MIXING MAGICS

It’s been a few weeks since Bernadette Crowley’s Grandma Orla and friend Finley, a Mystery demon, vanished into the demon dimension.

She’s left with only a cryptic prophecy from Fin and little hope of solving it. The other members of the Irish American Crowley family seem to have moved on from Grandma Orla’s disappearance. When a frustrated Ber takes the rescue into her own hands, she summons a stranger from her grandmother’s past and begins to learn about the true, complicated history of blood witch culture. The series opener, Accidental Demons (2024), established a lot of the worldbuilding around the magic system and the role of Ber’s diabetes; this entry focuses more on her home life. Ber’s relationship with gender-nonconforming new boyfriend Cai, whose mind-reading abilities are growing more potent, puts a magically heightened spin on the awkwardness of young teens’ relationships. Though she’s still adjusting to her new insulin pump, Ber has made strides in accepting herself as “a diabetic,” and her impulsive, strong-willed personality shines through. While the magical system is convoluted in places, the plot moves at a brisk pace. Ber uncovers family secrets, including one that brings about a satisfying twist; the exploration of the Crowleys’ history is the novel’s highlight. The earlier book established that Cai is of Japanese and implied-white descent.

A strong, brisk duology closer.