L. C. Mawson

Amy is a 16 year old girl who is just trying to navigate life. Her ADHD makes it a little harder and recently Amy has been getting really bad headaches. To top it off, Amy also thinks she might be a lesbian. Amy's headaches are the worst when her Aunt Jess visits, however Aunt Jess has an interesting proposal for Amy- to attend the boarding school that she was recently hired to teach for. Amy's life quickly changes course when her mother is cursed by a demon in an attempt to get to Amy. Amy is whisked away to the Ember Academy for Young Witches where she has to wait for the brain block to lift so she can fully access her powers. While Amy learns about her new reality, she is introduced to all kinds of new beings and the world of magic including a very hot half-witch, half vampire named Natalie and an extremely attractive half-with, half-elf named Willow. Even with all these new distractions, Amy's focus remains on lifting the curse from her mother and she is willing to do anything to get her mother back.
Basics of Spellcraft is a fun adventure in the Ember Academy for Young Witches. I really enjoyed Amy's character and that her ADHD actually helped her to become a better witch. Amy is very relatable, she is headstrong, resilient and constantly changing and growing. I do wish that she thought more about her choices, especially who to trust, but this is typical of that age. Ember Academy was wonderfully created and I loved meeting the many different types of witches and demons. I also enjoyed all of the different classes for witches and learning more of the history of the Snowverse that the story takes place in. I haven't read any of the other stories in the Snowverse, I didn't feel lost while I was reading, but I think some more background information would have been helpful. Typical of a Young Adult book, the focus shifts between Amy gaining knowledge of how to rid her mother of the curse and romance. While I loved that Amy was an LGBT character and that she became more comfortable with herself while at the academy, it seemed that the romances between Natalie and Willow were undeveloped and almost distractions. An exciting ending kept me intrigued and wanting to read more of the series.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (more)