This tween fantasy novel is a retelling of Anne of Green Gables – except Grace (Anne) is in training with the witch (Marilla). Oh! And Matthew is a cloud.

Fantastical? Yes — and utterly delightful. I loved when retellings completely rework the story so readers get glimpses of the classics we love, while experiencing something completely new.

I was swept away by this story and was so sad when it ended.

Thanks NetGalley and Harper Audio for access to this arc!

4/5 stars!

I just adore Heather Fawcett, and this book is no different! Her lovely sweeping prose is always such a delight to read, and even though the narrator wasn't a human yet it wasn't *too* hard to ignore the voice haha!

This story has a folk tale vibe, like a mix between Hansel & Gretel and some other German fairy tales involving girls living in cabins in the wood with magical visitors. I thought it was a lovely story about perseverance and effort, and how sometimes doing your best is all you CAN do. I have read Anne of Green Gables 9,000 times, and I didn't really think there were many parallels.

What a delightful adventure. Fawcett's The Grace of Wild Things is a retelling of the classic Anne of Green Gables , but with magic. Grace an orphan, runs away from the orphanage in hopes of becoming a witch's apprentice. After the witch attempts to bake here (a la Hansel and Gretel) they come to an agreement. If Grace can learn the 100 1/2 spells in the witch's first grimoire, then the witch will agree to have Grace as her apprentice. With a love a poetry and some excess dramatics, Grace makes friends - and a few archenemies, as she struggles and triumphs with the various magic spell recipes within the book. I love how the strength of friendships was the true magic, as without her friends and what they could contribute, she would not have been able to strive to accomplish her goal. This is a slow read and I would recommend to children who like Lauren Wolk's or even the original series that inspired it.

Thank you to netgalley for the advanced listening copy of the grace of wild things by Fawcett heather. I thought the book had good premise and good story but the narration was terrible. It was like Siri reading to me and the emotionless response made me want to avoid it.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for accepting my request to read and review The Grace of Wild Things.

Published: 02/14/23

This didn't work for me, and I'm not sure why I requested to read it. I'm not a fan of Children's Fiction, Middle Grade or Sci Fi & Fantasy at any level. In addition I have never read Anne of Green Gables. I've requested enough books on NetGalley to recognize it is my error.

Three stars. Overall, with the above said, the story was okay. In all actuality I gave this 2.5 stars and rounded up. I was bored, stymied, perplexed. A few times I walked away, regrouped mentally, and carried on. I liked that Grace was a little girl.

I recommend reading the synopsis and judging for yourself, paying close attention to the genres.

My sincere apologies to the author -- Heather Fawcett and publisher -- Harper Audio, as well as all the people involved with my error in judgement.

I’ve loved ‘Anne of Green Gables’ since I was a kid, so when I came across ‘The Grace of Wild Things’ by Heather Fawcett, I just knew I had to read it. Middle grade isn’t usually my genre, but I was absolutely captivated by this beautiful, whimsical novel that captures the vivaciousness and charm of ‘Anne’ while entirely being its own wildly wonderful thing. And the magical audio narration from Aven Shore makes this book that much better. This was such a cute and fun story, and I highly recommend it!

This book was an adorable read and would do well for students in middle school. It is easy to get into and follow even if you never read Anne of Green Gables.. Grace is a fun narrator to follow along and watch as she finally gets friends and a family for the first time. I love how strong willed Grace is and how comes up with her own way to do things. The layout of the chapters make it really easy to follow and get through since they are like small tales themselves. The only issue I had with the story itself is that the ending felt a little rushed, but otherwise I would recommend this book.
I was permitted to review both an e-book copy and an audiobook copy of this story. The audiobook was also easy to follow along and listen to. It wasn't the final narrator so I can't comment too much on the voices themselves, but I think it has a lot of potential as an audiobook as well. The chapters don't drop you off in the middle of a scene or anything, so it is easy to drop-off and pick-up wherever you need to.

