This book has a great premise and the description made it sound so interesting. But I just couldn't get into it. In fact, I think it lost me right at the beginning, during the bonfire where all the teens were getting drunk and naked. And the adults had no problem with it. Even the sheriff. I'm no prude, but the majority of teens I know don't talk or act like the kids in this book. Plus, the plot seemed to ramble around a bit to further my disinterest. I really like the concept of the story, I just got lost in the delivery. It's not my kind of book, I guess.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the arc of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

I wanted to love this. I really did. The premise and description sounded so promising. It just... wasn’t for me. The plot was a little all over the place. The pacing was off and i wasn’t really connecting to any of the characters. It was that it was some awful book, it genuinely just wasn’t one I particularly enjoyed. I really wish I would’ve ! The concept sounded so great. It just wasn’t for me.

You and your twin sister come from a long line of witches extending back to Sarah Goode (and beyond), the only actual witch at the Salem witch trials. Sarah used her power to allow herself, her daughter, and her familiar to escape and they fled Salem, eventually settling in what would later become Salem County in central Illinois, establishing the town of Goodeville at a site where five power-filled ley lines converged. The apex of each ley line was the entrance to a mythological underworld (Norse, Egyptian, Greek, Japanese, and Hindu). Sarah used her power to call forth trees (some of which would never be found naturally in central Illinois) to mark the entrance to the gates and she cast a spell to close the gates. Since then, the Goode witches have been guardians of the gates, renewing the powerful protective spell each year and ensuring the health of the trees. Tonight, on your sixteenth birthday, you and your twin sister are going to help your mother cast a spell to strengthen the apple tree marking the Norse gate, as well as dedicating yourself to your chosen goddess or god. However, things do not go as planned, as you discover the tree is sick and as you are attacked by a strange creature. Your mother is forced to call down the power of her goddess and sacrifice herself in order to destroy the creature. That is the situation facing Mercy and Hunter Goode, who, after the death of their mother, have to figure out how to cope with their grief, heal the trees, seal the gates, and deal with another creature, who they will soon learn has escaped from one of the other gates and is murdering people.

The residents of Goodeville know the Goode women are witches, but their concept of witches is someone who professes to be Wiccan, has a knowledge of herbal lore, dabbles in astrology, and can perform "spells" that seem more like magic tricks. They do not understand that the Goode women have actual magical powers, with the ability to cast powerful spells, and they know nothing about the true purpose of the trees or the real service the Goode women have been providing to the town for centuries. The only people who know that there might be more to the Goode's powers are Megan's best friend Emily and Hunter's best friend Jax. Hunter is a lesbian (in a town where that is not well tolerated) and her best friend is a straight guy, which makes for an interesting pairing.

"Spells Trouble" is definitely a young adult book, with a fantasy theme. If you are looking for a fantasy book with young adult main characters, this might not be the book for you. The book deals with grieving, bullying, prejudice, and identity. There is a gratuitous pseudo-sex scene involving Megan and her boyfriend, Kirk, the high school quarterback. I have seen early reviews of the book that were critical of the inclusion of the scene, and it was definitely unnecessary for the overall plot, but the authors use the post-incident boasting by Kirk to his teammates as the way that Megan realizes that Kirk really is the pompous jerk that his behavior generally displays and that his better behavior when alone with Megan was really just an act and a means to an end. While the book deals with serious topics at times, it also has some quite humorous moments. Jax's behavior at the plant nursery is my favorite humorous moment.

