Description
Hell is brutal, but high school is worse. For young witch, Krystal Greene, it’s about to get grim.
Magick carries a cost. Survival has a worse one.
Krystal isn’t just the redheaded outcast everyone loves to bully, she’s also the town’s only hope against an ancient evil. Between surviving cruel classmates, passing trigonometry, learning magick from a demon mentor, and keeping her biggest secret hidden, she never asked to become the chosen witch, just to be left alone. But when her bullies go too far, shadows whisper her name, demons crawl out of the dark, and Krystal discovers that destiny doesn’t care if she’s ready.
Armed with a sharp tongue, a stubborn streak, and a magick she barely understands, Krystal must face enemies both human and supernatural. If she fails, her town and everyone in it will be swallowed by The Darkness. If she succeeds, she just might find out that being different is her greatest strength or the reason she loses her soul.
She’ll fight her bullies, stand against an ancient evil, and save the town that loathes her… right after she finishes her homework.
Sweet Witchteen is a darkly spellbinding young adult fantasy full of magick, monsters, friendship, and the fight to survive both high school and hell itself. Perfect for fans of Smallville, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Salem’s Lot.
A Beta Reader said…
I picked up Sweet Witchteen expecting a cute paranormal YA novel.
The cover says “witch.”
The protagonist is sixteen.
There are bullies.
There are high school problems.
There are friendship issues.
There are birthday parties.
How bad could it possibly get?
Very.
Let’s start with our heroine, Krystal Greene. She’s a bullied teenage witch whose hobbies include riding a motorcycle, talking to an eight-foot-tall demon in another universe, reading emotions, breaking occult laws, and slowly shredding her own soul every time she uses magic.
This is somehow the least weird thing in the book.
Her best friend Jennifer responds to eldritch horror with sarcasm. The local mean girls accidentally summon a cosmic entity. The Christian minister eventually has to beg the town heathen to save his daughter. A drunken baseball player dressed as Van Helsing attempts to fight an ancient evil with a cross and a wooden stake.
He does not have a great evening.
Meanwhile, the terrifying demon mentor wears an Iron Maiden shirt, drinks wine, gives surprisingly solid life advice, and is somehow the healthiest relationship in the entire novel.
This book repeatedly introduces tropes solely to mug them in a dark alley.
The witch isn’t evil.
The demon isn’t evil.
The Christian isn’t righteous.
The popular girls become cultists.
The bullied girl becomes dangerous.
The magic system is essentially, “Congratulations, you can save the world. The cost is your soul.”
Every adult in town either fails, panics, gets possessed, wets themselves, or desperately asks the teenage witch for help.
And somehow—against every known law of storytelling—this all works.
The emotional core is surprisingly sincere. Jennifer and Krystal’s friendship carries the entire novel. The horror scenes genuinely become disturbing. The cosmic mythology grows larger than expected. The stakes escalate from “high school sucks” to “an elder god may devour reality.”
I still don’t know how a novel containing hippie witches, psychic patchwork skirts, cosmic horror, motorcycle rides, sarcastic teenagers, and an Iron Maiden-loving demon became emotionally effective.
But it did.
I came for The Craft.
I stayed for the eldritch trauma, the witch who desperately wants to be left alone, and the realization that the scariest thing in Theillesville isn’t the ancient evil.
It’s sophomore year.
Verdict: Carrie meets The Craft at a drum circle while cosmic horror waits outside in the parking lot.
Would absolutely attend the coven meeting.
Probably would not survive it.