The Grace of Wild Things is perfect for a fan of Anne of Green Gables and witchy fantasy; I am both. The characters are well-drawn and have clear corollaries with Anne and the plot'points are well managed. The book is both strongly reminiscent and entirely its own.

This title felt very off to me. I'm not sure if it was the narration or the writing, but everything was very disjointed and never fully melded together. I appreciated what was trying to be done, and can see some of the fantasy that might grab kids attention, but do not think that many will make it through.

I loved the idea of having a witchy retelling or reimagining of Anne of Green Gables and it was fun to see how the author took the story and more or less made it her own. There were some aspects of Grace's character that made it pretty obvious that she was inspired by Anne but the other characters in the novel were harder to see the connection, especially with the Witch that adopts Grace. It changes the essence of the story significantly to have Grace send herself to the witch and choose her vs her guardian(s) wanting a boy and then settling for a girl. I felt like the relational dynamics between many of the characters was lacking--especially between Anne and the Witch. I was hoping for more affection from the Witch by the end and it didn't feel as realized or fulfilled as it could have been. Overall, it was a fun read and kids in the age group would probably love this modern witchy twist on an old classic... but personally, I'll stick with the original.

I think I may be one of the few early readers that started this without knowing Anne of Green Gables really at all. I liked the themes in this one - Grace is adorable and spirited. I love that she finds her own way to do things. I think I may have enjoyed this more if I was able to tie these witch-driven stories with the original source material. But, on its own without knowing the other stories, I think it stood well on it's own.

But this one is definitely long for a middle grade read. The chapters almost read like little folktales or stories on their own, so it should be easy to break up the readings to get through the length. I really appreciated the theme of good vs being not good. I like that Grace was struggling to find who she was since she felt she was a witch and wasn't so sure they could be "good". I also felt her struggle to fit in very universal and I think early readers will be entertained while identifying with the struggles. Cute but long with a lot of really adorable adventures!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I highly recommend this book for anyone that enjoyed The Girl Who Drank the Moon or Practical Magic. From start to finish this book was like sitting in a warm cottage on a rainy day with a book!

As someone who hasn’t read Anne of Green Gables since I was a child, I did not pick up on any of the references. I did not see the similarities, and this book wasn’t all too interesting to me.

This story I will not recommend my students to get, but I feel it would be a great book for the guidance counselor to read to students. It shows the struggles kids may have because if their differences, May they be a witch, a fairy or just a child, everyone struggles. This book shows the way persistence helps to overcome problems and to accept others for who they are.
I like how there were good witches and bad witches, and how the bad witches have feelings too.
This story showed many different sides of people. I liked the cover of the book. The title isn’t what I thought the story would be about. Not sure if the wild things are what goes into each potion or they are living in the wild with wild “things.”
The title is the only thing I would change. It is all around a good story.

An endearing story filled with magic spells and potions, and so many things to learn about becoming a full-fledged witch. The main character has a rough start in life and is looking for a home and companionship. Along the way learning so many more life lessons. This book is wonderful and I highly recommend.

I am hesitant to give this book a star rating. First off, my expectations of this book were skewed, I was not expecting a middle grade. Secondly, I was completely thrown off by the narrator. The story itself was interesting. But the combination of my mistakes and the synthetic readings just did not make a good mesh for me.

The many readers who love Anne of Green Gables and fairy tale witches will be delighted to find this gently creepy mash-up and a orphan/witch/hero learning to lean in to her natural talents and grow into the person and friend she wishes to be

Middle school readers that enjoy witches and fantasy will enjoy this read although the length may turn some away.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to review this book. I just was not able to get past the computer generated voice. I tried a handful of different times to try and get past it but really couldn't. I listen to audiobooks while at work, and this one required undivided attention to keep up with the story.

The story was fabulous, and I was very upset I couldn't finish.

I look forward to getting a copy in my hands though.

Thank you again for the opportunity.