Oh how do I describe this one, other than I really enjoyed it. This just created such an interesting world. I love when a book lets you discover a secret magical world hidden behind what appears to be mundane and that is exactly what Threadneedle does with its worldbuilding. We have vintage shops filled with magical items, magical libraries buried under the British library and nightclubs that resemble the fairy court scenes from Shakespeare! All this is tucked into modern British living, it makes the magical world seem accessible. The magic itself also seems very accessible too. I loved how many different ‘languages’ of magic there were and I really wish we had got to learn more about them.

It felt like the magic system had a note of Wicca and Modern Witch craft about it, particularly in its rituals, taking snippets of herb lore, binding magics, candle magic, elemental magic and then expanding them out. I love how many every day things had a magical solution such as magical makeup and dresses, to skeleton keys. I really enjoyed how the teenage characters responded to exploring their magical power. The acted exactly how you would expect, using it to attract boys, to get their own back on the mean girls, to feel popular and pretty. It had that ring of authenticity, like the Wicca craze of the early 00’s – girl up and down the country were doing candle spells to chase away rumours etc. This part exploring that magic and those friendships was just so great.

It really worked well with the other side to the plot which was Anna’s home life. The Binders and the knot magic had a darker tone. It reflected a much more dangerous side to the magic, where people were in danger of becoming fanatical, seeing magic as both dangerous and a curse itself but also to continue using it, granting themselves status and power. It was a really great juxtaposition, giving the lighter magic a more teenage rebellious feel. I really liked how the plot played out, there were lots of moments of double crossing and twists I just didn’t see coming. I found the romance a little bland but it did lead again to some good twists and turns. I really loved the conflict Anna went through. not knowing who to trust or believe or even what she wanted out of it all. All the doubt and fear, yet curiosity and excitement she felt just made her such a great character. We really got to see her grow in strength too.

It does to me read more YA than adult fiction (which is what it was marketed as in the UK) but I love a well written and well constructed YA. I found this such a compelling read with strong characters, that made me want to read more. I do hope that there is a series so we can keep exploring the magic.

Thanks to HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I think this book is to me what I call a 'missed me' book. Almost every singly review I have read is glowing but I found it a real slog to get through. The story itself was fine but when I find myself continually checking the % in the bottom right-hand side of my kindle and it never seems to go up then it's a sign I'm not enjoying it. I found the pace glacial and the entire high school drama plot didn't engage me at all. I maybe missed the boat on this but I didn't get the sense before reading it that it was supposed to be a YA novel but that's certainly how it read to me.

I understand that this is to be a series but I will be ending the journey here.

So I though this would be more Discovery of Witches meets Shades of Magic - a real world rather than fantasy world fantasy novel in parallel London’s, and while it sort of was and I knew it was a YA novel, I did not realise it was more of a teen novel, concerned with high school and cliques of bullying popular girls, as well as one about magic, but actually I really enjoyed it and it honestly did not matter that I left that life behind a decade ago!

Anna always knew that her magic would be bound. Magic is dangerous, magic is what will get you killed. Magic got her parents killed. Or at least, that is what her Aunt who raised her has always taken pains to teach her. However, when she joins a coven at school and starts to explore her magic during her last year of freedom before her binding she discovers something wrong with her magic and becomes desperate to find out the truth about her family and her parents deaths before time runs out and she becomes a binder. Is her Aunt right that their magic is a curse that must be bound, or is the truth something much deeper and darker?

Honestly, Threadneedle was a fantastic read even if it was not what I expected, the characters were bold and filled with life, I never saw the truth of everything coming at the end, and the descriptions of all the locations were vivid and very, very real (though as a former Dulwich resident I’m pretty sure I know which school inspired their school so I had its majestic facade burned into my mind as I read!)

It’s a really unique YA fantasy novel about pure magic so if you love witchy magic books rather than high fantasy novels full of fae, Threadneedle needs to be your next summer read.

Magic is hidden in the depth of London, Anna has always been warned about the dangers of magic which can twist into very dark and cynical. Magic is what caused Annas parents death and left her in the care of her aunt - more unravels to Annas story which keeps you hooked until the very end,

Anna is an orphan, raised by her aunt Vivienne to believe that her parents died due to the incompatibility of magic and non-magic relationships, and is trained to think of her own magic as dangerous, best concealed and controlled.

