This book did a lot of refreshing things right in the way it represented witchcraft, or even elemental fantasy. There's both a scientific and a sentimental appreciation for nature, and magic is described in ways that make sense: Both how to manipulate the elements to yield a natural response AND how we romanticize our connection to the elements. I loved the way in which covens were represented as people who trust and respect one another. They have a common goal, and a common love for the planet. There's no Satanic cult here, no animal sacrifices, no Latin chanted in the dead of night. Just people trying to preserve our one and only home planet. And I love how "spellbooks" are really more like field guides or log books, witches passing on their knowledge of both the planet's and human nature to the next generation.

BUT this book suffers from a technical writing standpoint. For a book that's supposed to be about how people change, all of the characters are mind-numbingly stagnant. Witches are reduced to one personality trait per season: Springs are patient, Winters are blunt, Autumns are melancholy, and Summers are... horny XD. The reductive characterization had me shaking my head a lot, because my sisters and I were all born in Spring, in the same month no less, and we could not be more different. But for the main character, especially, to not change much over time, despite the WHOLE message of the book, was supremely annoying. Clara learns to trust and learns to love, but her epiphanies both feel forced AND feel like they should have happened sooner. She has the same inner-conflict from beginning to end, she ignores every shred of evidence that ought to make her confront her doubts sooner, and it becomes harder and harder to sympathize with her when the answer to all of her problems is so obvious: Friendship is Magic. A six year old could have told her that. And yet, Clara only believes it after she stares directly into the sun. P.S. - Don't stare into the sun. It's realistic that someone doesn't just "get over" their trauma, and it's maybe believable too that someone can put their problems into a new perspective after immersing themselves in nature. But I found myself more sympathetic to Paige and Sang, who supported Clara in her grief, but grew frustrated when Clara wouldn't help herself. Why did it take an almost deific experience with The Sun for Clara to connect to the people in her life, when those supportive people have been there the whole freakin' time?!

My other peeve, was that this book is too preachy. Yes, global warming bad, human influence huge, hug a tree, hug your neighbor, kumbaya! But even though the message about being connected, empathetic, and engaged, is all VERY very important, I found the way that this author delivered that message to be very insulting. She basically points at the audience and says, "Hey you, muggle, you caused this crisis. What are YOU going to do about it?!" She's not wrong... But I didn't open up a fantasy book to get yelled at.

It's kind of ironic that I didn't like the book calling me out for being complacent, that hurt, but I had the same feeling towards the protagonist. I didn't want Clara to pull back from the painful truth, I wanted her to learn something and then do something different.

Ultimately, I didn't enjoy this book, because the protagonist doesn't practice what she preaches, and yet literally the entire world revolves around her. I could see that this book was striving to deliver a universal message, wrapped in a sentimental love letter to Nature. But I just felt like I was reading an emo girl's diary, and couldn't care less about her being her own biggest problem.