The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association - Caitlin Rozakis - ★★.¾

AUTHOR: Caitlin Rozakis

NARRATOR: Megan Tusing

GENRE: Dark Fantasy

PUBLICATION DATE: May 27, 2025

RATING: 2.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: A cozy fantasy garnishing a parent-school drama with cryptids and competitions and prophecies. Great concept, average execution, annoying adult characters. Think ‘Big Little Lies’ (PTA politics) plus ‘Gilmore Girls’ (mother-child drama) plus ‘Wednesday’ (cryptid magic), but without the charm. Might work better if you expect a parenting drama with mild fantastical vibes than a cozy fantasy featuring parents.

Plot Preview:

When five-year-old Aria was bitten by a werewolf, her parents Vivian and Daniel had no choice but to move to a hidden magical community in New England that has a special school for such children. Living in a new neighbourhood filled with mages and cryptids isn't easy, especially when you are a mere human. But Vivian is determined that she will do whatever it takes to ensure that Aria gets the future she deserves, even if it means learning ancient magic and interacting with cranky ghosts and facing a dire prophecy that no one wants to speak about.

The story comes to us from Vivian’s third-person perspective.

Of the seven words in the title, the three words with the smallest font size on the cover are actually the most important to remember if you want to go into this book with the right expectations: ‘Parent Teacher Association’. Sadly for me, I looked more at the “Grimoire Grammar School” part and anticipated an entertaining novel with plenty of magical mayhem at school. Magic is also present in the book, but the main focus of the plot is not on the school or its students but on the parents, which creates a somewhat lacklustre plotline.

If you are a parent, you already know how crazy school WhatsApp groups can get. The politics, the bitching about homework and teachers, the comparisons with other students, the competition with other parents, the snide remarks about anything that’s not considered up to par – it is challenging to keep your calm while dealing with such alpha parents. Sadly, this book is full of such specimens!

In a story full of so many characters, the only main variety present in the parents’ background is not in wealth or race or religion but in species. We have werewolves, selkies, mermaids (in siren form), vampires, ghosts, and of course, ordinary mortals. This amazing worldbuilding should have led to entertaining proceedings. However, the behaviour of all the parent characters is almost exactly the same, and this monotony gets on the nerves after a point.

Vivian as the lead could have been a saving grace, but she has no sense of self-respect. She is dogmatic about being the only one who knows what’s best for her child, and even if her husband tries to get her to think rationally, she doesn’t. That said, her will is strong mainly in front of Daniel. She allows the other characters to walk all over her, making her seem whiny in private and spineless in public. Her dominant feeling is always of anxiety and she is also really poor at communicating her true feelings verbally. Her mom guilt plus helicopter-parenting approach ensured my disconnect. But the reason I disliked her the most and found it impossible to support her is her excessively judgemental behaviour in her inner monologues. She gauges everyone based on appearance and doesn’t even spare her own daughter’s looks from her critical eye. Daniel could have been a sensible counterbalance, but he too indulges in gaslighting. Anyway, his role is too meagre to make that much of a difference. It is Vivian’s show all the way.

The child characters are better in comparison, but as the focus is more on the parents, the children are barely used to their full potential. Aria is especially sweet and I’d have loved to see her getting a more active role in the story. After all, she was the reason the family shifted to the new magical town. Of course, her werewolf side is incorporated well in the plot. I especially loved the canine-connected allergies – really clever.

The school setting was used decently. All the usual education pressures and unrealistic school requirements that we see in human schools seem to be a feature of mage schools as well. Many chapters begin with a message sent by the school and containing a pedantic instruction or update – these were hilariously accurate! There is also a running joke whereby several Potter-esque phenomena are alluded to without using the terms from the Harry Potter series and any comparison with HP is vehemently denied by the residents.

Most of the story can be tagged as a serious parenting drama, despite the magical undertone and despite the promise of humour. The basic plot is quite simplistic, which makes the middle section a bit repetitive and boring. The proceedings get somewhat dark at times thanks to a dire prophecy. One tense scene that comes out of nowhere was the “active shooter” alert at the school. That was almost panic-inducing, and certainly not something I expected to see in a cozy fantasy. I think school shooting scenes need to come with a trigger warning; it’s the biggest nightmare for parents.

The ending is a damp squib, with the villain reveal creating a pull-the-rug kind of finale. I am not a huge fan of the ‘Chosen One’ trope, but I did like it here to some extent, especially because it didn’t go the way I expected it to.

🎧 The Audiobook Experience:

The audiobook, clocking at 10 hrs 41 min, is narrated by Megan Tusing. This is my first time listening a book narrated by her, and I liked her voice and performance. If you are interested in the book, the audio is definitely a good way to go, as long as you don’t get bogged down by numerous characters.

Overall, I am slightly disappointed at how this went; there was some solid potential here to create a memorable and slightly comical PTA fantasy. But it ended up being a mostly typical PTA drama with some added magic. I would have enjoyed it more had the children received more focus, but the title was spot on about the PTA being the focal point. I might still have liked the book better had I been able to connect more with Vivian, but her behaviour simply didn’t endear her to me.

Recommended to those who will enjoy PTA stories with a dash of fantasy. It offers decent entertainment, as long as you stop overthinking.

My thanks to Tantor Audio for providing the ALC of “The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.