#kate scelsa

[just0nemorepage]

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches || Kate Scelsa || 320 pages Top 3 Genres: Fantasy / Young Adult / Romance

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Eleanor is the least likely person in Salem to believe in witchcraft—or think that her life could be transformed by mysterious forces. Ostracized by her classmates after losing her best friend and first love, Chloe, Eleanor has spent the past year in a haze, vowing to stay away from anything resembling romance.

But when a handwritten guide to tarot arrives in the mail at the witchy souvenir store where Eleanor works, it seems to bring with it the message that magic is about to enter her life. Cynical Eleanor is quick to dismiss this promise, until real-life witch Pix shows up with an unusual invitation. Inspired by the magic and mystery of the tarot, Eleanor decides to open herself up to making friends with Pix and her coven of witches, and even to the possibility of a new romance.

But Eleanor’s complicated history in Salem continues to haunt her, and she is desperate to keep Pix from finding out the truth. Eleanor will have to reckon with the old ghosts that threaten to destroy everything, even her chance at new love.

Publication Date: May 2022. / Average Rating: 3.73. / Number of Ratings: ~3220.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

JOMP BPC - April 5th - Cured a Book Hangover

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa was the perfect light-hearted, magical read for easing back into reading after a book hangover 🥰

[quotelr]

And I love that all their overdone liberal bullshit totally backfired," he said. "Of course it did. People are assholes. End of story.""The world according to Sebastian Tate.""It's a philosophy that has gotten me far in life.

Kate Scelsa, Fans of the Impossible Life

[qbdatabase]

Seventeen-year-old Eleanor is the least likely person in Salem to believe in witchcraft—or think that her life could be transformed by mysterious forces. Ostracized by her classmates after losing her best friend and first love, Chloe, Eleanor has spent the past year in a haze, vowing to stay away from anything resembling romance.

But when a handwritten guide to tarot arrives in the mail at the witchy souvenir store where Eleanor works, it seems to bring with it the message that magic is about to enter her life. Cynical Eleanor is quick to dismiss this promise, until real-life witch Pix shows up with an unusual invitation. Inspired by the magic and mystery of the tarot, Eleanor decides to open herself up to making friends with Pix and her coven of witches, and even to the possibility of a new romance.

But Eleanor’s complicated history in Salem continues to haunt her, and she is desperate to keep Pix from finding out the truth. Eleanor will have to reckon with the old ghosts that threaten to destroy everything, even her chance at new love.

[bigdreamsandwildthings]

Fun little Chapters haul 🖤

[dartumbles]

Review: Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa

Review: Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa My rating: 5 of 5 stars I don’t know who recommended this, but it was an insightful read. Kate uses Tarot Major Arcana to tell a piece of a teen’s confusing life. I love how we learn the cards as a story unto themselves and how it applies to Elenor’s past. Kate Sclesa is a young adult novel, and the romances cause angst. But I loved climbing…

[selkiemaidenfae]

books read in 2023: luminary: a magical guide to self-care by kate scelsa

✧✧✧

"if it's a clear night, look up to the moon and thank her for her help."

[wahlpaper]

Halloween Book Quiz!

[siriuslyreads]

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa: A Review

Title: Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches

Author: Kate Scelsa

Genre: YA Coming of Age

Rating: 4.5/5

Release Date: May 3, 2022

Format: Physical Book

Synopsis:

A witchy, atmospheric lesbian contemporary romance set in Salem—from the acclaimed author of Fans of the Impossible Life. Perfect for fans of Nina LaCour and Becky Albertalli.

Seventeen-year-old Eleanor is the least likely person in Salem to believe in witchcraft—or think that her life could be transformed by mysterious forces. Ostracized by her classmates after losing her best friend and first love, Chloe, Eleanor has spent the past year in a haze, vowing to stay away from anything resembling romance.

But when a handwritten guide to tarot arrives in the mail at the witchy souvenir store where Eleanor works, it seems to bring with it the message that magic is about to enter her life. Cynical Eleanor is quick to dismiss this promise, until real-life witch Pix shows up with an unusual invitation. Inspired by the magic and mystery of the tarot, Eleanor decides to open herself up to making friends with Pix and her coven of witches, and even to the possibility of a new romance.

But Eleanor’s complicated history in Salem continues to haunt her, and she is desperate to keep Pix from finding out the truth. Eleanor will have to reckon with the old ghosts that threaten to destroy everything, even her chance at new love.

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches is an atmospheric and romantic coming-of-age about learning to make peace with the past in order to accept the beauty of the present.

