Really original and I enjoyed it a lot!
Morgana is the typical high school mean girl, but now her journal is coming true. If you murder someone once with your magic that’s an accident but twice?
Morgana isn’t ever likeable in the pitiful way but in the way she charges through the narrative absolutely!
It looks more of a mystery than it is, it is mostly about Morgana discovering herself for the first 60% or so!

Romance Rating: Soft
Violence Rating: Level 2

Mean girls? Absolutely. When Morgana finds out she has a gift, a magical gift, she’s excited to fix herself up, become popular and destroy her enemies. After becoming part of the “sisters”, schools most popular and richest girls, revenge takes a backseat for a while, until Ro kicks the hornet beat that is Morganas ego and then she must be taken down. One by one Morgana uses her magic to seek vengeance on the girls she pretends to like and anyone else who gets in her way, from the displeased step mother to a boy who kisses her without consent, no one is safe if they cross her. But Morgana isn’t the only witch in town, by exploring her powers and connections she will discover there’s no quick fix with magic, and sometimes bad things just happen to all the right people. After all, all magic comes at a price.

Wish You Dead grabs you instantly and won’t let you escape its clutches until the final page. It is a sapphic YA thriller with speculative elements that are utilised in clever and surprising ways.

From the minute I heard the pitch for this book, I was sold. We’ve all had wishes for good and for bad or dreams we’ve worked to achieve. Sometimes we even have fleeting thoughts of the revenge we’d like to enact on those who had wronged us. For Morgana, these are no fleeting thoughts as her wishes start to come true and her darkest thoughts have consequences. It is such a brilliant premise and Westcott only builds from there. It is pacy and compelling as things escalate. The thriller aspect is well-executed with an intriguing trail of breadcrumbs to follow and people to suspect. I particularly liked how rooted in the history of the setting the magic and the story was. It is encapsulated in one particular character who is a breath of fresh air, wild and seemingly carefree. Westcott dovetails this thread with Morgana’s own development but it always feel like the setting influences proceedings with a darkness beneath the surface. The story is wonderfully atmospheric and ambiguous, leaning into the wonder of nature and the way the history of a place can leak through into the present. It is often the past we try to bury that comes back to haunt us.

Morgana is a fascinating central protagonist as a self-described mean girl, at the pinnacle of the social hierarchy. She has power and she relishes it with some devious behaviour right at the start. There is a lot going on with her and seeing her walls crumble through the book is heart-wrenching. You come to understand her much more as a wounded teenager lashing out at the world. The popularity is also a constant game of manipulation and power plays where one wrong move sends you spiralling down. Ultimately Morgana is trying to claim her power after it being wrenched from her – she is messy and flawed in her pursuit like a real teenager would be.

Wish You Dead built on its hooky premise to deliver a surprisingly tender story about finding your place in the world and loving yourself completely. This sapphic speculative thriller turns manifestation into murder in this genre-bending, brilliant book.

I loved this book it felt like all my favourite things rolled into one. A fun, fast-paced plot, interesting characters, and a magical twist on teen drama made it impossible to put down. The Arthurian legend meets modern high school setting reminded me a little of Avalon High, and the witchy elements like the Book of Shadows, crystals, and manifestation spells were so well done.
Morgana Merrick is Avalon Academy’s most powerful and popular girl and a witch. But popularity and magic both require balance, and when she starts to lose control, strange things begin to happen. New girl Celeste might just hold the key to understanding it all.
The romance was sweet, even if I wanted a little more, but it fit with Morgana’s personal journey. The book really shines in its summer setting between beach scenes, eerie forests, and legends of long-dead witches, everything felt so vivid. And the final twist? So good! I was guessing until the end.
Wish You Dead is a sapphic, witchy coming-of-age thriller with The Craft and Heathers vibes. It’s sharp, atmospheric, and full of heart. If you love magical teen stories with a dark twist, don’t miss this one.

I loved how this book blended the mean girls vibe with horror, it was full of secrets and tension that kept it interesting.

Wish you dead is a wonderful coming of age, sapphic, contemporary teen thriller. The main focus is our main character and her development as she finds herself. It has Heathers/Mean Girls/The Craft vibes.

Our main character Morgana practises witchcraft and uses it to become the most popular and feared girl in school. She also uses it to bring people down a peg or two. But when people start getting really hurt, she questions whether it’s herself or if something bigger is happening.

I LOVED the romance in this book - Morgana is immediately entranced by Celeste. They work together in a great way and Morgana needed Celeste’s energy in her life. Majority of the book is Morgana’s coming of age, finding herself story and the last quater of the book introduces the thriller portion. I did think the whodunnit was obvious and I clocked it before it happened. Overall I thought this book was really fun and I really rooted for Morgana throughout the book.

Art and Morgana are half siblings, but they could not be more different - one an alpha female and a popular, powerful girl and the other a laidback surfer.

But things go south for Morgana after an encounter at a party ends badly. A key theme of this story is female rage and Morgana's need to regain control and wreak revenge on those she perceives to have wronged her, and the results are interesting.

