Book Review: Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft by Jody Gehrman

Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft by Jody Gehrman
Series: #1 in the Audrey's Guides series
Release Date: June 30, 2012
Publisher: Magic Genie Books
Pages: 293
Received: Review copy from author
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Page

Summary

From Goodreads: 

Falling in Love, baking a magical cake, fighting an evil necromancer—it’s all in a day’s work for Audrey Oliver, seventeen-year-old witch-in-training.

When her mother goes missing and her twenty-one-year-old witchy cousin shows up out of the blue, Audrey knows something’s gone horribly, dangerously wrong. Now it’s up to her to get her own magical powers up to speed before everyone she loves is destroyed by the sorcerer intricately connected to her mother’s secret past.

Review

Audrey has best friend potential

Audrey is my favorite type of main character: She's honest, real, a little insecure, not perfect, but her heart is in the right place and she always tries to do right by those she loves. Think girls like Gwen Frost from the Mythos Academy series or Mel from Crown Duel. I can instantly relate to this type of character.

The secondary characters were, for the most part, just as good as Audrey. Her love interest easily falls into the category of "nice guy" and while I usually find this kind of guy a little bland and boring, Julian's persistence and adorable attempt at cooking totally won me over.

But romance isn't the only relationship explored. I love it when authors provide MCs with non-romantic relationships, and Jody totally delivered on this front. From Audrey's best friend to her cousin to her sister, each character is fully developed and their relationships with Audrey grow and deepen throughout the book.

First time witches and magical mysteries!

While I think the strength of Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft is more in the characters than plot, I did still like the plot (even if it is a little wandering). I'm a huge sucker for the "new witch learning about her powers" topic, and Jody Gehrman gave me pretty much everything I wanted on that front (except laugh out loud humor. I was really hoping for another basketball or closet scene).

Another bonus were the witchy gadgets and spells Jody Gehrman introduced. There were a lot of, "That's so cool! I WANT IT!" things, which is half the reason I love reading books like this in the first place.

While Audrey's learning what it means to be a witch and exploring her budding romance with Julian, she's also engaging in some detective work. *sigh* I love a character who sleuths. Audrey has a few mysteries on her plate and following along as she pieced together the clues was a lot of fun (even if a few points were kinda obvious).

The only downside?

Cackling evil villain. I had a feeling this was coming, but the final climax confirmed all my suspicions. The villain had very little depth and while they had an explanation for their behavior, it still pretty much added up to, "Because I'm evil!" and that was a total bummer. I was doubly let down considering how well Jody developed her other characters.

But that's ok. Maybe it's because I'm a big fantasy fan, but I've learned to brush off mediocre villain reveals as long as the journey is worthwhile. And I definitely enjoyed the journey here.

Bottom line

I will for sure continue with Audrey's journey in the next book. I have a feeling this series is going to be another comfort read for me, and while those books aren't necessarily mind-blowing, they're always good to kick back and relax with. I'm a character girl, and these are characters I can easily spend more time with.

The big showdown happened and everything was wrapped up mostly ok, but there are definitely a few major loose ends left dangling. I don't think it's a rip-you-hair-out cliffhanger though, and the plot is simple enough that I'm not too worried about forgetting major plot points by the time the sequel comes out. I don't think it's necessary to hold off on reading until all the books in the series have been published.

Added bonus? There are recipes in this book!

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Do you have any questions about Audrey's Guide to Witchcraft that I haven't addressed? 
Feel free to ask in the comments!

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Babe in Boyland by Jody Gehrman (Book Review)

Babe in Boyland by Jody Gehrman
Release Date: February 17, 2011
Publisher: Dial
Pages: 304
Received: Library
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Page

Summary

From Goodreads:

When high school junior Natalie--or Dr. Aphrodite, as she calls herself when writing the relationship column for her school paper--is accused of knowing nothing about guys and giving girls bad relationship advice, she decides to investigate what guys really think and want.

But the guys in her class won't give her straight or serious answers. The only solution? Disguising herself as a guy and spending a week at Underwood Academy, the private all-boy boarding school in town. There she learns a lot about guys and girls in ways she never expected--especially when she falls for her dreamy roommate, Emilio. How can she show him she likes him without blowing her cover?

Review

Ok, here’s the deal: The story isn’t all that original (except for the part where Natalie—as Nat—gets set up on a date…with a girl. Too funny!) and it does require about a beach-full of grains of salt to believe that a girl like Natalie could actually pull something like this off…but so what? Really, none of that matters because you don’t read a book like this for an original and believable story. You read a book like this because you want to laugh and swoon and just have fun. On that front, mission totally accomplished!

I loved Natalie. In the beginning of the book she’s so completely clueless about guys and relationships, but she thinks she knows it all. I was shaking my head at her throughout this whole part, but you’re supposed to be thinking that. Her mistakes, as embarrassingly bad as they are, are also pretty understandable. This whole part set Natalie up to be a character I could relate to. She only got better as the book progressed and she began to look at herself more honestly.

I said that you read a book like this because it’ll be funny, but I wasn’t prepared for how much I was going to laugh. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed this much from a book. Full on, out loud laughter. There’s this one scene (and for those of you who have read the book already all I’ll say is “Basketball”) that had me practically in tears. Not just a chuckle or even a bark of laughter, but side-splitting, tears falling, gasping for breath laughter. I was still losing it pages later at the memory of that scene. And that’s not the only scene that made me laugh like this.

Even with all that humor, there’s a serious side here that I wasn’t expecting at all. Like in Allison van Diepen’s Oracle of Dating series, Jody Gehrman actually includes a lot of good advice. I liked the observations Natalie made about how girls can make guys feel and why guys behave the way they do. I also appreciated how Natalie still embraced her girly side. I almost grabbed a little notebook to jot down all of Natalie’s lessons learned. I wish I could travel back in time and send my younger self a copy of Babe in Boyland.

The only thing I wasn’t really feeling was the romance. That’s why this isn’t a 5-star Special Shelf book for me. I didn’t find the guy she ends up with particularly attractive (or unattractive), and their scenes weren’t especially swoon-inducing for me. He wasn’t bad or a turn off, but he just didn’t have that spark. Even with this little disappointment, I loved the book so much that I will be purchasing my own copy and getting a copy for my library.

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

This book satisfies the following challenges:

• 2011 Debut Author Challenge
• Most Awaited YA Releases Challenge
• Library Reading Challenge

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