Page Length: 240
Style: Ebook
Genre: Contemporary, Fantasy, Middle Grade
Date Publishing: July 5th 2021
Trigger Warnings: Kidnapping, Testing On Witches, Bullying
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Summary:
This follows the man character of Toby who has to take care of his mother since she got sick a few years ago. He has pretty much given up his entire life to care for his mother and make sure that her needs were taken care of.
So when he finds a witch in his attic, at first he doesn’t know what to believe. At first thinks that she is lying then when he finds out that she is telling the truth, he gets sucked into making sure that the young witches that were kidnapped are tested on and get out of the SMI before it’s too late.
He has to find a way to make sure that he can still care for his mom while making sure that he can get the people who needed saving out. He worries that they are going to lose the house if the place where his mom works has no way to pay her.
When he is offered help, he is reluctant to accept it because he is so used to doing everything by himself. But maybe it turns out to be a good thing. Maybe he can get a piece back that he has been missing after all these years.
Thoughts:
I loved this book. It was such a fun read. I don’t think I had this much fun with a read in a while. I loved the fact that the author seemed to bring everything to life. And the writing was wonderfully done to where it can be read regardless of how old you are.
It was made to feel lighthearted filled with difficult decisions that had to be made from time to time. But somehow it all worked. As someone who doesn’t read children’s and middle-grade literature, this was a story that I found myself getting lost in. I can not wait to read the rest of the trilogy. I loved that this was done to where it can be an escape if the reader wanted to be.
I honestly loved the majority of the characters. The only characters I didn’t like were the secondary characters (IE Decker and Boz, Decker’s father) mainly because there was a reason for the reader to hate them. Whether it was because they were a bully or because they wanted to test people. I would like to see if these characters can redeem themselves in books 2 and 3.
But the characters we did get were the ones that had something that you loved about them. Whether it was because they were whimsical or because they were caring. There was something about them that you can love about them and go on the journey along with them. Especially Toby.
Author Bio:
Sally Doherty lives in leafy Surrey with her husband and three-legged (but speedy) rescue dog. After studying French and German at university, she worked for a year in London before unexpectedly falling ill with M.E. Being stuck at home and often in bed for sixteen years, however, has lit a cauldron of stories bubbling inside her imagination.
Sally’s debut and the first in a trilogy, Toby and the Silver Blood Witches, was a finalist for The Wishing Shelf Award 2021 and shortlisted for both The Selfies and The Rubery Book Awards 2022.
Rating:
4.75 stars
Kathryn Books 