Book Review Friday: Spellbinding (YA Paranormal)

THIS BOOK'S PUBLICATION DATE IS APRIL 1ST.  IT WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE UNTIL THAT DATE - NO FOOLIN'!!

Spellbinding:

From the Back Cover:

Salem is the bewitching backdrop to this lush, fast-paced tale of one girl discovering the source of her powers.

It is during a routine school project that Abby Silva--sixteen and nearly friendless--makes a startling discovery: She is descended from women who were accused of witchcraft back in 1600s Salem. And when Abby visits nearby Salem, strange, inexplicable events start to unfold. Objects move when she wills them to. Candles burst into sudden flame. And an ancient spellbook somehow winds up in her possession.

Trying to harness her newfound power, Abby concocts a love potion to win over her longtime crush--and exact revenge upon his cruel, bullying girlfriend. But old magic is not to be trifled with. Soon, Abby is thrust headlong into a world of hexes, secrets, and danger. And then there's Rem Anders, the beautiful, mysterious Salem boy who seems to know more about Abby than he first lets on.

A reckoning is coming, and Abby will have to make sense of her history--and her heart--before she can face the powerful truth.

My Two Cents:

There is no better review of a paranormal YA than from someone who reads them all the time, so I employed my teenage daughter to assist in the read and review.  We both agreed it had a great storyline.  Abby discovering she is a witch is cool enough, but then to discover she is a descendant of a hanged Salem witch?  Awesome premise!  We also both appreciated and were intrigued by the good versus evil edge among the long-deceased, wrongly accused and persecuted witches.  What if the witches did not go quietly into the hereafter, but plotted revenge?  It blurred the line between retribution and justice.

We both also felt connected with the characters, and cheered at the downfall of the Mean Girls who tormented Abby.  The love triangle had an interesting twist on the “soul mate” theme, as is expected in paranormal stories.  It was an easy book to get into, keeping us reading into the night until the wee hours of the morning.  Our only critique was in the conclusion, which seemed a bit rushed, and in the words of my daughter, “the answer was sort of blurted out.”  That said; we both enjoyed reading it, and look forward to more books from this author.

We collectively give it    and a