I love witches! I think my first real experience with them was through books such as the Worst Witch series which I read in Primary School and I then fell in love with films such as Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic. My Aunty is actually a Wiccan so I have always had a sort of obsession with witches and the occult. We’ve been lucky over the past few years to have YA be filled to the brim with witches, all with different kinds of magic and coming from lots of different cultures. I have loved diving into other countries witchy folklore and experiencing all the wondrous types of magic these authors have created. From the stereotypical pointy black hat , broomsticks and wands to the darker side full of blood magic and people who have to hide their gifts. I’ve tried to narrow this list down to my Top 5 otherwise I would simply have to go on forever. What are some of your favourite witchy Ya books or favourite bookish witches? Let me know in the comments.

This is another prompt I have taken off Haf and Anneiks wonderfully spooky Blogtober challenge which you can find here.

Serpent & Dove – Shelby Mahurin

I read this earlier on in the year and absolutely fell in love with the story and characters. Lou is a fantastic character to follow and I loved the different forms of magic the author brings to the book. Witches are in hiding from the witch hunters who are sent to kill them. With some pretty epic witchy battles and some swoon worthy romance this is a must read for any witchy YA fan.

Harry Potter – J. K. Rowling

I mean this is the classic, the original… for me anyway. This series definitely cemented my love for Witches and Wizards alike. I loved Hermione, Ginny and Luna in the books and loved Rowlings traditional take on magic. The magic blended with the mundane so easily in this series it is hard to come away from it not believing that Hogwarts exists.

Truthwitch – Susan Dennard

Safi and Iseult are my witchy sisters! This series is truly epic and one of the main reasons for that is all the wonderful types of magic that Dennard weaves into the story line. There are Truthwitches, Windwitches, Threadwitches and Waterwitches with sooo many more as well . I was swept away by the wondrous magic she creates and all the different specialities she includes without it becoming overwhelming.

Children of Blood and Bone – Tomi Adeyemi

One thing I loved about this book was we got to see how witches reacted and behaved when magic was taken from them, and the places they were willing to go to return it. Another book that brings multiple magic types together, called Maji they have different clans with different abilities such as manipulating the spirits of the dead and ones that can control the strength and course of wind, with some fantastically written characters and some epic fight scenes.

Kingdom of Souls – Rene Barron

This is another 2019 read that I loved. All about the daughter of two famous witchdoctors who was born without magic and the lengths she would go to to get her hands on even a little bit. It shows that there is strength in not having magic as much as there is strength in having it. Though it does contain a lot of dark blood magic and has some darker scenes I flew through the pages of the fantastic witchy read.

Ok! So that’s my top 5. That was a lot harder to narrow down than I expected it to be so I have to include some honourable mentions here such as Uprooted, The Winternight Trilogy and The Last Namsara. Please hit me up with any recommendations you might have, I love finding new books to read!