Witches of Willow Cove is a beautifully crafted, captivating story. Although it is clearly written for a middle grade audience I was emotionally invested throughout and the plot managed to keep me hooked. I loved the characters more and more as the story progressed.

Sidenote - the cover is beautiful!

The Witches of Willow Cove by Josh Roberts is a captivating debut, ideal for late primary or early teen readers. The strong narrative and engaging writing style paired with realistic young characters are perfect for that intersection of middle grade and young adult. This is a readership that is often neglected, so it’s great to see books being released that cater to them.
The story is set in Willow Cove, a small town near Salem. On the surface, it is a regular small town, but bubbling underneath is a centuries-old mystery that no-one has ever managed to piece together. The narrative alternates between the perspectives of two best friends, Abby and Robbie. The mystery they stumble across has more connection to them than they realise and they are thrown into a dangerous magic world of magic that challenges their relationship, who they think they are and what they know about the town in which they live. Along with a group of fellow teens (some more friendly than others), they must put together the true history of their town and keep each other safe. Each aspect of the mystery is carefully threaded through the book, both clues and red herrings and, with so many twists and turn she uncertainty of what is the truth, and who can be trusted, stays with the reader right up until the final moment when everything ties together.
I love a book with a strong cast of characters and The Witches of Willow Cove delivers a great variety of kids working through their interpersonal relationships and figuring out how to work together and help each other. I particularly appreciated the way the story highlighted the contribution of both the magical and non-magical characters in a realistic way. The characterisation is excellent, the teenagers read very much as thirteen-year-olds but each in their own way. The parents' level of involvement in the story also worked really well.
Even though the book is full to the brim with magic and dangerous mysteries, at its core is a strong focus on human relationships, primarily friendship, but also budding romance and with parents. The story has a satisfying conclusion, while still leaving room for the possibility of more adventures. I hope there will be follow up books.
I’d particularly recommend if you enjoy Diana Wynne Jones.

For some reason, going into this book, I thought it was YA... it's not. It's most definitely MG and at that, one of the most enjoyable MG I've read in a while.

If you know me, you know I'm always up for a witch story. My favourite time of the year is Halloween so any spooky, magical, witchy story is right up my alley. And while The Witches of Willow Cove was not spooky, it definitely ticked all the other boxes.

The story follows Abby and Robby (have I only copped now that their names are very similar - yes!), who are best friends, and on Halloween night they go to snoop around an abandoned mental hospital, to try and solve the mystery of Robby's mom's disappearance, but instead they meet the new owner of the Whispering Hill, get chased off by chimeras and find out Abby can fly (none of this is a spoiler, as it happens literally in the first chapter). Needles to say, they get in a bit of trouble, especially after two more people mysteriously disappear.

The Witches of Willow Cove was a really enjoyable, fast paced and magical story. It had everything I love in MG - exciting plot, likable characters, great atmosphere and heaps of amazing friendships.

I really liked Abby as the main character and I kind of wish the whole book was told from her perspective, instead of alternating with Robby's. I understand Robby's POV was important to solving the mystery, but I didn't much care for his relationship with Becca. I very much enjoyed seeing Abby learn magic and discover secrets from the past. I loved all of Abby's new friends (Amethyst in particular) and Zeus! They were all fun to read about and had distinct personalities.

The ending definitely had me intrigued, as it's hinting at a series... if it is, I'll definitely be reading future books.

Alright, so, I'm always here for witchy things, and middle-grade is my safe bet whenever I want fun, and this delivered. The basic gist of this story is that Abby, upon turning 13, becomes a witch. Which, in and of itself is a big change, but then she finds out that five other girls in her class are witches, too, and just to add the cherry on top a new, mysterious teacher comes along and offers to teach them how to be witches - on top of all of that, turns out the town has a long history of witchcraft, and everything is connected.

I loved how rooted in friendship this was. Abby may be the main-character, but her best friend, Robby, quite frankly also felt like a main, and the two almost have two separate but interwoven plotlines, helped by their own little group of people, given that Abby has taken up with the witches and Robby gets a girlfriend. You know, through this story, that if it wasn't because everyone has friends who are there for them and who will protect and help them, none of it all would be possible. Quite adore that.

