NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Mystery, fae and math. Oh my. This is Clara's story. The author uses real life situations and math to help Clara overcome her trials. Throw in some witches and magic and we have a story for all ages. Teachers can use this book to get students more interested in math lessons.

When Clara stumbles upon a secret world of magical beings, she discovers more about herself than she ever thought real. And her parents seemed to know that she was special but never told her!? Why!? This new world shows her all kinds of new possibilities and more about herself as well. A great YA book!

I want to think the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this book for an honest review.

This might have been my favorite book I have read in a long time for YA. The writing was superb, the characters rich, and the story was gripping from start to finish. My library would be lucky to have this in our shelves. (I may buy it for my own as well.

Clara Thorn, the Witch That was Found, by Don Jones, was an astounding cannot put down book.
Clara’s biological parents, the Holdaways, are well-known by the Ordinaries and others. Her adoptive parents eventually revealed everything to her. This is when she went on her adventure to Underhill, the magical world of fantasy and whimsical charm. She never looked back on that life-changing day.

Clara has the gift that comes to every generation, she used her magic to balance the equations of her classmates’ magic to make it more effective. Everyone else had their own special magical spells and talents also. Even some of the staff were using magic on the students over disagreements and quarrels; it was exciting to envision the students use their skills. Their biggest threat was the paladins. The students even had sprites and elves to work for them.

I recommend this book for anyone who loves fantasy, magic, spells, and a book with exciting scenes, this is it!

Clara is used to moving around from city to city, but her parents tell her this time they’re going to stay put. Although she does well pretty well in school (and aces math), she doesn’t have any friends but does have some bullies. But one day, she sees three girls from school disappear in an ally. She follows them through a portal, and begins to realize that there’s a whole world of magic, witches, and danger that she just may belong in.

This was a fun young adult read full of magic and self-discovery. I loved the way the author chose to depict magic in this world (as mathematical equations) and Clara’s skills related to them. The setting was well constructed and described, making this an immersive read. The author also included a bestiary in the back and a recipe for the “fizzy cider” that the students drank, which was quite fun!

I also loved that the story focused on working together as friends without any sort of romance, especially as this work is for a younger audience. Clara was a relatable protagonist and she and the other characters were really well written.

I would have liked to see some more details related to the others’ magic, but hopefully that will be present in the next book. Similarly, there’s some dramatic reactions when other characters find out Clara’s last name, but we’re not really told why her parents were such a big deal. There were a few instances like this where I felt like more details should have been included to better flesh out the story.

Overall, this was an interesting and fun read. I highly recommend this work to younger readers, though I definitely still enjoyed it! My thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for allowing me to read and review this work.

this worked so well as a young adult fantasy book, it had what I enjoy about the genre. Don Jones has a great writing style and it does a great job in telling the story it needed to tell. I enjoyed the way the characters were written and their world, Overall this was a great job and I hope there is more in this world.