The Festival of Bad Tidings: A Tale of Magic and Unrequited Love (Unabridged‪)‬

Unrequited love. Magic potions. Terrible poetry.


Thirteen year old Ivy Armstrong's sick of life in Little Puddington. She's sick of the Festival of Love & Sweet Tidings, her lovestruck parents, and especially sick of the repulsive syrupy poems left on her doorstep each morning.


Life's dire, but it's about to get a lot worse. The Festival of Love & Sweet Tiding's opens in two day's time and Ivy's just discovered she's about to be a part of it. Words will be read out loud to the whole village, words that could humiliate Ivy for the rest of her life.


Desperate to escape a fate worse than death, Ivy journeys into the tangled woods, searching for help from a mysterious old witch known as Mad Hattie. 

But she soon finds far more than she bargained for.


The Festival of Bad Tidings is a bewitching YA coming-of-age tale of dark enchantment, terrible trickery, and unrequited love.


The Festival of Hate & Bad Tidings originally appeared in the Ambush Books anthology Love Stinks!