"So," you might say, "if you liked it so much, what's up with the rating?" And lemme tell you what's up, because it's quite simple (and this contains some spoilers, don't tell me I didn't warn you): there were too many side-characters who didn't seem too relevant to the story (some of the witches, for instance, are given next to no page-time) and while it is middle-grade and not everything has to be super logical, there'a a limit to how much you can suspend disbelief. A parent disappears and it's.. fine? We move on? A teacher disappears and is replaced by a mysterious lady nobody's ever heard of before but who seems to know stuff about everyone and that's just fine? Last, but not least, a 13-year old girl is living alone. With her pet raccoon. I know she's a witch and all, but still. How.

Thank you for this review copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I didnt want to put it down when I had to do real life. I just kept thinking about getting back to it. The author really kept me guessing until the very end. Nothing I thought would happen happened. So good!

The Witches of Willow Cove is a great middle grade story. Follow Abby and Robby as they try to figure out what's going on with people coming up missing and magic occurs by happenstance as they flee one frightful night. Friendship trouble and new friends, magic and secrets.

Can they find their way back to one another and solve the mystery before the worst could happen or will this entanglement of magic and past and present be the end of Abby and her friends?

If you enjoy stories about witches, coming of age, and/or friendship then this is for you. This would be a great book for Halloween or Fall; although, it it features Christmas as well.

What a great middle-grade spooky tale! Discovering she’s a witch on her 13th birthday makes Abby draw away from her best friend Robby. Robby knows that there’s something more mysterious going on in Willow Cove than just witchcraft and starts to investigate with concerned friends. The normalcy of middle schoolers changing friendships, keeping secrets, and adding new interests creates a strong foundation for the magic, witchcraft, and mysteries. The story twists and turns in the spooky atmosphere until the ending leaves you wanted to stay a little longer in Willow Cove.

Nobody is just one thing....

Josh Roberts wrote an AMAZING story of friendship and self-discovery about a 13 year old girl and her circle of (mostly) friends. Strange things start happening to Abby on her 13th birthday, but it takes a classmate breaking it down, for her to finally accept that she is a witch. Along the way other girls from school discover they have the same abilities and they are all taken under the wing of substitute teacher Ms. Winters. Women keep disappearing in the town, things are burning down, can Abby and her coven figure out what it all means?

Josh really does a great job creating a coven of diverse characters. Abby is an athlete, Daisy a drama queen, and Amethyst is a snarky loner(my favorite). I like that Olivia is someone they wouldn't normally associate with outside of the coven.

This was definitely a page turner, and I was unsure up until the end about who the girls could really trust. I kept thinking "I can't wait to see this on Netflix"

This book is amazing and I hope a ton of people pick it up when it comes out!

The plot of this book is about a young girl named Abby who learns that she and other girls in her town are witches and when an older witch offers to train them Abby has to deal with the knowledge that their teacher might be evil.
This is actually told in dual perspective with one main character being Abby and the other being her best friend. We follow both of them as they navigate middle school, solve the mystery of the older witch, and deal with friendship problems.
I LOVED the two perspectives and thought that the story worked really well told this way.
My favorite thing of this novel was for sure the characters! There is a large cast of characters that is both kids and adults and each one is unique and remember-able! I like how the story started with just the two MCs and then we get to see them make more friends who we also start to love just as much.
My second favorite thing of this novel is that even though there is magic and mystery as the main plot, we also get to see these kids be kids. There is young love and awkward dances and family arguments. I really appreciated that we see these middle schoolers act like middle schoolers!
The main plot was super interesting and I was very happy with the whole arc of it, my only issue with this story in general was there were a lot of time skips, it would skip a week at a time. I don't hate this because I appreciate the story taking the course of the year and us not having to go through the boring days I just wish that it was more seamless rather than "one week later".

Overall this book is the whole package, it is interesting, funny, touching, and intense in some scenes too. If you are wanting a fun magical story that will make you smile and gasp then you should definitely pick this up!

