Spells for Forgetting
Ratings53
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings53
Average rating3.8
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.
Reviews with the most likes.
This was a great book! The way all the threads of the story weave throughout and then come together and are revealed at the end. And such beautiful prose. Terrific.
Really disappointing. I was drawn to the whole mysterious magical aspect, but there was not a single piece of magic here. There are allusions to “spells”, dark magic, divination, but was barely used or displayed throughout the book. I expected a mysterious island that was a living and breathing entity (like the Whomping Willow), something that moved and reacted to its surroundings, that really lived alongside the people. Such a shame it wasn't like that at all.
The first 200 pages is an extremely repetitive slow-burn focused on Emery and August's guilt of the past and their longing for each other. I already knew from the super long book summary and the first few chapters that August isn't what the town thinks, and Emery has a deep connected past with him. Is it necessary to read chapter after chapter about the same thing?
The author really emphasized their emotions, it's very palpable and atmospheric, a reflection of how we dwell on our own thoughts and feelings in real life for days and even years, but reading about it is so tiring.
I only continued to see what the big secret was, and the payoff was not worth it. All of these secrets, revenge, sabotage, gossip, just for some fruits? It's almost like the town did not even consider waiting or discussing with August. It is hard to get behind the townspeople's motivations, especially Lily's grandmother. There's nothing particular about this island or its history that drives the people to feel this protective about it either - show it to us, don't just make the characters say this and that about needing to protect Saorise at all costs.
Emery mentions she made a magic-binding “oath” with August when they were teens to love each other forever. She refuses to sever their connection when given the chance. This is such a huge thing the author dropped and Emery did not admit the truth to August AT ALL, which made me completely put off by Emery. It's like she manipulated him into loving her forever, into tying his very soul and essence to her forever without his consent. It's not romantic, it's toxic. I don't care if they had this intense, weird love before the oath, the aftermath makes me wonder if anything between them is truly genuine or some seedy dark thing.
This would've been far more interesting to explore though.
This was very good. I couldn't put it down, honestly. It was definitely more murder mystery and very minimal fantasy/magic, which I enjoyed! I'd recommend this to probably most people, except for my dad, haha, so I'll give it a 5.
(2.5 stars rounded up to 3) I really wanted to love this one. The writing is really atmospheric, the witchiness is wonderful (though I could have used more) and the use of multiple perspectives and time jumps kept me engaged with the story. However, as other readers have mentioned, the characters felt flat and it was often difficult to tell their perspectives apart, and the “reveal” at the end was what I had suspected all along. I also hated the epilogue scene - it felt pointless. Additionally, I found the lack of consistency in the world-building, plot, and characterization too distracting really enjoy it. Let me explain what I mean.
In the opening, Emery mentions how cell service ends as soon as you get off the ferry boat, and how it bothers the tourists. But then, for the whole middle of the book, she and Dutch are calling/texting without issue. There's no mention of wifi. Then, at the end, when it is convenient for the plot, August suddenly has service issues again. She could have addressed this by mentioning that people had wifi, but she went out of her way to talk about how disconnected the island is. I find this to be lazy writing.
Similarly, Lily dies under mysterious circumstances, and even though we are told repeatedly throughout the book how everyone on the island does magic, no one ever seems to mention or investigate this. Given Leoda's perspective at the end, this is probably supposed to be intentional. But Jake has grown up on the island; surely he would at least recognize that the combination of weird details likely means magic was involved? That none of the characters seem to consider this once again feels too convenient, and frankly, lazy again.
There are other examples of this throughout the book. I had so hoped that this would be a favorite read of 2022, so perhaps I am being too harsh; but I was really disappointed with the reading experience.
