I knew this book was going to be good when it opened with a quote from Jennifer’s Body (aka one of the most iconic horror movies of the 2000s). Right from the get-go, Scapegracers grabbed my attention and didn’t let go until I finished it. This book is angry, feminist, and undeniably queer. I mean, the only thing I knew about this book when I started it was that it was about lesbian witches which, if I’m being honest, is all it takes to get a book on my to-read list.
Scapegracers is filled to the brim with queer angst, and I loved every second of it. Sideways (the main character) is an entirely too relatable character, and I was instantly able to connect with her. The best thing about this book though, I would say, is her relationship with the other girls she meets in the book. These girls are vicious, angry, beautiful, and honestly, just downright incredible. I was incredibly grateful that this novel didn’t fall into the trap of pitting women against each other, which was an initial concern of mine.
Scapegracers was definitely one of my favorite reads of 2020, and I would highly recommend it. If you’re looking for a little dark magic (and lesbian witches!) in your life, then this is the book for you.

This isn't a book. It's a howl. It's a roar. It's a spell screamed at the sky. It's fierce and bold and beautiful, it's ancient magics rewritten in neon lights, it's bared teeth and a middle finger, it's lipstick smiles sharp as scythes, it's a lit fuse, it's living fire. It's a war-cry. It's shrieks of laughter. It's the wild, feral joy that makes the hairs on your arms stand up and your blood pound.

This isn't a book.

It's something else.

Open Scapegracers, and you start the ritual. Every word is a sigil drawn directly on your mind; every page is another step in the spell. Reading becomes an act of power, witchcraft, charged and electric; you're casting the enchantment on yourself each time you turn the page.

By the time you reach the end, gravity will be for other people.

*

What draws you into Scapegracers, first, is the beautiful prose. It's lyrical, wild, raw, exquisite, a siren-song remixed for the modern age. The words get under your skin, catch in your eyelashes, spiral inside your head. Every other sentence is a nod from Hannah Abigail Clarke directly to the reader, a potent potion of truth that hits you low in your gut; true things that you've never been able to put into words, or that you've never heard anyone else think or say, flow through these pages like poetry.

"We're inviting the liquid night, the molten magic. We're inviting the star-spiked darkness inside and calling it to this circle. Flow through us and spill. All this dancing is in triumph and our booze is all libations. We've brought you beats and lights and glamour, we brought fresh meat, new blood, and booze, and in return, we want some chaos. We want havoc. Bring us hell."

I want to push this book into the hands of every teenage girl, and everyone who has ever been a teenage girl, and everyone who has ever thought for even one second that teenage girls are things to mock or dismiss or objectify.

Clarke gets it.

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.

The real, hardcore action takes a little while to get going. That's fine. Because that's just the cinematic stuff. The magic starts from the opening line and doesn't let up for a second.

Wind picked up and tossed our hair, and it felt like celestial validation, like the entire night was primed for whatever I was going to do. Wreak havoc, said Nature. Raise hell. Our hands vibrated where they touched. This didn't feel like a liquor-dusted parlor trick; this was ancient, opulent, invincible. It was the realest thing in the world.

Sideways is a witch, and I can only assume Clarke is too, because I've never read a book that so completely and perfectly captures what it's like to be a witch and work real magic. Or, for that matter, what it's like to be a teenager, feral and wary and wanting to belong.

That's where Yates, Daisy, and Jing come in.

they were dangerous angels, sugar-coated rattlesnakes, the kind of girls who everybody adored

And once they see Sideways' magic, they want in. They want her. Not to use her or possess her, but to join their sisterhood. To make their coven.

They'd look at us like we were teenage Erinyes.

(For the record? Erinyes are better known as the Furies from Greek mythology. Clarke's writing isn't pretentious, but Scapegracers doesn't talk down to you, either. Or slow down. You want the magic, you need to keep up. You need to want it.