The authors utilized the mythological and witchcraft aspects of the story quite well, both as aspects of the characters of Mercy and Hunter, as well as their mother Abigail and their familiar, Xena, and as part of the overall plot involving protecting the trees marking the gates and keeping the gates sealed. While Hindu and Japanese mythology were not really a significant part of the story, other than being connected to two of the gates/underworlds, I thought it was an interesting addition to the story and I hope they are utilized more in the sequel. Yes, there will be a sequel -- the story ends with a cliffhanger that suggests that the tension that has been brewing between the sisters since the fateful night will come to a head and affect their ability to heal the trees and perform their roles as guardians. "Spells Trouble" is worth reading and I look forward to the sequel.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This book took a bit to catch my interest, but once it did, I really liked it. I liked how one sister was more likable than the other and I loved Xena!! I am a bit confused as to whether this will be a series or not since the way it ended felt like a cliffhanger more than anything. Overall this was a great book and if it is a series, I look forward to seeing what will happen next.

My favourite part of Spells Trouble was the premise. I liked the idea of twin sisters being responsible for protecting their town. Even though Mercy and Hunter of course have different personalities, I found their voices to be way too similar.
Overall too much exposition in beginning, and although I enjoyed the plot, the execution was insufficient. I am a little curious abut what happens next, if want young adult fantasy that is quick and easy read, read this book.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (l

I love the mother and daughter duo that is P.C. and Kristin Cast! This is book one in the Sisters of Salem series and I could not be more pleased. Thankful to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this title.

Mercy and Hunter Goode are twins and descendants of Sarah Goode, a witch and founder of the town of Goodeville. Like their ancestors, they are the protectors of five different gates to five different underworlds. It is their sixteenth birthday and time for them to choose the goddess or god they will follow and to become full gatekeepers. Their mother leads them through the ritual, but things go wrong and a creature escapes the gate and kills their mother. If that wasn't bad enough, something escaped from another gate and all five gates are in danger of failing. Mercy and Hunter must rely on their friends to strengthen the gates and one of them must give up something precious to her, but will it be enough?

This is the first book of a new series by P.C. and Kristin Cast. I can't wait to read the next one!

I received a copy of Spells Trouble through NetGalley as an ARC.
I’ve been a fan of P.C. Cast & her daughter Kristin Cast since I found the House of Night series in high school (2008/2009 ish) they’re actually the authors that got me into fantasy!!

I have to say this book has lived up to my expectations of P.C.’s books! We follow twin sisters Hunter & Mercy both part of the Goode bloodline that can be traced back to the Salem witch trials. They may be twins but they are vastly different and switching between each sisters point of view is so much fun! P.C is great for adding lgbtq+ characters and I love the diversity in her worlds. This book is full of witchcraft which is beautiful and fun in its own but we also have so much mythology as well, which is what grabbed my attention anyways.
When their mother is the first murdered you see how the girls deal with their grief differently and lean on their friends to help them in a very house of night fashioned way in my opinion. Their friend circle is diverse and they will come together to help their beloved twins anyway they can. In the wake of their mother’s loss they also have to become gate keepers like all the Goode girls before them. They’re young and fairly inexperienced and have to hope what their mother taught them will be enough. The spells they perform alone are amazing. They’re incredibly detailed and specific and I love the thought and research that must have gone into it.
Would definitely recommend!!!

I will add my Amazon review as soon as it releases and I am able!

I unfortunately had to DNF this book. I just could not get passed the poor writing. This was my first novel from these writers, who I have heard great things about, but this just did not work. The way the characters speak, the pacing, and the abrupt switching between characters without explanation made for a jumbled mess.

Mercy and Hunter Goode are descendants of a true witch of Salem. Power courses through them and beats in time with the special trees planted by their ancestress that protect their town. But something is wrong with the trees, and the gates they embody are opening to hellish worlds full of creatures who will do anything to escape them.

I read the House of Night series about 12 years ago and absolutely loved them. But everything I’ve read from the Casts since has fallen short. I’m not sure if it’s down to their writing not being as good or my own tastes that have changed. But this book information disappointed me as well.

First of all, the magic system is almost identical to HoN which seems very lazy. Hunter and Mercy are quite different from each other even though they’re twins, but mostly the characters are static and flat. I also had issues with the use of POV. While the chapters shift perspective from one girl to the other, it is all told in third person making things seem detached and shallow. I wasn’t emotionally invested with any of them or the plot points. I definitely won’t be continuing the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my free eARC. These opinions are my own.

