When I read the synopsis for Spells Trouble, I was hooked. Twin witches tasked with protecting the five gates to the Underworld, based on five major mythologies (Greek, Norse, Hindu, Japanese, and Egyptian)? Sign me right up!

Oh, you sweet, summer child.

This book could've been good, heck, it could've been great.....if only no one ever spoke. The dialogue is so gut-wrenchingly cringe-worthy. It's as though someone's grandma was trying to relate to the youths of today, which I guess is very much the case. Mercifully, there was not a single instance of "lit" or I would've thrown my kindle across the room. Also, despite the book being completely set in the middle of Illinois and PC Cast/Kristin Cast being very much American, one of the twins insists on using British swears for no apparent reason. My eyes rolled so hard every time there was a, "bloody buggering hell" or a "wanker," I think I saw my own brain.

I muscled through it to the end, hoping the witchcraft and mythology would drown out my constant, internal groaning. It did not.

Mercy and Hunter remind me so much of the classic characters we discovered in the author's past series: House of Night. I think this book feels a bit on the younger side of YA but is classically fun in all the ways YA lovers know and appreciate. Although I didn't personally connect with the stories I am intrigued to see where this trilogy goes!

I just don't think this one was for me. I found it to be VERY YA. The choice of words used by the characters seemed a little forced like they were trying too hard to be cool. One of the characters kept using British jargon and I just didn't understand why. It was never mentioned or explained why she spoke this way. Although I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped, I think there are certain aspects that other readers will find entertaining.

This duo is amazing! I loved this new series and foray into a new world. Spells Trouble was a unique take on a familiar trope and I can't wait to see what happens next.

I was let down by this book. Another series starter that didn't quite know what the story was going to be and where it was going to go. I hope the author has it figured out in the later books, but I know I won't be picking them up.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for the honest review of #SpellsTrouble.

I switched between the physical copy of this and the audiobook. Sadly, this just wasn't a book for me. It read much more middlegrade than I expecting (though with a random explicit sex scene thrown in).

I ended up DNFing this book 30% into it. Not because it was a bad. I have just recently discovered that YA is not for me anymore. I appreciate the opportunity to have gotten this ARC.

A witchy supernatural YA novel about twins Mercy and Hunter Goode and their crazy journey dealing with teenage life, magical portals, and a cat who can turn human. This reminded me a lot of “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” and “Hocus Pocus.” An entertaining and unique teen paranormal adventure with magic woven into every page!

On the eve of Mercy and Hunter’s sixteenth birthday, the twins are faced with a life altering situation. With the help of their friends, Hunter and Mercy must learn to harness their new power and guard the four gates that have suddenly decayed.

I didn’t know what to expect when I went into this one, as I’ve never read anything by these two authors and I was pleasantly surprised! The action is non-stop, the teenage problems are realistic, and I loved the added elements of surprise! This one reads a lot like a movie scene and I could totally picture every moment playing out on the big screen. Be prepared for a giant cliffy and the added elements of sexuality and death being discussed. This is one cute and quirky rollercoaster ride!

I have love this author when I was younger. I am glad I picked up this book now. The magic, the sisterhood were all tangled and beautifully written together!

I really loved the beginning of this book, I thought the scenes taking place in Salem were really interesting and detailed.

Fast forward to the present, I had a really hard time liking Mercy's character in this book. Yes, she thinks she is in love and she thinks her boyfriend in the greatest but whew, that was hard to watch. I really liked Hunter's character; she was head strong, thoughtful, and caring.

There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed and parts that I found myself skimming over to try and slog through them. I would give book 2 a chance to see if I would finish reading the series.

DNF this book, out of respect to the authors I will
Not be writing a review.
I wanted to love it, and was looking forward to reading it, but I was very disappointed. No matter how many times I picked it up and told myself to get through it, I just couldn’t.

DNF at 20%
I absolutely love the concept of this book, and the prologue was amazing, but unfortunately the shift to modern day was not for me. I didn’t connect with any of the characters, and overall I just couldn’t get into it after the very beginning.

*Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy for review*

Hunter and Mercy Goode are witches who are excited to celebrate their birthday and their coming of age ceremony. During the ritual something goes terribly wrong in which Hunter and Mercy now have to figure out how to set right and restore order to.

Spells Trouble takes place over just four days. I was so surprised when I read that in the book because A LOT happens. So much more than what you would expect to be crammed into only four days.

I am going to review this through the eyes of my younger self in that if I were reading this 10 years ago I would have absolutely loved it. The premise of the story is pretty cool and the way that they have to solve the issue is written and described well. I could really visualize everything because PC and Kristin Cast write with an abundance of detail. There's also a saucy scene that was written in with a little more detail than I was expecting. So be warned if you're getting this for your younger child and that's an issue.

I felt like the resolution of the problem happened pretty fast in the end though. Like too easily maybe. I'm not going to spoil anything though.

Overall, it was a good story, but I doubt that I'll read more from the authors. I was hoping that their writing had evolved since House of Night and it really hasn't.

Book said teens or YA so I was thinking this would turn out like there night series. I was terribly wrong. I’d almost say grades 6-8. Characters were boppy teens and twins girls right before there 16th birthday. One teen is dating the football captain, the other is gay, and bullied.

What did I like? Not much really here for me. Been so long since I’ve identified with a younger mind that this book just fell flat. Nothing in this book made it really stand out as something unique either. I think I’ve read way too many girl power books lately. I prefer to have the guy save the day sometimes. Two stars.

DNF

I had an audiobook arc copy of this and the narrator did a great job! I really liked them and will for sure look into more of their work in the future.

As for the actual book, I unfortunately decided not to finish it. I was enjoying it at the beginning but I quickly grew bored and didn’t find myself connecting to any of the characters or to the plot.

I really wished I loved this one! I was a huge fan of their House of Night series when I was younger.

If you’re into teen witches with dark magic and a murder mystery, do check this one out. Don’t let my review deter you if you’re interested!

Spells Trouble is the first book in the YA paranormal Sisters of Salem trilogy.

This is the first book in a new series by P.C. and Kristin Cast (House of Night series).

The book focuses on 16 year old twin witches Hunter and Mercy Goode. They are the main narrators. We get chapters from each sister (3rd person POVs).

The story takes place in Goodville, Illinois in Salem County.

When deaths start occurring in their town the twin sisters need to use their magic.

The twins are the Gatekeepers of their town. They protect various Gates around town that could lead to different underworlds.

The book features a lot of high school drama. And each sister has a best friend (Emily is Mercy's bff and Jax is Hunter's best friend). I really enjoyed these relationships immensely.

Mercy has a boyfriend Kirk (star quarterback). I do think that this added an interesting element to the story. However there was some sexual content, which I don't think was necessary.

I didn't really enjoy the monster/underworlds aspect of the story. But I did really enjoy the spells and the witch aspect.

Overall this was a cute YA story.

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2021. I have been a huge fan of P.C. Cast for more than 10 years now and have read over 20 of her books including the Parthalong series, House of Night, and Tales of a New World. I really thought she grew so much as a writer when she wrote Tales of a New World and I love that series.

However, this book fell flat for me. I thought all the interactions of the characters were really awkward. I hated the douche-y boyfriend whose actions wee excused. It is the type of relationship teens don't need to see in books. Mari and Nik (in Tales of a New World) had a relationship that I only wish we saw in more YA books, including this one.

Secondly, the characters were SO flat. Usually, Cast's characters are my favorite part of her books. The friendship aspect was also quite flat for me. In House of Night and Tales of a New World, the friendships and character growth were always at the front of the story.

I think this book could have used more character development, more magic (because it was interesting), and more pages. I might come back to this series once another another book is out, just to see if anything changes. I don't want to give up on these authors.

There's definitely a good deal of suspension of disbelief when it comes to SPELLS TROUBLE, but I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. It was fast-paced and fun, about twin witches (Mercy and Hunter) who are descended from Sarah Goode from the Salem Witch trials. I really enjoyed the stark differences between the twins, as well as the fact that they grew up knowing they were witches, so it wasn't the whole 'I didn't know I was magic trope' (which can definitely be fun, but I like that this story started in a different place). The characters read a little young for me, but that makes total sense since I'm reading this as an adult. I still think there's plenty of room (and need for!) YA books that fall on the younger side.