Which is my way of letting you know that lines like this, references like this, are scattered throughout, and each one is a dark and delicious surprise. 'It was bleaker than Nietzsche on the staircase'? *chef's kiss*)

And that's just what the four of them do: form a coven. Form a sisterhood. Scapegracers is all about sisters, girlhood, femininity, friendship. It's about being stronger together. It's about the wildness that waits under the most ribbon-bedecked girls, about nails shining with sparkly polish still being sharp as claws. Scapegracers does not sneer at or demonise girls who like pink any more than it turns its nose up at girls who like leather jackets. There's countless ways to be a girl, and they're all valid, and they're all powerful.

Scapegracers is a manifesto, and its message is this: Girls are magic.

"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 any legal agency of our own. But the three of us - the four of us, counting you - we're 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."

There is action. There are mysteries. There are wonders to be discovered and miracles to be made. There are neon myths to tell. But I'm not going to tell you what they are. What would be the point of that? You need to read them for yourself.

You need to work magic to understand it.

2020 has been the year of the Queer Witch. We've been absolutely spoiled for choice, from Witches of Ash and Ruin and When We Were Magic, to Elysium Girls and This Coven Won't Break - and, of course, the breathtaking Dark Tide.

Widen your definition of 'witch' a little and we also have Storm of Life, The Fascinators, Harrow the Ninth, and Cemetery Boys, all featuring queer magic users of one stripe or another. I could wrangle another dozen entries to the list from books I know of, and I'm sure there's more that somehow escaped my notice.

But it doesn't matter how many there are. A Queendom has only two monarchs, and Dark Tide claims one crown - but Scapegracers takes the other.

Then snaps it in half, tosses the pieces aside, and gives you the finger, laughing, for thinking it wants or needs validation from anyone.

Scapegracers doesn't need you to love it. It dares you not to.

I'm feeling <strong>majorly conflicted</strong> <strong>about</strong><i> The Scapegracers </i>because while it had a really interesting premise and I'm always searching for more books about witches, some of the plot and pacing issues really made this very slow and difficult to read at times. I'm still unsure if I'm going to check out the sequel, as I've <strong>outgrown really slow-moving books that only pick up speed at the very end of the story</strong>. At times The Scapegracers felt like it wasn't really my thing and like it was trying to be a specific aesthetic instead of a well-rounded story. If you like slower, more atmospheric stories, this one might be for you!

<strong>✅ We get a lot of cool WITCHCRAFT </strong> ➽ Ever since I fell in love with my own witch story, I have been happily checking out all YA books featuring witches, as we need more stories that have the good old witchcraft! The Scapegracers leaves you with a few questions, but the magic system and premise are interesting</strong> and a breath of fresh air. The magic here is based on having a 'witch soul' called a specter but also depends on your experience, tools, and surroundings, combining talent with practice and support. Witches often gather into covens for a reason, as the bond makes them stronger and capable of greater witchcraft. There are several existing covens that you can join up in initiation and with witch hunters trying to exorcise the specter out of all witches, a strong coven is needed for protection and power. I also loved that every specter had a specific color and that the spellbook was actually alive and more like a guidebook than an instruction manual. The representation of magic as something individual that you had to make your own was great!

<b>✅ The writing style was really good to read </b> ➽ I have to admit that despite some of my plot issues, the writing style was pleasant to read. One of the best things was <strong>how atmospheric the writing was, you could really feel the witchcraft</strong> and creepiness that was happening in a lot of the scenes. Despite some weird phrases and very specific references, I liked how the writing flowed and gave us an insight into Sideway's surroundings. The settings really came to life this way!

<b>✅ There's a queer friend group + found family </b> ➽ I did appreciate that the book showed a strong, new friendship between Sideways - our main character - and the popular girls in her school: Yates, Jing, and Daisy. The book itself aims to subvert the mean girl trope and for the most part, I liked seeing our new witchy coven made up of strong queer teenage girls. I also loved <b>Sideway's two dad - Julian and Boris</b> - who have taken her in after her mother's death and now care for her deeply. Julian is her uncle, but his partner Boris loves Sideways just as much and they try their best to be there for her, which honestly melted my heart 🥰

<b>✅ The scene-stealer was the friendly neighborhood demon </b> ➽ One of my favorite tropes ever is when a <strong>demonic/otherworldy creature ends up becoming like a sidekick to the main human characters</strong>, despite often being very morally grey or pretending to be evil (e.g. Silas in Sorcery of Thorns or Calzifer in Howl's Moving Castle)! <strong>Mr. Scratch is a demon/devil</strong> who used to be a spellbook and therefore a coven's keeper but after being nearly destroyed by witch hunters it has been waiting for another opportunity to serve witchcraft. Looking out for its new girls made for a lot of touching moments even though you can't help but be plenty suspicious about Mr. Scratch's real motives. This will definitely make for an interesting dynamic in the next book!

