I really enjoyed Adrienne Tooley's debut novel Sweet & Bitter Magic. This is a great sapphic YA fantasy romance. The author creates an engaging story and builds an exciting world I hope the author explores in future books. This book was fast-paced and well written with an interesting cast of characters.

The book features a banished witch, Tasmin, and a source, Wren. The girls go on a journey of self-discovery to save the world from dark magic. Tasmin and Wren's relationship develops rather slowly throughout the book, and it is difficult to find moments when Tasmin beings feel anything about Wren. The author does not explain the developments of Tasmin's feelings in reference to the curse. I wish that part of the book was more fleshed out.

I also disliked how the adult witches talked about Tasmin's banishment and punishment. The way the witches react and talk about Tasmin makes it seem as though Tasmin fully understood the consequences of using dark magic and did so maliciously. Rather than Tasmin simply wanting to save her sister at age 12. If the author age Tasmin up to the age of 16 or 17 when she first used dark magic, than this problem would have been solved.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and rated it 4 stars. I look forward to reading this author's next work.