I'm so sad to be giving this book less than 5 stars because I LOVE P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast (House of Night for the WIN!) but this just wasn't my favorite. It wasn't bad, it was definitely unique and entertaining, but I just didn't have that "can't put it down" vibe at all.

The book follows two twin witches, Hunter and Mercy Goode, who must figure out how to protect the Gates (each of which leads to a different Underworld) after their mother is killed. In terms of content, I really did find the premise to be unique and quite interesting and it had the potential to be a really fantastic read. But while the writing wasn't bad per se, it definitely read very young and a little bit too much like adults writing the way they think teenagers talk and missing the mark. Unfortunately while the book reads like it could be for younger kids, there's mature content thrown in so that it really isn't right for that age group either. Also, this is kind of an insignificant detail, but I found it a bit odd that the girls called their mom by her first name instead of... you know... mom. Is that a thing these days lol???

Some sections seemed to drag a bit, some scenes seemed thrown in out of the blue for no particular reason as it did nothing to further the storyline. I found myself reading this book sporadically and not really thinking about it after I put it down, like I was sort of reading to find out what happens but not really getting into it.

Again, I'm SO sad to give this book a less than stellar review because I really do love this mom-daughter author duo! But it just didn't live up to my expectations this time around. That being said, because the plot was pretty unique, and I do love these authors, I will be giving the next book in the series a try! Sometimes starting a new series can be difficult as you haven't "been with" the characters for long (if that makes sense lol) so perhaps when they get further into the series and get more into the mindset of these characters the writing will flow better! I guess we'll see!

I really wanted to love this book. I’ve heard great things about the House of Night series and I’ve always wanted to check out some of their books.

However now I’m not sure if I’ll read anything else by them…

This book is about the Goode sisters and the town that they live. They’re descendants of witches and use five trees to keep the underworlds away from Earth…or something like that.

Not gonna lie I didn’t fully understand the whole tree thing.

Our sisters are Hunter and Mercy – and I couldn’t full tell who was who a lot of the time.

Mercy is the “Green witch”, is popular, outgoing, well liked, has her best friend Emily and her football playing boyfriend Kirk. She is basically your stereotypical “popular girl:

Then there’s Hunter. Let’s check off the “stereotypical literary lesbian” checkboxes shall we? Androgynous name? Check! Bullied as a child? Check! As a male best friend? Check! Defies social norms? CHECK!

Now I haven’t read any other books by these two, but Hunter makes me feel like they got yelled at for not including enough queer characters and thought “okay we need to make someone in our next book gay, what kinds of things do lesbians like?” She was such a weird caricature of what a queer girl living in a small town would be. I love that queer characters are becoming more commonplace in literature, and I’m all for straight authors writing them as well, but overly stereotypical characters are gross and do way more harm than good. If you don’t know how to write about someone from a certain background, no matter if its sexual orientation, race, class background, either do real research or stick to what you know.

Now even though Mercy and Hunter had pretty distinct differences in their personalities, I found their voices to be way too similar. The story switched perspectives, and sometimes I wasn’t quite sure which twin was speaking.

Same with their best friends, Emily and Jax, despite gender differences, personality differences, parental differences, I couldn’t quite separate their voices. The only character’s that really stood out were Xena and Kirk, but one of them is also a cat and the other is a douche, so its not too difficult there.

And I know that these characters are teenagers, but they are ridiculously juvenile. They speak in hashtags, and make the type of sexual jokes I would have laughed at in middle school. It seemed more like someone’s vague idea about how teenagers speak, instead of actual teenagers.

