Spells for Forgetting A Novel

The perfect mixture of murder mystery, folklore, magic and betrayal!

Bewertet: Buch (Gebundene Ausgabe)

A place of magic, folklore and lies. A place in which everyone knows everyone but the comfort of that is disturbed by everybody carrying secrets. Adrienne Young has done it again! Spells For Forgetting was such an atmospheric read. The whole book felt like being wrapped up in a blanket of mist and dark cottagecore and I was absolutely here for it. The story is set close to Samhain, which really added to the atmosphere, too. I cannot talk about the vibe this book gave off enough, it was very comforting to me. The element of magic was executed brilliantly in this book. I loved how it (mostly) wasn’t over the top and so close to how it is still practiced today: folklore, family tradition and generational witches, herbalists and healers. The way the story unfolds itself into a spiral of secrets and lies was very interesting and exciting to follow. I really liked the way things were slowly starting to make sense as the protagonists pieces puzzle pieces of happenings together. The romance in this book was a good addition and was beautiful to witness. One of the oldest of Saoires’ legends says that if you leave the island, it’ll always call you back. And somehow, I really believe that while the island cannot call me back, this book will still stick with me.

Heavily atmospheric and rich in folklore!

Bewertet: Buch (Gebundene Ausgabe)

Adrienne Young is for sure an author, who wrote herself into my heart. With every book of hers, she manages to perfect her storytelling, the detail in character- and world-building as well as the subtle evocation of certain states of emotion. With "Spells For Forgetting", I especially enjoyed that the setting was treated as a living and breathing being with a heart and mind of itself. While reading, I could almost hear the crushing of leaves under my feet and smell the unmistakable scent of herbs, potions and salty seawater. As Saiorse Island serves as such a strong backbone to the plot, it is absolutely no surprise that Adrienne Young is really hitting her story home with regard to its reading ambience and the underlying murder mystery. To top it all off, the slow-burn romance between August and Emery is far from insta-love and predictable clichées. It is truly heart-wrenching to watch them both grow close together again and I was rooting so much for them as a reader that I rushed through the second half of the book to finally find out what really happened the night Lilly died.