REVIEW! The Lost Witch by Melvin Burgess

So this was the book in the July box of Book Box Club, and its the first book I've been angry and disappointed with. It also worries me how many people are giving this book more than 1 star on Amazon and Goodreads... I would give it none if possible. 

There are no trigger warnings, despite this book containing grooming, abuse, rape and victim blaming. This review will contain SPOILERS, and lots of probably incoherent rambling because this book made me angry!

My Rating: ★

So the blurb for this book (taken from Goodreads) is:
Bea has started to hear and see things that no one else can – creatures, voices, visions. Then strangers visit Bea and tell her she is different: she has the rare powers of a witch. They warn her she is being hunted. Her parents think she is hallucinating and needs help. All Bea wants to do is get on with her life, and to get closer to Lars, the mysterious young man she has met at the skate park. But her life is in danger, and she must break free. The question is – who can she trust?

The cover leads you to believe the main character is 16/17 when in fact she is 13 in the beginning, and 15 by the end of the book. It is sprung on her all of a sudden that witches are real, and she is a witch. She ends up going into hiding with another witch, as she thinks its the best thing to do. The other witch is a boy she believes to be a few years older than her, he is in fact an adult using his shapeshifter abilities to disguise himself as a 16 year old boy. He manipulates her into thinking what he is asking her to do is the right thing and that he's the 'good guy'. Then when she finally discovers the truth she runs away from him, and ends up found by the witches who very vaguely told her about witchcraft in the beginning. She is then put on trial and the blame is placed solely on her for her actions, even though she was between the ages of 13 and 15... and manipulated by an adult. She was also told by all the adults including her father, who it seems had not even bothered trying to look for her in the two years she was missing, that she should never forgive herself for the bad things she had done, and that she should not shift the blame on to her abuser...

There was literally no support for this girl, who was already confused and scared, especially considering that when she was taken, she had not long found out that witches existed and that she was one. She was manipulated into killing other witches she was told were the bad guys, her mum's spirit then tries to kill her and the ending is rushed and honestly, I would not recommend this book to anyone.