An old friend of the family, Selene brings a freedom and excitement when she visits and Anna soon grows close to Selene's wild, unpredictable daughter Effie and her friend Attis.

Anna becomes torn between obeying her aunt, which will culminate in forsaking her magic in a painful binding ritual, and exploring her own powers and identity as part of Effie's schoolgirl coven.

I enjoyed Thomas's worldbuilding and her vision of London. She has an eye for presenting the relatable trials of adolescence, school life, bullies, rebellion, and questioning of authority. I enjoyed the romantic aspects, they were heady without being schmaltzy. Good twists, interesting spell-casting, vivid scenes of the pain of betrayal and the dangers of becoming a monster.

I loved this combination of coming of age tale and witchcraft!

A brilliantly written book, I cannot wait for the next in this series, a lovely written book of magic and curses. Anna has grown up knowing her Father killed her Mother, living with her Aunt, Anna has not been able to practice her magic freely, but when she meets Effie things begin to change.

This book was such a detailed and engaging read. The story grew deeper the longer it went on for, with more and more details revealed and questions raising their heads. The characters were richly developed and felt very real.

Anna was a likeable lead character who was both strong and capable and yet strangely vulnerable, making you want to look after her all at the same time. I really felt for her, living in a cold loveless house. Her aunt Vivienne was a character it was easy to hate on the surface but also someone who I was able to feel incredibly sad for as her own life and experiences had clearly shaped her into the cold and difficult person that she was.

Effie and Attis absolutely blew through Anna’s life like a breath of fresh air and it was well – magical – to watch Anna start to develop as her own person.

The mysteries throughout the book slowly revealed more and more of themselves, winding themselves ever more tightly around our protagonists. I loved the magic systems at play here, they were so well thought through, I loved that there were clearly rules but that every magic user could find their own ‘language’ to practice through.

I very much enjoyed this one and am looking forward to seeing more in book two.

dnf at page 23
trigger warning
<spoiler> emotional abuse, gaslighting, physical abuse </spoiler>

Welcome to another round of please, communicate the triggering topics in the works you publish or get bad ratings.

Our protagonist lives for undisclosed reasons - remember I didn't get far - with her aunt.
Her aunt is emotionally distant, heaps chores on the protagonist, always talks down to her, telling her she's not good enough, and rewarding mistakes with physical punishment that may only be small in amount of bloodshed, but holy cow.
I am not reading 450 pages of that, and another reviewer sounded like you can expect bullying later on.

In this instance, the star rating is for marketing and publishing, not for the actual novel.
The arc was provided by the publisher.

absolutely loved this! I do enjoy a good school setting and I’ve never been so glad not to be of school age any more! The idea of a language of magic in the way described in the book was a new one to me and one I found very appealing and plausible. I appreciated all of the characters even the bad ones. There is a lot of intrigue to keep you guessing and I am so glad this is only the first in the series. I’m looking forward to seeing where the series goes next. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

I really liked the premise of ‘Threadneedle’ and I generally love urban fantasy novels, especially set in London. They feel close to my heart! But while I didn’t love ‘Threadneedle’ as much as I expected, I still enjoyed the book.

‘Threadneedle’ follows a sixteen-year-old Anna, who has been raised by her Aunt, believing that magic is a sin, and that soon she will be bound – her magic will be bound and she won’t be able to use it. Magic should be controlled and denied according to her Aunt. But then Anna, who was a Nobody at her school and always kept her head down, makes new friends – witches like her – and long-buried family secrets resurface.

On overall, I liked the premise and the storyline of ‘Threadneedle’ but I felt like the narrative was a little dragging at moments, and could have been delivered quicker in a sense. But it had a nice atmosphere to it. I think generally, ‘Threadneedle’ is aimed at a slightly younger reader. But overall, an interesting start of the series!

It has been over a week since I finished Threadneedle and I still can't stop thinking about this book. This is by far my favourite book of the year so far.

