All the rest of these images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

Ava Caldwell’s debut novel The Birds Don’t Care If You’re Pretty is a story of community, friendship, tragedy, and redemption. The fact that the main characters are members of a magical coven in an idyllic setting cranks up the friction and suspense quite a few notches. Teen bullying, romantic rivalries, and risk taking all become tinged with the potential for life and death consequences when dangerous magic is involved.

How far will the characters go to be included, to get their way, to feel love, or to get revenge? Who can be trusted? How does one cope if their magic is taken away from them? And what happens when the reality becomes clear that no one is coming to save them from fate? This story has surprising twists, satisfying character development, and could totally be a movie or tv series. It is a standalone novel, but I would love to read follow up stories or books about the characters because I came to admire some of them and only felt like I was beginning to know their real selves by the end of the book.

I look forward to more from this author if this is only the beginning of her novel-writing career. I’m ready for more!

Caldwell, Ava. The Birds Don’t Care If You’re Pretty, 2024.