This was a fun and atmospheric book which will be an excellent Halloween read. It hits all the witchy, clan tropes, it has learning magic and competitive behaviour within said learning environment. More importantly though it is about friendship, the importance of communication both with your peers and with adults. It addresses the need for self love and self acceptance. It also highlights that it is healthy to no be reliant on only one person as a friend, which is rarely seen. I highly recommend this book to its target audience though I suspect parents will have no trouble reading it to them either.

I was so happy to have found this book. I have read books by the Owl Hollow Press before and loved them and was adamant to love this book too. Now I’m not quite sure what to say about “The Witches of Willow Cove”. I liked and didn’t like this book in a way, so it’s hard to know where to start.

Good things first: first of all, I am in awe of Josh Roberts writing style. It is atmospheric and engaging and it made me feel at home. I definitely felt like I was right there and that’s not always an easy thing to do. I applaud you, sir.
Furthermore, the overall story of Abby who discovers she is a witch and has to learn to control those powers all while navigating school, home life and friendship, is engaging and fun. Some scenes have a more grey-ish, darker tone to them, but that is definitely what you would expect from a story about witches.

The book has two main characters who are best friends – Abby and Robbie. The chapters are alternating between their points of view. While at first I was a little surprised, I was soon also engaged with Robbie’s storyline.

But I think that was also where the crux lies with the story for me. While the story lines where interesting and fun on their own, I always felt a little like they didn’t quite fit together. Some things didn’t quite make sense, like the secrets Robbie is keeping from Abby. Since we know everything Robbie is doing, there are no secrets for the reader to uncover, nothing to wonder about what Robbie is up to. Sure there is a third party that has the most secrets of all, but in a way it felt like two different stories in one, each with their own friends and sidekicks.

I liked the characters as a whole, although some could have been a little more fleshed-out. I especially liked the new teacher Miss Winters who teaches Abby and her coven witchcraft. There was always an air of danger and mystery around her and it was fun to discover what she was up to.

All in all it was a good story with atmosphere and a great plot. The characters were a little on the weaker side and some question were left unanswered which I found rather unfortunate. But it’s a great start and if the author continues this series or writes something else I will gladly read it.

This was such a cute and fun read! I loved the book.

But let's take it from the beginning:
I'm always a sucker for new england history and especially the witch trials/ witch craft. So Willow Cove was the perfect place to read about these young witches and watching them discover their powers.

The book is told through the eyes of Abby and Robby, best friends since one evening on Halloween when they have a creepy encounter on Whispering Hill that ends with them flying on a broom. Things get complicated after that because Abby wants to keep Robby out of magical trouble and Robby has secrets of his own to discover.
While Abby learns about her powers she's accompanied by five other girls and I loved their group dynamic and blossoming friendship.

I found the writing good, nothing extraordinary, but it took me fast through the story, was funny and held the tension up. It was a fast read and I loved that about it. You could just disappear into the book for a few hours and follow Abby and Robby on a magical adventure.

One of two things that stood especially out me was first, that the witchcraft itself wasn't explained as detailed as expected and that it was more of a minor part, the friendships, relationships and trust were a much bigger theme in the book which I liked. It just showed that being able to do magic doesn't solve all your problems, you need to be a decent human too.
The other thing was that there wasn't a clear distinction between good and bad as you would've expected. Characters who do horrible things can just as much care about someone as someone who is deemed 'good'. I liked that a lot, the book was much more about morally grey characters.

I truly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who wants a fun, immersive read with great characters.

This book is middle-grade, and I adore middle-grade books. They are fun and easy to read, and this book was no different.

It jumps straight into the story and pulls you in instantly, keeping you curious right until the end. There are quite a few characters but not once did I find myself confused. There are two main point of views, Abby's and Robby's, her best friend, as they both try to figure out what is going on in their little town. I really enjoyed the relationships between the characters and watching them develop throughout the course of the story.

It's very well written and very creative, I will be keeping an eye on this author for any further books.

This is probably my favourite middle-grade book that I've read this year, and this has gone straight on my wish-list, ready for the release.

A wholesome, feel-good middle grade fantasy with nods to Harry Potter and the Salem witch trials. Plot-driven, the characters were sometimes superficial, as were some of the relationships - but then who understands the crushes and anxieties of a 13 year old anyway?! Enjoyable and easy to read; recommend for grades 4 and up.

