OFFICIAL AUTHOR INFORMATION: Sangu
Mandanna was four
years old when an elephant chased her down a forest road and she decided to
write her first story about it. Seventeen years and many, many manuscripts
later, she signed her first book deal. Sangu now lives in Norwich,
a city in the east of England, with her husband and kids.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: As one of the few witches in
Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and
stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention.
And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by
strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one
exception: an online account, where she posts videos “pretending” to be a
witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.
But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the
remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control
their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is
immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges,
but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering
caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House
would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a
stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.
As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging
somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn’t the only
danger in the world, and when peril comes knocking at their door, Mika will
need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t
know she was looking for….
OVERVIEW: I read Travis
Baldree's Legends and Lattes
early this year and was quite surprised by my own reception to low stakes in my
fantasy reads, so I did request a copy of this book as soon as I saw it. This
is a charming, paranormal fantasy that can be read in a single sitting. The
book begins with Mika, our main
character, beginning a meeting with other witches, as she tries to come up with
multiple names for their gathering, in order to get to Primrose, her adoptive guardian who functions as their head witch.
This sets the tone for the chapter, as well as for the rest of the book.
"WITCH WANTED. Live-in tutor wanted for three young witches. Must have
nerves of steel. Previous teaching experience not necessary. Witchiness
essential."
The story really kicks off as Ian, one of the many characters who
inhabit Nowhere house discovers Mika
as a witch from her presence on social media, and sends her a message, seeking
a tutor for Terracotta, Altamira,
and Rosetta, the children of the
Nowhere household, who are in dire need of lessons to help keep their magical
powers in control. The Nowhere house is also home to Ken, Ian's partner, who is as calm and composed as Ian is flamboyant like the stage actor
he once was, Lucie, the motherly
housekeeper, and Jamie, the
librarian who will surely give you "Bah!
Humbug!" vibes, as far as Mika
is concerned.
The book contains just a limited
amount of worldbuilding. There is just enough shown to keep the story going,
but this is not a book that focuses on big stakes and problems that affect a
entire populations of people. As the story progresses, the reader is slowly
shown different interactions that show growth in most of the characters. It
almost feels like the author took her time planning each of them in order to
have a wonderful balance of respect for personal boundaries and displays of
empathy, along with showcasing the need for communication about the difficult
things in life, in order to get the characters to open up to others.
We talk often about books that can
be read in one sitting. This book reads like the author could've written it in
a single sitting. What I loved about the author's handling of the different
topics this book contains, is that they feel so easily woven into moments which
occur in everyday life, that it is so easy to forget that this is a work of
fiction. There are moments of humour, of compassion, ones that show care and
hurt, and all of them feel so natural to the flow of the story.
This book contains a romantic
subplot, which is the only part of the book that I did not fully enjoy, and
this purely boils down to preference. I have loved reading a lot of romantic
fantasies lately, and I have observed that I lean toward those that progress
slowly. I didn't particularly feel that in this book, but I also have a strong
suspicion that it might be because of the large set of characters in this book
that were each forming their own relationships with Mika.
CONCLUSION: This is a bite-sized paranormal story that is perfect for
readers who love found families. It is a compelling exploration of
connection, and the importance of conversation in creating, maintaining, and
strengthening it.
12:00 AM | 
Posted by
The Reader |
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1 comments:
Hi, I just finished reading this book. I’m new to fantasy and reading fiction in general, can you recommend some books similar to this that you’d think I enjoy? Thank you!