Book 5, 2020

[chez_jae]

Tardy Bells and Witches' Spells by Sarina Dorie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Ice kept me home this morning, and I used the unexpected time off to finish reading Tardy Bells and Witches' Spells by Sarina Dorie. It's the first book in the "Womby's School for Wayward Witches" paranormal series. The story was told in first-person pov by Clarissa Lawrence, a young girl who would dearly love for magic to be real.

Clarissa is a geek and an outcast. She loves Harry Potter, Narnia, Star Trek, etc, and she would like nothing more than for magic to be real. Clarissa's only friend is her older sister, Missy, whom she adores and loves. When the family visits a local country fair, Missy goes missing for several hours. Once she's found, she insists that she met a witch who told her that Clarissa would kill her before her 18th birthday. Seemingly overnight, Clarissa's protective, loving big sister turns cold and distant towards her. Clarissa would never hurt her sister, and she does everything she can to prove to Missy that she loves her.

By the time school begins again, Clarissa is a freshman and is eager to go to the same high school as Missy. Her sister, however, shuns her in favor of hanging out with the cool kids. Clarissa is taken in by the self-named "nerd herd", where she meets Derrick, a blue-haired boy who does magic tricks. Clarissa's mother doesn't approve of Derrick and tells Clarissa to stay away from him. In the meantime, Clarissa suspects that Missy is dabbling in black magic, but she doesn't want to tattle on her, for fear of making her sister hate her even more than she already does.

It isn't until the night of homecoming during Clarissa's sophomore year that everything spirals out of control, and she learns just what price magic can exact. Clarissa's life will never be the same again.

I had a love-hate thing going on with this book. The story was compelling, and Clarissa is a fully-formed, engaging character. All characters were, except for Missy. We never knew what was going on with her. I think what most took me aback about Missy was that overnight, literally, she went from the fun, protective big sister to actively fearing and hating on Clarissa. All I could think was, you've known your sister all her life, and yet you're going to believe something a woman you knew for a matter of hours tells you, rather than believing in your sister? Missy was utterly vile to Clarissa for the rest of the story, and poor Clarissa was so heartbroken. Also, the book never really touched on Womby's School except to mention it in passing. I had presumed the story would, oh I don't know, be set in Womby's School for Wayward Witches!


- It became obvious that Clarissa's mother was a witch, yet she tried to hide magic from her daughters...to protect them? It would have been better to be honest with them. Also, she always seemed to know when Clarissa was manifesting even a little magic, yet she totally missed the black magic that Missy was actively practicing?
- I just really can't get over Missy's complete 180. I guess, if you're afraid your sister is going to kill you, you react by doing hateful things to her, thus making her hate you enough to kill you?
- I made the mistake of reading the first chapter of the next book, which was included at the end of this one. It was set six years later, after Clarissa had graduated high school and college and was working as a substitute teacher. WHERE AND WHEN DOES WOMBY'S SCHOOL FOR WAYWARD WITCHES COME INTO PLAY?! Time will tell, I guess.

Favorite lines:
♦ I only had one cut on my face, a little one on my jaw. It was way less cool than Harry Potter's lightning scar.
♦ We had to wade through a sea of cats to get to the door.
♦ What kind of horrible sadist decided to make physical education mandatory in high school?

In spite of the annoyances and aggravations I felt reading this, I'm giving it five stars. Anything that can get that much of a reaction is well-written, yeah?