Recent Reads: Spellbinding by Maya Gold

Spellbinding by Maya Gold

Publisher: Scholastic Point

Publication Date: April 1, 2013

 

Format: ebook

Source: NetGalley and Scholastic Point

My Rating: 

Goodreads Synopsis:

There's more than one way to be powerful . . .

It is during a routine school project that Abby Silva--sixteen and nearly friendless--makes a startling discovery: She is descended from women who were accused of witchcraft back in 1600s Salem. And when Abby visits nearby Salem, strange, inexplicable events start to unfold. Objects move when she wills them to. Candles burst into sudden flame. And an ancient spellbook somehow winds up in her possession.

Trying to harness her newfound power, Abby concocts a love potion to win over her longtime crush--and exact revenge upon his cruel, bullying girlfriend. But old magic is not to be trifled with. Soon, Abby is thrust headlong into a world of hexes, secrets, and danger. And then there's Rem Anders, the beautiful, mysterious Salem boy who seems to know more about Abby than he first lets on.

A reckoning is coming, and Abby will have to make sense of her history--and her heart--before she can face the powerful truth.

Review:

I have a love for all things involving witches, it started young and I still love everything about them and stories that feature them. When I saw this book on Netgalley I immediately requested it, sadly due to being a huge slacker it has taken me forever to read it, but it was a wonderful book and only took me a night to get through it.

Abby is a high school Junior about to be done for the summer, but not without a few more assignments. One of which is extra credit after a test that did not go well, and the assignment turns out to be researching your family tree. Knowing more about her father’s side of the family, she quickly writes up that part but hits a few roadblocks as she researchers her mother’s side. She is eventually drawn to Salem, MA and find out she is descended from the accused witches.

The story follows her discovery, her attraction to Salem, and then a more sinister plot held by the modern day witches of Salem. The plot of which was pretty straightforward. I think I enjoyed the book so much because of the research Abby went through to find out about her descendants and how she finds out more about herself as a person. She is a sixteen year old but seems a lot younger in the beginning of the story and progresses as she accepts her fate and learns how to use her heritage. Not to mention the swoon-worthy character of Rem, a mysterious, sends multiple signals, type guy who appears very suddenly into Abby’s life.

I don’t think that this book is for everyone, I thin that you really have to have a thing for witch lore to enjoy it. There are elements of YA romance, but they aren’t too deep, and the action of the plot does not really show up until the end of the book and it isn’t even all that threatening until then either… I did enjoy it very much though regardless.