Hendrix Has Another Masterpiece with Witchcraft For Wayward Girls
Imagine feeling powerless. Imagine feeling alone and scared. Imagine having everyone blame you for something that isn’t your fault. And then, imagine someone gave you a book that could give you your power back.
That is the story told in Witchcraft For Wayward Girls.
As a warning, this book deals with heavy issues like child SA, teenage pregnancy and forced adoptions. My review will, by necessity, touch lightly on those topics.
The story
Released in January, Witchcraft For Wayward Girls is the story of a girl named Fern. At fifteen, she’s pregnant and unmarried. Her father takes her to a Home for girls in her situation. The plan is simple. She’s to have her baby, give it up for adoption, then go home and move on with her life.
But that’s not how things work out.
When visiting a mobile library, Fern is given a book of witchcraft. She and her friends try one of the spells, and it works. Soon they find themselves doing amazing things like flying in the air and seeking revenge on those who abused them. But magic has a price. And it’s a high one.
What worked
Witchcraft For Wayward Girls was infuriating in the best way possible. From the first few pages, you can feel your blood boiling at the injustice of the situation. It starts with Fern’s father, abandoning her at the Home and just gets worse from there. It’s impossible not to be angry at him, at the boy who impregnated Fern, at the doctors. Pretty much everyone who’s not one of the pregnant girls is unfair and horrible at least some of the time.
It’s astounding how much one can desire vengeance against a person who technically doesn’t exist.
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I also appreciated the depth of detail in the story. This is something that can be said about all Hendrix books. Witchcraft For Wayward Girls is set in Florida in the summer. And you can feel the sticky, damp heat on every page. You can feel what it must be like to be pregnant in that heat without air conditioning, swimming pools or salt. Even reading this book in chilly Western PA during January, I felt the heat and smelled the wet air.
The best thing about Witchcraft For Wayward Girls, though, is its honesty. This book deals with some hard topics. Well, one hard topic. Teenage pregnancy happens for a lot of reasons. None of them are pleasant to think about. Some are worse than others. And yes, at least one girl in this book is pregnant because she was being abused.
But even the girls who got pregnant through voluntary activities are mistreated in a very realistic way. In each situation, the girls are expected to upend their entire lives. They’re miles from home and treated like they’re the only ones responsible for their current situation. They are treated like foolish children who have truly messed up, while at the same time expecting them to shoulder the burden of women while letting the boys who impregnated them continue to be boys. It’s sick, and it’s all too real.
And it’s exactly this sort of powerlessness that makes witchcraft so appealing. There is a reason why witchcraft tends to be practiced by women and men who are not straight white men. We tend to be women, queer and people of color. We tend to come from poverty. We find ourselves in a world where we have little to no power over our own lives, so we make it for ourselves. Witchcraft For Wayward Girls understands this. And it is that understanding that will make this story so enduring.
Witchcraft For Wayward Girls is another in a long list of fantastic horror from Hendrix. It’s eloquent, inspiring and passionate. If it’s the first book you read by Hendrix I can almost guarantee it won’t be the last.
(5 / 5)
Book Reviews
My Best Friend’s Exorcism: Experience the 80’s, demons and all.
“By the power of Phil Collins, I rebuke you!”
Yeh, okay. I did the thing everyone tells you not to do.
I WATCHED THE MOVIE FIRST!
And I have regrets. But in my defense, when I impulse-watched My Best Friend’s Exorcism, I didn’t realize it was based on a book by the great Grady Hendrix. If you haven’t seen the film I would recommend reading Zeth’s review of it here.
But I am here to talk about the book.
- Hendrix, Grady (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Last update on 2025-02-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Plot.
My Best Friend’s Exorcism, published in 2016, is a campy 80’s nostalgia-driven take on the possession horror genre. In the opening chapters, we meet fourth-grader Abby. She loves ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, roller-skating and, it seems, any song in the top 10 charts. When the new weird kid, Gretchen, shows up to Abby’s roller-skating party, the two bond and so begins a life-long friendship.
