This is definitely in the vein of her earlier stories. A call back to the HOUSE OF NIGHT fans, with a twist on witchcraft!

My favorite authors wrote a witch book, so I just had to get my hands on a copy. Thank you NetGalley for providing a free copy against an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book!

⭐️ world building
⭐️ writing
⭐️ great characters
⭐️ plot twist

Minus one star because the change of pov confused me a bit.

This book was a great adventure and I can’t wait for book two!

I was given an ARC of this book by Netgalley for my honest review.
Another fabulous book by P. C. and Kristin Cast!
Even though this is a YA book, this older witchy woman thoroughly enjoyed it. Some people may not be into, or understand, the “witchy thing”, but will surely enjoy the paranormal aspect of this story. And, I discovered some new names and information about a couple of Gods that I hadn’t known before. (Thanks to the authors and Google! lol) Also, I plan on ordering the hardcover just so I can re-read this over and over.

Spells Trouble is the first book in a brand new YA paranormal mystery saga. The premise for an excellent new series is there: With the help of their "aunt"--their mother's former cat familiar now turned human--grieving teen witches are dealing with the aftermath of their mother's murder. Together, the three work to uncover who murdered their mother and why. But the questions don't stop there. They also need to figure out what's killing the trees that stand guard between the different dimensions and fight to save the town from a paranormal doomsday. If you're a fan of the Casts' books or YA paranormal fiction in general, give this one a try!

Rating: 3.5 Stars

I was initially granted eARC access to Spells Trouble by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast via NetGalley, but unfortunately I had too much on my schedule at that time and missed publication. Now that I've been approved for the second book as well (thank you for trusting me despite missing this deadline!) I grabbed the audiobook through my local library to the get full immersive experience and get this review done. My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

I devoured the House of Night series when those books were new, buying each in hardcover as they came in stock at the grocery store I was working for at the time. Nostalgia is a powerful thing, so when I saw that this mother-daughter team was starting a new series, I just had to give it a try! I was hoping for something a little more mature than House of Night had been, and I dare say this is. The main characters, twin witches, are still teenagers in high school, but they're a little older than the thirteen-year-old vamps in the early books of The House of Night, and the subject matter is much darker.

That's not to say there isn't any regular teenage shenanigans, though. We've got boyfriend drama, sibling rivaly, gay best friends, and football games. All the mandatory hallmarks of an American high school drama, right? This could easily be the untold story going on in the background of any of the 1990s or 2000s Disney channel movies starting teen actors and set at a middle-class-anywhere USA public high school.

This book is a paranormal mystery at its core. Grieving teen witches and their mother's Maine Coon cat familiar-turned-woman "Aunt" Xena (Zena? Like I said, I ended up listening...) must figure out what killed their mother and their best friend's father, what's killing the trees that stand guard over a interdimensional gate in the local park, and do it all in time to save the town from paranormal destruction.

The good: Cat aunt is hilarious and well worth the read! I also loved the world-building and I can see a lot of potential for this series.

The bad: The plot was way too all over the place for much of this book. It feels like this book was trying to accomplish far too much for the first book in a YA series, and I hope the second book proves to be a little more seamless.

I'm looking forward to book two!

Spells Trouble by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast is a mind bending installment, twin witch sisterhood and an action packed ride!

This is was a tough one for me. It is okay. I'm not sure if I will continue with the series, it really just depends. I love witchcraft books but this one missed the mark with me.

Spells Trouble left me with mixed feelings. I was a little disappointed because it seemed aimed at an even younger audience than I am used to, at the beginning. I read YA a lot but I found this to be a bit unexpected. However, as the story progressed I found it more enjoyable. I will be more than happy to read the second book in the series whenever it comes out.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this opportunity to read the book.

This was not my favorite. I like the witchcraft storyline and the dynamic between the characters. I don't know that I am invested enough to continue on with the series.

I really enjoyed this story of the Goode sisters. Likeable characters helped this storyline a ton. I almost wish the prologue would have been a longer part of the book. Maybe there's a prequel in our future...fingers crossed!