Review:

This book had so much potential, and I honestly don’t think there is anything terribly wrong with it. It’s just not my type of book. There is nothing inherently wrong with it, but I just was not over the moon about it. I went in with certain expectation of magic and romance and was left without much of either. The magic in this book is not the flashy fantasy type, it is more of the cleansing, tarot reading, crystal wearing magic. And while this is a sapphic book, the end game romance played such a small role it was nearly nonexistent.

A minor TW depending on your preference, the MC does smoke weed in this, quite a lot. Also TW for homophobia and the use of the ‘f’ word. Not fuck, that’s a good word. The other one.

In this book we follow Eleanor as she struggles with an ailing mother, a town who all hate her, and a feeling of not belonging anywhere. She works at a touristy witch store in Salem and has no friends.

Throughout this book, there are hints about a terrible thing that Eleanor did to her former best friend and first love, Chloe, but we are supposed to be left guessing, and I was left guessing at what happened, but I found that I didn’t really care all that much. Her friend is a shit friend who never truly cared about her. It is blatantly simple to see that. While I won’t say there is abuse involved, there is definite gaslighting and a lack of care for Eleanor’s feelings. It’s easy to see that Chloe was with Eleanor in secret because of internalized homophobia. Chloe dates boys who think lesbians are disgusting and gay men are ‘f’ words. That’s not something someone would do if there wasn’t self-hatred for who that person is at their core.

I think that’s part of why I did not jive with this book that much, I get that there needs to be an inciting incident in order for these stories to happen, but I am kind of sick of the homophobic storylines.

We are also shown multiple times how cynical Eleanor is, and how much she hates herself, but that seems to be her only personality trait. All she has to fall back on is her hatred of herself, which she puts out as hatred of the town she is in and the people in it. I get it, I remember being an angsty teen and feeling like I was the worst person around and everyone hated me. This book took that feeling from a normal level and cranked it to a ten, to the point where Eleanor ostracized herself from the entirety of her town, going so far as to get her GED in order to not have to go to school anymore. Its obvious in the end that the reason why is because of Chloe who kind of adopted her when she moved to town and Eleanor built her entire life about Chloe, to the point where she stalked her.

That’s another large issue I have with this. At no point did it make sense for Eleanor, based on who she was as a character, to stalk her former best friend. She seemed more likely to be the person to just cut ties and say fuck it. This seemed out of character and a way to move the plot forward that did not make much sense.

I haven’t spoken much about the other characters in this, and that’s because we hardly know these characters. Even Pix, Eleanor’s love interest, does not get much page time, and when she does, we don’t learn much about her.

My favorite thing about this book: the tarot depictions we see at the beginning of every chapter.

Overall I would hesitate to call this a romance book. I know that is how the synopsis ranks it, but honestly this felt more like a coming-of-age, dealing with past trauma book with a side of romance. I probably wouldn’t read this again, I might try more from this author, but I’m not sold.

[sapphicbookclub]

Sapphic Books List: Witches

Gather your coven and familiars and dive into magical worlds 🧙‍♀️

The Dark Tide by Alicia Jasinska

Now She is Witch by Kirsty Logan

The Scapegracers (trilogy) by Hannah Abigail Clarke

Payback's a Witch (series) by Lana Harper

These Witches Don’t Burn (duology) by Isabel Sterling

Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft

Elysium Girls by Kate Pentecost

The Circle (Engelsfors trilogy) by M. Strandberg & S.B. Elfgren

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

The Lost Coast by A.R. Capetta

All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson

Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley

Witching Moon by Poppy Woods

The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska

The Reluctant Witch (trilogy) by Kristen S. Walker

The Sting of Victory (series) by S.D. Simper

Not Your Average Love Spell by Barbara Ann Wright

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu

Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve

Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa

Walking Through Shadows by Sheri Lewis Wohl

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno

[margaretthotcher]

Queer Book Recommendations

It's pride season in Wellington, New Zealand and my local library has published its second "Teen Staff Picks" zine! In that spirit, I bring you, a collection of lesser-known queer books featured in the two that have been released so far! I've narrowed the lists down to books that have 1000 or fewer reviews on Goodreads as of posting (though I actually use Storygraph personally). I haven't read most of these, they're new to me as well but looking forward to getting into them.

