Spellbinding
By Maya Gold
Book Synopsis
There's more than one way to be powerful . . .
It is during a routine school project that Abby
Silva--sixteen and nearly friendless--makes a startling discovery: She is
descended from women who were accused of witchcraft back in 1600s Salem. And
when Abby visits nearby Salem, strange, inexplicable events start to unfold.
Objects move when she wills them to. Candles burst into sudden flame. And an
ancient spell book somehow winds up in her possession.
Trying to harness her newfound power, Abby concocts a love
potion to win over her longtime crush--and exact revenge upon his cruel,
bullying girlfriend. But old magic is not to be trifled with. Soon, Abby is
thrust headlong into a world of hexes, secrets, and danger. And then there's
Rem Anders, the beautiful, mysterious Salem boy who seems to know more about
Abby than he first lets on.
A reckoning is coming, and Abby will have to make sense of
her history--and her heart--before she can face the powerful truth.
“Abigal Silva,
National Honor Society,
Abigal Silva, Science
Fair silver medalist,
Abigal Silva: invisible.”
**That’s my kind of nerd, I was that girl. I won third place
in the state Science Fair (behavioral science section) and some money for it my senior
year…it was fun. No judgments here. After all I know it’s the nerdy girls that
end up having all the fun.
My Review
4 Stars
First off I want to mention that the cover is what totally sold me on wanting to read this book. So good job Scholastic. I am a sucker for a pretty cover and Spellbinding’s cover definitely didn’t disappoint. The candles, lightening, the faded out strip of houses behind the young girl waist deep in water with her hair *clearly* blowing in the wind made me want to know the whole story. Can I offer up more than that as to why I love the cover, not really…it just calls to me and says “read me, you want to know why I’m powerful?” I was curious and the synopsis of Spellbinding only drew me in further. It sounded promising.
Spellbinding is a simple story. There’s never a whole lot
going on at once and the entire story focuses on Abby’s one new discovery, step
by step. There’s no sub plot or other things happening that the reader can
think about or that Maya Gold could tie into the story as a whole. It’s just a
story about a girl (Abigal Silva) who learns some truths about her past when
digging into her family tree for a school project and what she does with her
new powers. (That’s not spoilery if you read the synopsis, so I’m not telling
you anything you couldn't figure out on your own by revealing Abby’s new found “powers”)
Of course Spellbinding has the whole romance theme tied to it and not just with
Abby’s obsession with her crush but with her new friend REM. Now a cool aspect
of how Maya Gold presents Abby’s love intrests was cool because they didn’t
instantly fall in love or write off their entire lives because of a crush.
Which does happen in books and I usually don’t like them any less I just prefer the couples that have to work for it.
I enjoyed reading Spellbinding even though compared to other
books in the genre its lacking a more in-depth plot and multiple twists within
the story. Another positive note was it’s a complete story and there’s no cliff
hanger or need to wait for book two. I do think the last “epic” moment could
have been a little bit longer or maybe just more details. It wasn't a bad
conclusion at all, I just feel like it could have been better by adding a few
more sentences. Spellbinding had everything the synopsis claimed it would and
Maya Gold executed it wonderfully. Even though the overall story is a simple
one, the editing was spot on, there were no holes in the plot, no unanswered
questions at the end and it was a smooth read that kept me wanting to read more.
Overall, Maya Gold delivered a great fun paranormal read in Spellbinding.
This is my favorite line that made me laugh out loud and
even my best friend had to laugh when I just read it to her while reviewing my
notes for this post, so obviously that meant I had to include it.
Abigal Silva: “Especially when he’s tawny and sun-kissed from working outdoors, and you look like a glass of skim milk.”
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
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