In a little town with a dark past, we follow Abby and five of her classmates as they discover they’re witches as well as Abby’s best friend, Robby, who is trying to find out what happend to his step-mother who vanished without a trace.

I liked the setup for this but the execution was only okay in my opinion.

I found that I preferred reading from Robby’s POV because I could connect with him and his plot line more.
Abby’s was a bit all over the place, like the author was trying too much or wasn’t sure about how he wanted to go about it. Abby’s training to become a witch felt like a mix of Hogwarts and vague wiccan ways; we never actually witness the classes, instead we get told that they learned something and that they now know how to fly/magic a door open/et cetera. It felt a bit rushed, I would have liked to ease into it a bit more, to get a feel for the kind of magic that it is supposed to be.

Also, I was never sure about how Abby felt about her teacher. The book starts off with both Abby and Robby being afraid and later mistrusting of Ms. Winters, but after she becomes Abby’s teacher, it seems Abby ignores everything that happened beforehand in order to learn more about her powers. It’s like all of the sudden we’re following two story lines that don’t overlap. Sometimes the author throws in a couple of sentences about how Abby tries to keep Robby away from Ms. Winters in order to protect him and that she wants to find out more about what the older witch is all about but then she just keeps on doing magic and never actually doing anything to help her friend whose MOTHER WENT MISSING (which seemed like it was kind of not a big thing to anyone; it happend and everyone moved on).

Also, I found it really irritating, that Abby and Robby - who were supposed to be BEST friends - stop talking to each other for no real reason and find new friends and their parents don’t mention it once. Again, it feels like a very rough way to keep them apart in order to have two plot lines that could and should have overlaped way sooner than they did. It felt forced and I think it would have made more sense for Abby and Robby to not be friends and Abby meeting Ms. Winters thinking she was a nice person and only later learning to mistrust her.

And last but not least: the timeline of the book. The story takes place over months. The kids take their sweet time. It felt like they do one thing, then nothing happens for weeks at a time, then they find out another thing, they don’t do anything. Time goes by - and they just keep on living their lives.
I feel like the plot could have been happening over a couple of weeks. That would have made it more high risk and would have made it more realistic that Abby’s and Robby’s fight was still going on and that they were trying to find out more about what was going on in all of their free time, not just once every couple of weeks.

I did like the wide cast of characters and the creepy atmosphere of the novel though.

This first book in a new witchy series got a 3/5 for me!

The Witches of Willow Cove is a middle-grade paranormal book introducing a new series by the debut author Josh Roberts. We follow two friends, Abby and Robby, as they decide to go explore an abandoned building on Halloween night. Things don’t go as planned, and a mysterious story involving magic, witches and gargoyles ensues.

I have mixed feelings regarding this book. It has all the elements of a story made for me: magic, a small city, middle-grade, friendships, ... However, it didn’t meet my expectations. I believe this author has amazing ideas, but was not able to execute them to their fullest potential, especially when it came to the magic system.

The story starts with a lot of action and its adventure right away, but the middle part dragged. I felt like things were more said than showed, which was frustrating and not as exciting. I also didn’t really care for any characters, unfortunately. We follow different friendships (and love stories), but there is a strong girls hate relationship between Abby and another character, which I don’t like to see in stories, especially in a middle-grade book. We can do better in 2020.

THIS COULD BE CONSIDERED A SPOILER, but I wanted to also point out two things that felt wrong or weird to me. There is a young girl of 13 years old who lives alone. There’s also a character who goes missing (or worse), but their closed ones don’t seem to be affected by it, which felt weird. END OF POSSIBLE SPOILERS

On the other side, this story, as I said, has all the amazing elements of a great middle-grade paranormal book. It will make you dream of living a fun adventure similar to theirs. I enjoyed seeing the young characters acting like kids of their age. This is something that can be difficult to write, but this author captured that feeling well. The book ended hinting at a sequel, which I will most likely read. I’m excited to see this author grow with each book written.

The Witches of Willow Cove is an interesting book about witches and friendship that is sure to make every child dream of living an adventure of their own.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange from an honest review.

