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Silvia 's Reviews > Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft
Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft
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Mathematical average rating (of 13 out of 15 stories): 3.76/5 stars, two not-rated DNFs/didn't read.
I read this anthology back in summer and I finally sat down to edit the notes I made on my phone after each story. I have to say this was one of my most anticipated releases of this year and while I can’t really say that I’m disappointed, I also wish I’d enjoyed more stories. I didn’t downright hate any, but a lot of them were just average for me.
With that said, I did have some favorites:
✨ Why They Watch Us Burn by Elizabeth May
✨ Afterbirth by Andrea Cremer
✨ The One Who Stayed by Nova Ren Suma
The notes I wrote back in summer were mostly spoilery (so I would remember the story) and I left them that way while editing them into a more readable review, so be aware of that if you don’t want to know anything about them. Also sorry if some of them are a bit of a mess.
• Starsong by Tehlor Kay Mejia: this was about a girl who has star magic and a lot of the story tells us how she came to have said magic. I was mostly just confused at the whole magic part, especially since it focused a lot on astrology which I know nothing nor care about and I felt like it required the reader to already know some stuff. Anyway then the girl chats with a cute science girl on Instagram who doesn't believe in magic but is open to listening to her and they plan a date. Basically an aspiring astronomer/astrologist pairing that probably deserves its own full length novel that I would totally read, but I just didn't care about the magic part which was what made up most of this story. 2.5/5 stars
• Afterbirth by Andrea Cremer: a midwife apprentice witnesses the delivery of a stillborn child that is saved from death by the midwife while the mother dies. Other people are present, including a priest, and they see a monster in the afterbirth and believe the baby's father is the devil himself. The midwife passes her book of healing and spells to the apprentice, who keeps the child and makes plans to move where it's safer to keep practicing her craft. The story is told in narrative parallels, between the present and the future trial that finds the midwife guilty of witchcraft (I think it's in Salem? It's set near Boston) and I think it worked really well to have alternating timelines. It’s a very graphic and almost gory story, which is something I’m not normally into but I think it worked here and I never felt like it was gratuitous. 4.5/5 stars
• The Heart in Her Hands by Tess Sharpe: Fate (a goddess) chooses one's soulmate, a girl is in love with her girlfriend but gets a different soulmate (a guy) and defies fate to stay with the girl she loves, with the price that her gift of healing becomes a gift of death that she turns into something useful. I love the soulmate theme when it’s in fanfic and while I don’t think it always works just as well in original fiction, I did like it here. I was hoping the whole time that she'd either rebel against her chosen soulmate or it'd end up a polyam relationship but yeah it did not disappoint, I loved it even though I was a bit confused about the magic sometimes. 4.5/5 stars
• Death on the Sawtooths by Lindsay Smith: this is about a witch whose patron is Xosia, the Lady of Death, and delivers the souls of the dead to her. She was bullied at the magic school, the conservatory, because people fear her power because long ago people like her uses the powers for evil. Then they summon her because someone has been taking the souls of the living out of people and wants to control them, but Mattie (the protagonist) and Savannah defeat the person who was doing this. I liked the theme of people being scared of what they don't know (Death) but also the fact that it was also a real fear since those powers had been used for evil before. And I liked that Mattie felt that pull to do the same and take control of souls but she kept that pull at bay. There were low-key gay vibes between her and Savannah but nothing was confirmed, would have liked to see their relationship in a longer story. 4/5 stars
• The Truth About Queenie by Brandy Colbert: a girl comes from a family of witches/healers but they hide it as much as possible, she's black and in love with her best friend who is also a black boy but he’s got a girlfriend. She had a skateboarding injury and is in danger for her life so he begs Queenie to heal her and she can't, also she feels weird because he kissed her (tw cheating) the night before the girlfriend had the accident. Anyway she heals her when she finally embraces all the parts of herself. This story didn’t really make me feel anything tbh and I didn't like the cheating, also there wasn't much magic or much plot. 2.5/5 stars
• The Moonapple Menagerie by Shveta Thakrar: I DNF’d this I'm sorry I just couldn't get into it at all.
