The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos "pretending" to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.
But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.
As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for....

Before we get to the review part, here’s something fun. To get in the right mindset of the book, I made a mood board for it! The book is super cute and cozy and witchy and that’s what I tried to convey with this mood board. I loved making it, and I definitely want to make more! Let me know if that’s something you’d like to see.

I pretty much loved everything about this book. If you’ve read The House in the Cerulean Sea (**see note at the end), this has a lot of the same vibes. Obviously one standout is the found family aspect. The two “grandfather” figures are so precious and wholesome!! I wish I had people like them in my life. They are so supportive of the ones they love, even when they try to meddle a bit. The three children are also so cute. I loved that we got to see the different ways that they reacted to Mika arriving. Of course different kids would have different responses, and I like that the author didn’t have all the kids in love with her right away.

Another aspect that I’d really like to highlight is how the author handled Mika’s loneliness. She has grown up very isolated, and is really used to that. By living with this family and making all these different connections, she comes to realize how fulfilling it can be to have people in your life. And that contrary to some people’s opinions, loving others makes you stronger, not weaker. I think this is a really important thing that we can all learn from – especially that we need all different types of relationships in our lives. Romantic ones are NOT the only kind that are important.

All of the scenes were written with a touch of whimsy, and dare I even say, with magic. I loved all of the quiet scenes of learning, potion making, visits to bookshops, and etc. Those scenes reminded me of something that the director Hayao Miyazaki said. He talked about how those quiet moments in his movies made the dramatic scenes all the more impactful. They also provide a place to rest, so to speak.

All in all, this is definitely a new favorite book of mine, and I hope you all check it out! I’ll leave with with a wonderful quote from the book.

“The thing is, being a witch is extraordinary,” she said. “It might seem sometimes that all we are is odd and different, but the truth is, we’re amazing. We’re part of the earth below us and the sky above us. Our veins echo the patterns of rivers and roots. There’s sunlight and moonlight in our bones.”

**NOTE: I can’t in good conscience recommend The House in the Cerulean Sea anymore. This is mostly due to the articles that have come out that write about how the author used the Canadian indigenous residential schools as “inspiration.”