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Secret schools are among my favorite tropes. Blackwood is a secret school for actual witchcraft inside a school for the study of witchcraft. The scholarship students (read: misfits and outsiders) aren't quite as lucky to be there as they thought, since they were recruited for the secret school whose multiple hundreds of years old Dean just tried to kill one of them.

Ultimately, this is a love story. (What?!) And that's why I think you should read it. It's everything I told you and nothing you'd expect. Also there's a curse and a very angry chimp. Delightful.

The thing I enjoy most about this series is the hope that permeates everything. No matter the despair, the family find hope for each other. There is a moment in this book when one of the most beautiful things occurs and it is during one of the worst times of their lives, and somehow Cherie Dimaline writes characters who can contain both. I highly recommend this series.

This book is about dreaming and surviving and hoping. It's beautifully written, with devastating lows and, something I did not expect, highs that make your heart soar.

This short story is the tiniest bite of bliss. For the most part it's epistolary, and, those tentative caring emails had me grinning and squeeing.

My favorite thing about this book is the ever-changing style of Vicky Van Tassel, as she experiments with identities.

Mamo, the Witch of Haresden, has died, and everything is going wrong. Jo's mom is sick and Jo needs the help of a witch, and the only one around Mamo's granddaughter Orla, who does not want to become the new Witch of Haresden. But Jo is persistent, and Orla is a good witch, even if she doesn't want to be theirs.

This is a really sweet story about embracing who you are, taking a chance on who you want to become, and falling in love.

A cranky meet-cute, literal electricity, and a team-up to vanquish unkind foes. This was a sweet and adorable love story about a not so great witch and a doughnut seller/rock musician who annoy the heck out of each other at first.