<b>⛔ The plot and pacing were all over the place </b> ➽ My main issue with the book was that it began feeling very<b>repetitive and slow for the majority of the book</b>. The first few scenes are action-packed but then the book drastically slows down and instead of giving many answers has a lot of scenes that felt like filler to me, especially as I barely knew the characters yet and didn't find myself connecting to them. <b>The Scapegracers just felt directionless</b>, for the first 40% of the book there's no real goal the main character has, and even afterward it felt like there was no overarching storyline, instead a lot of subplots that the book failed to connect. The <b>focus of the story was all over the place</b> and the pacing so painfully slow, that I was waiting for some more interesting scenes. Only at around 70% did we get any real action again and finally some answers, but that didn't make up for a slow middle. I also easily guessed the main plot twist, so there's that. Another thing that did annoy me was that so many of the major characters just happened to be witches despite the book highlighting how rare they are.

<b>⛔ The book waited too long to introduce important information </b> ➽ My second main problem with the book was that the book didn't weave in character or worldbuilding information. I don't need to know everything about a character, but I need at least some details so I can get the personality and background story and can slowly piece things together. The book sadly skimmed with the character information for about 40% of the book (Sideways) and way towards 70% for the other important characters. <b>Because the beginning is focused so much on the action, we barely get any information about the main character</b>, which made her feel a bit unapproachable for the reader. The background information and view into the character's normal world were given only about half of the book in and that was way too late for me to care much for the characters. I also felt like we could have gotten the worldbuilding information a bit sooner, as it left me feeling a bit in the unknown for a long time. The <b>book did fail a bit to lay the foundation for the story in terms of characters and worldbuilding</b>. It felt like the author knew her characters and the world exactly but failed to show it to the readers.

<b>⛔ Sadly Daisy, Jing, and Yates lacked depth</b> ➽ I only could discern them and get a glimpse into their lives and personalities when the book was almost over. How they knew each other, why they included Sideways in their friendship group, and what their lives are like was only mentioned 80% into the book and by then there had been already so many opportunities to reveal more about them. That's why& <b>I never really felt connected to the girls</b> and thought that they suddenly welcoming Sideways against the reputation didn't feel organic.

<strong>IN CONCLUSION.</strong> ➽ <i>The Scapegracer</i> is a book full of witchcraft, powerful girl covens, and spellbook. <b>While I loved the whole aesthetic of it, I was a bit disappointed with the execution</b>. The plot was all over the place with no clear direction and important information was introduced a bit too late. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book if you're into a creepy, witchy atmosphere!

4.25 Stars. This book was weird in some of the best ways possible and I had a blast reading it. This is YA paranormal but to get technical it’s almost more magical realism with witches and at times almost borders on horror. I could see Clarke writing a horror book in the future and easily excelling at it. This looks to be Clarke's debut which is impressive if true. This is the first book in the series and I just hope the wait is not too long for the next.

Over the years I have found my love for YA steadily growing. I’ve come to realize there are about three different types of YA. There is YA that feels pretty young so that it is more for a young audience. Then there is the opposite where the YA book feels like it is written for grownups instead of teenagers. And lastly, where this book fits in, YA that makes you reminisce for your younger years. It almost feels good since it brings back feelings of a simpler time yet still filled with plenty of life defining angst. When I was a teenager, in the 90’s, teen movies had this huge boom. There were a million comedy and rom-com teen movies like Clueless, Can’t Hardly Wait, and 10 Things I Hate About You. But at the same time, there was also a rash of teen movies that were surprisingly inappropriate for us teenagers because they were filled with violence, sex or both. And yet these mostly R rated movies were marketed right to us teens and we ate them up like candy. Movies like Scream, Final Destination, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Faculty, Wild Things, Jawbreaker, and one in particular that I watched way too much, The Craft. I loved that movie as a teen and this book reminded me of it. One of the main differences is that this book was better. This book was what I wish The Craft would have been. My 14 year-old self would have just loved this book to pieces and my 38 year-old self was pretty happy with it too.

