It’s me again my lovelies. I know another post, I admit it is a blog tour BUT I feel I’m really getting back into the swing of blogging again and I’m loving it. Anyways, today I’m really excited to be part of the blog tour for a witchy, empowering YA debut HEXED by Julia Tuffs.
As you know I am mood reading at the mo and I haven’t got around to reading it yet, but it’s top of the TBR and I can’t wait. I’m also meeting Julia virtually next week at my school which I’m very excited by. My post today is a quickfire Q&A about her latest book but before that here is a little bit more about the book.
Hexed: Don't Get Mad, Get Powers by Julia Tuffs Published by Hachette Children's Group on August 7, 2021
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy & Magic, Feminism
Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones
Goodreads
Sabrina the Teenage Witch meets Sex Education - Jessie Jones has just discovered she's a witch. Too bad there isn't a hex to make slimy Callum Henderson and his friends disappear ... yet. A feisty, funny YA series about discovering your place and your power.
New girl, new school, new life on stupid island - thanks Mum. All Jessie Jones wants is to keep her head down, avoid school douchebag Callum Henderson, and coast - middle-of-the-road-like. But when strange powers start to manifest during crippling period pains, flying under the radar seems highly unlikely.
Can Jessie embrace her new-found witchiness, control her erratic powers and work out a way to bring down Callum and his cult of toxic masculinity?
Interview with Julia Tuffs
Tell us about yourself
I’m book-obsessed, reality-tv addicted and a massive YA fan. In a previous life I was a teacher and worked in TV for a few years (my claim to fame is that I got Ant and Dec to leave my sister-in-law a happy birthday message when I was doing work experience on SMTV: Live!) I have two kids (who are always scrapping) and two cats (who are also always scrapping) and dream of one day having two minutes peace. I love travelling and reading and writing and making grand plans, whatever they may be – I hate exercise and beetroots and housework. I write YA because I think those years are so important in forming the person you end up becoming – the people and music and causes and loves that you’re passionate about, the dreams you cultivate, the experiences you have. I write the kind of books I loved to read then – and still do now.
What is the book about?
Hexed tells the story of Jessie Jones, an under-the-radar-and-likes-it-that-way girl who is suddenly uprooted by her mum and moved to the Isle of Wight. All Jessie wants to do is coast, survive school unnoticed and definitely avoid toxic Callum Henderson, but when strange and uncontrollable powers start appearing when she’s on her period, that becomes impossible. The book is about Jessie learning to embrace her powers and to stand up to the toxic masculinity that is so rife in her school – with some weird and wonderful magic along the way!
What inspired you?
I wish I could say Jessie came to me in my dreams, fully formed and ready to kick some misogynist ass, but in reality she was the result of a few threads and ideas coming together in their own kind of alchemy: watching my niece walk a tightrope of social acceptability, seeing Trump elected after he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals and observing the everyday sexism that is still so present and exhausting and includes (but is certainly not limited to) period shaming. I started to imagine a teenage witch, one whose powers were just beginning to manifest, and were appearing – the horror! – only during her period.
The link between periods and witchcraft seemed a natural one – while hundreds of years ago women were murdered for accusations of witchcraft, today women and girls still face shame and stigma surrounding their bodies and periods in particular. But the very reason women and their bodies are feared is because they are a force of nature. Power is scary to those in charge. And what could be scarier than a double whammy of witches and period power?
What do you hope readers will take from the book?
Apart from just reading to the end and enjoying (which is the main aim!), I would absolutely LOVE readers to think about some of the behaviour in the book – some of the attitudes and language and cultural expectations around girls and women that are such a part of life now we don’t even pause to question them – if Hexed made just one boy think twice before saying or doing something sexist or one girl stand up to sexist behaviour I would be one very happy feminist!
What would your witchy power be?
Oooh – this is such a hard one! Definitely not reading people’s minds – that would be too scary – I’d rather not know what people are thinking! Maybe teleportation – it would be amazing being able to be in a different country at the flip of a switch – though actually, sometimes the getting there is part of the fun. Keeping on brand though, I’d have to say, if I could click my fingers and instantly wipe out all misogyny, that would be pretty perfect!
Thank you to Team Bkmrk for sending me a review copy and taking part in this blog tour. It’s a witchy book with a very relatable twist to it and it’s one not to be missed.
this book sounds so good!!