Cover Image: Bad Witch Burning

Bad Witch Burning

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Member Reviews

This book has gotten a lot of fantastic reviews and congrats to the author on her debut novel. Thanks to the author and publisher for the copy I received via NetGalley.

I have outgrown most young adult, that’s on me and not the author. This had stuff I normally love like ghosts, seeking with the dead, etc but this wasn’t for me.

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This was a wonderfully fresh, gripping new voice in fantasy—grounded even while being fantastical, and it had me turning pages to the finish!

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This book was a great witch book. One about learning to listen and learn.
She was making money off her magical abilities but wouldn’t the rest of us. She was dealing with an abusive mother and mothers boyfriend. She was trying to make ends meet because her mom didn’t have a job but wasn’t necessarily doing it the right way.
This book was a 4 out of 5 stars for me and I would definitely read more of this authors work.

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This book was not at all what I expected. Hearing this story really broke my heart, though it's set in a fantastical setting, i know that children often have to deal with these types of issues. No child should ever have to be the provider or parent for their parent. And everything else the main character has to go through on top of that, really stressful. The author does an amazing job of really making me care for these characters and really pulls you into the story and believe it is real.

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to read this early. Review has been posted on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it. I hope everyone loves it as much as I did

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Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

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I was super excited and interested in this read. I enjoyed my time overall with the story. I am unsure if I would read a sequel however.

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Bad Witch Burning is one heck of an emotional roller-coaster and the kind of book that just does not let you go. Loved this take on Black witches, where the main character sells her ability to resurrect the dead to make money to escape poverty. So many parts of this book makes me sad but I absolutely loved the story. I only stopped in the middle of reading because I had just had my daughter. I will absolutely be reading more by Jessica Lewis

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I really, really enjoyed this book. I should start off with mentioning that there are a lot of tough topics that are touched on in this book, so readers may want to double check the trigger warnings for it. The magic elements were interesting enough, but I think where the book really shined was with the realistic aspects. Katrell was such an interesting character. I appreciated her reasons for continuing with the resurrections and her feelings and actions regarding her mother. I adored Katrell and Will's relationship, and Will in general. I also appreciated how the author showed Will's healing process. The characters felt entirely real to me and I absolutely loved that about them. This was also a good book for spooky vibes. In some ways, it reminded me of a mix between Pet Sematary and Cujo. I look forward to reading more books by the author in the future! Would recommend for mature readers that enjoy realistic characters and spooky stories.

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Whew. Okay. Where do I start with this book? I wanted to love it and thought I would based off of the summary and the cover but once I started reading it….it was a huge no for me. The topic of animal death came up quite a lot without a warning and it was upsetting, and the graphicness of the abuse was as well.

My emotions are definitely affecting my rating of it, because it was genuinely hard to get through. I almost DNF’d it several times, but managed to push through. I think I just wasn’t expecting it to be as upsetting or as graphic as it was as far as the abuse and self hatred and inner thoughts and all. That and the plot line and the treatment of Will’s home life felt very callous and back and forth.

Overall, I think the story was interesting and it was well written, the plots with the resurrections were good, but for ME personally it was just too heavy a book to enjoy it. I think others would enjoy it- just be aware of the tone and triggers of the book when you go into it.

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Poignant and angry, Bad Witch Burning is here for blood. A story of abuse and rage and how it can push a girl beyond her limits. This book will make you feel the deep dread of someone stuck in such a horrible situation and the pain and life it can suck out of you. Will Magic permanently save the day?

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I really enjoyed this one. I loved the friendship between Trell and Will and I loved the witchyness of it all. The abuse was hard to get through--but it was not overly graphic with detail. It was just real.

I do think the heavy topics were flushed out, contrary to popular belief--her mother who was supposed to protect her, did not. That’s the reality of it. But what I really loved, was how Will and Trell’s intentional effort to work on their friendship and on themselves really brought it all back together after everything burned down. Jessica Lewis knows how to write a friendship for real.

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This is a heart-wrenching but satisfying book. The characters are well developed and distinct. Katrell’s Magic is never well-defined but this adds to the tension and to e of the story. Wilhelmina is a powerful character and a good balance, at times, to Katrell. Readers should be aware that this story deals quite starkly with abuse, poverty, depression, rage. There is also magic. Katrell’s overt power, but also the magic of a one word, of finding a voice, of allowing yourself to be dynamic. Highly recommended.

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I read this book almost a year ago and yelled about it extensively on social media, but never managed to write a review here because Pandemic Stuff. This is one of my favourite recent reads and I am so, so happy to see the book doing well. I look forward to continue yelling about it in the future. :)

I will be writing a GoodReads review soon and will update this review with the link when I have it.

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What a unique book. I love the main characters. I love the twist on necromantic magic. I will definitely be buying this and recomending it to a lot of people.

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I enjoyed this book and I found Katrell to have a very compelling voice! I did find the dog violence to be a bit much and I wasn't expecting that so it was hard to read at times, but I thought this was a solid paranormal/fantasy/horror. It could've done with a bit more world building. The characters are definitely the strengths of this book. I truly despised Katrell's mother and I'm so mad about that arc!

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I love books that address trauma and abuse, particularly when it involves more "obscure" forms of abuse. Even so, I thought this book was just okay. I did enjoy the representation though.

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Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC of Bad Witch Burning. Overall I enjoyed the premise and characters of this story. I thought the ability Katrell had was really neat and actually loved the fact that it was just a thing and wasn't really questioned and there was no investigation into it. It allowed the plot to take route without any side stepping in other directions. The big driver of this book was the characters and the experiences of Katrell. She goes through some REALLY, REALLY tough moments in this book and it's heartbreaking to read about. Her personal story and ending is what kept me going through the book because the overall plot felt repetitive and it sort of dragged on. I think folks should definitely check this book out if they enjoy plots that focus heavily on character growth and experience. 3.5 stars.

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Jessica Lewis wrote one of the most raw and real stories about the complexities of Black family dynamics, expertly weaving in magic, grief, and self-discovery into every word. I love Katrell’s character and strength. I loved reading her struggle and triumph. She’s such a fascinating character. This story is just so well-written. So well-paced. Such delicious tension and jaw-dropping twists. If I could hand this book off to every Black teen, I would.

Amazing. Highly recommend this one!

5 stars out of 5 stars

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