Now I do have to mention that the writing style is very different. It’s not purple prose but it’s very descriptive. At first I was like what is this? After the first chapter or two it just clicked and became easy. It actually became so comfortable that I almost started to crave it, which is not normal because I don’t usually like overly descriptive styles... but I was hooked. So please don’t get discouraged in the beginning, give it a chance because it will eventually click and get much better.

I’m a character driven reader and that is what this book really is. If you are more of a plot driven reader, you probably will have some issues with this read. Everything in my paranormal loving heart wanted to give this book 5 stars but I could not because of the plot issues. It is just not strong enough in certain places and wanders at times. But, the characterization of this book was wonderful. It is first person so you become very connected with the main character Sideways, which is her name because she’s “not straight”. Not only do you become connected with her, but because of the overly descriptive writing style, you feel, see, hear, and even smell what she does. This psychic distance is so wonderfully close and is exactly why I love a well written first person story. While this is in first, this is a book with an ensemble cast. This story is about three other teenage girls too. What is really nice is that you feel like you connect and really know all of them, not just Sideways. That is hard to do in first but Clarke completely pulled it off, probably because this book is so character driven and overly descriptive. Yes, there are some plot issues here, but this is the first book in a series. For me this book was all about meeting, connecting and caring about the characters, and hopefully the next book(s) to come will be more plot driven.

The sexual diversity in this book was nice with lesbian, bisexual and het main characters. I don’t really think I can put a romance tag on this book, but there are wlw crushes and dates that go on. When it comes to the dates everything is very early stages and there is nothing more than a kiss or two. I’m rooting for a potential couple and I’m hoping another character finds some teenage love but I’ll have to see what book 2 holds.

I do have to mention a complaint that may seem a little petty. I hate the title! I get what it means from reading the book, but every time I look at it I read SPACE Gracers and I think oh this must be one of my new sci-fi books. Maybe I’m the only one in the world, but I cannot see this title without the word ‘space’ and if I just glanced at the cover, I would never know that this book held all this witchy goodness inside.

I can already tell by some of the early reviews that this book won’t be for everyone. As I already mentioned, if you are not a character driven reader you might struggle a bit. I have high hopes for the possibilities of book 2 including some of the plot bumps being ironed out. The magic system also needs more explanation, but what is there I really like so far. The writing style is also unusual to say the least, but I loved it. This book does end on a bit of a cliffhanger. To me it’s a palatable cliffy and not a pull your hair out cliffy. I want book 2 to come more just because I enjoyed this one so much. This book was not perfect, but it was everything I was hoping for and I’m a happy camper right now.

“People don’t punish boys who hurt girls, because people don’t care about girls.”

You hear that?? It’s the sound of me grabbing my microphone and screaming about how EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS BOOK. The Scapegracers is an electrifying YA debut that features one lesbian witch, two explosive parties, and three badass popular girls. Put all that together with Witchcraft, morally grey girls, talking spell-books, and multiple queer/poc characters and you can see why this is a must read.

I am not lying when I say I ADORED just about everything about this book. The characters were phenomenal: both Sideways and, our trio- Jing, Daisy and Yates- were developed so well. There’s also multiple queer side characters- Sideways has two gay dads, and there’s a non-binary side character. All of each were brilliant additions to the stories and their characters never felt forced or flat. The plot was so interesting, I was intrigued from the beginning and after THAT ending, I NEED the sequel. Yes I’m aware this isn’t out until September 15th but still. The Scapegracers is such a good introduction to what I’ll imagine will be a heart pounding series.

Lets also discuss how Hannah Abigail Clarke both simultaneously highlights and destroys common negative female stereotypes. Sideways is completely different to Daisy, Jing and Yates, and if a man- or a YA author from the early 2000’s- had written this book- they’d have hated her. But not OUR GIRLS. They love Sideways just the way she is. Even when Sideways finds it hard to love herself.