• The Legend of Stone Mary by Robin Talley: about the descendant of a witch of the 19th century, kind of an Halloween story too and also f/f romance between witch/witch-hunter which is Nice. I wish it had focused a bit more on the romance but it was good. 4/5 stars
• The One Who Stayed by Nova Ren Suma: this one is kind of dark, it's about a group of women/coven (we find out they're all rape victims) that sense a girl in the woods who is being raped and it's similar to something that happened a while ago but the previous girl ran from them and got hit by a car. So when this girl goes to them this time they comfort her and welcome her in her group. I loved the narration a lot, the women were part of a collective "we" and when there needed to be a distinction it always identified them as their internal qualities, not age or appearance but like "the loudest of us" or "the one of us who was best at calming people down" (always with a superlative) and it really gave the idea of a community, also in the sense that it was all sorts of women who went through sexual assault. 4.5/5 stars
• Divine Are the Stars by Zoraida Córdova: it’s about a big family, the grandma (witch) is dying and leaves everything to the granddaughters. I honestly can’t say much about it since by now I forgot it and I know that while reading I just kept getting distracted, for some reason it didn’t hold my attention at all. 2.5/5 stars
• Daughters of Baba Yaga by Brenna Yovanoff: a girl is the daughter of Russian immigrants in America and her friend are witches but different kinds with different ways of doing magic and they use it to punish bullies. I really liked the writing and I loved seeing the bullies being punished and the different ways the two girls used their magic. 4/5 stars
• The Well Witch by Kate Hart: a water witch lives alone in the far west in 1875 Texas and three men ask to rest for a while but then they stay much longer and two of them are Bad but one isn't That bad and she falls in love with him then he leaves to do something I don’t remember and the other two trap her inside her house and after two weeks she sets the house and barn on fire and takes away the water with her so they won't have any and will die. This was very engaging and I couldn't stop reading until I was done. 4.5/5 stars
• Beware of Girls with Crooked Mouths by Jessica Spotswood: a girl comes from a family where only one sister lives and the others die and she has a vision where in the future they all live even if they're apart so she wants to recreate those conditions in order for that future to happen, she succeeds at driving one sister away but the other one stays because of the girl she loves. It wasn't bad or anything but I didn't really like it either and especially didn't like the open ending. It was also clear that what she was doing was wrong but I still felt like it brushed aside the question of consent because there’s a love potion involved. It was also all a bit too easy and the dialogue a bit rushed sometimes, idk it just wasn't for me. 2/5 stars
• Love Spell by Anna-Marie McLemore: about a bruja girl whose family cures love sickness, she goes to church and a trans acolyte boy gives her the communion (which he's not allowed to bc the church hates witches) and they fall in love, he then wants her to cure his love sickness but they end up together instead and he also has magic in himself. It was really short and cute and I liked it even though I usually don't like stories where religion is too important but the writing was beautiful and I loved it. 4.5/5 stars
• The Gherin Girls by Emery Lord: I didn't manage to read it ??? Like, it’s not a DNF because I didn’t even start but I can’t remember why, maybe some day I will come back to it.
• Why They Watch Us Burn by Elizabeth May: this was my favorite and the reason I can’t give any other story in this anthology a full 5/5. It’s also the only story I don’t want to say anything about because it should just be read. Me trying to sum it up or even say what it’s about would belittle its beauty, so just know that part of it is a beautiful f/f relationship (but it’s not all it’s about). Honestly if you can only read one story from this anthology let it be this one. 5/5 stars
So, would I recommend this anthology? I think it depends on what you’re into, but even as someone who’s not always into magic and especially not into magical realism I managed to enjoy most of the stories. I wish I had found more favorites among them but the ones I did find were so important and I can totally see myself wanting to reread them.
I read this anthology back in summer and I finally sat down to edit the notes I made on my phone after each story. I have to say this was one of my most anticipated releases of this year and while I can’t really say that I’m disappointed, I also wish I’d enjoyed more stories. I didn’t downright hate any, but a lot of them were just average for me.
With that said, I did have some favorites:
✨ Why They Watch Us Burn by Elizabeth May
✨ Afterbirth by Andrea Cremer
✨ The One Who Stayed by Nova Ren Suma
The notes I wrote back in summer were mostly spoilery (so I would remember the story) and I left them that way while editing them into a more readable review, so be aware of that if you don’t want to know anything about them. Also sorry if some of them are a bit of a mess.
