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foreverinastory's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
QUEER WITCH!! THANK YOU!!
Rep: white lesbian cis female MC, white cishet female MC, various cishet side characters.
CWs: Death of parent, death, murder, sexual content, grief, bullying, slut shaming, toxic relationship (romantic), blood, gore, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, cursing. Moderate: cannibalism, homophobia/homomisia. Minor: alcohol consumption, alcoholism.
Rep: white lesbian cis female MC, white cishet female MC, various cishet side characters.
CWs: Death of parent, death, murder, sexual content, grief, bullying, slut shaming, toxic relationship (romantic), blood, gore, lesbophobia/lesbomisia, cursing. Moderate: cannibalism, homophobia/homomisia. Minor: alcohol consumption, alcoholism.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Cursing, Death of parent, Death, Murder, Sexual content, Grief, Toxic relationship, Gore, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Homophobia and Cannibalism
Minor: Alcohol and Alcoholism
ashleereadsbooks692's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Cursing
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Murder
Minor: Alcohol, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
whatiskatelynreading's review
I’m 61% of the way through this book and not sure if I’m going to finish it or not. I really wanted to like this book, sisterhood and witchcraft? Sign me up! But there are definitely a lot of elements that are keeping me from loving this book.
- the voice feels off, it’s sometimes super juvenile, using terms like “bestie” all over the place and giving way too much exposition. The best writing I’ve encountered in the book so far was the prologue and I wish the whole story was more like that.
- random clinically graphic sex scene, didn’t even feel smutty or passionate it just felt weird and out of place and way too detailed for a YA book
- the treatment of grief in this book is what really turned me off. Death of parent is a big content warning for Spells Trouble and in this book for some reason the literal day after her mother dies a character is expected to be her old self and the other characters perform a spell to “remove her grief” so she can “get back to normal”. The characters keep emphasizing how they are so different now that they’ve grieved and how much they’ve changed when it has been a matter of days. One character also believes that another’s grief is only so bad because she wasn’t bullied as a child, and while bullying is a trauma that many children experience I think this could have been a chance for the authors to show that grief is such a different experience for every person and instead they chose to have one character magically get over it while the other forges on having decided “my trauma from bullying is more valid than your grief”. I think this is a really irresponsible, immature way of framing the grieving process and while I understand the characters are 16 and that this might get addressed in the end of the book, I still really didn’t like the way that grief was presented. It felt shallow and like a plot point to overcome not a chance for real emotional development in this story. A lot of recent YA releases have treated grief and mental health in a more nuanced way, I was disappointed Spells Trouble didn’t follow suit.
Overall this story feels like a cheesy CW or ABC family show about witches in high school.
- the voice feels off, it’s sometimes super juvenile, using terms like “bestie” all over the place and giving way too much exposition. The best writing I’ve encountered in the book so far was the prologue and I wish the whole story was more like that.
- random clinically graphic sex scene, didn’t even feel smutty or passionate it just felt weird and out of place and way too detailed for a YA book
- the treatment of grief in this book is what really turned me off. Death of parent is a big content warning for Spells Trouble and in this book for some reason the literal day after her mother dies a character is expected to be her old self and the other characters perform a spell to “remove her grief” so she can “get back to normal”. The characters keep emphasizing how they are so different now that they’ve grieved and how much they’ve changed when it has been a matter of days. One character also believes that another’s grief is only so bad because she wasn’t bullied as a child, and while bullying is a trauma that many children experience I think this could have been a chance for the authors to show that grief is such a different experience for every person and instead they chose to have one character magically get over it while the other forges on having decided “my trauma from bullying is more valid than your grief”. I think this is a really irresponsible, immature way of framing the grieving process and while I understand the characters are 16 and that this might get addressed in the end of the book, I still really didn’t like the way that grief was presented. It felt shallow and like a plot point to overcome not a chance for real emotional development in this story. A lot of recent YA releases have treated grief and mental health in a more nuanced way, I was disappointed Spells Trouble didn’t follow suit.
Overall this story feels like a cheesy CW or ABC family show about witches in high school.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Gore, Blood, and Sexual content
inkslinger's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
'Spells Trouble' by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast is book one in the Sisters of Salem series.
After centuries as the Gatekeepers to five ancient underworlds, descendants of the founder of Goodeville face a challenge none of their kind have ever seen before. The integrity of the portals is weakening and if they fail, all manner of walking nightmares would come through.
