomes the newest edition of their clique, now newly formed coven. Along with this unexpected friendship, Sideways also uncovers a new and darker side of the magic that has fascinated her for so long.

One of the elements I thought was most unique about The Scapegracers was the writing. It’s intense and twisty and ornate. I think it really brings out the creepiness and makes the ordinary mundane moments of life in high school seem supernatural. The writing was definitely one of the strong points and what drew me into this book in the beginning. Here’s another excerpt, in which I love how eerie the mood is:

“The air was thick with phantoms, with mysteries and revelries. Gilded things. Apparitions. I was not alone. In this space, in the presence of these sacred things, I felt witnessed and genuinely understood. I felt it marrow deep. It made me want to cry, or maybe crash my fists into something over and over again until it was dead.”

Unfortunately, sometimes the writing could also be a little dense. The pacing was kind of choppy. Some moments it was fast paced, and some it felt like it dragged on unnecessarily. As a whole, I think this made the sequence of events seem not quite complete.

I loved how it was bringing light to the so-called “mean girls.” There’s such an emphasis on sisterhood and friendship which made my heart so full. Jing, Daisy, and Yates have their own distinct personalities, of which they brought their own flair to the story. I liked how their friendship with each other and especially with Sideways developed. I felt like it was a testament to sisterhood that really hit the right note in this story about being powerful women and putting men with even the slightest audacity in their place.

Sideways was definitely an interesting main character. I liked how she’s not ashamed about who she is, as a lesbian and about her status as an outcasted supposed witch at her school. Despite this, she is thrown onto uncharted territory when she suddenly becomes friends with the other girls. Her development with the other girls and struggles felt relatable and real.

Overall, The Scapegracers definitely has gotten me interested in a whole new trope I’m thrilled about: teenage witches. If you like girls who are comfortable in their own skin, are out and proud, and beautiful writing that has just the right touch of atmosphere, this is definitely worth the read.