“Don’t do that. Never do that. Don’t ever say your’re not beautiful, not ever, okay? Girls are just beautiful. That’s the way they are.”

No more mean popular girls or girl hate. We have moved past the need for girls hating on other girls. WE NEED MORE FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS LIKE THIS. Another aspect I loved was Daisy taking control and destroying the “dumb petty cheerleader” trope. Not only is she the fighter of the group but she does it all in heels and sometimes trainers because girls CAN LIKE BOTH.

My words can’t even describe how EPIC The Scapegracers truly is. The fact that in two days this book will be out there for teenage girls to read, makes me so happy. I highly recommend this book- especially if you like books centering on witches, girls, and some good old fashion foreshadowing on what’s to come.

Thank you to Erewhon Books and NetGalley for providing me with an excerpt in exchange of my honest review.

A few months ago, I heard of this book and it has found family and gay witches; literally what more could I ask for? A big part of this book is indeed the friendship/found family section which, if you are able to get into the actual plot (like Mr. Scratch plot to be specific) later than usual and have it be delayed because of the scenes where the girls are uplifting the others, uplifting Sideways and even trying their best to get Sideways a girlfriend, you will definitely want to get into this. Daisy, Yates and Jing all together were already a wonderful addition to this book but when they start getting closer with Sideways, they are clearly characters that would do anything for their friends. You know the "I would take a bullet for you" line? That's Daisy/Yates/Jing/Sideways.

Another addition related to this was Julien and Boris with Sideways. I loved how honest Sideways was with them, I found it refreshing to have a YA novel where one of the side plots wasn't the main character having to hide a huge part of them and having to lie to their parents/loved ones. Sideways is very honest about her own character to them and about her magic (also love the fact that magic and witches in this universe is pretty much universally accepted and it's not that big of a deal) with them, so much they encourage her with magic (like how they wanted to buy a full set of magic books for her). I can't tell you enough how much I loved these three when the other three girls weren't in focus.

I'll be real, I forgot about 40% of the plot at the end but also I'm tired as all hell so thats very much the cause but I am very interested in how the other books will go!! My last and final note is: gay witches!!!

Did not care for this book at all. Not sure what happened because I was excited to read it. The writing is just too odd for me.

Unfortunately this is gonna have to be a DNF for me, I'm sure it will be perfectly enjoyable to people more in the target age range but between the time I requested this book and the time I tried to read it I have almost entirely lost my patience with YA as a genre and can already tell there are just going to be so many tropes that annoy me in this.

I had a really hard time getting through this book. While I loved the friendships, especially the complicated minefield of teenaged girls, the pacing was, well, horrid. There were long periods of inaction followed by a spurt of too much. And the plot itself was flimsy. Despite that I would read the next book by this author.

This was a fantastic book. I really loved seeing the relationships the main character cultivated with her new group of friends. I had a few preconceived ideas of what might happen when I started reading and this book completely turned all of that on its head. It was refreshing to see this book play out so differently. I loved every character, each had such a dynamic and interesting personality that meshed so well with the rest of the group dynamic. I couldn't put the book down and am extremely excited to find out what happens next.

Why I requested this: outcast. teenage. lesbian. witch. I figured this is probably an easy enough explanation as to why I requested this.

Pros:
The found family elements are a real positive for me.
The motives for the coven are honestly something I never tire of reading about in books.

Cons:
The pacing is really off. Sometimes there would be a lot of action then slow portions. It just was off-balance.
The writing style just wasn’t for me at times especially with how characters talked.

Could Go Either Way (due to being the first book):
The magic system is still vague, but in a “we are still learning” kind of way.
The romance feels underdeveloped, but as it is the beginning of the series. This can be improved upon still.

Overall: Outside of some writing and first book issues, this is an interesting beginning to a witchy series.

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This book was SO. MUCH. FUN. It really did have classic The Craft vibes, with all the queer girl-gang goodness that I absolutely adore. The voice throughout the book was consistent and phenomenal, and I was absolutely in love with the characterization of everyone. It was incredibly fast-paced and was a really enjoyably spooky read! I especially loved the character of Jing, and reading about her learning to love her queerness, it just made me smile. I also love how the identities in this book are represented and treated, I think that it was really well-written and a delightful thing to experience. The only thing I had trouble with (and the reason it’s 4/5 stars) was that I sometimes had trouble understanding when time had passed/it shifted over to a new location, because the writing was a little bit confusing.
Over all, I really enjoyed this book, and I can’t wait to buy a physical copy and also to read the second one when it comes out!

