Welcome to my stop on the Threadneedle blog tour! Huge thanks to Random Things Tours for giving me the opportunity to take part in this! I was provided a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

Review

This book has been taking bookish social media by storm and within the first couple of chapters I could easily see why. From loveable characters to mysterious magic, from dangerous curses to navigating the social pitfalls of senior school, this book has it all and I am very excited to see where the series goes! 

I loved Anna immediately and I just wanted the best for her, she just wanted a quiet life without conflict but her curiosity couldn’t help but get the better of her at times. She was constantly putting others before herself so you can’t help but want her to be a little selfish sometimes. Effie contrasted against Anna perfectly. At first I wasn’t sure about the wild whirlwind who most definitely makes an impression on everyone she meets; however as the novel continued and I saw more of her I couldn’t help but like her attitude. Of course, there were times where I just wanted to shout at her but that was all part of the infuriating fun of her character. Then there was Attis who has the ability to make any girl fall in love with him it seems, myself included, who was a nice character to bridge the chasm between Anna and Effie. He was the protector of the group, so whilst he was portrayed as the smooth ladies man, there was a lot of depth to him which I was pleasantly surprised by. 

I could spend pages and pages just talking about the characters. I loved every character in the book and what they brought to it, even if I didn’t think they were likeable, they were all unique and had interesting roles to play in the world. Rowan, especially, made me laugh out loud several times, she’s exactly the type of friend everyone needs! On the other hand we have Aunt, who is an incredibly intimidating and terrifying figure. I think one of the ways that makes her such a ghastly character is the fact that, although she is a witch who regularly gives lectures in the forms of seemingly irrelevant sayings, she feels very real. The character of Aunt is one that we see, and even encounter, in reality which made me feel even more uneasy when reading her scenes. 

I loved the amount of layers in this plot and how we go from one to the other without it ever feeling out of place. Whilst we have the dark and serious story of Anna wanting to find out the truth about her parent’s deaths, this is balanced with the group of young witches forming their own coven at school and trying to work out ways to use their magic to put bullies in their places. Thomas paces each storyline brilliantly and brings them together so cohesively you can clearly see all the careful planning that has gone into this. I also loved the way Thomas crafted the magic system in this story and I’m very excited to see how this develops in future installments of the book. 

Overall, I think you can clearly see that I adored this novel and all of the characters. I can’t wait to spend more time with them in this magical version of England. This novel is such a wonderful escape and you truly lose yourself in its pages. If you haven’t picked Threadneedle up already you must do so! 

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About the Author

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Cari Thomas has always loved magic, inspired by her upbringing among the woods and myths of Wales’ Wye Valley. She studied English and Creative Writing at Warwick University and Magazine Journalism at The Cardiff School of Journalism. Her first job was at teen Sugar magazine where she ran the book club and quickly realized she wanted to be the one writing the books instead. She went on to work at a creative agency, spending her spare time researching magic and accumulating an unusual collection of occult books. She wrote her debut novel Threadneedle while living in London, wandering the city and weaving it with all the magic she wished it contained. She now lives in Bristol with her husband and son, who bears the appropriately Celtic name of Taliesin.