Anna has been raised by her Aunt since she was a child and has been warned against the evils of magic. Anna is set to bind her magic within in the next few months so she will no longer be a witch. However, when her mother's old friend Selene arrives on her doorstep alongside her daughter Effie and the mysterious Attis, Anna's world and beliefs are turned upside. After all, what harm could a little magic do?

This is just the perfect witchy read! For anyone who is a fan of The Craft, this will leave you feeling nostalgic. I loved the every day plot of the girls discovering their magic and all the angst that goes along with teenager life but the wider mystery kept you intrigued the whole time.

The last 200 pages were honestly a masterpiece with twist after twist which has left me desperate for the next book. I'm having to fight myself from starting from the beginning all over again.

And don't even get me started on that love triangle!

Just from reading the blurb, I knew that this would be a book that I would love. Even so, Threadneedle still caught me by surprise – not least because it has a contemporary setting, whereas for reasons known only to my subconscious, I had been utterly convinced that it was going to be historical. Once I’d got beyond that little misconception though, it wasn’t long before I was utterly hooked.

Threadneedle is a book of contrasts, the light and dark of magic, the warmth of Rowan’s mum and the positively Arctic personality of Anna’s aunt, the fine line between teaching someone a lesson, and taking it just a little too far. It is full of magic and mystery and I loved following Anna on her voyage of discovery of both magic, and life with friends. I was completely swept away by the hedonism of Beltane, which was actually vaguely reminiscent of a club I went to in Ibiza many years ago. I found myself longing to visit the magical club, and hidden library of magical texts, and all the other secret spaces there are to be found in London.

The complicated friendships, family relationships, and shared histories mean that there is an awful lot to unpick in this book, and I don’t want to give any of it away and take away the pleasure to be found in discovering it for yourself. It is a wonderfully original story which cleverly entwines plenty of the history of witchcraft within it.

Fantasy and YA are my two favourite genres of books, so Threadneedle was always going to be a winner for me. I couldn’t read this book fast enough but at the same time I didn’t want it to end. Here’s hoping I don’t have to wait too long for more from Cari Thomas.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. It has everything I love, witches and magic!
While I overall enjoyed it, this wasn’t really what I had anticipated it being. It leaned a lot more toward YA when I anticipated it being an adult fantasy and while that’s not really a problem, I feel it would’ve worked better as an adult fantasy considering the themes.
It’s quite a dark book and I felt the level of darkness didn’t entirely match the tone of the book. If it were an adult fantasy I feel like there’d have been more scope for that darkness to flourish.
It just fell a bit flat for me. I’m sure others will enjoy it and maybe I just hyped it up for myself too much but it just didn’t match it’s potential. I found it a chore to get through and in the end bought the audiobook for a less heavy reading experience.

Threadneedle is the best book I have read in a long while. It will definitely be in my top 10 of 2021 books!

I loved the interactions and the snarkiness of the characters and the development of Anna. There we many times that the book made me laugh out loud, it was great.

I can't wait for the next book in the series!

Unfortunately I just could not get into this book. It may be one for other readers, but I was unable to finish it.

I absolutely loved this book! Fantastically written, gripping from the very beginning right until the end! Would definitely recommend!

This was honestly not quite as good as I anticipated but fantastic nonetheless. It took a long time for the story to really unfold and for the antagonists to be made clear- I spent most of the novel questioning where on earth the story was going, who were really the good guys and the bad guys, and what was actually going on?! That said, once it found its stride I found myself speeding through the pages, eager for each and every reveal.

I love a good fantasy novel and the magic system is always one of the things I look at closely- in THREADNEEDLE I love that the magic system is based so closely on real-world Wiccan & Pagan practises and you can clearly see how important intention is when casting.

Another qualm is that I’d love to have seen more of the magical London Anna is introduced to- the shop of memories, the library that delivers any book you need- and I can only hope we see these again in the sequel.

Overall I feel this was overhyped a little by the publisher- I had SO MANY emails about this book before and around its release date- and while it was brilliant I think if I hadn’t been anticipating it so much it might have been even better.

