Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa

Note:  There is not have a Nevermore report for today, but we do have a review from the wonderful Ambrea, reader extraordinaire!

Reviewed by Ambrea 

Despite living in Salem—yes, that Salem—for years, Eleanor doesn’t remotely believe in witchcraft.  She doesn’t much believe in luck, either, not after being publicly humiliated and ostracized by her former friends and classmates.  Admittedly, she’s spent the past year in a fog, dealing with her mother’s medical diagnosis, while simultaneously fighting her growing apathy and her recurring anxiety.  But after a handwritten guide to tarot shows up at the souvenir shop where she works, Eleanor’s life takes an unexpected turn. 

It isn’t long before she meets Pix, a real-life witch, and the rest of her coven.  Although the jury is still out when it comes to magic and witchcraft, Eleanor still finds herself drawn to Pix and her friends.  Even as Eleanor grapples with her complicated past with Salem and her mother’s deteriorating health, she slowly finds herself believing that maybe—just maybe—magic might be closer than she expects.

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches by Kate Scelsa is romantic coming-of-age story about making peace with the past and overcoming trauma.  It is not, sadly, a fantasy novel.  I picked up this particular book expecting something fanciful, expecting some actual magic.  If not the overt sorcery and fantastical elements of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, then perhaps the more subtle magical realism that imbues the every day with a little extra sparkle, like in Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen.  Instead, I discovered this book is heavy on the realism—and less so on the magic.  (I’m willing to admit I was a smidge disappointed when I realized this.) 

Despite this initial setback, however, I did actually enjoy reading Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches.  First and foremost, I liked the arrangement of Scelsa’s novel.  Each chapter is preceded by a page from the mysterious tarot guide Eleanor receives in the mail, which provides a cheeky overview of the Major Arcana in a tarot deck.  These chapters foreshadow in a very big way, providing unexpected insight into Eleanor and her personal journey, as well as providing a unique structure to the novel.

Likewise, I also enjoyed hearing Eleanor tell her story in her own words.  She’s an excellent narrator:  she has snark, she has snap, she has bite.  She is a teenager struggling to cope with the loss of her best friend and worrying about her mother’s fairly recent medical diagnosis and fighting to keep her head above water when her anxiety wants nothing more than to pull her under.  She tells her story with so much emotion, giving her journey both nuance and depth, that I couldn’t help being drawn into her narrative time and time again.

Truthfully, I liked following Eleanor’s progress as she admits her failures and narrates her subsequent successes.  Her growth, her path to healing her wounds and overcoming her trauma, is a painful process—one might even say excruciating—but it feels like such a triumph when we reach the end of the story with her.  She grows as a person, she learns.  She isn’t merely a static character; instead, she comes to accept her failures and forgive herself for them.  She allows other people into her narrow world—more importantly, she allows herself to fall in love again—and she begins to open her eyes to new possibilities.  It’s so heartening to see Eleanor go from an anxious, shutdown, angsty teenager to a young woman open to change, open to new ways of thinking.

Overall, Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches may not be the fantasy novel I was expected, but it is an enchanting novel about growth, forgiveness, friendship, and newfound love.