A review by columnclub
Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

2.75

This was just kind of mid - I've seen other reviews say that despite the characters being in their 30s, the voice makes it feel more like YA than adult fiction, and that was definitely the case. The mystery had a couple of interesting revelations but a lot of stuff I was able to guess far too easily, and while I liked the island itself and what little we did see of the magic there, I wanted far more magical realism. It had some of the same ingredients as Practical Magic, but without the quality of writing that makes that book great, and I couldn't get attached to characters who ultimately felt passive and a little flat.

And re the ending -

for it just to end in them all walking away, with no one facing any real consequences? And the weak implication that things weren't really resolved (I know, because the ending did not resolve them)? The weakest part of the book by far, for me.