• Starsong by Tehlor Kay Mejia: this was about a girl who has star magic and a lot of the story tells us how she came to have said magic. I was mostly just confused at the whole magic part, especially since it focused a lot on astrology which I know nothing nor care about and I felt like it required the reader to already know some stuff. Anyway then the girl chats with a cute science girl on Instagram who doesn't believe in magic but is open to listening to her and they plan a date. Basically an aspiring astronomer/astrologist pairing that probably deserves its own full length novel that I would totally read, but I just didn't care about the magic part which was what made up most of this story. 2.5/5 stars
• Afterbirth by Andrea Cremer: a midwife apprentice witnesses the delivery of a stillborn child that is saved from death by the midwife while the mother dies. Other people are present, including a priest, and they see a monster in the afterbirth and believe the baby's father is the devil himself. The midwife passes her book of healing and spells to the apprentice, who keeps the child and makes plans to move where it's safer to keep practicing her craft. The story is told in narrative parallels, between the present and the future trial that finds the midwife guilty of witchcraft (I think it's in Salem? It's set near Boston) and I think it worked really well to have alternating timelines. It’s a very graphic and almost gory story, which is something I’m not normally into but I think it worked here and I never felt like it was gratuitous. 4.5/5 stars
• The Heart in Her Hands by Tess Sharpe: Fate (a goddess) chooses one's soulmate, a girl is in love with her girlfriend but gets a different soulmate (a guy) and defies fate to stay with the girl she loves, with the price that her gift of healing becomes a gift of death that she turns into something useful. I love the soulmate theme when it’s in fanfic and while I don’t think it always works just as well in original fiction, I did like it here. I was hoping the whole time that she'd either rebel against her chosen soulmate or it'd end up a polyam relationship but yeah it did not disappoint, I loved it even though I was a bit confused about the magic sometimes. 4.5/5 stars
• Death on the Sawtooths by Lindsay Smith: this is about a witch whose patron is Xosia, the Lady of Death, and delivers the souls of the dead to her. She was bullied at the magic school, the conservatory, because people fear her power because long ago people like her uses the powers for evil. Then they summon her because someone has been taking the souls of the living out of people and wants to control them, but Mattie (the protagonist) and Savannah defeat the person who was doing this. I liked the theme of people being scared of what they don't know (Death) but also the fact that it was also a real fear since those powers had been used for evil before. And I liked that Mattie felt that pull to do the same and take control of souls but she kept that pull at bay. There were low-key gay vibes between her and Savannah but nothing was confirmed, would have liked to see their relationship in a longer story. 4/5 stars
• The Truth About Queenie by Brandy Colbert: a girl comes from a family of witches/healers but they hide it as much as possible, she's black and in love with her best friend who is also a black boy but he’s got a girlfriend. She had a skateboarding injury and is in danger for her life so he begs Queenie to heal her and she can't, also she feels weird because he kissed her (tw cheating) the night before the girlfriend had the accident. Anyway she heals her when she finally embraces all the parts of herself. This story didn’t really make me feel anything tbh and I didn't like the cheating, also there wasn't much magic or much plot. 2.5/5 stars
• The Moonapple Menagerie by Shveta Thakrar: I DNF’d this I'm sorry I just couldn't get into it at all.
