Publisher Summary:

Sometimes all you need is a pinch of magic…

Eva Evergreen is determined to earn the rank of Novice Witch before she turns thirteen years old. If she doesn’t, she’ll lose her magic forever. For most young witches and wizards, it’s a simple enough test:

ONE: Help your town, do good all around.
TWO: Live there for one moon, don’t leave too soon.
THREE: Fly home by broomstick, the easiest of tricks.

The only problem? Eva only has a pinch of magic. She summons heads of cabbage instead of flowers and gets a sunburn instead of calling down rain. And to add insult to injury, whenever she overuses her magic, she falls asleep.

When she lands on the tranquil coastal town of Auteri, the residents expect a powerful witch, not a semi-magical girl. So Eva comes up with a plan: set up a magical repair shop to aid Auteri and prove she’s worthy. She may have more blood than magic, but her “semi-magical fixes” repair the lives of the townspeople in ways they never could have imagined. Only, Eva’s bit of magic may not be enough when the biggest magical storm in history threatens the town she’s grown to love. Eva must conjure up all of the magic, bravery, and cleverness she can muster or Auteri and her dreams of becoming a witch will wash away with the storm.

My Thoughts:

This book was absolutely adorable! Eva Evergreen is daughter to one of the most powerful witches in the land – however, Eva herself only seems to have a pinch of magic. She is finally of age to gain her rank of Novice Witch, and sets off to the town where she will spread her wings and work on her challenge. She has one month to prove that she can do this, and will need the support of the town mayor, who doesn’t seem to like her much. The town was expecting someone not quite like Eva, but more like her mother.

However, bit by bit, Eva starts to make friends and finds ways to be helpful to her town. She makes friends with a little a flame fox, who like her doesn’t quite fit in, as well as some human friends as well. She finds she has an affinity for repair magic, and can fix problems, in her own Eva-like way – sometimes which have rather explosive results. Her biggest challenge however is looming off in the distance, something called The Culling, a magical storm that can take out and destroy whole towns. Witches defend their towns with their magic, and Eva feels she is not up to this task. The longer she is there, the more anxious she becomes. Her mother can’t see her or help her until after her month is up, and if this storm comes while Eva is in Auteri, her mother will more than likely be defending another town. So it is up to Eva.

What I absolutely loved about this book is that while Eva found she only had a pinch of magic, she found the power to do great things and solve problems by using her other skills, the non-magical ones. She is clever and resourceful and she finds that these two qualities are just as, if not more, important than her magic.

I really enjoyed this book, and now I need to read the next one. The ending set up a whole new situation that I need to know the answer to!