I had a friend who I lost touch with who first got me into these two authors. She and I went through the entire House of Night series in about two weeks. In reality, this book is so much better than I expected but I love anything to do with witches.  This book and its characters are absolutely stunning!
After she and her daughter escaped, Sarah Good set up her new life in Illinois.
Present-day, the Good twin's Mercy, and Hunter, are about to have their 16th birthdays. The twins are complete opposites but are also extremely close. They are also absolutely witches. I was worried at first when it jumped that it would be a book where they didn't know their lineage and had to discover their powers but instead, they were witches descended from witches and they were about to come into their full powers after they chose their god or goddess. can I just say that I find it funny that most of the books that have to do with witchcraft that it all happen on their 16th birthday and I find that amusing. 
It starts with the twins losing their mother on their big night, midnight on their birthday. Their cat then turns human and becomes their guardians so at least they don't have to leave town. Their cat as a human has to be one of my favorite characters as a whole and I hope she is in book two. 

Overall, I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the differences between the twins and their interactions with their friends and others in the town. I also loved the darker side of the books. There are a ton of murders that happen and the twins are racing to stop them.

The ending was something I was slightly expecting. .not the exact end but rather, an obvious setup for another book. I love that it continues and that I get to read more. I have high hopes for book two but I will say that unlike other readers I do not find this to be lazy writing or slow-paced at all. I look forward to more. The only reason this is getting a four-star rating and not a five-star is because I hate cliffhangers and waiting.

Spells Trouble is a new fantasy series by P.C. and Kristin Cast.

I'll be honest, it took me forever to get through this novel, it was very slow and kind of lagged at parts, but I found it overall a fun read.

I liked reading about the different Gods and Goddesses, and how both Hunter and Mercy connected to their god/goddess themselves. Reading about Witches is always a favorite of mine, but I felt a bit of relation to their House of Night series and how the vampires held their rituals.

Like some, I was confused at the POVs weaved throughout, with there not being a set POV but 3rd person told from one characters POV.

The idea of grief is very heavily introduced and I felt like the way all the characters dealt with their own grief and trauma was very relatable and very real.

3.75/5

I was extremely excited to read this after loving their House of Night novels, those books played a huge part of my high school life and I will still continue to read them even as an adult. Honestly though, this book disappointed me. I loved the premise of this book with the twin witches and everything but it almost felt like I wasn't reading a book written by the Cast duo. The writing style felt completely different and at points in this book I was rolling my eyes and incredibly bored.

The only reason I'm giving this book three and a half stars is because I really did love the characters Hunter and Mercy even though at times they annoyed me. The plot of the story wasn't that great to me and felt like it jumped around a lot and wasn't that climatic. I will still continue on with this series because I'm intrigued to see what happens next but I'm hoping the next books are written better.

Portals to various underworlds. Teen twin witches pledge themselves to their patron gods. Uncovering the evil while grieving the loss of their mother. Everything about this sounds good, but almost nothing reads good. With a pacing and tone that disrupts whatever essence the story was attempting to establish, the characterisation almost fails to construct a personality that can take forward the plot or motivate readers to cheer for. The magic system or fantastical world-building, which can be expected to somewhat strengthen the tale, also disappoints when the doors to different underworlds are actually windows into Greek, Norse, Japanese, Hindu, and Egyptian mythologies. Not only does the entire idea of a few white women protecting the world from cultural underworlds, especially those stemming from the east, seems absurdly saviour-ish, but it also indirectly comments on indigenous population in an underwhelming, even disappointing manner. Basically, for the readers, the problems prevailed instead of being resolved in this paranormal fantasy.

I'm sorry to say I didn't enjoy his book very much. It wasn't written badly or anything, but it's very much a female YA offering. If that's your kind of thing, I'm sure you'll really enjoy this book.

Like others here, I also read the House of Night series when I was younger and devoured many of those books. I started this but didn't get around to finishing it. Not entirely the book's fault. I just wasn't as grabbed as I wanted to be so I put off finishing it. But, I am also not exactly the target audience anymore so who's to say a teen reader won't love it for it's witchy premise and fun writing? The story was rich in history and I'm sure teens new to the genre will love it.