• The Legend of Stone Mary by Robin Talley: about the descendant of a witch of the 19th century, kind of an Halloween story too and also f/f romance between witch/witch-hunter which is Nice. I wish it had focused a bit more on the romance but it was good. 4/5 stars
• The One Who Stayed by Nova Ren Suma: this one is kind of dark, it's about a group of women/coven (we find out they're all rape victims) that sense a girl in the woods who is being raped and it's similar to something that happened a while ago but the previous girl ran from them and got hit by a car. So when this girl goes to them this time they comfort her and welcome her in her group. I loved the narration a lot, the women were part of a collective "we" and when there needed to be a distinction it always identified them as their internal qualities, not age or appearance but like "the loudest of us" or "the one of us who was best at calming people down" (always with a superlative) and it really gave the idea of a community, also in the sense that it was all sorts of women who went through sexual assault. 4.5/5 stars
• Divine Are the Stars by Zoraida Córdova: it’s about a big family, the grandma (witch) is dying and leaves everything to the granddaughters. I honestly can’t say much about it since by now I forgot it and I know that while reading I just kept getting distracted, for some reason it didn’t hold my attention at all. 2.5/5 stars
• Daughters of Baba Yaga by Brenna Yovanoff: a girl is the daughter of Russian immigrants in America and her friend are witches but different kinds with different ways of doing magic and they use it to punish bullies. I really liked the writing and I loved seeing the bullies being punished and the different ways the two girls used their magic. 4/5 stars
• The Well Witch by Kate Hart: a water witch lives alone in the far west in 1875 Texas and three men ask to rest for a while but then they stay much longer and two of them are Bad but one isn't That bad and she falls in love with him then he leaves to do something I don’t remember and the other two trap her inside her house and after two weeks she sets the house and barn on fire and takes away the water with her so they won't have any and will die. This was very engaging and I couldn't stop reading until I was done. 4.5/5 stars
• Beware of Girls with Crooked Mouths by Jessica Spotswood: a girl comes from a family where only one sister lives and the others die and she has a vision where in the future they all live even if they're apart so she wants to recreate those conditions in order for that future to happen, she succeeds at driving one sister away but the other one stays because of the girl she loves. It wasn't bad or anything but I didn't really like it either and especially didn't like the open ending. It was also clear that what she was doing was wrong but I still felt like it brushed aside the question of consent because there’s a love potion involved. It was also all a bit too easy and the dialogue a bit rushed sometimes, idk it just wasn't for me. 2/5 stars
• Love Spell by Anna-Marie McLemore: about a bruja girl whose family cures love sickness, she goes to church and a trans acolyte boy gives her the communion (which he's not allowed to bc the church hates witches) and they fall in love, he then wants her to cure his love sickness but they end up together instead and he also has magic in himself. It was really short and cute and I liked it even though I usually don't like stories where religion is too important but the writing was beautiful and I loved it. 4.5/5 stars
• The Gherin Girls by Emery Lord: I didn't manage to read it ??? Like, it’s not a DNF because I didn’t even start but I can’t remember why, maybe some day I will come back to it.
• Why They Watch Us Burn by Elizabeth May: this was my favorite and the reason I can’t give any other story in this anthology a full 5/5. It’s also the only story I don’t want to say anything about because it should just be read. Me trying to sum it up or even say what it’s about would belittle its beauty, so just know that part of it is a beautiful f/f relationship (but it’s not all it’s about). Honestly if you can only read one story from this anthology let it be this one. 5/5 stars
So, would I recommend this anthology? I think it depends on what you’re into, but even as someone who’s not always into magic and especially not into magical realism I managed to enjoy most of the stories. I wish I had found more favorites among them but the ones I did find were so important and I can totally see myself wanting to reread them.
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Reading Progress
November 19, 2017
– Shelved
August 12, 2018
–
Started Reading
September 7, 2018
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Finished Reading
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Tyler
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rated it 4 stars
Nov 19, 2017 03:56PM
I already wanted to read this, now I NEED THIS. I will be eagerly anticipating this one :D
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Stephanie wrote: "I already wanted to read this, now I NEED THIS. I will be eagerly anticipating this one :D"It sounds so good 😍😍😍❤
mood!!! I cannot wait for this!!!
yeva 🐢 wrote: "mood!!! I cannot wait for this!!!"There are so many interesting F/F books coming out next year but it's still so long until them x_x
akfhdkdjjd yes!!! I'm so pumped for this and it sucks that we have to wait so long ughh 😭
sana wrote: "akfhdkdjjd yes!!! I'm so pumped for this and it sucks that we have to wait so long ughh 😭"Next year is going to be great for f/f 😭❤
*edited* Lesbians alone don't make a book good.
