I found that dynamic interesting, although I wish the author had explored it further. And she resents that, even though she loves him and wants to take care of him. She wants to explore the world and learn more about herself but feels trapped. He tells her all the time that he’d die without her, she feels like she can’t cut her hair because he likes to tell her it looks just like her mum’s. They’re supposed to train with the witches as soon as they discover their power, but Wren has kept quiet so she can stay with her father – who is painted as emotionally manipulative. Sources are essentially made of magic, although they can’t use it themselves. As a result, she’s never told her father she’s a Source. She had a younger sibling who died in a magical incident, leaving both of her parents deeply suspicious about magic. Wren’s mother is dead, so she lives with her dad. I actually discussed Sweet and Bitter magic on The Island Library podcast, if you’re interested in hearing what I had to say! The book’s main focus is on the relationship between the two main characters The two have to team up to counter a magical plague sweeping the land, working together to track down its origin. Tamsin is the cynical, self-interested one, Wren is the sweet, open-hearted one. It follows two POV protagonists, Tamsin and Wren, who are kind of archetypal opposites. Sweet and Bitter Magic, by Adrienne Tooley, is a YA fantasy.

Even if the price is her love for her father. The plague has put her father at risk, and she’s prepared to do anything to save him. At least until a cursed plague starts to sweep the land and Wren shows up on her doorstep. It’s a waste of her enormous magical talent, but it’s all that’s left to her since she was exiled by the coven. Tamsin, cursed never to feel love, gets by fixing problems for people in the nearby village – for a strange fee.

A sweet and bitter magic