Just Witch It is book four in Erin Bedford’s Academy of Witches series. It follows Maxine Mancaster, a teen girl who was not aware she was a witch until she received an acceptance letter from Winchester Academy.
Goodreads synopsis: “Magic can make the competition that much more deadlier!
This year Max has more than her handful of problems. Not only was Winchester Academy hosting the next quarterly Magi-X Games but it brings a host of new dangers for her and her wizards. Top that off with busy school schedules and one of her guys being shady as hell and you’ve got one helluva recipe for disaster.
With flying lessons and a new Wicked Witch of the South to contend with Max might have found her match in her magical adventure. Can she juggle the aspects of school, love, and bring home a trophy for her second home? Or will these games end up being too much for her to handle?”
This series is a bit of a weird one for me. I honestly chose to read the first book based on its cover because I think we can all agree that a lot of kindle unlimited books have stunning covers. I would not say that I disliked this book because if anything its the opposite. However I read, the first two books and they were completely free of any, of what I can only call ‘mature content’, and then BAM you get to the third and it is filled with it. Honestly, nothing against that kind of thing however when starting the fourth book they started getting it on in the first chapter and it was a bit off-putting.
The story is pretty interesting however it does focus way too much on Max and her boyfriends. Yep, you read that right. Boyfriends. I understand that reverse harem books are really popular right now and I have nothing against them, but the first two books did not show any hint that the series would be going that way.
I absolutely love books with magic and I’m always excited to see how it will differ in different series. However, it seems that the magic element is only an afterthought in this book, even though the main plotline is supposed to be the Magi-X Games.
This was definitely a plotline that I was excited for as it was giving me major Goblet of Fire vibes, my favourite Harry Potter book. The Magi-X Games have very similar attributes to the Triwizard Tournament in Harry Potter; three different schools gather for the year-long event, however in this world, there is not just one champion, each school has its own team. The games sounded interesting however the execution of them was not great. There wasn’t really any description of what was going on and the competitions seemed to only last for a few paragraphs. Also, I’m not sure if I missed something, but Max went from barely being able to stay on a broom to winning a flying competition against other magic users who had been flying since they were children.
Although it may not seem like it, I did actually enjoy this book. It definitely has areas that could have done with more work, especially adding more details to events and not having them be over in a few short paragraphs. Without giving too much away about the plot and the book’s ending, Max was really excited about a game called ‘potion ball’ – it’s basically paintball with potions. This is what made her want to compete in the games in the first place. However, when it came to playing potion ball, at which point was the last event in the games and would decide if her school would win, Max wanders off into a different part of the event and we don’t get any detail on what happens.
This is not something that I would say I hated about the book and if anything I found the prospect of games exciting, especially the second event. This was probably one of the best parts of the book for me, but it was too fast-paced.
I actually quite enjoy Erin Bedfords writing style and would have loved to have more content to read. For me, 230 pages for a kindle book is too small and I think the story would have benefitted from another 100 pages or so.
Anyway back to the point of actually liking the book. I found that I like the side characters a lot more than Max and am actually looking forward to reading the spin-off series that focuses on her best friend Callie.
Although not terribly detailed (expect in steamy scenes) Just Witch It is perfect for anyone who loves the academy trope and is looking for a read with a lot of romance. By a lot, I mean four boyfriends worth of romance.
Overall Just Witch It is an enjoyable read that is easy to get stuck into. I am still planning to read the next book in the series when it is published as I am interested to see where the story will take Max and her four wizards next.