Absolutely loved this book! It was the perfect combination of mystery, suspense, friends to lovers, and witchy. I am half convinced that Nicole wrote a spell into this book to keep me hooked! If there is a sequel, I will most definitely be reading it. It didn’t have as many twists and turns as I had hoped but as an almost 30 year old woman, it was a very good read!


Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

Book Review: A Spell to Wake the Dead by Nicole Lesperance

A Spell to Wake the Dead by Nicole Lesperance is the perfect blend of eerie, atmospheric tension and witchy intrigue, making it a must-read for fans of the supernatural, especially during spooky season—or when you’re craving that eerie, haunted vibe any time of year. The novel captures the loneliness and isolation that comes with shorter days and the chilling transition of seasons, evoking a deep sense of both mystery and melancholy.

From the very first chapter, I was hooked. Lesperance’s talent for vivid, haunting descriptions of the occult world draws you in and keeps you captivated. The intricacy of the magical elements, the details surrounding witchcraft, and the eerie atmosphere of the book kept me on the edge of my seat. I found myself staying up late, desperate to discover what would happen next in the tense and gripping mystery at the heart of the story.

Though A Spell to Wake the Dead is technically a young adult novel, it reads with a maturity that turns the pages quickly. The themes of possession, dark magic, and uncovering long-hidden secrets, make it a great pick for anyone who enjoys a good grisly mystery wrapped in a witchy, supernatural package. If you love stories that delve into the occult with twists, tension, and emotional depth, this book is sure to cast its spell on you.

Lesperance has truly crafted a page-turner that lingers long after you’ve turned the last page. Whether you’re a fan of YA or just love a well-crafted spooky mystery, A Spell to Wake the Dead is one you won’t want to miss. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This was an unexpected twist! Two girls find a body and can't shake the feeling that there's just something more to it. Something unnatural. I love how everything unfolded for these two, and how everything just sort of started rolling when they found more info.

The Spell to Wake the Dead
By Nicole Lesperance

Summary:
When Mazzy and her best friend Nora sneak down to the beach one moonlit night to cast a spell, they don’t expect to find a dead body. But as the tide rolls in, it carries the remains of a woman who is missing her hands and teeth.

The girls know they should leave the investigation to the police, but they can’t shake the weird, supernatural connection they feel with the dead woman. Using spellwork and divination, they set out to find answers of their own. But after they uncover a rash of local disappearances stretching back years—and both girls start having occult visions and hearing ghostly, whispering voices—Mazzy worries that she and Nora are in danger.

Then, Nora finds a second body. And the whispering voice is telling her where to find more. With everything spiraling, Mazzy needs to figure out who to trust and how to sever this supernatural connection—or she and Nora might be the next bodies to wash up on the beach.

Review: 5-Stars
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this story. It sounded aright. Something I’d enjoy and take a day or two to read, feeling it would be just an average story, but was I wrong, oh so wrong.
This story from the first paragraph to the last is what I refer to as a page turner one that you can’t put down and have to continue to read from start to finish in one setting.
It engages the mind, trying to figure out just what’s really going on. The author really knows how to develop characters who are believable and feel real. She also paints a picture of what you’re reading, so it feels like you’re watching a movie, along with capturing the emotions of all the different characters. Hands down one of the best books I’ve read in years, one that I will pick up multi times.
Conclusion:
Will I recommend this book to others? YES
Will I read other books written by this Author? YES
Will I buy this book for others? YES

This is YA but it can totally draw in an adult audience. I related with these characters in so many ways especially from my own teen years. I was captivated by the mystery of dead bodies washing ashore and a possible occult cult. Some of it was predictable, but that didn't take away from the story. The witch stuff was what intrigued and held me to this story. Fascinating, and surprisingly quite well researched. I absolutely loved it.

I couldn’t put it down! Luckily to get the chance to read the ARC copy via NetGalley.

Nora was a little annoying while Mazzy was the standout character. This book has it all; friendship, found family, friends to lovers, murder, tension, witches, rituals, mystery…… I could keep going.

I flew through this book reading it in just over 24 hours. Loved every second and found myself lost in the story & writing.

MURDER MYSTERY IN CAPE COD 🥹💕 witchcraft and thrillers go really well together. This book made me miss halloweeennnn with all the spooky witchy reads. 10/10. Fell in love with the setting and characters immediately. Very relatable lol. I’m obsessed and will read again this October.

