Book Review

Spells For Forgetting By Adrienne Woods

Magical Realism, Suspense Thriller

5 Stars

A rural island community steeped in the mystical superstitions of its founders and haunted by an unsolved murder is upended by the return of the suspected killer in this deeply atmospheric novel.

Emery Blackwood’s life was forever changed on the eve of her high school graduation, when the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her best friend, Lily. Now, she is doing what her teenage self swore she never would: living a quiet existence among the community that fractured her world in two. She’d once longed to run away with August, eager to escape the misty, remote shores of Saiorse Island and chase new dreams; now, she maintains her late mother’s tea shop and cares for her ailing father. But just as the island, rooted in folklore and tradition, begins to show signs of strange happenings, August returns for the first time in fourteen years and unearths the past that no one wants to remember.

August Salt knows he is not welcome on Saiorse, not after the night that changed everything. As a fire raged on at the Salt family orchard, Lily Morgan was found dead in the dark woods, shaking the bedrock of their tight-knit community and branding August a murderer. When he returns to bury his mother’s ashes, he must confront the people who turned their backs on him and face the one wound from the past that has never healed—Emery. But the town has more than one reason to want August gone, and the emergence of deep betrayals and hidden promises that span generations threatens to reveal the truth behind Lily’s death once and for all.

Evocative and compelling, Spells for Forgetting is a vivid exploration of lost love and the unraveling of a small town and its many secrets.

I think if I’d read the blurb instead of just leaping in on a whim, I wouldn’t have even started this book. I’m so glad I did (or, didn’t read the blurb and just read the book).

This book embraced me from the very first pages. I felt Saoirse; smelled and tasted it through every page. Then, I just needed to know. I couldn’t stop until I found out. Page after page turned with this physical need to get to the end, my heart breaking with every new reveal, my mind skipping ahead trying to put the pieces together, curious whether I should root for August or not. Wanting to. Because weaved in this tale of mystery and murder is a story of soul mates torn apart. This is the feeling I want when I slip into the world of stories.

I feel a book hangover that might last for days…

Happy Reading 🙂

CMM