Then there’s the actual plot:

I liked the idea of this story, its a town founded by a witch, and there’s five trees surrounding the town that keep the town (or maybe the whole earth?) safe. One thing I found odd is that this town is founded by a witch, and everyone knows the Goode family are witches, but they still hide the fact that they’re witches? Like there is only a certain level of witchiness they want people to know about.

The concept of the story was really cool. I love the idea of these tree portals, of how all the terrible mythical creatures are more than likely inside these underworld portals, and its only a cute little apple tree keeping them closed. I loved the whole witch descendant storyline, and how when they’re “of age” they choose a practice of magic and a goddess (or god) to be their…advisor thing.

It’s a really cool story idea, but between the too similar of characters and then the MASSIVE amounts of explaining what was happening instead of showing, made it very difficult to enjoy. There is one part, where the sisters discuss their plan, then they sit there and carefully explain every tiny detail of their plan, but then they go and DO the plan mostly off page. I would’ve much preferred a brief planning stage, followed by fully showing them doing the plan. There was just SO MUCH of it, and I got really tired of reading descriptions of events instead of witnessing the events.

Overall I guess I expected a lot more than this book than what was given, and although I enjoyed the concept, the execution was lacking. I am a little curious abut what happens next, but I don’t think I’m curious enough to read the second book….


Some Spoiler thoughts below

The part where Kirk “reveals” his real personality was absolutely terribly written. One minute he is begging Mercy for forgiveness for bragging about their sex life, and the next he’s playing the part of the big dumb douche. The transition was abrupt and awkward. The reader knows right from the start that Kirk will in fact, turn out to be an ass because every character but Mercy kept saying so, but it just felt so forced. Why help Mercy and Hunter with their spell if you were only in it to get laid? Why comfort and hold her while she cried for her mother? I can’t imagine someone as dumb as Kirk being smart enough to “play the long game” just to have sex.

Also, the sex scene was sooooooo awkward and weirdly worded. I love a good sex scene, but this was just so uncomfortable to read. These were also two sentences featured in this book in reference to sex:

“Sweetheart, would you like to discuss your clitoris—again?” her mother asked.”

“Oh, and you’re welcome for your multiple orgasms. They’re familial, you know.”

gag

There’s also the matter of Hunter and her god/goddess of choice. Obviously, choosing Tyr as her god wasn’t the reason the trees started changing, but they give no explanation as to why she wanted to choose Tyr and if he is not the cause, there is no speculation as to what it could be. I know its setting up for a second book, but it was just too many loose ends.

Thank you to NetGalley/Wednesday Books (MacMillan) for the opportunity to read this eARC. I enjoyed this book tremendously and as a first time Cast reader this has made me interested in her backlist titles. Great characters - and a strong plot made this a hard to put down book. I have to confess I am loving all the books coming out with Greek/Roman mythology folklore in YA books.
This book was something different in which you have twin witches living in a small-town Illinois faced with mythological characters from Greek/Roman escaping from their underworld to reek havoc in the mortal world. I liked how each twin's growth and steps they took to defeat these creatures was so well-written that I am looking forward to the continuation of this series.

Spells Trouble is a book that I know my high school students will devour. The main characters are descendants of Sarah Goode from the Salem Witch Trials. I will definitely be purchasing this for my school library!!

I recognized the name P.C.Cast from her previous series. I was so excited to read from an author I picked up in high school. This story is well paced. From vampires to witches, P.C. Cast continues to entertain with the stories.

My favourite authors of the House of Night series have came back at us with a whole new installment of books on witches now instead of vampires. I was super excited to hear about this book and I had to reach out to secure a copy to read ASAP.

This book is very well written, if you have read previous books by these authors the writting style is very much similar to before with some familiar phrases. It is fast paced and has so much going on that I never felt bored.

The start of the book takes us to the Salem witch trial era and we are introduced to Sarah Goode, a witch about to be hung who manages to escape with her child and eventually helps to create the town where we are introduced to the twin witches, Mercy and Hunter, many many many years later.

