What's Up in YA

Queer Witchy YA Stories for the Season

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Kelly Jensen

Editor

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She's the editor/author of (DON'T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen.

Is there anything queerer than a witch? There might be plenty right up there in such a fake ranking, but witches are among some of the queerest beings imaginable. Witches wear what they want, they believe in magic, they cast spells, and they can fall anywhere on the spectrum of Glenda the Good to the darkest and most evil of spirits imaginable. That’s what makes witchy stores so dang good.

There has been such a welcome uptick in queer horror in YA over the last several years. While not all witch stories are horror, you could make a compelling case that they are. The witch elicits a fear or disgust or slight sweaty feeling for many readers, even in the most mundane situations.

Let’s take a look at a handful of the most outstanding queer YA witch stories. These are perfect to read as we enter into Halloween season, as much as they’re delightful to read at any other time.

Psst: if you think to yourself “I’ve read this list before,” that might be because it originally ran in the Our Queerest Shelves newsletter in mid-September. It’s too good not to also share here.

Spells to Forget Us by Aislinn Brophy book cover

Spells to Forget Us by Aislinn Brophy

Luna is a powerful, talented witch, set to take over as as head of the Boston Witch Council. Except she does not want that role.

Aoife is not at all magical or powerful. She’s also extremely well known, as her influencer family used her for content since she was born. She wants nothing but a quiet, private life.

When the two girls’ paths cross, they fall for each other hard. Magic law decrees that when Luna dates, she must cast a spell that will erase the memories of that relationship from the person she dated in the event they break up. But when the romance between Aoife and Luna ends, it’s not just Aoife who loses the memory of the relationship. Luna does, too.

The girls meet again. Date again. Then they both recover the memories from that prior relationship.

And so it goes, again and again.

A time loop story with a witch and non-witch? This sounds so fun.

So Witches We Became by Jill Baguchinsky book cover

So Witches We Became by Jill Baguchinsky

Nell and her friends have rented a vacation house in Florida for spring break to get away from their lives for a bit. But Nell’s secrets didn’t stay at home. They came with, and they’ve decided to team up with the island’s own history of tragedy. Now, the friends are all trapped, with nowhere to go, since the water surrounding their not-so-sweet vacation rental is infested with dangerous beasts and a toxic mist.

It’ll be work to get out. Part of that work—or maybe a whole lot of that work—will involve confronting the secrets and memories that Nell, as well as her friends, wish they didn’t need to. For Nell, it’s reckoning with an assault she experienced a year ago and a shadow that’s followed her throughout her entire life. 

But Nell’s friends all brought their own secrets and together, they’ll need to not only divulge them, they’ll need to use their combined powers to get out of this mess. What results is an angry, powerful, witchy confrontation with monsters, human and otherwise.

cover of Over My Dead Body by Sweeney Boo

Over My Dead Body by Sweeney Boo

Set at Younwity’s Institute of Magic during the days leading up to Samhain, when the veil between the living world and the dead is thinnest, Abby wakes up and discovers her best friend Noreen has disappeared. What’s weirdest is most of Abby’s classmates seem not to care about it. They’re too busy preparing for the festivities and believe that the school’s Coven will find Noreen safe and sound. No one seems concerned about the forbidden woods seeming just a little more foreboding than usual, either.

Abby’s not settling for that and begins to search out answers herself, with the help of a couple of friends. What she unravels is a thread of secrets throughout the institution and a governing Coven who may be anything but the kind of leadership the institution deserves. And Noreen’s disappearance has a lot of similarities to the disappearance of a student years before.

This vibrant, full-colored graphic novel features a wide range of queer witches and witches of color, and it is a visual delight through and through.

cemetery boys book cover

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Set over Halloween and into Día De Los Muertos, Thomas’s debut novel follows Yadriel, who is determined to prove himself a powerful brujo despite the gendered expectations of his traditional Latine family. He employs the help of two friends to perform a ritual that will help him find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set him free.

This was a lot of fun while also being packed with so much interesting stuff about gender, about Brujería and how gendered it is, about family, and a sweet, humorous romance. 

the witchery book cover

The Witchery by S. Isabelle

Badass witches and dark magic set in a witch academy? Yes, please!

Logan is a new witch struggling with her powers and is taken under the tutelage of a death witch, a green witch, and a witch who is thirsty for more power. It won’t be long before Wolves rise up to attack humans and witches alike, but there isn’t a good alliance between humans and witches.

All four of the student witches are going to have to band together to not only secure that alliance but to take down the Wolves who are hungry for blood.

book cover of Brooms by Jasmine Walls

Brooms by Jasmine Walls, illustrated by Teo DuVall

This one is pitched as The Fast and the Furious but with broomsticks, and it follows a group of 6 diverse teens who participate in a forbidden broom race, which allows them to embrace their magic as witches. It’s set in 1930s Mississippi, giving the story of magic and witchcraft a historical spin.

not good for maidens book cover

Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino

Lou’s disbelief in magic is shattered once she has to journey to the goblin market to rescue her teenage aunt. The market, which Lou had only read about up until now, is full of every kind of sweet, delectable thing that could tempt humans. She has to learn spells and tricks if she’s to save her aunt and make it out alive. She’s only got three days, though, and then the market disappears– and her aunt along with it.

Want more? Then you’re in luck. Dive into these witchy queer YA titles, too: