Even and Odd are sisters who share magic. One day Even has magic to use and the next is Odd's day. Odd would prefer not to have magic because her interests lie in taking care of animals. Even would like to have magic every day because she wants to leave her border town in Connecticut for Firoth where she was born to become a hero.
In the course of the book, Even and Odd share an adventure, which feels like a crisis, and learn to value each other's view of magic.
This book is a middle grade fantasy that teaches children to try their best and be open to other ideas.
I like that the children trusted their parents, let the parents face the battle and then were willing to step up to try to meet the situation themselves when it became necessary.
I think the book also suggests the idea of valuing yourself for all your parts and life not just for what looks good.

3.5 stars.

Even and Odd is a book for those imaginative minds, dreaming of the magical and whimsy in the world.

A book of adventures and quests in a magical world across a border, there are many interactions of our characters with magical creatures of lore, as well as magic making. The twins are similar but determined with maybe a touch of opposing viewpoints - one loves magic, one is less enamored of it.

This story is definitely meant for the much younger end of middle grade as there is no dark or bloody bits in here. A good thing. The plot is on the simpler side and very straightforward. There were a lot of cute scenes and comical ones I hadn't seen some of the plot twists and was pleasantly surprised.

It's a nice story but the ending had to bump it up from 3 to a 3.5 because it was just so wholesome and sweet. I definitely enjoyed how everything was resolved without bloodshed or violence.

eArc provided by NetGalley.

I really think this book had great potential, with how it dealt with anxiety and also to showing children they don't have to be a hero or a grownup to make a difference. But it just fell kind of flat to me. I know it's a middle grade but it just felt very predictable and didn't really wow me. It did keep a steady pace throughout but I did get bored at times. Some of the characters were a bit annoying at times. Overall, I do think that the middle grade audience will probably enjoy it.

Two sisters named Emma and Olivia, fondly nicknamed Even and Odd, have the quirk of sharing magic. Even gets to use magic on even day, and Olivia gets magic on odd days. Even is obsessed with being the best with magic so she can one day be one of The Academy of Magic hero's and be able to go on quests and save the world. Odd is content to work with animals and use her magic every once in a while. However, when magic goes haywire on an even day, and Emma can't switch back, she is determined to figure out what is going wrong. The girls make friends with several creatures, one of which is a unicorn named Jermey (not his unicorn name). Middle-grade novels that I read are always some fundamental truth to be found in the pages. In this one, the truth is you don't have to wait to grow up to be a hero. Young children, young adults, adults, and older adults can make a difference globally in small and big ways without a special medallion or a fancy degree. Even and Odd is an excellent stand, along with a middle-grade novel that is a perfect quick weekend read.

Sarah Beth Durst is a new author for me, but I’d seen several recommendations, so I thought I’d give Even and Odd a try.

I enjoyed this magical adventure. Even, Odd, and Jeremy are great characters. The character development is good, especially for Jeremy.

The world building is really good, both in the magical land of Firoth, and in the mundane world. I liked the idea of the border shops, and the magical beings were fun.

The plot was really great, a good blend of the children adventuring on their own, but realistic levels of handing over to parents when available. A lot of children’s books seem to ignore this aspect, so this was good to see. The pacing is good, exciting, but not too tense or scary.

Overall, this was a fun and magical adventure, with great characters and convincing world building.

I was given a free copy of this book, my opinions are my own.

3/5 stars

** I received this as an E-ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review, Thank you!**

I think this book has great potential. I liked the idea and plot, unfortunately, it just fell a little flat for me. I wasn't the biggest fan of the characters, I just couldn't connect to them. I will admit I think it has more to do with my age than it does with the actual book itself. I think for the actual age range this book is intended for will love it. I really liked the idea of these two characters having to share their powers back and forth. Again I believe this has great potential and would still recommend for it's age range.

This was a cute story with a lot of mythological creatures, good for fans of books like The Menagerie and The Familiars.

Even and Odd (AKA Emma and Olivia) shared magic. Even gets magic on even days, Odd on odd days. Even is obsessed with magic and determined to grow up and be one of the Academy of Magic's heroes so she can go on quests and save the world. Odd is content to volunteer at the animal shelter and be ordinary. When magic on the "mundane" side of their world begins to diminish, Even wants to find out what the cause is and visit the portal. With the help of their new friend Jeremy the unicorn, the girls cross the border and get stuck in the magical world. Even wants to explore, Odd wants to go home and Jeremy doesn't want to get caught. Can they go home again?

I loved the abundance of magical creatures scattered throughout this book. Dragons, trolls, gorgons, unicorns, goblins, fairies and others abound. My one teensy criticism of this book was the crisis where griffins are stranded on an island. As a mythology nerd myself, griffins can fly! Being on an island for a flying creature doesn't strike me as an emergency.

I gave this book four stars because I liked it but it felt like a mish-mash of multiple other fantasy novels I have read in the YA genre. I doubt it was intentional but several things here felt like I had already read about them and they were done just a hair bit better.