‘A Spell to Wake the Dead’ by Nicole Lesperance is a supernatural thriller that follows Mazzy and Nora, two teens who cast a spell on a Cape Cod beach and discover a mutilated body soon after. This sets off a chilling chain of murders tied to occult secrets. Lesperance creates an eerie atmosphere with her writing while maintaining a meaningful yet suspenseful plot. This book had so many twists and turns that it was hard to put down. Definitely a compelling read for fans of witchy mysteries and dark thrillers.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for a voluntary and honest review.

Great YA spooky read involving witchcraft, ghosts, deaths and mystery in a small town. If you love creepy vibes this is the book for you!

This was a fun YA thriller- Mazzy and Nora are practicing magic when a body washes up on the beach, without hands or teeth… As Mazzy and Nora work to move past this, someone or something keeps dragging them back.

+ action packed
+ fun FMCs
+ magical realism
+ cult

- almost too fast paced? Felt like there could have been more natural lead up to some of the events

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Teen for the ARC!

I read this book as an ARC through NetGalley. It is a YA novel, but it didn’t feel like one, other than the characters being teenagers. It’s well written and fun, the characters are cool people I definitely would’ve wanted to be friends with in high school. I enjoyed this book, it kept me guessing and was quite the magical journey.

Mazzy, her best friend Nora, and their friend Ethan sneak down to a Cape Cod beach to do a spell during the full moon. They end up finding the body of a woman missing her hands and teeth. They call the police, but feel drawn to the spirit of the woman. The girls decide to use magic to contact the woman, and this starts off a scary and mysterious chain of events that has the girls chasing the secretive and dangerous cult, The Hand of Nepthys while trying to find the killer.

This was such a fun and enjoyable read. I loved the girls use of magic. I thought it was cool that these young women decide to take the investigation into their own hands with spells. The adults in their lives keep telling them to stay out of it, but in true teenage fashion, they don’t listen. I also enjoyed that Mazzy and Nora were more than just witches, they have hobbies, friends, and goals. The mystery was twisty and interesting and kept me reading.

If this sounds like a fun read, get your own copy on August 26, 2025.

Wednesday Addams meets CSI, if she and her BFF were raised by muggles and often experimented with magic out of their league. In the style of Freida McFadden - short chapters where every word counts. I devoured this in a day and now have a hangover. I want more mischief with these girls. When is the next book coming out?!?!?!

I loved the way this book is written. You can tell the author isn’t speaking from ignorance there’s a clear level of research behind it. The story is incredibly engaging, pulling you in from the very first page to the last. I simply adored how smoothly the narrative flowed, completely immersing me and making me crave more.

The characters are brilliantly crafted; you truly understand their motivations and connect with them. Plus, the atmosphere is so well-developed that, more than once, I regretted reading it at night because the chills made me want to turn on the light.

I was extremely bored the whole time and never cared about the mystery because it was so dumb and reminded me of pretty little liars where nothing makes sense. I never cared about any of the main characters since they are very flat and have zero personality. I liked the setting with the spooky beaches but that's about it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It’s just a full moon ritual, what could go wrong?
Well… Apparently a lot.

If you’re looking for a good creepy read for a rainy Autumn night, look no further! Nicole Lesperance has you covered with “A Spell to Wake the Dead”,

Best friends Mazzy and Nora meet on the night of the full moon to do a ritual by the sea, seems simple enough, but when the ritual is done things start to get weird. The body of a murdered woman washes ashore, she’s missing her hands and her teeth.

Don’t you just hate when that happens?

What was meant to be a spell to help has now turned their lives upside down and soon Nora finds the body of another murdered woman sending the girls spiraling to uncover the truth of the murders and the dark secrets buried in their town.

I was hooked right from the beginning, almost like magic 😉 The action started right in the beginning and never slowed down, this was a fast paced, heart stopping wild ride! Equal parts spooky, eerie and magical.

From start to finish I was guessing, suspecting everyone that walked through the pages. The setting was so beautifully done I felt as though I was roaming Cape Cod with the girls.

(ARC from NetGalley, thank you so much for the opportunity to read and review A Spell to Wake the Dead!)

