Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young is a genre bending tale of young love, tragedy, and a mysterious island with all kinds of secrets. This book is a mix of all my favorite things: a little romance, a little mystery, and a little magic.
August Salt hasn’t been back to Saoirse since the night he left the island clouded in scandal fourteen years ago, after a brutal fire and the mysterious death of Lily Morgan. That night, the town lost much of its orchard, and Emery Blackwood lost both her best friend and the love of her life.
But August made a promise, to bury his mother’s ashes on the island. So now he finds himself back on the island, and long buried secrets threaten to resurface. No one on the island, especially Emery and August, ever really recovered from the fire and Lily Morgan’s death. Without knowing for sure what happened that night, no one can find closure, and their story feels unfinished until August and Emery decide to find out what happened once and for all.
Spells for Forgetting is a story mostly told from Emery and August’s point-of-view, with the occasional perspectives of other major players on the island. There are two timelines, the present day and fourteen years before, around the time of the fire.
This mysterious fire was clearly a pivotal moment for the people in this community, and from the outset, the author does a great job of piquing the reader’s curiosity and building suspense surrounding what happened that night.
Saoirse is a mysterious island off the coast of Seattle that feels as though its from another time. It’s is a very insular community, so the story presents almost like a closed door mystery. Most people don’t leave Saoirse and those who do tend to return one way or another.
These characters are all interconnected in the weaving layers familiar to anyone from a small community. Everyone is someone’s best friend, someone’s uncle, or someone’s lover, and everyone is keeping all manner of secrets.
The writing style in this book is filled with lyrical language that’s descriptive of nature, perfectly complementing the undercurrent of magic and emotion in this strange place.
Readers don’t see a lot of active magic in Spells for Forgetting, just hints and whispers. Yet, the story is still infused with a deep sense of enchantment and personal history, especially for a story that is at least partially a mystery. It is wonderfully unique, and beautiful and emotional story of young love and darkness in a small town.
Leave a Reply