I wasn't sure what to make of this at first - the twins are young and read like it, and the young unicorn named Jeremy obsessed with the mundane world was a bit weird, and the kids' dad had rainbow hair. I thought it was going to be too young for me and the rare Sarah Beth Durst book that didn't really grab me. And then it grabbed me.

Yes, the characters are young - and aimed at young readers - but their adventure gets more complex as they go and acquire real consequences, and they learn some valuable lessons. I thoroughly enjoyed this once it got going, and even the details I at first found ridiculous ended up fitting and feeling right by the end.

My one quibble is that the plot twists are very predictable -- I saw each one coming from a mile away. Now, young readers might not, having not read as many books, but I feel like it could have been a bit more subtle.

Overall very enjoyable and I think kids will love it. Even getting stuck transformed into a skunk (complete with requisite skunk stink humor), Jeremy's obsession with soda and farmcats card game, the details and displacement of the magical world, the flying surfboards... It's a lot of fun. I'll definitely be reading it to my 7 year old soon.

It also deftly handles such issues as the problem with hurting people while thinking you're doing what's best for them (without consulting them) and what it's like to be a refugee when your home is destroyed by a natural (or not-so-natural) disaster. And that you don't have to wait until you're grown up to be a hero and save the day (and sometimes even the grownups don't know what to do, and sometimes they lie because they think it's best for you).

*Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group for providing an e-arc to review.

I received an electronic ARC from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group through NetGalley.
Durst offers a look at two worlds and those who move between them - the "normal" world and the magical one. Readers see a pair of sisters (Even and Odd) who share their magic. Every other day they have the magical abilities inherited from their parents. Even wants to explore and develop her abilities; Odd wants to fit in where they live. Neither has been to magic world since they left as babies. When the gateway is blocked, they join with a lost unicorn to figure out what happened. As the story progresses, readers see them mature and find strength in themselves and each other. The characters were likeable but not much distinguished them from other books in this genre. It is a light read and upper elementary level readers will appreciate the relationship between the sisters and parents. They will also connect to feeling different and wanting to belong. The story's progression is expected and follows a familiar path as the children become the heroes and rescue the adults and the worlds from the misguided wizard who seeks the good of all while sacrificing all at the same time. Though this is a stand alone, it could easily become the first volume if Durst pursues Even and Odd's maturity in their magic.

Even and Odd are sisters who have magic...but only on their respective days. June 10, it's Even's day, June 11, it's Odd's. Their life is pretty chill, until magic starts acting up and the girls are sent by their father to investigate and stumble upon a conspiracy that's affecting the magical world in awful ways.

Jeremy was a very hilarious unicorn and I loved reading about his antics. I think the only thing I wasn't a fan of was how similar Even and Odd's voices were, I wish they were more distinguishable in the writing style but otherwise, it was still a really fun read!

A very fun and lighthearted contemporary fantasy that'll be sure to please the middle-grade crowd. I definitely recommend this for those who enjoy Messenger's "Keepers of the Lost City" crowd since they are similar in some ways, except this is a stand-alone rather than a full-fledged series.

Even and Odd are sisters who live in the mundane world and can do magic, but only on every other day of the week, taking turns. Even would love to be able to do magic every day, especially since her sister, Odd, has zero interest in using her abilities on her own magic days. When the portal to the magical world unexpectedly fails while their mother is away on a business trip, and Even is stuck in the form of a skunk, Even and Odd, and their new unicorn friend, Jeremy, will need to find a way to get back home, and perhaps figure out why the portal failed.

This book gave me lots of Wizard of Oz feels - two sisters stuck in a magical land, trying to find their way home. There's even a yellow brick road they walk down on their way to find a witch who can hopefully help them, and instead of lions, tigers, and bears, we have dragons and hydras, and other mythical monsters. There's even a wicked witch, but stopping her will be a lot more complicated than melting her in a puddle of water or accidentally dropping a house on her head.

The story is narrated from Even's perspective. She's young, optimistic, cheerful, and loves everything to do with magic. Although Odd isn't the narrator, she accompanies Even throughout the story, and I actually think her character matured more at the end. Odd finds her magic annoying and disruptive to her life. Being stuck in the magical world is awful for someone like Odd, who craves normalcy. I liked both girls equally. They're great supportive sisters, despite their differences. The sisters' new unicorn friend, Jeremy, comes along for the journey as well, and has his own character arc.

This book was full of fun colorful magic, lots of optimism, adventure, and some difficult decisions. Most important of all was the book's ultimate message: skunks are the best and cutest heroes.

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got this from the author through NetGalley to review.

Story (3/5): This is a decent middle grade story that will appeal to younger readers but not the YA or adult crowd. There is a lot of silly humor here and things are a bit over the top at points. The story moves a bit slow, is a bit simple and is very predictable.

