Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young
Published: September 27, 2022
Delacorte Press
Pages: 351
Genre: Psychological Fiction
KKECReads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.
Adrienne Young is the New York Times, USA Today, and Indie list bestselling author of the Fable duology and the Sky in the Deep duology. She is a foodie with a deep love of history and travel and a shameless addiction to coffee. When she’s not writing, you can find her on her yoga mat, sipping wine over long dinners, or disappearing into her favorite art museums. She lives with her documentary filmmaker husband and their four little wildlings in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
August knows he is not welcome on Saiorse, not after the night everything changed. 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 his 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 spanning generations threaten to reveal the truth behind Lily’s mysterious death once and for all.
“It was the season of death.”
August is returning home for what he hopes is the last time ever. He would never have made this final trip if his mother hadn’t asked him to bury her ashes there. Emery has been living a half-life since that summer; everything changed. She goes through the motions, knowing this isn’t how things should have been. But when she feels a shift in the wind, the last thing she expects is to see him again.
I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I loved the dark vibes. This was very Practical Magic in a new modern telling.
I enjoyed the characters. August had such a raw vulnerability to him, and I found that endearing. Emery was so strong and so independent that you couldn’t help but love her. The side characters were all so fantastic and added so much vibrancy to this novel.
Saoirse was a dynamic and terrifying character that played a deadly part in this plot. I found the scenery descriptions beautiful and desolate, with a stunning battle between dark and light.
I love how understated so many things were. It was so clever. The themes in this book were brilliantly presented, and I enjoyed the twisted dance between the past and the truth.
This was well-written and entertaining to read. The mystery, the desire to find the truth, and the need to know how the story would end kept me engaged until the very last sentence.