I have not stopped thinking about this book since I finished reading it. The writing style is beautiful and so well done and the world is well developed and the magic system is beautifully written, I loved the characters and genuinely could not put this book down! I was having a hard time finishing books or sticking with a series and when I had picked this up I had figured it would have the same fate, but as I started reading, it quickly became apparent that that would not be the case. This book is set in the modern day United States, with the magical element woven in through witches that have power that corresponds to the seasons. The main character, Clara, is an exceptionally powerful witch that has power that changes with the seasons, unlike her peers. She is extremely insecure about herself and terrified of her powers based off past tragedy and current events, and you get to go along with her as she learns about herself and how to gain back control in her life. Sometimes I find that deeply insecure characters can be extremely bothersome and difficult to read about but every insecurity is well written and justified and I wasn’t feeling annoyed by the story or wishing  the characters would take a different approch to situations at all. This book does an amazing job making the readers feel each emotion as severally as the main character, but not too overwhelmed even with so much going on in the book. This book handles themes about tragedy and loss as well as some mental health and ptsd elements very elegantly and realistically. Even though it was a rather simple read, the addition of these heavy topics, paired with a writing style that makes each page feel like an art piece, made this book exceed my expectations

One of the most impressive parts of this book is how clearly you can tell the author did tons of research for this story. You get a little extra information about weather systems and botany which fits in perfect with the natural and seasonal themes of this book. Sometimes I feel like in order to sound more sophisticated, some authors will add an excessive amount of knowledge on a topic without explanation, but with the characters lives relying so much on the seasons, it is very realistic to have the characters know this information since they are just students, still learning about their powers. My only complaint is that I wish there was a little more insight on the motivation of the “villain” in the book. While they aren’t the main focus of the book or the direct problem, there isn’t really an answer to why they treat Clara so harsh and unfair. While this does bother me a bit, all the things this book does right wildly outshines this problem and I feel like once you get to the end of the book it makes sense why this bit wasn’t really needed to make this an amazing story.

If you like books about magic and nature with well written main characters and a great message, you will love this book. I can see this easily becoming one of my favorites. I will definitely be rereading it in the future and I look forward to future books from this author.