These girls are only alike in appearances, both characterisations are beautifully written and so different in their personalities. Mercy is a whirlwind of a character with such an outgoing personality whilst Hunter is more introverted and it is no secret that she is gay which is characteristic that I am happy was included in this book.

It was fun to be able to read in both girls point of views, it gave so much insight to what each twin was thinking and feeling and I was able to relate much better with them both. The plot is a twisting tale and yes I cried, laughed and felt so angry at some parts. It is a highly recommended read from me. You won’t regret picking this one up from the shelves and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

A big thanks to the publishers at Wednesday Books for allowing me to read and review this book before being released.

I was a huge fan on the House of Night series so I was so excited to give this one a try. Unfortunately it feel extremely flat. I dnfed this at about 20% because it was just severely lacking

I had to DNF this book early, about 15%.  The prologue of this book definitely grabbed my attention but it was as if the writing style did a 180 once the current day events began.  The dialogue that starts in the first chapter is so juvenile and annoying that I could not make it past the fourth chapter.  I work with teenagers on a daily basis and they absolutely do not talk the way these authors write teenagers.  The premise sounds awesome and if the writing style had been the same as the prologue, this definitely would have been a book I enjoyed.  It's just hard to push through and read a book when the character's words are so over the top.

Sadly, this is not the book for me. I was excited to read it because of the witches (I love books with witches!) but this one just kinda fell flat. Mercy and Hunter were ok main characters but they didn't really grab my attention.
I don't have much else to say about this book- it was just ok.

Filled with witches, mystery, gates to other worlds, and adventure, Spells Trouble ultimately is a good if not mediocre book. The ideas that this book is based on are great and the main story is also well put together. I gave this book three stars because of how good the main plot was, however, it did lose of few points here and there.

To add a little bit to the synopsis, Hunter and Mercy are thrown into this mission to keep different underworlds from invading their town after their mother dies and these demons start escaping from different mythology versions of the realms of the dead. The girls with the help of their cat and their friends have to figure out how to use their witchy powers to save everyone, all while dealing with the death of their mother.

I haven’t read many books that tied the Salem Witch Trials to a present-day teenage mystery, but I liked how the Casts did it here. The prologue drew me in and planted a good foundation for the book. The little hits from the prologue later get used to weave together elements and create a very unique magic system. In fact, the worldbuilding might have been my favorite part, I like the small-town setting and the history that frames Hunter and Mercy’s adventure.

The characters were very hit or miss for me. A couple of them I really liked and others bothered me. Hunter and Mercy each have their good and bad moments, but I like how different they were. I also think the twin dynamics between them are very realistic. The character growth was another strong point. Hunter and Mercy and teenage girls and the adventure they go on is life-changing, so I was happy to see that was well-reflected.

My main issue came right at the beginning of the book. Spells Trouble begins at the twin’s birthday party on a lake with their friends. I think this scene was supposed to introduce the reader to the characters and how their lives typically are, but it a pretty poor choice for the start of the book. The portrayal of high schoolers just felt super cliche and a lot of the interactions were oddly sexual. As someone who was in highschool fairly recently, it made had it hard for me to focus on getting to know the characters. I was focused on how bothered I was by all the made-up teen slang like “pressie” (present), the super sexual interactions, and the setting. Almost immediately after this scene, the book dives into the main plot, which I did like, but it took a while for me to adjust to how much the tone of the book shifted. It felt like the first scene was from an entirely different book.

The writing style was easy to read and enjoyable but also didn’t help with the party scene. The writing style is very simplistic and reflective of how middle-grade is written. I typically like this writing style and it made the bulk of the book easy to read, but when the characters were talking about things like sex and alcohol the writing style just made it worse.

Stepping away from the book, I would say it was good, but the few critiques I had to make it hard to recommend to a specific group. Due to some of the content mixed with the writing style, I would say older young adult readers are the ideal reader and I would recommend the book to them.