Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches by Kayla Cottingham
ISBN: 0593814010
Genres: Fantasy
Format: Young Adult
Goodreads

Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches is about a teen witch named Kieran who needs to go on a nearly impossible magical quest with the help of his twin and his friends to succeed in his calling and keep his magic. Throughout the story, we see that Kieran doesn’t believe in himself after being raised as a martyr for his family–a victim of a curse where he was supposed to die for their benefit–and has to learn as much about self-confidence as he does about magic. The characters are compelling, and readers will quickly be engaged in the story and charmed by Kieran’s wit, humor, and big heart. The author’s intention in the story is to show a variety of relationships, and I think she succeeds in that; we see a queer adult relationship with the captains of the ship, an immediate love with Briar and Delilah, and then a messy relationship and love triangle with Kieran and Ash and then Kieran and Sebastian. The romance is solidly YA and age-appropriate, and many readers will appreciate the positive portrayal of LGBTQIA+ relationships. Other readers will love the fantastical elements of magic, magical worlds, Kieran’s familiar–a teal otter, and a cursed vampire. This would be a good addition to any library that serves teens who enjoy fantasy.

One important note: Though this is not marketed as a series, it absolutely is. I went into this one not knowing it has a prior book (Practical Rules for Cursed Witches), and I wouldn’t recommend that. I think the author/publisher might have intended it to be interconnected standalones but I often felt like I was missing a backstory and finding that there was a book with Briar and Delilah that took place before this one made so much sense; I would strongly recommend reading that one first and including both in your library (and marking them as a series to help your readers). This was a four-star read for me (it may have been 4.5 or 5 stars if I had read the prior book first). Reviewed by Katy Jones, Gardiner Area High School Library, Gardiner