"This book is about a lesbian witch" is all I needed to hear know this would be a must-read of mine. So, I felt very lucky when I received this ARC: it’s the first one I’ve ever gotten!

The story follows Sideways, a teenage lesbian who is traditionally a high school outcast in many ways: a once-orphan, drama kid, edgy, loner, troublemaker, and a witch. She finds herself stuck in the middle of a group with three hot, popular, witchy high school sapphic girls after they hire her to cast a spell at an early Halloween party. The girls realize they all have a connection and a kind of power that’s strengthened when they’re together, and the trio— comprised of one Chinese bisexual girl, one Black queer girl, and one white straight girl— adopt Sideways into their now-quartet. Then things start to quickly go sideways... in the best and worst ways.

Clarke’s descriptive writing really allows you to feel exactly how Sideways is feeling and experiencing the world around her. However, at times the descriptions were overly detailed to the point where it was hard to get through. It seemed like descriptions took up more of the pages than actual events, which made some chapters dull.

There are many explicitly gay, bisexual, trans, nonbinary and queer characters throughout the book. What I really loved about this was that their gender and sexualities are not a focal plot point, but rather are simply a part of who the characters are. I also appreciate how the author really knows how to capture the perspective of a lesbian, made evident through Sideways’ internal monologue and interactions with the other girls. And I especially love Clarke's frequent use of the word lesbian- he really knows the importance of saying the word lesbian loud and clear.

Sideways is an interesting protagonist and I love how she doesn't fit into many conventional categories. There were some aspects of Sideways that were pretty unlikeable: mostly the way she treated her Dads (who were so sweet and caring) and some of the minor characters, like the server. But overall, I enjoyed reading from her perspective. As much as she’s alt and different than her newfound friend group, she doesn’t have that “I’m-not-like-other-girls” attitude that a lot of protagonists like herself might have. She is also unapologetic about who she is, which I admire.

I had my hopes pretty high going into this book, and in some ways was disappointed, but as there’s going to be a sequel I have my fingers crossed that it’ll have some more action. I do love the building of Sideways' relationship(s) with her new friends, and my heart was holding out hope for Yates and Sideways to get together. Let's see what the sequel will bring! Overall, if you like the idea of “teenage witchy sapphics” as much as I do, then I think the book is worth a read!

CW: kidnapping, blood, death, witchcraft, Christianity, lesbophobic phrases, train accident, police

*Also, my preferred rating would be a 3.5 rather than a 3!

4.5 stars

I requested this book on NetGalley solely for its cover (Which is gorgeous!), and also the fact that its about a badass lesbian witch forming a coven and doing some magic. Honestly, that was all I needed to be sold on this book! My hopes were high for this one, like sky high, and I have to say that The Scapegracers turned out to be so much more than what I had initially thought it would be.

The book starts with our MC, Sideways Pike, at a party with three other girls that payed her to cast a spell there. After the spell worked, and the guests of the party were left in awe, the four girls bond to form a ferocious and powerful coven. They plan on showing off their magic at parties they host, have fun along the way, and learn new spells. But witch hunters that want to steal their magic away from them are in their way.

The Scapegracers was a fun ride from start to end. And I can't wait for the sequel to come out, so I can read what happens next. Overall, this was a wonderful debut novel.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An ode to female friendship, witchcraft and the LGBTQIA community. It was dark, captivating and hauntingly beautiful and I enjoyed every second of it. A refreshing read with great representation, that I would recommend to anyone. A unique and well thought out concept that took classical ideas and turned them on their heads.
Its plotting and pacing was perfect in my opinion.
The narrative itself did sometimes feel too much and was almost trying too hard but only in places.
I did guess the big ultimatum pretty early on however that didn't affect my enjoyment of it.
I am super excited for the next book.
Rated: 4 stars

Actual rating: 3.5/5 rounded up to 4.