Jennifer wrote: "Lesbians don't make a book good."Not with that attitude, my dear homophobe
⚔ Silvia ⚓ wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Lesbians don't make a book good."Not with that attitude, my dear homophobe"
she's been commenting this on everyones review for this book. a homophobe is just mad that the gays are getting representation and existing :)
Yes that's why I have books by Nancy Garden and Julie Anne Peters in my collection. The presence of lesbians do not make a book worth reading, the content does. I've only said as much on comments or reviews that make no reference to anything else in the anthology, like the authors or the plot ideas. I've also been surprised people so eager for lesbians alone don't seem familiar with the other anthologies in this series, which should have made the presence of gay characters here less of a surprise.
Jennifer wrote: "Yes that's why I have books by Nancy Garden and Julie Anne Peters in my collection. The presence of lesbians do not make a book worth reading, the content does, and I've only said as much on commen..."I wrote my "review" before I even started reading the book, hell before the ARCs even came out, so how was I supposed to say anything about its content when literally back then all I knew was that it was about witches and many of them were lesbians or bisexuals? Which, by the way, already tells you much about the content of the book itself. You're just mad that people are excited about representation and that representation alone is often what leads them to want to read a book. Just because that's not your experience it doesn't give you the right to shit on someone's innocent comment and ruin their fun.
I knew about the book around the same time as you and had heard about some of the stories. Pointing out that the presence of lesbians doesn't make a book good isn't shitting on anything and I doubt it will ruin anyone's day.
Jennifer wrote: "I knew about the book around the same time as you and had heard about some of the stories. Pointing out that the presence of lesbians doesn't make a book good isn't shitting on anything and I doubt..."Your comment literally didn't make anyone's day better either, it was so pointless and deeply rooted in misogyny and homophobia but you don't even see it. You'd never tell someone "straight people don't make a book good" so if you wouldn't say that please never speak the word "lesbian" again and get out of my review.
Yes, actually I would say straight people don't make a book good; a character's sexuality does not make their story good or well-written. I was hoping, for example, at least one of the gay characters in this book is in a historical story (because it's rare for historical stories to have gay people) and will be happy if they are, but I'll still have to read the whole story to know if it's to my taste, just as I did with the book All Out.
Jennifer wrote: "Yes, actually I would say straight people don't make a book good; a person's sexuality does not make their story good or worthy. The accusation of misogyny makes no sense."And yet you don't go writing that to straight reviewers but you feel like it's okay to tell a queer reviewer that they shouldn't get excited about a book that represents them?? Nobody asked you what you think makes a book good or not, you're not my friend and you should think twice before you throw homophobic comments around like it's nothing. And you don't get to decide that your comment isn't homophobic because it is. Now get out.
I never said people shouldn't be excited about representation, I said sexual identity doesn't make a book good. If I ever see people cheering about a book's characters being straight and nothing else about the book, I'll be sure to tell them that. Have a nice day.
I just wanted to drop into this comment section to say that the only reason I exist on this Cursed Hell Orb is for wlw witches and to say that they do, in fact, automatically make everything better.
mo wrote: "I just wanted to drop into this comment section to say that the only reason I exist on this Cursed Hell Orb is for wlw witches and to say that they do, in fact, automatically make everything better."THANK YOU
I just wanna say, you're right, lesbians don't make a book great, they make a book Awesome! Seriously I am completely here for my wlw witches. I have read the first 3 stories so far and am loving it!
Also, I'd just block them. No sense wasting energy with homophobic trolls.
Stephanie wrote: "I just wanna say, you're right, lesbians don't make a book great, they make a book Awesome! Seriously I am completely here for my wlw witches. I have read the first 3 stories so far and am loving..."
yeah she's blocked now. I'm reading it too and it's good!
⚔ Silvia ⚓ wrote: "Stephanie wrote: "I just wanna say, you're right, lesbians don't make a book great, they make a book Awesome! Seriously I am completely here for my wlw witches. I have read the first 3 stories so..."
So far i've rated the 3 stories i've read 5 stars, I have a good feeling about this anthology! Glad you're enjoying it too :)
Dropping in to say that the reason people are so excited that this book has lesbians is because there's barely any books out there with queer girls -- so the presence of lesbians in this book DOES make it good for so many people. Reading a book with your sexual identity represented is so freaking important, why can't people see that?
*bangs pots and pans* LESBIAN WITCHES ARE AMAZING SO GOOD
