Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft

Toil & Trouble was a much-hyped anthology of YA stories, and I think it lived up to that hype. I really enjoyed almost every story in this book - only one or two of them were less than awesome. And they still weren't bad! Anthologies like this keep introducing me to yet more authors that I want to read, and just keep growing my TBR list! Some of the authors in this book I was familiar with; while I hadn't read her work yet, I met Zoraida Córdova at the Baltimore Book Festival, and she was amazing. I'm familiar with Brandy Colbert's work, and have not yet read Anna-Marie McLemore but desperately want to, and her story in this work (Love Spell) only increases that need.

I read this book just before Halloween, and it was a perfect choice. I'm not a fan of actual horror novels, which seem to be what everyone else is reading this time of year. Give me my strong witchy women! The stories in this book are all young women - teens to early adulthood - learning to rely on themselves. They embrace what family traditions mean to them, or break free of them entirely if they're the wrong path. They break social taboos and fall in love where they will. They FIGHT for what they want.

I think my favorite story in this book involved a woman whose powers had been bound by her coven until she was old enough to use them wisely, but had to watch her father die in an accident when she could have healed him if she'd had access to her magic. She went to an ancient place of power in the mountains and broke the binding, horrifying her coven. The story is actually about her defying them further in refusing her destined soul mate for the girl she's been in love with since she was a child, and Fate's punishment for that. The two girls fighting for each other and for their own magic was amazing. (The Heart in Her Hands, Tess Sharpe.) Unfortunately it doesn't look like it's part of a larger story, I was hoping for more in that world!

As far as I can tell, only one of the stories is part of something larger - I'm pretty sure Zoraida Córdova's story is part of her Brooklyn Brujas world. Other than that, they all appear to be standalones, which is a little sad as I'd like to see more of many of these worlds!

Toil & Trouble is an outstanding anthology of magical women, and I loved it.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

This is a really strong anthology! Almost every story left me wanting more. It's also very inclusive–queer witches, trans witches, witches of color, etc. (In many cases by #OwnVoices authors. Not for the witch part, as far as I know, but for other marginalized identities.)

Shout outs to Tess Sharpe, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Emery Lord for having my favorite stories in this? But truly I enjoyed them all. Highly recommended for fans of witchy stuff.

~Full review here on The Bent Bookworm!~As soon as I saw that Toil and Trouble had a story by one of my favorite authors, [a:Elizabeth May 5303332 Elizabeth May https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1520961546p2/5303332.jpg] of the Falconer trilogy, I knew I had to have it. Even if the subject matter hadn't been one of great intrigue and interest to me, I would have bought it for that alone! Then it turned out to also have a story by [a:Zoraida Córdova 4824952 Zoraida Córdova https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1495672725p2/4824952.jpg], which was also awesome.The fifteen short stories in Toil and Trouble vary widely. They all have a couple common elements, as one might guess from the subtitle – all involve women, most of them amazingly strong, vibrant characters, and all involve “witchcraft” as defined by each particular author. Some I enjoyed more than others, namely the ones by Elizabeth May, Jessica Spotswood, and Emery Lord. I will definitely be finding books by the latter two and reading them, as somehow I had never come across their work before. For a more detailed review individually, check out The Sassy Book Geek's review. She has an absolutely AMAZING overview of each story in this anthology!The relationships that many of the stories showcase – and in such a short few pages – are beautiful, and heart-wrenching. There are sisters, lovers, friends, mothers and daughters and grandmothers. Reading these made me realize how much I need to value the female friends and caring family members I have in my life, as well as feel a little jealous of a few of them! The sister trio in Emery Lord's story really pulled at my heart strings.“She'd tell her daughters someday: ‘If you don't feel safe enough to yell back, you're not safe enough. My babies, that is not love.'” ~ Emory Lord in Toil & TroubleIf you are looking for an atmospheric collection of stories, this is definitely it! If you are looking for horror, this is NOT it. The hair-raising factor in these is due to the “unnatural” powers and magic, not anything particularly grotesque.Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review!Blog Twitter Bloglovin Instagram Google+

A weak 3
This was a little heavy on the young adult for my taste.

Break down of the rating of each story, I skipped the last one

Starsong 3.5
Afterbirth 2.75
Heart in her hands 3
Death in the Sawtooths 3
Truth about Queenie 3
Moon Apple 3
Stone Mary 2.5
The One Who Stayed 2
Divine are the Stars 3.25
Daughters of Baba Yaga almost good 2.75
The Well Witch 3
Beware of Girls with Crocked Mouths 3 the ending :/
Love Spell 3.25
The Gherin Girls 3.5
Why They Watch Us Burn n/a