On the night of their birthday, Hunter and Mercy Goode lose their mother. The first in a string of deaths that the twins must understand before they can find a way to heal the Gates and put a stop to the inevitable. If they don't, their world will not survive.
This book is kind of a welcome surprise. Though the premise sounded interesting, when I first started reading it.. I thought it seemed very light-hearted, which is fine. The girls are high schoolers, one is stereotypically popular and the other is stereotypically shunned, but their twin bond is tight and the love at home with their mom is warm and welcoming.
Initially, I genuinely didn't take any of it too seriously. There's a mention within the book of Sabrina and of course, some of the vibe is definitely similar. But like Sabrina, there's also a surprising darkness kind of strewn throughout.
For me, the difference is that the darkness never feels campy. I'm not disparaging Sabrina, I was surprised to find I enjoyed that too, but even with the dark tones.. it's sort of tongue-in-cheek at times. And this can be, but again.. not really in the campy way. Though.. Xena. Very fun.
Mixed into this high school romp through spell casting, are some distinctively Stephen King-esque textures, some Stranger Things adventure horror, and a fascinating dash of mythology. Now, if you don't know much about mythology, don't worry. The part it plays is all clearly explained, as are any connections of importance.
The characters, are all well done. Some I liked and some I didn't, but as was fitting with the story. Hunter and Jax are probably my favorites, as the latter is a really lovely friend, and the former is the more reasonable of the two MCs. But Mercy is cool too, if a bit misguided at times. They do really love each other and try to look out for each other.
As for the magic system, though it's kind of dressed up and modernized a bit, it's also rooted in a couple of traditional ritual styles.. giving it a sense of believability even in fantasy use.
Admittedly, I really loved the choices that were made as to the mythological connections. I especially enjoyed what little we were shown in relation to the underworlds and the ways and reasons each of the Gates were different.
I definitely added book two in my Goodreads list as soon as I finished reading this one. So, if you like witchy stories with a lot of interesting elements that aren't too atmospheric, give this a try!
(I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.)
After centuries as the Gatekeepers to five ancient underworlds, descendants of the founder of Goodeville face a challenge none of their kind have ever seen before. The integrity of the portals is weakening and if they fail, all manner of walking nightmares would come through.
On the night of their birthday, Hunter and Mercy Goode lose their mother. The first in a string of deaths that the twins must understand before they can find a way to heal the Gates and put a stop to the inevitable. If they don't, their world will not survive.
This book is kind of a welcome surprise. Though the premise sounded interesting, when I first started reading it.. I thought it seemed very light-hearted, which is fine. The girls are high schoolers, one is stereotypically popular and the other is stereotypically shunned, but their twin bond is tight and the love at home with their mom is warm and welcoming.
Initially, I genuinely didn't take any of it too seriously. There's a mention within the book of Sabrina and of course, some of the vibe is definitely similar. But like Sabrina, there's also a surprising darkness kind of strewn throughout.
For me, the difference is that the darkness never feels campy. I'm not disparaging Sabrina, I was surprised to find I enjoyed that too, but even with the dark tones.. it's sort of tongue-in-cheek at times. And this can be, but again.. not really in the campy way. Though.. Xena. Very fun.
Mixed into this high school romp through spell casting, are some distinctively Stephen King-esque textures, some Stranger Things adventure horror, and a fascinating dash of mythology. Now, if you don't know much about mythology, don't worry. The part it plays is all clearly explained, as are any connections of importance.
The characters, are all well done. Some I liked and some I didn't, but as was fitting with the story. Hunter and Jax are probably my favorites, as the latter is a really lovely friend, and the former is the more reasonable of the two MCs. But Mercy is cool too, if a bit misguided at times. They do really love each other and try to look out for each other.
As for the magic system, though it's kind of dressed up and modernized a bit, it's also rooted in a couple of traditional ritual styles.. giving it a sense of believability even in fantasy use.
Admittedly, I really loved the choices that were made as to the mythological connections. I especially enjoyed what little we were shown in relation to the underworlds and the ways and reasons each of the Gates were different.
I definitely added book two in my Goodreads list as soon as I finished reading this one. So, if you like witchy stories with a lot of interesting elements that aren't too atmospheric, give this a try!
(I received this title as an ARC. All opinions are mine and freely given.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gore, and Death of parent
Moderate: Bullying and Grief
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