The Crow Folk by Mark Stay

Happy Saturday! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things Tours for Mark Stay's The Crow Folk, the first book in the Witches of Woodville series.

Faye Bright's world is turned upside down when she discovers her mother was a witch!

Faye was just four when her mother passed away. And her father doesn't talk much about her. But when Faye discovers a book filled with spells and runes—and a recipe for jam roly-poly!—that belonged to her mother, it's the first time she's had a chance to get to know something about her. Which is why Faye is so determined to keep the book a secret. 

And a good thing too, because The Crow Folk have arrived and their one goal is finding that book! 

I absolutely adored The Crow Folk! 

So Pumpkinhead has arrived! And the first thing he does is raise all of the scarecrows as his minions. This coincides with Faye's discovery of her mother's book, which Pumkinhead can feel but cannot locate on his own. 

See, the witches have a code and one of its mainstays is to never write things down. But Faye's mother knew that she wasn't going to be around to teach Faye all of the things she knew about witchcraft, so this was her only way of ensuring that the knowledge would be passed down. 

Oops!

And since no one ever told Faye anything at all about her mother's powers, she has no idea just how much trouble she can cause. 

Double oops!

I almost hate to say it because I know just how much work goes into a book, but I read this in one sitting on a Saturday afternoon. And since it is the first in a series, that means I have that much more time to wait for the next book to release. But really, I loved this book so much!

First there's Faye, a boisterous and stubborn girl who is very set in her ways. She's seventeen and WWII is going on, so many of the village's men are gone away to war. And Faye doesn't exactly fit in with the other women in town—much the same, as she learns, as her own mother. 

So plot and characters are fabulous but then there's the setting! Stay does a really wonderful job with his world building. Obviously WWII England is not a time or place that I personally experienced, but the book perfectly combines the historical setting and the witchy atmosphere!

The Crow Folk is a real delight and I absolutely cannot wait to join the Witches of Woodville on further adventures!