Fast forward to high school in the year 1988. Abby and Gretchen, along with the other half of their girl group, Margaret and Glee, decide to try LSD. Not entirely sure if the stuff is working or if they’re just high on the moment, Gretchen takes off at a run, deciding to skinny dip in the inlet behind Margaret’s house. The girls run after her but when they get to the dock, Gretchen is gone. The frantic search through the woods yields nothing, and Gretchen’s reappearance marks a chilling transformation. As Gretchen’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic and disturbing, Abby suspects something far more sinister than teenage rebellion. Over the course of a terrifying year, Abby must confront the possibility that her best friend is possessed, testing the limits of their friendship and forcing her to face unimaginable horrors to save Gretchen’s soul.
Highlights.
I’m an 80’s baby and this book was like a walk through my childhood. From the landline telephones to the overly zealous hair sprayed hair. A particular highlight for me was the frequent mention of bands, songs, and lyrics. This book triggered nostalgia for me in a big way. I admit that Phil Collins has been in rotation on my playlist since I finished the opening chapter.
Another aspect of My Best Friend’s Exorcism that needs to be noted is the way Hendrix has given his own spin on the ending. The typical possession horror usually ends with the exorcist making a breakthrough with his beliefs and casting out the demon, spirit, or devil (depending on what you’re reading/ watching) This story though does something different and I won’t reveal how because spoilers, but it was a really uplifting and hopeful way to end a book without getting all spiritual.
Drawbacks.
In order to maintain authenticity to the setting and time period, Hendrix has included the not-so-nice aspects of the 80’s. So, there are some racial slurs, and homophobic and non-inclusive language in My Best Friend’s Exorcism. I know this was part of the era and I get why he’s included this, but it didn’t sit well with me. But perhaps that was the point, to remind people that the 80’s was not all neon spandex and high pony tales.
- Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
- Elsie Fisher, Amiah Miller, Rachel Ogechi Kanu (Actors)
- Damon Thomas (Director) – Jenna Lamia (Writer) – Lindsay Williams (Producer)
Last update on 2025-02-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
The Final Take.
I know you’ve heard it before, the book is better than the movie. This statement has become a bit of a cliche but in the case of My Best Friend’s Exorcism, there has never been a truer statement spoken. This book was a joy to read, it was a camp, body horror, demonic rollercoaster. But at its core, it is the story of two girls whose friendship withstands the devil.
(4.5 / 5)
Book Reviews
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.
“What have you done today to deserve your eyes?”
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes, Eric LaRocca’s June 2021 debut collection, is a dark and disturbing exploration of human connection and the desperation for intimacy. These stories burrow under the skin, blending psychological horror sprinklings of body horror and a disturbing undercurrent of religious obsession.
The Stories.
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes features a novella followed by two short stories.
‘Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.’
Presented as a true crime investigation and told through a series of increasingly disturbing emails and instant messages,Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke charts the twisted relationship between Agnes and Zoe. What begins with the sale of an heirloom apple peeler quickly spirals into obsession, control, and unsettling discussions about life, death, and dominance. Winner of the 2022 Splatterpunk Award for Best Novella.
‘The Enchantment.’
Set in our world, but where the afterlife has been proven to not exist. A couple (Olive and James) welcomes their teenage son Milo home, eager to celebrate his 17th birthday. Milo, a highly religious person, is in no mood to celebrate. Milo is convinced that science is wrong, God exists, and he is willing to go to great lengths to prove his devotion.
‘You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over.
Gerald Fowler’s garden discovery—a bone—leads him to his mysterious neighbor, Mr. Perlzig. A seemingly simple question about the bone’s origins quickly devolves into a series of escalating bets that Gerald can’t seem to lose, with darkly comedic and increasingly unsettling consequences. What lengths is Mr. Fowler willing to go to to ensure he remains a polite neighbor?
- Audible Audiobook
- Eric LaRocca (Author) – Laurie Catherine Winkel (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
Last update on 2025-02-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Highlights.
