Title Sweet and Bitter Magic Series --- Author Adrienne Tooley Cover Art --- Publisher Margaret K. McElderry Books - 2019 First Printing Margaret K. McElderry Books - 2019 Category Young Adult Warnings None Main Characters Tamsin, Wren Main Elements Witches

In this debut fantasy, a witch cursed to never love meets a girl hiding her own dangerous magic, and the two strike a dangerous bargain to save their queendom.

Tamsin is the most powerful witch of her generation. But after committing the worst magical sin, she’s exiled by the ruling Coven and cursed with the inability to love. The only way she can get those feelings back—even for just a little while—is to steal love from others.

Wren is a source—a rare kind of person who is made of magic, despite being unable to use it herself. Sources are required to train with the Coven as soon as they discover their abilities, but Wren—the only caretaker to her ailing father—has spent her life hiding her secret.

When a magical plague ravages the queendom, Wren’s father falls victim. To save him, Wren proposes a bargain: if Tamsin will help her catch the dark witch responsible for creating the plague, then Wren will give Tamsin her love for her father.

Of course, love bargains are a tricky thing, and these two have a long, perilous journey ahead of them—that is, if they don't kill each other first.

I read this for free on the Simon Teen site, which was good because it was just wasn't for me. The worldbuilding was of interest, where witches must use the power within themselves because if they use the power from the Earth around them, black magic, the Earth will rebel with deadly weather and other consequences. Tamsin and Wren need to find the witch behind the curse upon the land.

And honestly, that's nearly about it when it comes to plot. The whole rest of the book is Wren feeling cheated that she had to hide her magic so she could stay in her hometown and take care of her father instead of going out in the world and being trained as a witch. And Tamsin who doesn't feel...well anything since she was cursed for having used black magic and then exiled from the Witchlands, she just wallows in guilt. Both of these spend so much time thinking about their problems...and then later, thinking about each other 'cause this is also a romance, and I was outright drowning in all the angst and confused glances and awkward touches.

But a lot of people on Goodreads seem to love it, so if you are interested in a slow burn romance as the two characters sort through all the baggage of their lives only to discover they are into each other, then this could be for you, lots of emotions to sort through. But not my thing, angst and guilt just turns me off, not that we don't all do it, but when its the key storypoint I just want to yell at the characters to get over themselves, that the world is about to end if they can't get their act together (and honestly I'm not convinced these two were the only ones capable of hunting down the dark witch, I mean was everyone else completely incompetent? Wren's power was rare but not unique).

On positive I want to point out, I particularly enjoy books where LGBTQ characters are presented as completely normal. There are many lesbian characters (given there weren't any males in the Witchlands that I noticed, perhaps not surprising, but this seems true outside the Witchlands too) and nobody raises an eyebrow. Books showing the challenges homosexual couples have a place, but if you show how normal they are and no one thinks anything odd about it, I find that shows us not what the world is, but what we should strive for.