Spells for Forgetting

by Adrienne Young

To begin, a big thank you to Random House Publishing Group for giving me an eARC!

I wanted to post this a bit ago, but I found myself struggling to explain how I felt about it clearly. My thoughts seemed like a lot of, “It was [this], but not quite? Like, [that], but . . . also . . . not?”

If you want the official synopsis, you can find a copy here over on Goodreads!

The closest I’ve come to explaining this complex book is that it’s a magical, murder mystery book that doesn’t overwhelm or overexcite. While you’re not necessarily feeling the need to speed through it, it’s also the sort of book you can definitely curl up with a cup of your preferred hot beverage and relax with.

That’s not to say it doesn’t touch you or reads shallow, because it doesn’t. I definitely enjoyed this book, and I’m glad I planned to read it when I did – it wasn’t exactly a “pallet-cleanser” the way I’ve found rom-coms to be for me, but it was a pleasant change of pace I didn’t realize I needed at the time.

Recommendation: If you’re a fantasy reader who has never tried a murder mystery, or you just haven’t ever tried a murder mystery and don’t mind magic, this is a great “beginner” book. It has everything I’d expect from a murder mystery, but it doesn’t leave you wired and on the edge of your seat. It leaves you thinking and wondering and imagining, but this book doesn’t demand the same thing your usual page-turning murder mystery does. It’s also subtly and deceptively deep, leaving you feeling a lingering sense of having gone through a bit of soul-searching while also uncovering what is essentially a cold-case murder.

Emery is a relatable character on an adult level that none of Adrienne Young’s other books have accomplished [understandably, as they’re all YA]. Even if you don’t have magic in your veins that has impacted who you are at your core, Emery’s life and her reaction to what has occurred in her life are all realistic and relatable. She’s a lost soul who is trying to figure out who she is and what she wants outsides of the life she’s basically been forced down, the life as sort of left her walking. On some levels, I see myself in her, but this is the first book I don’t really see myself in anyone.

And, yet, I still enjoy it.

That said, I do also see some of myself in August. While it’s usually the lead female character who follows the classic “damsel-in-distress”, neither August nor Emery fills this role, though I would argue August fills this role more. I mean, for starters, he’s only returning to the island because his mother has passed and he’s looking to bury her ashes. That and with his history on the island makes for a very hurt, somewhat-broken character. He starts in a vulnerable, painful place, where as Emery begins in what feels like an exhausted, tired place of repeated days with no real fulfillment.

And then their lives are in chaos by August’s return and the uproar this causes.

I do love the subtle, barely-present magic system works. While a lot of the rules are left unexplained, it didn’t leave me confused or lost. It may leave some with a feeling of lack because of that, but I do think those people would be in the minority. I think enough is implied to relieve most confusion or feeling that it’s missing.

If you want to talk more about this book, I will continue below the spoiler line. If you want to avoid spoilers, feel free to go read the book and come back! I’m always here for discussion and chatting about common books, so always feel free to reach out!

**SPOILERS AHEAD! I’M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU HOW TO LIVE YOUR LIFE, SO GO READ THE BOOK AND COME BACK OR READ ON, IT’S UP TO YOU! EITHER WAY, THANKS FOR READING!**

I saw the “love triangle that isn’t a love triangle” thing coming fairly early on. Lily also started to feel a little . . . not evil, but dark? Ruthless? Intense? fairly early on as well. She felt like Emery wasn’t really her best friend at a certain point, and that she was merely going through the motions of it all.

You also sort of see the evenly-matched-group-of-friends-pairing-off thing, but the level of how utterly empty Lily’s use of Dutch is sort of surprised me – until I got to know Lily better. Then it all sort of made a sad, twisted sense.

Lily’s feelings for August are a little cliché for someone who seems to not be the sort to follow clichés, but it’s also not surprising, especially considering Dutch doesn’t feel like a great guy, so it sort of leaves Lily with limited good choices. [Not that it’s an excuse, but rather than it doesn’t feel quite as cliché and forced as it may otherwise feel.]

I had a feeling Lily wasn’t murdered early on, but exactly how she did it evaded me for a bit. I knew it was magic, I knew it was a sort of betrayal against Emery, but all the details – the pregnancy, the stealing, the attempted-murder spell – wasn’t truly evident, in those details, until everything slowly came to light later in the book.

I do love the ending Emery and August come to. And I do feel like it’s the ending they earned, the one they deserve. If not for Lily’s extreme selfishness, they would have lived a similar life, just much earlier. And I love the hint that the island is still reaching out to its own, trying to draw their children, children of the children of the island, back in.

Overall, I loved the feeling this book left me with, though I don’t know if it’ll make my reread list. [I will add that, unless I say otherwise, I don’t consider reading the “final” version of a book I’ve read the ARC of to be rereading the book, as I generally do so to see if my opinion of the book changes once it’s gone through it’s final edit(s)/polishing. Some ARCs leave me with the sense that it’s still rough and needs a little more work to be really good {or, at least, better} in my opinion, and I want to see if my opinion on it has changed/improved, and therefore changed who I would or would not recommend the book to.] That said, I am definitely planning to read the final version of this book, and I’m hoping some of the unfinished edges feel more finished in the published version – or see if it’s an intentional feeling, which would just influence who I suggest it to rather than leave me not suggesting it to anyone.

I hope you enjoyed this review! I have more to come, and every like, follow, and comment means a lot [even if I can’t seem to make those comments public and seen by anyone but me!], and I appreciate every single one of you who get this far. Until next time, be safe, be kind, and read on!