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vero236's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
bhumikabv's review against another edition
5.0
A nice introduction to the series and the witches world. I'm happy Hannah stood up for herself. Curious about the main book of the series!
sapphicaffair's review
4.0
Rating: 4 stars
I finished this pretty fast because it's a novella. I really enjoyed this one, it gave me a lot of insight to Hannah and Veronica's past. In "These Witches Don't Burn", Veronica and Hannah are already in the middle of their breakup. Hannah already has resentment for Veronica and we're left to slowly figure out why for ourselves. It's eventually revealed that they broke up because of "what happened with the Blood Witch on their trip to New York". We know WHAT happens but we don't really grasp the full reason why it hurt Hannah so much until now.
Within the first 25% of TWDB, Hannah lets us know why she broke up with Veronica and what went down. We're left with a clue as to why it happened but that's about it. I admit that when I was reading the book, I was very subtly still shipping Veronica and Hannah together. It's not until the series progresses and we get a better insight as to how Veronica treats Hannah that we start to realize that it's not just that they "weren't right for each other", it's that Veronica and Hannah were in a straight up toxic relationship. Veronica never apologizes to Hannah, she's very selfish and extremely manipulative. We see bits and pieces of that in TWDB, but in this novella we amplify that.
This novella takes place during their fieldtrip to NYC and it takes us through the steps of what essentially led to their breakup as well as some missing pieces of the puzzle with Hannah's experience with a Blood Witch. We see Veronica push Hannah into doing what she wants, treating Hannah like she's a child Veronica feels that she has to babysit, like she's an annoyance. She ignores everything that Hannah tries to tell her and gets irritated at Hannah's caution. Which is really funny because Veronica using simple magic to put out the fire in TWDB is exactly what led to the giant mess they all had to deal with. We also see Veronica's relationship with Gemma. Hannah and her best friend Gemma are really close, yet instead of trying to fit in or inviting Gemma to feel included, Veronica pulls Hannah away from Gemma. I think that's also really telling of their relationship.
There are so many times I've wanted to scream at Veronica and Tori. Veronica pulling Hannah's phone from her had me rioting. Along with her dismissing Hannah's fear and refusing to apologize or to see that she did anything wrong. Also, I absolutely can't stand Tori. She's so annoying and I really hope she doesn't get a redemption arch anywhere near this series.
I did really like Lexi so maybe I wouldn't mind seeing more from her. She's smart and she minds her own business; love that for her.
Overall this was a pretty good novella. No chapter felt like a "filler chapter" and it had me feeling a lot of things. Mostly anger and sadness. Which is good I guess, it's good that it has an effect on my emotions. Either way, I did really enjoy reading this and I'd like to read it again if I decide to reread the series. The cover, however, is really ugly and I know it's not a physical book but if it does get printed in the near future I'd recommend a cover change.
Reading thread: https://twitter.com/sapphicaffair/status/1418402321894154241?s=20
I finished this pretty fast because it's a novella. I really enjoyed this one, it gave me a lot of insight to Hannah and Veronica's past. In "These Witches Don't Burn", Veronica and Hannah are already in the middle of their breakup. Hannah already has resentment for Veronica and we're left to slowly figure out why for ourselves. It's eventually revealed that they broke up because of "what happened with the Blood Witch on their trip to New York". We know WHAT happens but we don't really grasp the full reason why it hurt Hannah so much until now.
Within the first 25% of TWDB, Hannah lets us know why she broke up with Veronica and what went down. We're left with a clue as to why it happened but that's about it. I admit that when I was reading the book, I was very subtly still shipping Veronica and Hannah together. It's not until the series progresses and we get a better insight as to how Veronica treats Hannah that we start to realize that it's not just that they "weren't right for each other", it's that Veronica and Hannah were in a straight up toxic relationship. Veronica never apologizes to Hannah, she's very selfish and extremely manipulative. We see bits and pieces of that in TWDB, but in this novella we amplify that.
This novella takes place during their fieldtrip to NYC and it takes us through the steps of what essentially led to their breakup as well as some missing pieces of the puzzle with Hannah's experience with a Blood Witch. We see Veronica push Hannah into doing what she wants, treating Hannah like she's a child Veronica feels that she has to babysit, like she's an annoyance. She ignores everything that Hannah tries to tell her and gets irritated at Hannah's caution. Which is really funny because Veronica using simple magic to put out the fire in TWDB is exactly what led to the giant mess they all had to deal with. We also see Veronica's relationship with Gemma. Hannah and her best friend Gemma are really close, yet instead of trying to fit in or inviting Gemma to feel included, Veronica pulls Hannah away from Gemma. I think that's also really telling of their relationship.
