Reviews with content warning for Biphobia - These Witches Don't Burn

The characters weren't very compelling, the magic was interesting and story was okay but Veronica is abusive, manipulative and hypocritical and I hated reading about her, and because Hannah isn't over her ex, she spends a lot of time thinking about Veronica.

Many of the characters are stupid, including Hannah herself and every single responsible adult character that just let Hannah and Veronica wander about and do whatever they want despite the danger to their lives. Gemma's dialogue in particular got worse as the book went on, becoming extremely generic, Morgan was fine but it felt like she was just there to make the point of not all insert group of people only portrayed as being terrible up to this point are bad.

I will happily praise how this book deals with a teenager grieving though, it felt realistic, you can tell how raw Hannah is at that point and her actions are driven by those feelings.

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kaylee1957's review against another edition

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emotional funny slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Felt like it was going to be a fast paced adventure with action, and solving the who dun it in fun YA Queer Magical setting, but unfortunately it was slow paced lacking action to drive the plot and focused on the teenage drama rather than character building and the plot

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lailaspacekate's review

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emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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aleclikesbooks's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

Although at first I wasn't sure if this book was for me I loved it in the end. The story was intresting and the characters lovable.

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ts_anne13's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

<Spoiler>
I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would. It really picked up in the second half and the plot started to come together. There were some interesting plot points and even though I saw them all coming it was still well executed. However there were more negatives than positives about the book.

There were certain plot points that were brought up that had nothing to do with the main storyline or were dropped midway through and never mentioned again. The biggest being the homophobia and the New York trip. I think that the New York trip will play a bigger part in the second book and it also set up Victorias and Hannahs back story. It also help explain the prejudices against blood witches. But these things could have been set up differently and we didn't exactly need the NY plot line to explain these things. Its extremely obvious from the beginning that the relationship between Veronica and Hannah is toxic and that they shouldn't be together. They are constantly fighting and manipulating each other and trying to one up the other. Its not healthy and made both characters unlikable to the point that I genuinely didn't care what happened to them. The blood witches could have been set up and explained without the NY trip as well. We heard some of the tales that the older witches told there children about the blood witches. We heard from the adults about all there crimes and the power they hold. New York was not necessary to explain that. The only thing that it showed is how much prejudice there is and that these things aren't true. The blood witch didn't do anything and just protected herself when the others attacked her first. The homophobia that was brought up here and there was also dropped way to quickly and has nothing to do with the story. It didn't help the character develop in any way and was not necessary for the story. Another plot that was dropped midway through and never mentioned again was Evans story and the animal sacrifice. Evan had nothing to do with the main plot and was just used as a misdirect. Its really sad to see his story dropped since he is one off my favourite characters..

I really liked Gemma, Evan and Cal as well as Detective Archer. I consider these characters as well written and fleshed out. Its really sad that Cal and Evan didn't play a bigger part in the story since I found them both really likable and interesting. I liked how they interacted with Hannah. Gemma is a great friend with an amazing personality. I really enjoyed her character. She is funny and adds a lot to Hannahs personality and the book in general. The sad thing is that she was used as a sidekick and it felt like she was just a way to better Hannah as a person. Its annoying. Hannahs and Morgans whole relationship only happened because of Gemmas interference. Detective Archer is probably one of the best if not the best character in the whole book. His whole character is set up to be conspiring against Hannah and I genuinely believed he might be the hunter or blood witch at the beginning of the book. His reveal as an agent for the council was shocking and one of the only things I didn't see coming. He is the character with the biggest development and I love his little relationship the Cal and Lauren. It cute. He is the reason why I want to read the sequel.

The love story in this book is also not well written. Its supposed to be one of the main plot points but it feels forced and misplaced. Hannahs and Morgans whole relationship only happened because of Gemmas interference. She introduced them, made Hannah apologize, planned all the dates and kept telling Hannah to talk to Morgan. Without Gemma there would be no relationship. Hannah seemed to be upset and annoyed at Morgen most of the time and it seems like she doesn't even want to be around her. You wouldn't know its a romance book if they didn't kiss.

Another thing I noticed is how white the book felt. There is no representation at all except for the LGBTQ+ characters. There was no diversity what's so ever.

I have to say that I really enjoyed all the magic related background storys. I liked the story about the three sisters and the three clans and the boundaries of their magic. The story about the hunters was also super interesting but sadly it wasn't set up that well. They could have cut one of the many dropped plot lines to actually explain who the hunters are, were they come from and why they disappeared in the first place.

Benton storyline was absolutely great and even though I figured out that he was the witch hunter, the plot twist was still extremely well written and exciting. I liked how his character was set up and his entire relationship with Hannah. They had great chemistry and I loved reading about their friendship. The subplot about their investigation was fun and one of the more interesting subplots that ended up being actually important. The last few chapters of the book were really well written and this whole reveal really sped up the plot. This was a great idea to have Benton be the one who hunted Veronica. His backstory about his family and how they put pressure on him and kind off brainwashed him in a way was great and I liked reading about it. It was awesome seeing that even though he hunted witches that he never wanted to hurt Hannah and Gemma. He felt genuinely sorry for the car crash and he never wanted to kill Hannah. I felt like he actually liked her.

All in all i see what the author was trying to do but it was badly executed. The writing was okay for a YA novel and the main plot was in my opinion great. I had high expectations and I was really excited to read about a lesbian witch but I was disappointed. There were to many plot points going on at the same time that were later just dropped without explanation, there was no diversity at all and the main romance didn't make any sense. However I did enjoy the whole plot about Benton and his involvement in the story. The second half of the books was engaging and interesting and I actually enjoyed myself. I wouldn't recommend this book and I also won't read it again.<Spoiler>

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