After reading the House of Night series, I was really looking forward to this new series by the Cast duo. I love stories rich with history and witchcraft and the beginning of this one completely hit the spot. The story of Sarah Goode was excellent and reminiscent of Hoffman's Magic Lessons, which I loved.

Then the story switched gears to the modern day featuring two descendants of Sarah Goode, Mercy and Hunter. Mercy and Hunter's characters fell flat and often I couldn't tell the twins apart. None of the characters were particularly likable and I didn't hold feelings for any of them. When something bad happened, I just shrugged and moved on - totally not emotionally connected. Once I slogged through the story, I cam to a very predictable ending that didn't leave me wanting more but left me with relief that it was over. I'm sad to say, this isn't a series that I will be continuing.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

2.75/3 stars?

I loved P.C Cast and Kristin Cast's House of Night series when I was younger and I love witches and witchy books. So when I saw this book on Goodreads with that pretty cover, I immediately wanted to read it. Unfortunately, I didn't end up loving this book as much as I thought I would.

The concept of this book sounded pretty good, the execution is what kinda ruined it for me.

First of all, the characters annoyed me sooo much. I didn't feel connected to any of them except for Xena. Whenever I think of Hunter and Mercy, our main characters, I feel indifferent. I just don't care about them.

The writing was pretty juvenile which I expected from a book by this author duo based on my experience reading House of Night, but I still expected the dialogue to be....better? It felt like there was no improvement in the writing between House of Night and this one and just FYI, Marked came out in 2007.

Now, the premise sounded good. I loved the idea of a family of witches who are the Gatekeepers tasked to protect the Gates to different underworlds inspired by many different mythologies. Again, I love that and hopefully we'll see more of that in the sequel because I wanted to see more of that in the book. Because even after all that happens in this book, I was still kinda bored and there was no sense of urgency to me. I can't really think of one moment where I felt like the characters were truly in danger.

Now I'm still continuing with this series because 1: I am a completionist and 2: there was a character introduced in this book that really intrigued me and I have a feeling we'll see more of him in book 2.

Honestly I'm not a fan, I loved these authors when I was younger but now maybe I'm too old to really enjoy this type of magical drama. It wasn't as original as I was hoping but it also wasn't bad, I really just felt meh about it.

In the town of Goodeville, the Gatekeepers have long held the forces of darkness at bay. Safeguarding mysterious ancient portals, these Gatekeepers protect their town, and life itself, from malevolent beings that lurk on the other side of the Gates, waiting for any opportunity to make their way through and mete out destruction. Hunter and Mercy Goode are up-and-coming Gatekeepers who have a destiny to carry on in their ancestors' footsteps. That's easier said than done when a breach at the Gates unleashes death upon their town, and their mother is mutilated by the denizens from beyond. Mercy and Hunter have no time to waste, for their town, and their very lives, are bound by what happens at the Gates.

The trouble begins right away when this magical story begins, as another Goode, Sarah, escapes from Salem! That part really hooked my interest, and this being a magical story with sisters at its core made it even better. The magic system is a bit vague, but the abilities are flashy, useful, and powerful, so I had fun with it all the same. Hunter and Mercy go through a lot of loss, so it's great to see that they have support from their familiar, Xena, and their friends in town. The story constrains itself somewhat by crafting dialogue and situations toward young adults, and then including a sex scene that was somewhat graphic for a YA novel. This may not bother all readers, but it's definitely not PG, and it might seem childish in other places, which creates a conflict in its targeted tone.

I listened to the audiobook version while enjoying the story, and the audiobook was mostly excellent. Some parts with Mercy and Hunter felt a bit over-acted, and others felt somewhat whiny, but I felt that was more the narrator's interpretation than the dialogue itself. This story is the first in the Sisters of Salem series, so I imagine that some of the unresolved story threads will be tied up in the forthcoming sequel, Omens Bite. There were a few hiccups along the way for me, but this story Spells Trouble, and I'm invested in whatever happens next for Hunter and Mercy. Recommended for readers who love a magical story with sisters who are down to fight the darkness that surrounds them, who enjoy interesting magical systems, and who believe that destiny can provide purpose without defining who you are.

3.5 ⭐