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So Witches We Became by Jill Baguchinsky

A queer, feminist spin on Stephen King’s The Mist, this ode to female-rage is a perfect pick for fans of She Is a Haunting, and a reminder that if "boys will be boys", girls will fight back.

So Witches We Became is an explosive YA horror debut from author Jill Baguchinsky that draws you in from the very first page and doesn’t want to let you go. Full of dramatic tension, anxiety and everything else you could hope for in a horror novel – creeping mist, oozing black tar, bones and more — So Witches We Became balances the fear and gore with a loveable mom-friend protagonist and a heart-warming queer romance.

Spring Break Nightmare

High school senior Nell and her friends are heading out on spring break, and where better to vacation than on a gorgeous island on the coast of Florida? Even better that they have the entire island to themselves – or do they? When unexplained occurrences begin to rattle the friends, they realize that this spring break is about to get a lot more interesting, and not in a good way. Soon enough, a toxic mist and a devouring beast in the water make leaving the island impossible – alive, that is. Together, Nell and her friends must face the terrible, gnawing secrets that haunt them in order to challenge the curse that now looms over them, the history of the island rising to meet the horrors that they carry within themselves. Set against the backdrop of a coastal Florida barrier island, this tale of pain and fear, love and longing, compassion and validation will simultaneously paralyze you as it delves into the terrifying curse of the island while winning you over with the endearing romances and repaired friendships.

Baguchinsky has crafted a really fascinating story here in terms of how it turns trauma and pain into physical manifestations. Dark secrets come out to play in the shadows, and they’re not always friendly. I loved how Baguchinsky utilized the recognizable Stephen King concept of The Mist and twisted it into a piece that explores female rage, sexual violence, and more through an iconic horror lens. There are horror elements that the reader is expecting, and they do come, but not necessarily in the way that you had thought. Who lives? Who will never leave the island again? Baguchinsky leaves us guessing until the end, maintaining an engaging horror plot while also weaving in an empowering story about survivors, women supporting women, and the shared experience of womanhood, sexism, female rage and all that is tied up within that.

An Endearing Protagonist

I loved our protagonist Nell so very much. She’s the mom-friend and lives up to that role with flying colors. She’s the one with extra bags packed to make sure she’s prepared in every setting which, in a horror story trapped on an island, adds a touch of humor and certainly comes in handy. Her narrative voice is engaging and relatable. Her relationship with each of her friends is different, and I enjoyed how her inner thoughts reflect how deeply she cares for them, in their respective ways. All of my favorite moments are between Nell and Tris. Their banter, their support for each other, even without asking and their budding romance is perfectly written. Each chapter had me hoping for more moments between the two of them, and I’m glad that their relationship could also serve as a reprieve from the haunted moments that kept me on the edge of my seat.

Perfect Blend of Horror and Romance

While horror isn’t a genre that I usually read, I particularly enjoyed this book because of the characters, relationships and queer romance woven into the horror elements. If you love a book with Stephen King-style horror, high tension and stakes, relatable characters that explore the depths of the human experience and a great queer romance thread, then So Witches We Became is for you. With a tagline like “If boys will be boys, girls will fight back,” you can’t go wrong.


About Jill Baguchinsky:

Jill Baguchinsky

Jill Baguchinsky grew up fluent in darkness and Disney. She spent much of her life on a barrier island just off the coast of Southwest Florida, where she read way too much Stephen King and dodged more hurricanes than she could count.

Jill’s first novel, a lighthearted ghost-hunting story titled SPOOKYGIRL: PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR, won the 2011 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for Young Adult Fiction and was published by Dutton Children’s Books in 2012. In her next book, MAMMOTH (Turner 2018), Jill tackled topics like bullying, body image, and the struggle of young women to stand out in male-dominated scientific fields. “Green Thumb,” Jill’s post-apocalyptic blend of science fiction, horror, and proper succulent care, was chosen by guest judge Ken Liu as a winner in Uncharted Magazine’s 2021 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Short Story Award contest, and her Baba Yaga-inspired piece, “All Bitterness Burned Away,” appeared in the women-in-horror anthology INTO THE FOREST: TALES OF THE BABA YAGA from Black Spot Books in late 2022.

Jill still lives in Florida, but after one hurricane too many, she and her mini menagerie of rescue animals moved inland. Aside from the manatees she used to watch in her backyard canal, she doesn’t miss much about island life.

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So Witches We Became by Jill Baguchinsky
Publish Date: July 23, 2024
Genre: Paranormal, Young Adult
Author: Jill Baguchinsky
Page Count: 368 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 9780316568807
Kiersten Bjork

Kiersten Bjork is a theatremaker, theatre critic, and lover of books and the outdoors from Connecticut. She graduated from Fairfield University in 2021 with degrees in Theatre and English and minors in Classical Studies and Environmental Studies. When not performing or working her full-time gig in theatre management, Kiersten enjoys reading YA fantasy novels, playing Dungeons and Dragons, seeing as much theatre as she can possibly consume, and hiking. Favorites authors include Sarah J. Maas and Rick Riordan. To read her theatre reviews, visit White Birch Blog.