The main highlight in this collection was the first story, ‘Things Have Gotten Worse Since We last Spoke’. This story felt like a rollercoaster and it ended with me wanting more. The body horror toward the end was so well written, LaRocca doesn’t resort to drawn-out bloody descriptions or visceral language, the body horror here feels more mature than that. It is slight cramping and nausea and knowing the cause and how it’s all going to end. Also please pay attention to the nuances of who enters and leaves the chats first and how quickly (or slowly) emails are returned. It is in these details that LaRocco shines, you can feel the desperation oozing from the page.
‘You’ll Find It’s Like That All Over’ is Stephen King-esque; for me, that’s a big win! I’m not sure what it is exactly, perhaps it is Mr. Fowler who feels he could walk into Castle Rock, in particular of the Needful Things era, and not be noticed, or maybe it’s the Americana feel of the story itself. There’s just something there that makes me want to pick up anything of King’s and reread it.
- Audible Audiobook
- Stephen King (Author) – Stephen King (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
Last update on 2025-02-03 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Drawbacks.
Notice how I skipped a story in the ‘Highlights’ section. Let’s talk about ‘The Enchantment’. Look, I didn’t hate it. It just felt disjointed and unfinished. Like LaRocca had a great idea but perhaps had some trouble with the execution. The first scene was great and I was ready to completely enjoy it. The characters are so well developed in this first scene, the parental angst and the teen anger are palpable. But then there is the ‘Six Months Later’ jump and we are thrown onto Temple Island. Despite the parents being there, they are not the same people and I didn’t completely buy the reason for them being there, or being there together. The stranger who appears and the reason behind it feels contrived and enters into deus ex machina territory.
The Final Take.
This collection has much to offer, with the eponymous novella being the strongest of the three in my humble opinion. While ‘The Enchantment’ is less impactful, it does contribute to the book’s exploration of religious ideas and provides a thematic bridge between the other stories. Might someone skip who feels inclined to do so? Yes, I think they could without missing out on too much.
(3.5 / 5)
Ever wonder what would happen if a witch, a mythological dreamscape, and a kitchen disaster collided at full speed? Jennifer Weigel’s Let’s Do Lunch (Witch Hayzelle’s Recipes for Disaster Book 1) doesn’t just answer that question—it serves it up on a flaming silver platter with a side of snarky humor and alliterative goodness.
This fast-paced, genre-blending novella is part mythological adventure, part obsessive investigation (Moby Dick style), and part cookbook. Yes, you read that right. The book sprinkles in recipes—some of which might be surprisingly edible (looking at you, tofu dish). I think the mix of this worked really well. At times, and this might be because of my background, I thought that the book was pushing into Gargantuan territory and then it slipped back into a real recipe.
Where Let’s Do Lunch really shines is in its world-building. The mythology of dreams is an intriguing and immersive element that keeps the story grounded in a unique and whimsical lore. The characters, while more like vehicles for humor than deep personalities, fit well within the book’s quick and quirky style. There’s also a delightful meta-layer to the storytelling, making it feel self-aware in the best possible way.
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Weigel, Jennifer (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Last update on 2025-01-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Another thing that worked really well, even on Kindle, is the art the author produces. The drawings really do make a lot of the book pop and work remarkably well in black and white (or paperwhite, as the case may be). Even the cover is a mix of void space set aside by white–the creation of art through erasure of darkness.
Kindle Caveat:
One small hiccup–if you’re reading the Kindle version, be prepared for footnotes that don’t always play nice with e-readers. They can be tricky to navigate, making it tough to appreciate some of the book’s side notes without breaking the flow. This is something the publisher seems to agree with (as the amazon page has a similar warning).
Overall and Score
Overall, Let’s Do Lunch is a light, fun read perfect for anyone who enjoys their fantasy with a heavy dose of humor and a sprinkle of culinary catastrophe. If the rest of the Recipes for Disaster series keeps up this level of playful mayhem, fans are in for a treat (or at least a hilarious food-related accident).
(4 / 5)
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