Twin witch sisters’ accidental magical outbursts risk exposing their hidden suburban monster community in this first book in a new middle grade series that’s Wizards of Waverly Place meets Halloweentown .
There are monsters among us…and they’re just trying to survive middle school! In Peculiar, Pennsylvania, the supernatural kids attend Y.I.K.E.S.S.S. (Yvette I. Koffin’s Exceptional School for Supernatural Students), run by Yvette herself. From goblins to ghosts to werewolves and witches, the students learn the ins and outs of doling out the scares and blending in with the humans they live among.
Mostly, the system works, but there’s occasionally a young monster who shakes things up—a pubescent werewolf who displays some suspicious body hair on the community basketball court or a scatterbrained ghost who goes through a door instead of opening it. But Peculiar has never seen a potential PR disaster quite like the Maleficent twins!
While Bella and Donna’s magic is powerful, they don’t quite have a handle on their (witch)craft yet. Can they get through the sixth grade without turning the mailman into a toad, burning down the town with hellfire, or turning all the liquid on earth into Cherry Lemonade Jell-O?
Luna Graves summons stories and casts spells in Brooklyn, New York. Her lavender hair makes her easy to spot in the wild, and you can usually find her reading tea leaves in quaint coffee shops or lounging about in cemeteries with her familiar, Audrey the dog.
Fans of Halloweentown, Wizards of Waverly Place, Tim Burton, Harry Potter, or any and all things witchy: you're going to like this book. Trust me ;) Just a few things you'll find inside: sibling adventures (and misadventures), a school for monsters hidden in plain sight, LGBTQ+ characters and relationships, one super cute cat, and of course, lots of magic.
This was such a witchy good time! I loved this! There are monsters among us…& they’re just trying to survive middle school! In Peculiar, Pennsylvania, the supernatural kids attend Y.I.K.E.S.S.S. (Yvette I. Koffin’s Exceptional School for Supernatural Students), run by Yvette herself. From goblins to ghosts to werewolves & witches, the students learn the ins & outs of doling out the scares & blending in with the humans they live among. Mostly, the system works, but there’s occasionally a young monster who shakes things up—a pubescent werewolf who displays some suspicious body hair on the community basketball court or a scatterbrained ghost who goes through a door instead of opening it. But Peculiar has never seen a potential PR disaster quite like the Maleficent twins! While Bella & Donna’s magic is powerful, they don’t quite have a handle on their (witch)craft yet. This has such a great sister story too. They fight with all they have, & then they make up with all they have. They realize they’re stronger together, & love each other. The 2 friends they make at school, Eugene & Charlie, are the absolute BEST! I can’t wait to see more hijinks from these 4 together lol. I loved everything about this world so much. From every magical being we hear about or see, the school, the magic, & just all the little details down to the eyephone & blueteeth, etc. For me this is like Halloweentown meets Harry Potter, & I’m living for it. There’s even a MG cat-which WAS a dead cat 1 of the characters accidentally brought back to life lol. This has amazing humor, misadventures, & is so atmospheric. Had the best time, & can’t wait to read book 2. This & the 2nd book are out now. BEAUTIFUL cover & illustrations by Laura Castrinella as well.💜
I was looking for a nice quick fun read and this fit the bill. Can be read in one sitting.
I agree with other reviews a must read for anyone who loves witches, monsters and the fact that they live in plain sight just adds a new dinamic.
Love the twin sister relationship and that having friends makes an impossible sitation possible to over come.
That the sisters relized that doing things apart leads to disaster more often then doing things togother. That they are stronger and their magic works better when they do things together.
Super fun story with witches, vampires and other magical creatures. The characters are inclusive and diverse. Can't wait to start the next book in this series!
This one was a big WOMP for me. I really wanted to enjoy it and from the synopsis it sounded like a spooky midgrade I could love.
Unfortunately this story was plagued by far too many characters for me to keep up with. Especially considering how a lot of the characters were introduced with multiple names in the beginning.
The other issue for me was that the time jumped around a bunch. Even in the first chapter we jumped from the girls in the principals office, to them after the floor to them before the flood to them before the school year, then how the flood happened then back to the principals office. It was too garbled for me to keep up with and I can't imagine that it is any easier for young readers.
I would have really wanted to read this book when I was in 4th grade. I loved all things supernatural, and Luna Graves really crams it in. She hides a lot of silly jokes, like YIKESSS, which both younger me and older me throughly enjoyed. There's a few setting issues- why is every parent a different type of creature than their offspring?- but it was unique and fun enough that I could forgive it. The plot moves at a pretty good pace for the first half of the book, which I appreciated. Younger me also resonated a lot with both Bella and Dee, and I might have even been able to take a life lesson from this book (maybe- younger me was pretty pig-headed). And I'm always a fan of authors including LGBT+ characters and non-binary characters in realistic ways, which was definitely done here(even when all those characters are supernatural, I am HERE for it) I read this to my 5yo, which may have been a little young, but she adored it. She wants to be a powerful witch when she grows up.
Double, double, Twins and trouble by @thelunagraves is all about our twin sisters - Bella and Dee and their mishaps and how they fix it with the help of magic and new friends - Eugene and Charlie.
This cute book has ✨ Sister goals! They fight but they have each other's back. Loved them. And I can't wait to see more of their adventures. ✨ Bringing a dead cat back to life accidentally ✨ Disasters along the way ✨ Blueteeth, a supernatural technology to communicate through your thoughts ✨ YIKESSS - Magic school for witches, vampires, ghouls, goblins and many more supernatural students. Also the vice principal is a ghost and he likes to 'boo' people ✨ Wildest first day ever!
I read this fun-filled spooktacular story in 30-40 min in a single sitting and kids would love this one. Thank you author for providing me an eArc. 💖
If you love the vibes of Halloweentown, the Witches of Peculiar series is for you. The series is a heavy dose of Halloweentown with a bunch of the Sweet Valley Kids series and a smidge of the Worst Witch series all mixed together. The result? Magic.
In the first book, Double, Double, Twins and Trouble, we meet Bella and Donna, twins who are new students at YIKESSS, a school for supernatural students. Their friends include a vampire and a goblin. Bella and Donna have recently manifested their powers, and they don’t quite have control over them which leads to many hijinx.
The series has solid LGBTQIA+ representation in both Charlie, the vampire, and the twins’ parents. Jeepers creepers, the book was a delight all the way through. I truly cannot wait to continue this fun, silly series.
Bella and Donna (who goes by Dee) Maleficent are twin witches with a gift for making natural disasters, not friends. They hope things will change when they start sixth grade at YIKESS (Yvette I. Koffin's Exceptional School for Supernatural Students), but instead, they accidentally set a classroom ablaze on their very first day...
These twins are witches! And they're finally attending a school where they will learn to wield it. But things never go as planned.
Not my cup of tea. This is one of those middlegrade books that really only work when you're in the target audience, I fear. The right elements were there, it just didn't work for me.