The premise of the story is that Even and Odd need to work together to figure out why the border gates between the normal human world and the magical world are going a bit goofy.

Characters (2/5): Even and Odd were a bit too similar, I confused them a lot. I know Even was supposed to be super enthusiastic about magic and Odd wasn’t; however aside from that there wasn’t enough differentiation between their voices. Many of the characters were pretty stereotypical, one dimensional and kind of over the top.

Setting (3/5): The world-building here was simplistic but okay. Even and Odd live on the border between our world and a magical one, there are gates used to travel between the two worlds that for some reason have become unstable. That’s pretty much it for world-building. It is set during modern day times.

Writing Style (3/5): This is technically perfectly readable and flows fine. I think it’s just meant for a younger audience and as such it’s a very simple, straight-forward story that is a bit boring because of its predictability. I don't read a ton of middle grade books anymore now that my son is going into high school. I was a big fan of Durst's "Spark" and "The Stone Girl's Story" (actually my whole family loved both of those) but this was a bit of a miss for me. I still think some kids will appreciate it.

My Summary (3/5): This was an okay book but definitely one of Durst’s weaker middle grade novels. I would recommend checking out “Spark” and “The Stone Girl’s Story” over this book. It’s not an awful book but it isn’t one that will appeal to a broad age range. If you have a younger kid (8-12 year old) that is a huge Durst fan they might enjoy it.

If there were any more magic in this book, there would be no room for the non-magic parts and they were important too. It was an enthralling tale of how sometimes magic is not what we think it is, and how important friends and sisters are.

Great read for middle grade readers, terrific story and characters that face moral dilemmas. Easy recommendation for younger readers in the family and for the school library.

Even and Odd has nothing to do with numbers or Maths like the title might suggest! It is a magical fantasy adventure story about two sisters named Even and Odd, they share magic ability on alternate day hence the names, but somehow, one sister loves magic and cannot wait to become a magical hero, the other sister however, just want to be normal, would happily live without any magic power and spend time in an animal shelter caring for the little animals. The sisters live in the normal world with their parents, together they venture into the magic world, defeat the evil villain and save the day.

Pace of the story is slower than I would have liked, some part is long-drawn-out and repetitive . Nonetheless, a likeable story and amiable characters, some fun part in the story and I especially enjoyed reading about Jeremy the unicorn, apparently unicorns cannot tell lies and they poop cupcakes, who would have thought!

If you enjoy magical story this would be prefect for you.

A few years ago, I read "The Deepest Blue" and loved it. I was so excited to see Even and Odd for MG audience. Sarah Beth Durst does a fabulous job creating magical worlds for readers to immerse themselves into. This book was so fun and magical! Loved it.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

First of all I like the dedication of this book lol. Another part of the book I really enjoyed was all the magical elements and world-building. I love how imaginative Firoth was and it made me want to have a secret magical gateway in my city, preferably in my backyard. I'm also happy that Even went through some character growth throughout the book because in the beginning and middle, I felt like she was a bit stuck-up and self-centered because she couldn't fathom that other beings might have different opinions about magic than herself. She ends up being more likable by the end of the story. Odd was a sweet character throughout and I loved her love for animals. Also speaking of animals, Jeremy was such a cute bumbling unicorn. I also thought the villain character was well done because they were very morally grey and were doing the evil thing because they thought it was the good thing to do. Overall this is a very imaginative book and has some great action bits that kids will definitely enjoy!

3.5/5 Stars

My kids - 12 and 7 - both love Sarah Beth Durst's MG fantasies, and so do I. They're always great family reads because they're complex enough for older kids but gentle enough for younger ones. This is such a wonderfully fun, warm and gentle fantasy adventure, starring two fantastic sisters forced to share their magic (on alternating days!), one annoying and lovable unicorn who poops cupcakes (you will NEVER look at them the same way again!), and the most hilarious animal transformation I've ever read. Seriously, I worry that any details I give will be spoiler-y - but I laughed out loud again and again as that character dealt with the unfortunate ramifications of their transformation! The whole adventure was so funny, kind and full of imagination. I can't wait to read this one to my kids (as soon as we finish another book of hers, Spark), and I felt very lucky to get an e-ARC of this one to read to myself.

Even and Odd by Sarah Beth Durst, a middle-grade fantasy adventure, publishing date 15 June 2021.

The two sisters, Even and Odd, share their magic. Even loves magic, practices every chance she gets, Odd seems to have come to dislike magic and is wondering where she fits in. They encounter a young unicorn named Jeremy, who thinks he messes up everything. Together the three of them want to find out why the gate between the magical world and the non-magical world doesn't work anymore. Which will, inevitably, lead them to confront their current problems and overcome them.

Solid middle-grade story with humour which will keep young readers entertained.

I think that this would be a okay book for an upper elementary school student. While I appreciate what the author was going for, there was not enough action and I felt the ending was a bit boring. I don't think it would hold the attention of a middle school reader.