Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa

9 reviews

caseyaboutthroughout's review

challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual harassment

portalpylon's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual assault, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

maresuju's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Minor: Biphobia, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

powellki's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book offers a strong perspective of how our negative thinking can warp our reality.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Biphobia, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

ronan_lesh's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief

Minor: Biphobia and Sexual harassment

lonely_tardigrade's review

This book was a lot more depressing than I expected. A lot of the problems I had with it could be attributed to the imbalance of what I thought the book would be like and what it actually ended up being. I just don’t have the mental capacity right now for the kinds of heavy topics it introduced, which is why I didn’t finish it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Lesbophobia, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content and Medical content

kingrosereads's review

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

A sapphic YA witchy coming-of-age drama that takes place in Salem during Halloween. 

This book contains homophobia/lesbophobia, marijuana use, anxiety/panic disorder, chronic illness, bullying, sexual assault, grief, and toxic relationship/friendship. 

I liked this book. I wasn’t aware it wasn’t about magical witches and not at all a fantasy until I started reading it. It is about real witches that practice Wicca/pagan-based witchcraft. 

Our story follows 17-year-old high school dropout but recent GED recipient and self-proclaimed most skeptical and cynical person in Salem, Eleanor Anderson. Eleanor skips out on her senior year after being marked as a crazed lesbian stalker of her ex-best friend and popular girl, Chloe, and an accident that occurred on Halloween night. Now Eleanor works full time at her mother’s friend, Susan’s, witchy shop to help pay for their bills. Her mom has Lyme’s disease that she contracted two years prior and what had them move to Salem to be closer to Susan so she can help take care of them. Eleanor’s family believes that her mom is faking her illness. 

Things change for Eleanor when she receives a hand written guide on tarot in the mail and meets Pix and Ofira on the same day. Pix and Ofira are cousins and Ofira is new to Salem. They also happen to be witches. They invite Eleanor to join their coven and she’s drawn in by curiosity and her interest in Pix. Eleanor slowly works through her tarot guide and process the trauma of the year prior. She and Pix grow closer together and start dating. 

We learn that she and Chloe secretly dated because Chloe, though out as bisexual to her parents, was ashamed of dating Eleanor. She ends up choosing to date resident popular douchebag, Harrison, to increase her own popularity, but the girls try to remain friends. Harrison manipulates Chloe and the student body into thinking that Eleanor is a predatory lesbian obsessed with Chloe and tries to erase Chloe’s bisexuality. This builds until it explodes resulting in an accident and Eleanor dropping out. 

Eleanor slowly starts to come to terms with the events of her junior year and learns to heal from it and to trust again. 

The setting in Salem and time period being Halloween is all pretty much background things to give a reason why Eleanor is hanging out with Pix and the coven and learning to heal. But it is a nice vibe to the story. There isn’t too much development in most of the coven and even Ofira and Gillian are pretty underdeveloped side characters. 

I wasn’t a huge fan of Eleanor becoming the “predatory lesbian” stereotype. Or even just the stereotype of being a crazy obsessed girl in the scenario that Chloe was a boy, this would’ve been problematic. But I also know that people that manipulate our feelings and hurt us and gaslight us do eventually make us feel and act somewhat “crazy”, and when you’re a teenager it’s a million times worse because you have no voice telling you to think it through. Regardless, the book could’ve done without this stereotype. I get the idea of Eleanor being bullied and experiencing lesbophobia, but we didn’t need this to accomplish that.  

The excessive use of marijuana is an unhealthy coping mechanism, especially since she’s underage, but at the same time it’s better than abusing Xanax or the like, and she eventually stops using marijuana to manage her anxiety and find other non-substance ways to cope. 

But I was happy to read about a different kind of grief (the loss of friendship/relationship), and a grief that occurs regardless of whether or not it was toxic (it was). And I do think the use of marijuana to cope and how Eleanor started using it less as she found herself surrounded by friends and support was done well. 

Pix and Eleanor don’t really have chemistry, but I thought they’re very cute together. I’m not sure about the accuracy of the portrayal of Wicca or paganism, but the bit I do know makes me appreciate the book as an introduction to this religion. Even thought it all very surface level, it’s done in a way I think will encourage readers to look information up themselves. 

Overall cute, albeit, a little boring story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Biphobia, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

_teoeo's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Bullying, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

aiyam's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

There is nothing I love more than a good high school lesbian relationship, Pix and Eleanor absolutely hit the spot in this book. Kate Scelsa is an amazing author, I will absolutely be coming back for more of her books.

The format of this book is so fun. There is a different tarot card before each chapter, along with a small description of what the card represents. As someone who knows next to nothing about tarot I loved this. The book is rather fast paced which I enjoyed, there is no real filler and I was on the edge of my seat trying to uncover the secrets Eleanor was hiding from the reader. She is definitely a sympathetic main character, before I knew what it was she had done wrong I absolutely was on her side. 

The story line is a bit more depressing than I had been expecting. The buildup to the reveal of what exactly went down between Eleanor and Chloe is appropriately done, I really felt drawn in. When the reveal happens I was honestly in shock, but I think that having a protagonist who is not one hundred percent in the right is important. It toed the line of forgivable in my book, but Scelsa did an amazing job of writing it and showing everyone as people. And as we all know, people are never the clear cut villains or heroes that we would like them to be.

Overall, I would recommend this book with no hesitations. I hope to see more in this vein from the author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, and Sexual harassment

Eleanor stalked her ex girlfriend to an unhealthy degree and holds a lot of guilt about it. She abuses weed to keep herself disconnected from reality.