This review will be posted on Goodreads, and shared on Twitter. It will also be posted on Amazon Canada on it’s released day.

This was a fun read! I loved the fun witchy atmosphere to this story and really enjoyed the friendship between Amethyst and Abby! This book is filled with magic, friendship, and adventure. The pacing was great and the themes about friendship and family were a nice touch. A pleasure to read and honestly would recommend for all ages! I really loved the storyline and can’t wait to see where the story continues!

The Witches of Willow Cove was a journey of magic, friendship and mysterious disappearances. Roberts’ writing was reminiscent of J.K Rowlings in Harry Potter (BIG statement… but let me explain) in regards to building young adult characters that had a bravery, curiosity and maturity that defied their years (but was also believable).

While the cover and synopsis of this story seemed to hint at a darker theme, the sudden disappearance of characters throughout the book made me uncomfortable. It seemed as if integral members of the community had suddenly gone missing… and no one noticed. Usually the disappearance of a character in a small town is easily noticed and is followed up with a sense of panic. The lack of this had me uneasy as a reader. Roberts created a foreboding atmosphere without having to resort to dramatic means.

The main characters in this story, Abby and Robby (yes, the synopsis only states Abby as the MC but it felt like they were equally as important) had a youthful friendship that brought back a feeling of sentiment for me. Their ‘BFF’ label was an innocent sort that hadn’t been tested with conflict. This book’s exploration of their friendship amidst a sea of secrets and lies was fascinating to read. I enjoyed following their friendship as it cracked under pressure and then slowly built again to become something able to stand the test of time. Roberts expertly dealt with youth-like emotions in a way that was relatable for an adult reader. Oftentimes the emotional arc of an MG story can feel a bit angsty or become frustrating to follow but that wasn’t the case with The Witches of Willow Cove.

The only downside to this story was its predictability. There were aspects of the plot I predicted from a mile away and yet there remained a few events toward the end that had me smiling in surprise. As this is pitched for a younger audience it’s to be expected that some predictability is present.

I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

4.5 Stars

This is a fun read, and while age appropriate for the audience, at times it verges on something darker and doesn’t completely shy away from slightly more mature topics. Things that I very much appreciated when I was an avid young reader. This is more like something I would have read at my daughter’s age, 8 or 9, even if the characters are about 13. By that age I had moved on to college level reading and probably would not have enjoyed this one.
As an adult, I love revisiting middle grade reads and it was a refreshing change from authors like Gaiman or Sanderson.

I did enjoy this story, but it felt a little long to me, and some of the plot and character development left me with questions.

Witches of willow cove
Middle grade
Out may 2020
Josh Roberts
Plot

When seventh grade Abby shepherd is just getting the hand of school strange things start happening. Across the hometown of willow cove. It’s not long before Abby finds out she a witch and a few other are Witcher’s two. Abby home town have a few secrets in her town she must discover.
The character Abby Robby Zeus amethyst
Piper becca Tina mrs Winters T. rex Olivia the twins.
My thought
This is a middle grade book based on Halloween So it could be read on Halloween as a spooky read but I could’t wait two read it now.
I love anything two do with witches so I was excited two read this book. It was well written easy two understand the plot you was thrown into the action straight away.
He described the history of the six sisters of witches they took you back in time with them so you got the feel of the time before they died as well. My favourite character was Abby. The villains in the book mrs winter and T. rex and joey and Sarika. I would have loved two science becca and Robby romance blossoms more in the book. And I would have loved two scence Abby and Zeus romance blossom more than just a kiss well it is middle grade after all.
I love how Abby and Robby knew she was a witch from the begging of the story then my favourite part of the book the when they met the new girl amethyst that told Abby she was a witch in the science lab where they were partners and she cast a spell in the class and slime green went every wear I loved that scene. Then in the lighthouse where mrs winters showed them the other Witcher’s in the class there was six of them. And I loved the part where mrs winters taught them two fly the part was great.
The plot of the story was fantastic I loved every chapter was difference plot and new eventure I give this a five star rating.

Thank you for netgalley and owl hollow press for giving me a advanced copy.