The first in a fabulous new series of books that revolves around Anna, a teenage orphan who lives with her severely cruel Aunt who has made it her life’s goal to curtail any pleasure Anna may have using pain both physically and mentally. Oh and did I mention that they can do magic, although it must be suppressed at all costs? Luckily for Anna, after years of trying to fly under the radar at school, avoiding the bullies and striving to be a nobody, a new girl Effie arrives who has other ideas and together they form a powerful coven which will test their friendship to the max, but could also change the future fate of all witches. I would describe this book a a Heathers/Harry Potter mash-up which is better than it sounds as I love both of them.
An excellent start and I can’t wait to continue their story.

Witchcraft is such an evocative word; some people fear it as something malevolent and dangerous, others find the magic exciting or intriguing, while the witch trials of the past remain a sinister, violent part of our history. Anna is a witch but as we quickly discover, her magic is as subdued as her emotions. After years of training, she is nearing the time when she will undergo a ceremony to bind - and therefore take away - her magic forever.
Anna lives with her Aunt, a controlling, forbidding woman who has raised her since she was a baby. She's been taught that magic is a sin but has also learned that she must control her thoughts and feelings. Her Knotted Cord contains the knots that she pulls tight to avoid experiencing curiosity, joy, anger, love... A brief moment of respite from her mundane, ordered life comes in the form of Selene, a friend of her mother's, a witch who is as warm and vibrant as Aunt is cold and caustic. However, Selene visits with Effie, her daughter and Effie's friend, Attis. In the presence of two charismatic, confident teenagers, Anna is aware of how dull and boring she is - but it's an image she has carefully worked upon in order to avoid being noticed at school and so she's horrified to discover that the pair will shortly be students there too.
The knot magic that Aunt uses to control Anna and Anna uses to regulate her emotions is strange and powerful, its mysteries slowly revealed as this engaging novel progresses. It's the only magic permitted by the Binders who want to keep magic hidden away and are prepared to take the most extreme methods to prevent young witches using what they see as the immoral use of their powers. However, as Effie and Attis quickly make their presence felt in the awful school they attend, Anna may finally have the chance to find out what she's really capable of.
As she forms an unlikely friendship group with other outcasts in the school, she sees a different world from the one her Aunt has taught her to fear. Effie and Attis take her to the most amazing places hidden away in this magical hidden London - a wonderful shop of memories, an incredible library, a hedonistic nightclub. This captivating coming-of-age tale explores Anna's progression from somebody who has taken pains to be a Nobody to a young woman who is ready to stand up for what she believes in. The heady, intoxicating abilities the group develop bring with them moral choices and the frightening suggestion that Anna might be cursed.
It's an emotive, challenging time for her, complicated further by the bullies at their school, the complex relationship she has with Aunt and the questions she has about what really happened to her parents. While this book will rightly be described as a YA novel - the romantic intrigue, arguments with friends, confrontations with adults and tyrannical peers, its richly imagined plot will also appeal to anybody who loves stories so resonantly inspired by myths and folklore. Cari Thomas has created a tale which is new and fresh but which feels rooted in time.
Throughout the book, there are disturbing descriptions of the doctrines and punishments Anna endures at the hand of her Aunt. It's hard to feel any sympathy for this cruel woman and yet there are moments which suggest her actions may be borne out of genuine concern for her niece. As Anna breaks free from her shackles, I thought the reasons why she still feels loyalty towards Aunt were poignantly believable. She eventually reaches the point where she needs to make her life-changing decision and there are shocking revelations with a conclusion which is dramatic, powerful and full of foreboding as to what comes next.
Threadneedle is a darkly enchanting tale of magic, intrigue and deception. The superb characterisation and creative, fantastical storytelling weave together magic, friendship and danger in an irresistible celebration of womanhood. I loved every word - in fact you could say I was bewitched!

If you want a book that gives off vibes of The Craft and Sabrina the Teenage witch then this book is for you.

It was a thrill to read this book. The characters were well thought out and executed so well for a debut author. The storyline though at times slow was full of imagery and made me visualise what was happening.

I liked that book was left on a cliffhanger and I am certainly waiting (im)patiently for the second book and seeing what happens.