any witch way by annastaysia savage

Title: Any Witch Way
Author: Annastaysia Savage
Pages: 185
Series: Stand alone
Published: April 8th, 2011
Rating: 4/5
Source: Publisher

Summary (Goodreads):

Enduring the teasing and ridicule of her school mates, Sadie struggles through life as a pre-teen on the eve of her 13th birthday. Three years ago, a car crash took her mother, but Sadie never saw her body. She refuses to believe her mother is really gone. Holding fast to that feeling earns her the nickname "Crazy Sadie." Despite her one wish to be normal, Sadie only finds solace with a small group of unusual characters. These unlikely friends give her a “semi-normal” life outside of school in a bookstore where strange and mystical things seem to happen. In fact, if Sadie entertains her deepest suspicions, her friends are a little mystical.

When her birthday arrives however, Sadie finds herself whisked into a magical world that swirls just under the surface of normal, everyday life. Not only does she learn she’ll soon become a witch, but she also discovers she must battle The Syndicate to save her new world. Faced with fantastical encounters, unexplainable transformations, and startling fears, Sadie struggles against an unknown evil – all while searching for her real identity.

My Two Cents:

A cool book for a younger reader as the story is about a young witch, Sadie. What I loved about the story is it's sweet, very entertaining with all the adventure of Sadie to find herself and learned how to adapt with her new life as a witch.

All the characters in the story are great since they're magical creatures involved, other witches, talking cat which made the story more fascinating. The story has a fast pace from the start, and quite captivating toward the ending. I love the author creating a great setting for a modern fantasy story of a young witch. Other than that, what I loved most is there's a lot of good sides of something good to learn for teens as it's a mixed of how to blend in, fitting in, confident in who you are, and accept ourselves as who we really are. Sadie's lost of her mother and being undergoing foster care system, being teased was not a great experienced, but when she found out her life has some great purpose, her confidence grew.

The writing is easy to understand, so I think younger tween would love to read this. There's some cool illustration in the book, which is very good to imagine what's Sadie's experiencing. Sadie's character is easy to connect to, and I think she is quite fun. Although this is only a story of a girl in a transition to be a witch, I think it has in-depth storyline and very entertaining. Young adult of fantasy readers would enjoy to read this.

About the Author

Annastaysia Savage is both a writer and artist. She earned her BFA in Fine Art, with honors, from Arizona State University. She is one residency shy of a MA in creative writing from Wilkes University and is currently pursuing an MFA in sculpture and jewelry design from The Academy of Art University. Both writing and art have always been in her life, beginning at age 5 with her fist publication of a short poem and her first art exhibition entry that took first place. She has several short stories published in the last few years, her most recent a flash fiction horror piece for children and young adults in Crow’s Nest Magazine called “Grimalkins” and a short story in the anthology: JournalStone’s 2010 Warped Words for Twisted Minds.