Bad Witch Burning By Jessica Lewis

I was provided an e-galley by Netgalley, but that had no bearing on the validity of this review!

When I first heard the buzz about this book on twitter, of course I was intrigued, not too many YA books about black witches out there, and we can always have more!

But this is a story about so much more than a young woman coming into a great and dangerous power, this is a story about heavy, weighty topics, like homelessness, parental abuse and neglect, poverty, domestic violence, animal death, and while reading, a few times, I felt like I was drowning in despair and hopelessness.

That’s how much I was pulled into this book. That’s how much I grew to care about these beautiful characters just trying to make it in a truly cruel world, much like our own, with the mere scant pockets of hope, all mixed up in it.

This is a story of Katrell and Will, and Conrad.

Katrell’s been able to see ghosts for as long as she can remember, weird, sure, but she has other more immediate troubles to worry about, like if she’s going to work enough hours this month to pay the rent, and keep the light and water on. If she’s going to have to skip another meal. She’s not an adult, and she has a parent, if one can call a mother who’d have their 16 year old working 30 hours week, while she ‘looks for a job’ in the arms of another useless, violent man.

At least she has Conrad though, her big, lovable and a little dumb mastiff mix, and Will, the quiet, artistic force and sense of reason in her life, and her side business as a medium to fill any gaps her job can’t.

At least she had them. As with life, one by one, the few things she counts on, fail and leave and die, and Katrell slips over the edge she’s been tethering on and emerges on the other side with a new power — to bring the dead back to life.

Desperate, not seeing any other way out, she puts a plan in motion to use this gift? curse? for her benefit, and soon enough the bodies of the previously dead surround her and soon enough money isn’t an issue, it’s what to do when the dead don’t die.

This story made me angry, I know why it’s called Bad Witch Burning. Because the Katrell, swallowed all of her the anger, fear and near debilitating isolation and it blossomed as white hot flames in our hearts and in hers.

This story also made me cry bitter, cathartic tears, bitter because 16 year olds should be out loving there best life, and that’s what I want for Katrell and cathartic because, in the end, she faces all the thoughts in her head she was ignoring, all those painful truths, and comes out on the other side, still needing a boatload of therapy, but a little more whole.

I love this story so much, and I think that it’ll make such an impact in the life of those who need to hear this story! It’s definitely going to be on my best books of 2021 list!

Would I read this again?

Yes, I’m eager to! But not right away, I’m still processing this first read.

Would I recommend it?

Yes, 100% Please read this book! It deals with a lot of heavy topics and it may be triggering for some, so make sure you go over the tw, but this book is beautiful and you won’t regret it.

Purchase here: Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis