Be Careful What You Witch For by Thomas Hoobler
Published by: Booktrope Editions
Review by: Dani Hoots
Magic is a tricky thing. Especially when it comes from an ancient book of spells that jumps off a shelf into Olivia’s hands. Bad news for the popular girls in her new school who don’t like Olivia. But hey–now she can get the attention of her crush who’s more interested in comic book superheroes. And when she finds out her aunt is a witch, she imagines all her problems are solved. Unfortunately, not quite–what she conjures up is trouble. And the only one who can help her is an 800-year-old woman.
*Description taken from Amazon*
*Copy received through NetGalley*
I found the background of Olivia to be interesting, as she comes from a famous Hollywood family but just wants to be normal. It reminds me of the manga series Hannah Montana in that aspect, but definitely takes a different turn.
Because she finds out about witchcraft.
As someone who knows a lot about witchcraft, I found most of it to be believable, but some aspects I didn’t. I also thought that the love potion that she made was kind of redundant and that it didn’t make complete sense. It was almost as if the writer thought that was what a teenage girl would do first and I agree in some ways, but the fact that she had just met him and didn’t get to know him at all made me find it unbelievable. Then again, she didn’t know she was doing it at the time.
I also didn’t like how fast the magic was introduced to the story and the fact it was really obvious that her aunt was a witch. I also am confused why her mom would let her go there, knowing about it all and the fact she hadn’t told her daughter.
The main character, Olivia, felt a little one dimensional as well, and I didn’t really care for her. I didn’t feel sympathetic for her and also found her love interested to be a very stereotypical mix of nerd and popular kid. Even as someone who is a complete nerd, I found his references to Wolverine to be quite annoying.
All in all, I think there was room for improvement in the novel, but it was still enjoyable. I love anything with witches in it and if you do too, check out this novel! I give it a 3/5!
A Bibliophile's Reverie 