What happens when a teenage disaster lesbian accepts a payment of $40 bucks to do some cool magic at a Mean Girls-esque party? The Scapegracers by Hannah Abigail Clarke is the novel length answer to that question. Much like the characters themselves, my opinion on this book is complicated. Overall, there’s a lot to love.

Clarke’s figurative language game stands out as one of my favourite things about the writing; I’ve read poetry less beautiful and impactful than many of the lines in this book. Sideways herself as a main character is fabulous and at times a little too relatable—magic comes easily to her, but friendship? That’s a little harder. All the characters show major development and coupled with the humor in their interactions, they are a selling point. Plus, there is LOTS of queer teen angst and cool witchy vibes with a side of ‘screw boys, do magic’, and I’m all about that life. LGBT rep in this book abounds with lesbian, bi, and unspecified queer MCs along with gay and trans side characters.

The elements that kept me from giving this a full four stars were pacing and plot. When a book takes until 45% to get to the action of the book, there’s a chance many readers will abandon it prior to that point. It felt sort of like someone shuffled the notecards this novel was outlined on and then put them back any which way and THEN started writing. A fairly major plot point happens early on in the novel, one that in my mind demanded to be addressed, but the thread was brushed aside in favour of teen drama and not picked up until the very end of the book.

However, I’m optimistic that some of my concerns will be addressed in the follow up, since the novel ends on a note that makes a sequel setup apparent. I love one (1) lesbian named Sideways Pike, her magic, her journey with friendship and relationships, and all her bristly complexity. If you like beautifully written books, queer witchy vibes, lovable but not likable characters, and a plot that hooks you once it finally gets going, The Scapegracers is worth a read and quite enjoyable despite some flaws.

Scapegracers was decent. It all starts with Sideways ( real name eloise) who is hired by the popular girls to preform magic at a Halloween party. They all seem to dismiss it when nothing happens and then it happens. Lol . This best describes at the craft meets the plastics. The girls do show positive feelings towards Sideways but they are such a clique I would have avoided them school. Sideways is a interesting character and I liked her from the start, she's strong willed, loves her magic and the fully fleshed out character. The others were more caricatures and no way three dimensional characters. Go into the story for the snarky , mood lesbian witch Sideways, the chilling and moody new England atmosphere and the sweet sapphic scenes. Dont expect much from the plot cause it's flimsy. I cant wait for people that'll fully enjoy scapegracers in the spooky and autumnal period

Stellar romance, passionate writing. Loved it, I highly recommend this! What a refreshing take on the coming-of-age tale.

After Sideways Pike, an outcast lesbian witch, is invited to perform a spell at the popular girls' Halloween party, she finds herself swept into their friendship. The girls throw killer Halloween parties, curse boys and try to find Sideways a girlfriend, all while exploring their powers, learning about the dangers of being a witch and forming their own coven.

This book is an ode to teenage girls, to weirdos, to friendship. It’s feral and raw and everything I wanted it to be and more. This book has quickly become a new favourite of mine and I really want this review to do it justice. So, I’m going to do this a little differently. Below you will find an incomplete list of reasons to read The Scapegracers by Hannah Abigail Clark. But first, let me introduce you to my witchy girls, the Scapegracers.

‘Fucking Christ, I was supposed to be Sideways the spooky lesbian weirdo. I had a fucking reputation to maintain, and it would not withstand a nickname like Lamby. Lamby. Goddamn it.’

Let’s start with Sideways Pike, our main character. I feel like this quote pretty accurately sums her up: a scary grump on the outside and softie on the inside. I absolutely adore Sideways and really enjoyed reading from her perspective. I found myself relating to her a lot, particularly her struggles with feeling like ‘enough’ and navigating friendships.

‘God, she must be made of silk. Lila Yates, the velveteen witch, who I desperately wanted to belong to, who I was ever so slightly afraid of.’

I fucking love Yates. She’s so soft, the baby of the group, she’s scared of horror films and takes any chance to cuddle or hold one of the girls’ hands and you just can’t help but love her. She is also fierce and clever and powerful because, news flash, these traits can and should coexist.