This is a new trilogy from these much loved authors. Twin witches are bound to be gatekeepers to the underworld. What ensues is a witchy adventure with plenty of girl power and angst. As Mercy and Hunter’s world’s are turned upside, we dive into this new world at a feverish pace while trying to solve the biggest mystery they’ve ever had to solve.

I'd never read any books from either of these bestselling authors before I picked up Spells Trouble, but I really love the idea of a mother-daughter duo writing urban fantasies featuring teenage twin sisters who are witches descended from those persecuted at the infamous Salem witch trials.

<a href="https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/SpellsTrouble.png"><img src="https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/SpellsTrouble-197x300.png" alt="" width="197" height="300" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5789" /></a>Hunter and Mercy Goode are on the cusp of their 16th birthdays. They've lived in Goodeville all their lives with their Wise Woman, Kitchen Witch mother Abigail. On the night of their 16th birthday Abigail is going to consecrate them to their chosen deities, while reaffirming the protection spell that keeps their town safe from the mythological terrors at their door. You see, Goodeville was founded on a conjunction of five different underworlds, and witch magic is essential to keeping the gateway to each underworld firmly sealed against the monsters that threaten to break loose from their immortal prisons in order to freely prey on mortals.

Trouble is, something goes terribly awry at the consecration ceremony, and Abigail has to sacrifice herself in order to protect her daughters and seal the Norse gate once more. With her dying words, she begs her girls to fortify the gateways, each marked by an unusual tree in a pentagram pattern around the town. Hunter and Mercy must fight through their sorrow, bewilderment and sheer lack of knowledge in order to figure out how to carry out their mother's wishes, even as a monster lurks, waiting to kill again.

I really dug a lot of the ideas here, and admired how the Casts acknowledge and honor the contributions of Native Americans in/to their magic system. I also liked how the twins were shaped as distinctly different personalities: Hunter is introverted but strong after a young adolescence of being bullied for being a lesbian, while Mercy is light-hearted and kind, if perhaps too enamored of her hot jock boyfriend Kirk. In the face of tragedy, Mercy gets sad while Hunter gets mad, and the friction of their flaws is dealt with a sensitivity that makes for absorbing reading. I also really enjoyed the depictions of their relationships with their best friends and with Kirk, as well as with the delightful Xena.

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The only trouble is that I felt the pacing was distinctly off. You'd get pages of wonderfully considered detail and emotion, then rushed bits that could have used so much more attention. Hunter's rituals, for example, were always beautifully depicted but the aftermath in the grove by the football field, for one, felt rushed and unlived-in. And while I enjoyed the sex positivity, I do admit to being a bit taken aback by the graphic nature of the main sex scene. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned: 16 year-olds are going to have sex, and the scene itself was a great representation of how penises are fascinating and how important female pleasure is. I guess my mixed feelings are more about the Young Adult Discourse, and how books like this are marketed. Do I absolutely think 16 year-olds should read this? Hell yes! Do I think it's probably too mature for anyone who hasn't hit puberty? Also a hell yes! And this coming from a girl who read books way too adult for me growing up (think Frank Herbert and Sidney Sheldon as an eight year-old: not a course I'd recommend.)

Due to the uneven writing, I'm in no tearing rush to read the rest of the series, tho I'm still intrigued enough that I won't say no should I get my hands on at least Book 2. I do really want to get to to the bottom of the whole Amphitrite/Polyphemus thing, as there seems to be an awful lot of subtext going on there. Overall, the experience of reading ST felt a bit like eating cakes baked in an unevenly heated stove: some parts were a bit too crisp, some parts were wildly underbaked, but some parts hit just right. It'll be fun to see how the Casts keep cooking up this storyline.

Spells Trouble by PC Cast & Kristin Cast was published May 25 2021 by Wednesday Books and is available from all good booksellers, including

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