When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey

When We Were Magic

by Sarah Gailey

A moving, darkly funny novel about six teens whose magic goes wildly awry from Magic for Liars author Sarah Gailey, who Chuck Wendig calls an “author to watch.”

Keeping your magic a secret is hard. Being in love with your best friend is harder.

Alexis has always been able to rely on two things: her best friends, and the magic powers they all share. Their secret is what brought them together, and their love for each other is unshakeable—even when that love is complicated. Complicated by problems like jealousy, or insecurity, or lust. Or love.

That unshakeable, complicated love is one of the only things that doesn't change on prom night.

When accidental magic goes sideways and a boy winds up dead, Alexis and her friends come together to try to right a terrible wrong. Their first attempt fails—and their second attempt fails even harder. Left with the remains of their failed spells and more consequences than anyone could have predicted, each of them must find a way to live with their part of the story.

Reviewed by alindstadtcorbeax on

5 of 5 stars

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Star Rating: —> 4.5 Stars

UMMMMMM... I am SO IN LOVE RIGHT NOW! THIS BOOK. This book!
ThisBOOKthisbookthisbookkkk !

Oh my God, you guys. This was absolutely everything.
I love this group of girls so f*cking much.
I honestly am not sure of what words to use to describe what, and just how much, I feel about what I just read.
This was such an incredibly fun ride. — (massive understatement)
First off, I just have to say thank the universeeee for a YA novel that is so truly, richly diverse, both through queer rep AND culture rep... about WITCHES & MAGIC (which both the witches AND magic, in a way, are also extremely diverse ! Each girl has their own unique abilities that work in their own unique ways... it's pretty amazing).
I might as well have died and gone to heaven.

SERIOUSLY, this BOOOOOK!
• THE MAGIC!
• THE MAYHEM!
• THE CREEPY!
• THE LOVE!
• THE QUEER!
• THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE IN FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS!
• THE FAMILY DYNAMICS!
• THE “DAMN, WELL... THAT’S DARK” LAWL WORTHY SENSE OF HUMOR!
•THE DIVERSE CAST OF CHARACTERS!
• THE EVERYTHING ELSE!

The light of this novel outshone the dark tenfold, but the dark was still so much freakin’ fun,
The magic was officially the most unique & exploratory kind of magic i’ve read about, or seen for that matter, with the BEST abilities, that I have had the luck of stumbling upon in a long while.

It was truly beautiful to experience, imagine, & appreciate what these girls could really do.

This story is about self discovery & loss & growth... and those that are there to support us through it all.

This probably makes zero sense because my brain decided to try to throw up my emotions all over the place without thinking it through much. So... more RTC ? Maybe? ;-)

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 5 March, 2020: Finished reading
  • 5 March, 2020: Reviewed