3/5 stars
Witch of Wild Things, by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland (2023)
A fun little book of magical realism. Sage Flores has a special gift - she can sense and control plants. Her sisters have gifts too - Teal can control the weather, and Sky, before she died, could communicate with animals. Sage has returned home, after having been fired from a job she loved as an art teacher, to live with her brooding, angry sister Teal, and her aunt. Their mother disappeared when they were young, and while their aunt took them in, Sage is the one who raised her younger sisters. After Sky died in an accident, though, the family all blamed Sage for not being there in the moment, and Sage left town to find a life of her own.
The "gifts" thing got a little bit muddy when it's revealed that Sage also still talks to her dead sister - as a ghost, who visits whenever Sage cries. It was never really clear why that happened, but the point is that Sage maintains a relationship with Sky, who encourages her to try to find ways to connect with Teal.
It's a bit of a romance too... a second-chance love story. Girl returns home. Runs into boy she used to adore but who, unknowingly, broke her heart. Boy develops interest in girl. Cat and mouse, cat and mouse, will they won't they, will they won't they.
Anyway, I liked it despite it feeling a little on the smushy side. I was much more interested in the family dynamics and their journey together. Lots of dealing with family trauma, forgiveness, and confronting your demons (whether they be ghosts, your gifts, or the people who abandoned you when you were young).
UP NEXT: An Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder, by C.L. Miller
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