‘“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 literally lost it. I can ruin people like you wouldn’t believe. And I wanna wreck their sorry lives.”’

Daisy Brink. Daisy motherfucking Brink. This girl is so fucking fierce and reckless and will do anything for her girls. She wears friendship bracelets all the way up her arm, dots her i’s with hearts and will fuck you up with a smile on her face.

‘In that moment, illuminated by the neon lights, Jing looked like what a witch should look like. Menacing and lovely. She was pure and raw and radioactive. She was more vivid than anything else in the room.’

Jing is just incredible. She’s definitely the mum friend and cares about her friends so much. She’s also just overall fantastic and I am clearly running out of adjectives. She’s your typical beautiful popular girl who’s loved by everyone and gets away with everything (her and Daisy are street racers and I think that’s very sexy of them) but with nuance and development and feelings.

‘“Can girls not be soft and still be powerful?”’

This book celebrates female friendship, particularly that of teenage girls. These girls are all in, they’re so close and genuine and ‘mercilessly supportive’ of each other and it breaks my heart. It’s truly something special and something I want to see more of in fiction. These girls, they’re soft and pretty, fierce and powerful. They’re caring, sensitive, protective; determined, ruthless, feral. They are strong female characters who embrace and celebrate their femininity or, in Sideways case, refuse to denounce it.

I really enjoyed the writing of this book. Sideways’ distinct voice and humour bring to life an elaborate narration saturated in darkness and occult references. And as you can see from some of the previous quotes, girls are described beautifully and with such reverence. This book is sapphic to its core. I also loved the spooky atmosphere and gorgeously gothic descriptions. This line from describing Sideways’ dads’ antiques store struck me as particularly beautiful: ‘If ball gowns had skeletons, the skeletons would look like our chandeliers’. Additionally, the way spellcasting scenes were written was enchanting and so immersive, and I especially loved the emphasis on the connection between the girls while casting. And now, it’s time for an incomplete list of some of the other things I loved:

THAT GORGEOUS COVER
To start this list off I want to encourage you to take a moment to simply admire the beauty of the cover. Isn’t it lovely?

lET’S GO LESBIANS!
Unless you’re a lesbian or quite aware of our issues, you may not realise how little the word lesbian is used, especially in YA books. So seeing the word ‘lesbian’ appear not only in the book itself but on the cover is amazing! It’s incredibly affirming seeing the word ‘lesbian’ used positively and having a lesbian main character who is proud of her sexuality. I also loved how Sideways’ sexuality wasn’t a huge deal, sexuality is not used to create conflict in this book, it simply is.

‘RICH WITH THE URGENCY OF FERAL YOUTH’
This. I couldn’t write this better myself.

‘SUBVERTS THE TROPE OF COMPETITIVE MEAN GIRLS’
The Scapegracers does this so fucking well. I really hate the competitive mean girls trope or when popular girls are vapid, vain and vindictive by default and I have been waiting for a book like this, that takes that trope and turns it on its head, for the unpoopular loner main character to say ‘fuck that, these girls are gorgeous, they’re fierce and I love them’.

FUN CHAPTER TITLES
I know, this might seem odd but sometimes I miss having fun Percy Jackson-esque chapter titles in my books as a little click bait teaser of what’s to come and this book delivered, albeit with its typical sarcasm and a touch of the occult (so, maybe not quite Percy Jackson-esque). My personal favourite being ‘If teens don’t have spirit, then what’s that smell?’

THE SCRATCH DAUGHTERS
Do you want to know why just the title of the sequel made me cry? (In my defense, I had just finished and was feeling a little raw). You should probably pick up The Scapegracers.

*eARC received in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley. All quotes taken from an ARC and may not reflect the final edition*

This was a fun and deliciously dark take on witches. I adored the POC and LGBTQ representation. And anything with witches is a win in my book. I liked the world building and the characters. I enjoyed how the author explores the stereotypical high school hierarchies and flips them on their heads. My only complaint is I wish the magic system was more fleshed out. A book about witches you would expect a better explanation on why and gets the privilege of being a magic wielder. Overall, The Scapegracers is a good young adult urban paranormal featuring witches which makes you reminisce such classics as The Craft.