With a hat tip to the Arthurian legends, Morgana is a complex character, and probably the most interesting thing about the book. But it is an entertaining story on the whole, scoring 3.5 stars.

This book is a Knights of the Round Table High School AU with sapphic witches and social media.
Which is a strange collection of words. And yet, not an unpleasant one.
This book was quite fun, I really liked the main character- though she was really the only one with any personality. I really enjoyed the witchy parts and there was a plot twist that I really loved! And any version of the Pendragon Legends that portrayed Lancelot as a terrible person is a narrative I’ll always co-sign.

This was an interesting book for me, as I neither really loved it or nor hated it.

What I did really love about this was the exploration of female rage, and How Morganna was just so angry at the way things were and she wanted to change it. I loved seeing Morganna grow in to herself and her confidence, and to see the small ways she began to find peace with herself.

Morganna wasn’t an easy or overall likeable character, she was very mean spirited and could be nasty, but I liked how she was complex. She acted that way and out in a front as a result of the bad treatment she had been subjected to. The world had a heavy hand in moulding her, and she’s only young.

I thought the addition of magic to this story was interesting but I can’t say I liked the twist too much at the end. I liked that it took a lot of the responsibility off of Morgana’s shoulders, but it also took out a bit of bite out of the story.

Overall, this was a good read that had me riveted at times in the tale of revenge, family drama, and friendship group breakdowns. There was a romance too, which was okay, but I found there to be a lack of chemistry that meant I wasn’t as invested as other parts of the story.

Wish you dead feels like such a UNIQUE story. Sapphic thrillers and my love at the moment, and this one caught my eye IMMEDIATELY.

I absolutely adore Rebecca Westcott’s writing in this. Manifesting a murder? I was hooked from the title but the book is even better than I’d hoped for.

Morgana is such an interesting character, and I so enjoyed learning about her - seeing her grow and develop and investigate and plot her revenge? She’s maybe one of my new favourite characters.

AND CELESTE??? MWAH

brief spoiler.

The moment she realises she can either be a victim or a villain, and choses to be a villain? ADORE.

Heathers meets The Craft meets Mean Girls

Morgana Merrick is the most popular and powerful girl at Avalon Academy, oh and she just so happens to be a witch. But being popular and a witch have more in common that you might think, it's all about balance, give and take. But with a whirlwind of chaotic feelings inside, Morgana might just learn what happens if you tip that scale. Let's just hope she's ready to get exactly what she's asking for. But maybe new girl Celeste might be her key to learning about more than just balance.

This was full of twists and turns and kept me guessing til the final act! I loved the setting and the locations, I could really picture everything as it was described so visually. I also found each character easy enough to keep track of as often with books with a bigger core cast I can get a little confused, but this wasn't the case here

. If were to put the ingredients of this book into a cauldron it would include:
- 3 steaming cups of revenge
- a hearty scoop of sapphic cuteness
- 2 tablespoons of you get what you give
- a generous sprinkle of reflection
- a handful of raven feathers

Also side note I watched Heathers at the cinema last night and the vibes were vibing with this being my current read

I love this book, it was giving so many pop culture vibes the entire time such as mean girls the entire time and I was totally there for it. It also kinda reminded me of The Craft with the witchy revenge vibes. I loved it and didn't want it to end. I can't wait to read more by the author

The plot was great it kept me reading away. I liked the characters in this book as well. and engaging. The characters were great and interesting. This book was read quickly as story was that good! Would recommend this book to my followers on Instagram Amazon and Goodreads! Great read thankyou to NetGalley and Scholastic publishers for allowing me to read this ARC.

Wish you Dead

Its like a teen movie, i loved it, super fast paced. I would have preferred to not have the magic aspect but thats just not my thing although i still enjoyed the book.

Thanks

Modernised Arthurian legend meets Mean Girls, Clueless, Pretty Little Liars and Heathers, with manifestation and magic - with a sapphic romance.

I loooved this book. It's like some of my favourite things rolled into one. I thought the plot was fun and engaging. The characters were great and interesting. Tying in the Arthurian legend to the modern school life was so interesting, it reminded me of the old disney channel movie Avalon High at times (which was great btw)

I read this so fast, I just had to know what happens. The build up was amazing, right up to the very end and the reveal was great, it was only something I suspected like the second Morgana started figuring it out!

Witchy books are hit or miss for me but this had everything. I loved the Book of Shadows and crystals and all the little manifestation spells, so interesting.

Loved the summer vibes and the beach setting, with the forest and the story about the old witches that died. The romance was sweet, I do wish there had been a bit more, but I think because of the way the storyline was, it worked.

But the epilogue made me sad.

Highly recommend this. Hoping to read this in the summer again cos I loved it so much.

Really enjoyed this book, was very unique. Quick paced however didn’t miss any of the important details of the story, the characters were fun and the story line has so many twists and turns and kept me guessing throughout. Was a quick and fun read.

I am glad I read this book! It was literally like a 90s teen movie and I was as loving it every page of the way! I was hooked from the off and with a bunch of quirky characters I was laughing at so many points too. Loved it!