There are so many times I've wanted to scream at Veronica and Tori. Veronica pulling Hannah's phone from her had me rioting. Along with her dismissing Hannah's fear and refusing to apologize or to see that she did anything wrong. Also, I absolutely can't stand Tori. She's so annoying and I really hope she doesn't get a redemption arch anywhere near this series.
I did really like Lexi so maybe I wouldn't mind seeing more from her. She's smart and she minds her own business; love that for her.
Overall this was a pretty good novella. No chapter felt like a "filler chapter" and it had me feeling a lot of things. Mostly anger and sadness. Which is good I guess, it's good that it has an effect on my emotions. Either way, I did really enjoy reading this and I'd like to read it again if I decide to reread the series. The cover, however, is really ugly and I know it's not a physical book but if it does get printed in the near future I'd recommend a cover change.
Reading thread: https://twitter.com/sapphicaffair/status/1418402321894154241?s=20
jennireadz's review
4.0
4 Stars
Queer rep: Lesbian main characters
This was the perfect follow-up to [b:These Witches Don't Burn|36484081|These Witches Don't Burn (These Witches Don't Burn, #1)|Isabel Sterling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541163363l/36484081._SX50_.jpg|58195438]! Being able to transport back basically just a few weeks to see what happened just before the first book was magical, no pun intended.
There was a lot that was alluded to that we didn’t get an explanation of in the book, so having this prequel was a great way to supplement it.
Hannah is in New York with her best friend, her girlfriend, and other classmates on a quick field trip. While there, she runs into some Casters, another set of witches, and finds out there is a Blood Witch in the city. Veronica, Hannah’s girlfriend, is interested in helping the Casters, but Hannah is not too sure.
We really get a dive into the relationship dynamics between Hannah and Veronica, and get filled in on this large piece of information that was left over previously.
After reading reviews, I decided to read [b:These Witches Don't Burn|36484081|These Witches Don't Burn (These Witches Don't Burn, #1)|Isabel Sterling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541163363l/36484081._SX50_.jpg|58195438], then the prequel ([b:This Spell Can't Last|53069682|This Spell Can't Last (These Witches Don't Burn, #0.5)|Isabel Sterling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1586404894l/53069682._SY75_.jpg|79646691]), and will be starting the sequel ([b:This Coven Won't Break|42082990|This Coven Won't Break (These Witches Don't Burn, #2)|Isabel Sterling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571063092l/42082990._SY75_.jpg|65628842]) right after. I feel like this helped to really be intrigued by the first novel as to what happened, and then get a bit of a backstory. It feels like Hannah’s “origin” story in a way, which I really love to see and connect the pieces of the first novel together.
Queer rep: Lesbian main characters
This was the perfect follow-up to [b:These Witches Don't Burn|36484081|These Witches Don't Burn (These Witches Don't Burn, #1)|Isabel Sterling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541163363l/36484081._SX50_.jpg|58195438]! Being able to transport back basically just a few weeks to see what happened just before the first book was magical, no pun intended.
There was a lot that was alluded to that we didn’t get an explanation of in the book, so having this prequel was a great way to supplement it.
Hannah is in New York with her best friend, her girlfriend, and other classmates on a quick field trip. While there, she runs into some Casters, another set of witches, and finds out there is a Blood Witch in the city. Veronica, Hannah’s girlfriend, is interested in helping the Casters, but Hannah is not too sure.
We really get a dive into the relationship dynamics between Hannah and Veronica, and get filled in on this large piece of information that was left over previously.
After reading reviews, I decided to read [b:These Witches Don't Burn|36484081|These Witches Don't Burn (These Witches Don't Burn, #1)|Isabel Sterling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541163363l/36484081._SX50_.jpg|58195438], then the prequel ([b:This Spell Can't Last|53069682|This Spell Can't Last (These Witches Don't Burn, #0.5)|Isabel Sterling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1586404894l/53069682._SY75_.jpg|79646691]), and will be starting the sequel ([b:This Coven Won't Break|42082990|This Coven Won't Break (These Witches Don't Burn, #2)|Isabel Sterling|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571063092l/42082990._SY75_.jpg|65628842]) right after. I feel like this helped to really be intrigued by the first novel as to what happened, and then get a bit of a backstory. It feels like Hannah’s “origin” story in a way, which I really love to see and connect the pieces of the first novel together.
ennaisreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
skye_era_books's review
3.0
I mean this was alright, I think I liked the first book better but it definitely made everything make more sense.
magnetgrrl's review against another edition
2.0
I tagged this as "lesbian romance" because it's part of a series that involves that but really, this is 1) just a short story, not a novel and 2) mostly about some events that were a prequel to an actual lesbian romance YA novel, wherein two characters break up.
sknselena's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
beesneysbooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0