Sapphic

Trouble Girls - Julia Lynn Rubin

Planning Perfect - Haley Neil

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches - Kate Scelsa

The Meadows - Stephanie Oakes

Never Trust a Gemini - Freja Nicole Woolf

This Is All Your Fault - Aminah Mae Safi

The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet - Jake Maia Arlow

Youngblood - Sasha Laurens

In the Role of Brie Hutchens - Nicole Melleby

Achillean

We Are Totally Normal - Rahul Kanakia

Two Can Play That Game - Leanne Yong

Blaine for the Win - Robbie Couch

I Like Me Better - Robby Weber

The Language of Seabirds - Will Taylor

The Feeling of Falling in Love - Mason Deaver

Charming Young Man - Eliot Schrefer

Emmett - L. C. Rosen

Pages I Never Wrote - Marco Donati

Trans Characters

Across a Field of Starlight - Blue Delliquanti

Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure - Lewis Hancox

The Borrow a Boyfriend Club - Page Powars

If I Can Give You That - Michael Gray Bulla

Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic - G. Haron Davis

Jess, Chunk, and the Road Trip to Infinity - Kristin Elizabeth Clark

Magical Boy - The Kao

Kisses For Jet: A Coming-of-Gender Story - Joris Bas Backer

Between Perfect and Real - Ray Stoeve

Featuring Queer People of Colour

Ander & Santi Were Here - Jonny Garza Villa

The Loophole - Naz Kutub

Spell Bound - F. T. Lukens

Tim Te Maro and the Subterranean Heartsick Blues - H. S. Valley

Rise to the Sun - Leah Johnson

Never Kiss Your Roommate - Philline Harms

Rainbow! - Bloom & Sunny

Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales - Melanie Gillman

Anne of Greenville - Mariko Tamaki

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🔮 Good afternoon, my bookish bats. I hope you've had an enchanting, spell-binding October so far. If you want to add a little more magic to your TBR, consider these witchlit books featuring sapphic witches and other mystical beings!

🔮 The Scapegracers by Hannah Abigail Clarke 🪄 Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper 🔮 These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling 🪄 Sweet & Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley 🔮 The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska 🪄 Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft

🔮 Now She Is Witch by Kirsty Logan 🪄 The Dark Tide by Alicia Jasinska 🔮 The Circle by M. Strandberg & S.B. Elfgren 🪄 The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores 🔮 The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson 🪄 Elysium Girls by Kate Pentecost

🔮 Edie in Between by Laura Sibson 🪄 When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey 🔮 Marvel's The Runaways 🪄 Her Majesty's Royal Coven by Juno Dawson 🔮 Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall 🪄 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Willow & Tara

🔮 All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle 🪄 The Severed Thread by Leslie Vedder 🔮 The Lost Coast by A.R. Capetta 🪄 Romancing a Gorgon by Tallie Rose 🔮 Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa 🪄 The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

🔮 Not Your Average Love Spell by Barbara Ann Wright 🪄 The Sting of Victory by S.D. Simper 🔮 Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno 🪄 The Reluctant Witch by Kristen S. Walker 🔮 Witching Moon by Poppy Woods 🪄 Keep Your Witches Close by Colette Rivera

🔮 Walking Through Shadows by Sheri Lewis Wohl 🪄 Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moïra Fowley-Doyle 🔮 Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve 🪄 Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

Quick Review: Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa Rating: 4/5

“Here in Witch City, the witch gets determined by who points the finger first.”

This was a wonderfully emotional story about girls with broken hearts just trying to mend them (and practicing a little witchcraft along the way). Eleanor was a bumbling ball of anxiety but it was lovely to watch her come to terms with her past and strengthen her relationship with her disabled mother. Pix was a sweet love interest and all the girls in the coven were delightful - especially Gillian. And I loved the explainers about the different cards of the tarot, too. A gentle read.

Warnings: drug use, anxiety, lesbophobia and biphobia (both challenged).

[quotelr]

I know you think that we saved you or something, Jeremy," he said. "That we were stronger than you. But we're not. We weren't. We're all just trying to survive however we can.

Kate Scelsa, Fans of the Impossible Life

[crunchycrystals]

i know nothing ab these books i am picking randomly from my storygraph to read list i have no memory why half of these books are here lol also trying to take into account what's available on libby so i dont have to wait but i dont really care vote have fun

[lgbtqreads]

heya! i'm trying to find a book that i remember hearing about - a young queer person, maybe lesbian or nb who wants to create a memorial to the salem witches - its not the zombie one sry for being so vague

Hmm, these are the four YA books I know of set in Salem, MA (fun fact - the zombie one is actually set in Salem, OR) - is it one of these?

These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa

The Comedienne's Guide to Pride by Hayli Thomson

Just Ash by Sol Santana