Welcome to Read This Book, a newsletter where I recommend one book that should absolutely be put at the top of your TBR pile. Recommended books will vary across genre and age category and include shiny new books, older books you may have missed, and some classics I suggest finally getting around to.
Autumn is here, which means it’s time to curl up with a great read and get cozy — whatever your version of cozy looks like. Whether it’s romance, creepy reads, modern classics, or escapist reads you crave, TBR can help you find the perfect books for your fall reading, with options curated to your specific reading tastes.
Happy October! Today’s book is a queer, witchy YA pick to start off the season.
How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy
Our protagonist and narrator is Shay Johnson, a biracial Black superstar student at TK Anderson Magical Magnet School. Shay’s parents aren’t wealthy, so they’ve sent her to this well-resourced high school in order for her to have a better chance at success. The specific success they hope for would be winning the Brockton Scholarship. The Brockton Scholarship guarantees a full ride to her top university of choice, a university that her family could not afford to send her to otherwise.
The scholarship is not only based on GPA but on extracurriculars both at school and outside of school and magic levels, which are tested regularly by blood tests. There is a giant leader board at school that broadcasts who is in the top spot for the scholarship, mostly based on GPA and magic levels. Shay’s fiercest competition is Ana Alvarez, her nemesis. Shay and Ana use every opportunity to drag each other, and the competition is fierce.
Shay is an absolute genius when it comes to potion work, and the whole school knows it. She is the head of the potions club, and she has a part-time job at a potion shop with her best friend Lex. Lex is in that time between high school and college, where she is trying to get into the college of her choice, or really, any college at this point. Shay’s mom thinks that Shay and Lex are dating ever since Shay came out to her parents as a lesbian, so it’s always awkward to mention Lex at home.
To add to the drama, there is a teacher. The drama teacher, actually, Mr. Brockton, as in the head of the scholarship committee for the Brockton Scholarship, which his very wealthy family gave a lot of money to create. This year, Mr. B has chosen an aggressively diverse musical for the drama club to put on. There aren’t many students of color, and Mr. B not-so-subtly lets Shay know that her eligibility to win the scholarship would increase if she did the musical. He may have told Shay’s enemy, Ana, the same thing. Shay is really weirded out by how comfortable Mr. B seems to be with being physically up in her space. She thinks she might be overreacting, and she definitely doesn’t want to ruin her chances to win the scholarship.
I had fun reading this book! I like that it’s set in Florida. Not all stories featuring witches or prestigious schools need to be in New England, and I found this refreshing. Content warnings for racism, homophobia, and abusive adults, including grooming.
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That’s it for now, book-lovers!
Patricia
Find me on Book Riot, the All the Books podcast, Bluesky, and Instagram.
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