House of Elephants (Witchlings #3)
by Claribel A. Ortega 

2.5 out of 5 stars
Seven and Thorn are trying to find a magical cure for one of their friends who has been hexed. They begin to realize that the answers lie in the past history of all the Spares in the Twelve Towns. If they can uncover the secrets of the past, they will be able to restore the magical balance and save their friend from the hex.

I love the magical adventure and mystery in this book! There’s a great magic system and interesting world-building. I really liked that the witches’ world has a distant past that must be reckoned with. You really get a sense of the depth of the history behind their laws and the way their everyday lives are ordered.

I especially enjoyed the exploration of deep themes about belonging, courage, family love, friendship, and justice for every person in their world.
I loved the humorous writing style in this book! Despite the serious subject material, the writing is funny and light-hearted. There is a great balance in the pacing as well, and it all comes together for some excellent story-telling!
However, there were a few places that I felt like the writing could have been better. It was just a little cheesy in some scenes, so that was slightly annoying since I’ve come to expect a much better writing style in this series.

The plot is exciting and there is a lot of suspense and mystery, mixed in with quieter moments for the characters.

There are quite a lot of LGBTQ characters in this third book of the series. Valley is in a lesbian dating relationship. Poppy is a minor character who has two moms. And we see the same lesbian couple from the first book again as well. We also see a couple of scenes with the drag queen from the second book.

The best part of this book was the exploration of family. There are several characters that are rejected or abused by their blood family, and they find a new family with their friends, their neighbors, and new adoptive parents. This theme is explored with several different situations, and it is so heartwarming to see these characters finding love and acceptance and healing from their past trauma.

To see sensitive content in this book, check it out on the Screen It First website! https://screenitfirst.com/book/house-of-elephants-witchlings-3-2592981

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.