I really got to love these girls! I wasn't sure at first, because I felt I'm past the age where 17 year olds aren't just cringey to me, and the witchcraft wasn't the most promising, but they are just so sweet. The mysteries behind characters were very good and unexpected at times. I feel like every loose end for tied up by the end and that just fills my little heart. There was just the right amount of romance that made me remember both that they are just so young and that they got stuff going on outside of the circumstances they got themselves into in this book.

A deliciously spooky read perfect for the autumn season! If small town horror is your thing, you will love this creepy, atmospheric read about teenage witches.

As grateful as I am for this arc and getting to read this in March, the actual release date of this book is set perfectly because reading this book would hit different during the fall. This book is peak romanticism of the fall season. It even romanticizes the feeling of comfortable loneliness you get when the clocks roll back and life gets darker sooner. This feeling that you get from a book…this is what reading is all about. It was able to transport me to my favorite time of year.

This book still has the YA feel but with all the excitement you’d expect from a supernatural murder mystery. The girls stumble upon a dead body of a woman who is missing her hands and heart (yikes) and suspect that the culprit is a secret magical society called hand of nephthys, an evil cult who perform ritual murders. The book then dives into a magical murder mystery essentially, filled with teenagers communing with ghosts, researching evil magic societies, mixed with a murder mystery. It deals with everything from an evil cult obsessed with Egyptian mythology to a spirits of the dead communicating with the girls in their heads. It’s very much a murder mystery rather than a horror novel, but with plenty of magical and supernatural elements. There’s even a creepy song that’s a clue to part of the mystery. It’s spooky, atmospheric, and so autumnal.

Aside from that, this book is just plain well written. You know how some authors tell but don’t show? Literally from page 2 I clocked that Nicole Lesperance is not one of those authors because I instantly felt transported into this sleepy town. From the first page I could tell that she’s a gifted writer. She transports you into a place of lonely, empty roads surrounded by sleepy woods and Victorian homes, the evening soft and silvery from the moonlight. Everything is written so visually and easy to picture. This book isn’t anything groundbreaking of a massive standout necessarily, but it’s exactly what you’d expect going into it. And absolutely perfect for spooky season.

Thank you to Netgalley and GP Putnam for sending me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

I was very excited to be chosen to read this book as the title and description sounded very interesting to me. This book did not disappoint! I literally read it in one day because I was so invested in seeing what truly was going on with the kids and their interactions with May. I really appreciated the way the author made me question all of the characters and their intentions and motives. I truly didn't trust anyone in this book! I am a big fan of murder mysteries and really enjoyed the supernatural element in this book. Thank you for such an entertaining book! I would highly recommend it to my friends.

You had me at witchcraft and murder mystery! Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC of this read. I was hooked from page one. Excellently creepy YA book, strong character development, interesting dip into the witchy world of two young women, and I appreciated that LGBTQ characters were treated the same as straight characters (refreshing!).

A Spell to Wake the Dead is a witchy thriller that delivers an eerie atmosphere, supernatural intrigue, and dark magic, making it a compelling read for fans of YA occult mysteries. The story follows Mazzy and her best friend Nora, who, after casting a spell on the beach one night, stumble upon a horrifying discovery - a woman’s body missing hands and teeth. Their attempts to investigate through spellwork uncover a sinister history of disappearances in their Cape Cod town, pulling them deeper into a web of dangers that threaten their lives.

One of the most surprising aspects of this book is how deeply it leans into magic. Rather than treating it as something hidden, magic is woven into the world in a way that feels natural and totally accepted.

The eerie tone and chilling twists kept me quickly turning pages, but the book falters when it comes to character development and plot cohesion. While Mazzy and Nora are likable (although Nora tested my patience at times), they lack the depth to make me feel truly invested in their journey. The fast pacing sacrifices a deeper emotional exploration, leaving many of the side characters feeling like mere plot devices rather than fully realized individuals. This lack of connection becomes especially apparent in the climax, where the impact of a certain reveal fell flat for me due to the minimal backstory given to this person.

If you’re looking for a fast-paced, dark and magical thriller, A Spell to Wake the Dead offers an entertaining ride. However, for readers who crave more emotional depth and character-driven storytelling, it may not leave a lasting impression. Overall, I had a lot of fun and it was a quick read!