First I was attracted by the cover, then read the synopsis and felt intrigued and when I finally listened to the prologue, I was hooked and ready to settle in for a day long reading session... alas, this was not to be, unfortunately.
I rarely ever don't finish a book I started, even less so when I am listening to the audiobook, but Spells Trouble just was not working for me.
The prologue, as mentioned was fantastic. THAT was the story I wanted to hear more about!
The first chapter took me aback, because the writing style had changed so dramatically. Suddenly I felt like I was reading a middle grade book, which wouldn't have bothered me so much. I could have been okay with this, as I enjoy that genre in general.
But please don't hand this to your 6th grader... because in chapter 2 already the main character's BF wanted to "add a little more protein" to her vegan diet. And from there on out, it kind of went downhill. Lewd comments, wiener references, cop a feel of her ass, stripper dancing... eventually a random sex scene. Not trying to sound prude here, these elements all have a time and place, but here it just seemed utterly unnecessary for the progression of the story. My guess is that in this case they were purely there to NOT be considered middle grade, which seems like a lazy gimmicky way to go about it.
The story itself was thin (at least as far as I got into it) and the dialogue was "pretty cringe" as my teen would say.
There was promise here and there, but unfortunately it didn't deliver. Spells Trouble was the first title in the Sisters of Salem series, but for me it will also be the last.

Great audiobook! I have to admit the narrator did an amazing job! I only gave the story two stars because it is decidedly young adult but I listened way longer than I would have read. Clear cadence and inflection!

Four stars! I received a complimentary copy from Macmillan Audio to listen and voluntarily left a review!

(Part of this review was taken from my previous review of the ebook, I will be adding more content about the audiobook in the latter part of this review).

Loved this book so much!! So magical!! I was hyped for this book and it did not disappoint. One of the best books of 2021!! Loved the writing and the prose!

The narrator was really good!! The audiobook production was done so well that I felt like I was visualizing a movie as I was reading.

<i>arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

DNF

I had an audiobook arc copy of this and the narrator did a great job! I really liked them and will for sure look into more of their work in the future.

As for the actual book, I unfortunately decided not to finish it. I was enjoying it at the beginning but I quickly grew bored and didn’t find myself connecting to any of the characters or to the plot.

I really wished I loved this one! I was a huge fan of their House of Night series when I was younger.

If you’re into teen witches with dark magic and a murder mystery, do check this one out. Don’t let my review deter you if you’re interested!

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2021. I have been a huge fan of P.C. Cast for more than 10 years now and have read over 20 of her books including the Parthalong series, House of Night, and Tales of a New World. I really thought she grew so much as a writer when she wrote Tales of a New World and I love that series.

However, this book fell flat for me. I thought all the interactions of the characters were really awkward. I hated the douche-y boyfriend whose actions wee excused. It is the type of relationship teens don't need to see in books. Mari and Nik (in Tales of a New World) had a relationship that I only wish we saw in more YA books, including this one.

Secondly, the characters were SO flat. Usually, Cast's characters are my favorite part of her books. The friendship aspect was also quite flat for me. In House of Night and Tales of a New World, the friendships and character growth were always at the front of the story.

I think this book could have used more character development, more magic (because it was interesting), and more pages. I might come back to this series once another another book is out, just to see if anything changes. I don't want to give up on these authors.

This book left me with FEELINGS. By Feelings, I mean complete and utter rage. Specifically, the last roughly 10% of the book, which is so spoiler-filled, cannot be spoken about without delving into it headfirst.

I had a hard time getting into this book at first (after the Prologue); it felt like a lot of telling and not a whole lot of showing and overall aligned with what I recalled from my interactions with the House of Night series. I read in Middle School (this is not something I would hand a middle schooler, though).

This book read like something I would expect from an Anime. There is no adult supervision throughout this book; there is no dad in the picture, their mother dies a tragic, gruesome death at the beginning. They EVEN have an animal companion.
It just has no beach episode or beautiful art to try and sway the viewer to enjoy it.

We do, though, get an incredibly awkward and unneeded sex scene that left me feeling extremely gross afterward.

That being said, I enjoyed the middle of this book a lot, enough so that I had forgiven it for the rocky start. But what I can't forgive is the fact that this could have been standalone, and instead of any resolution ever happening, it just gets tossed off the edge in favor of making it a series.

I am not sure; I could honestly recommend this book.

I have to admit. This is my first book by P.C. and Kristin Cast, though I’m familiar with the popularity of their House of Night Novellas Series. I’ve seen those on Instagram, so I was thrilled to dive into this witchy YA.

Hunter and Mercy Goode are direct descendants of the founder of their town, Goodeville. As they are choosing their deities on their birthday, they’ll learn the hard way what it means to the be gatekeepers of the portals between this world and the other. Their mother is killed, but the murders don’t stop there, and they will have to come together to get to the bottom of things or risk losing each other forever.

This book was just fine for me. I didn’t love it as much as I’d hoped, but it certainly wasn’t bad. I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance between Mercy and her boyfriend, but then again, neither was Hunter, so that endeared me to her a bit more. It moved quickly and the mystery was interesting enough and I am intrigued enough to continue with the next book, but I probably won’t pick it up as soon as it comes out.

I’ve seen other reviews mention how it’s almost middle grade at times and then suddenly more adult with a descriptive sex scene, and some subsequent comments about that scene later. That didn’t bother me as much, because teenagers. One minute they’re juvenile but their hormones’ got them thinking they can be adults. If you’re looking for something witchy to help you forget that it’s summer and not October, this one might do the trick.

I have been a fan of the Cast, mother/daughter duo since The House of Night series began. I always loved the character building and how the characters interacted with one another. I was thrilled to read Spells Trouble but sadly was disappointed. This story just seemed so disjointed to me, it was as if witches and Greek Gods and Goddesses worlds collided. The biggest downfall for me is that it seemed like two different stories that just passed one another waved and moved on. I gave this 3 stars because there were some good parts that caught my interest but most of the story I was not as excited to listen to.

This book was odd for me.

There were parts I really enjoyed. The prologue was excellent. Xena was really interesting (and I would have liked to know more about her and her story). The concept was good.

But there was a lot I didn't like, the biggest was that the writing felt a bit juvenile. None of the characters besides Xena felt like they were more than a stereotype and the somewhat random sex scene was a lot more graphic then I felt it needed to be (and let's not talk about the safe sex talk from Abigail in the beginning... awkward). I also didn't really like the narrator (since I listened to the audiobook) but I wasn't so bothered by her that I stopped reading.

All that to say, wasn't the worst YA book I've read/listened to... but it should have been a lot better.

2.5 stars

10+ years ago I was really into the House of Night series until one day I just stopped looking forward to the next book and never picked it back up.

10+ years ago I may have been really into Spells Trouble, unfortunately current day me did not enjoy this book.

I didn't like the sisters, I was annoyed at the "cat-woman", the boyfriend...big nope. I did like Jax so there's at least one....The story line was fine but some elements felted forced, repetitive and just ended up falling flat.

This book will find its set, it will find its readers who will fall in love with Goodeville; this time around it just isn't me.

I wanted more of the magic, less of the annoying characters. It is definitely a YA that reads very high school except for the one very graphic sexual scene that just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the vibe of the book.

Spells Trouble (Sisters of Salem #1)
P.C. Cast
Kristin Cast
Spells Trouble by authors P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast is the first book in a Young Adult Trilogy. Much of this book is written as if the focus audience is much younger than Young Adult.
The main characters are twin teenage witches, Hunter and Mercy. The twins are very different where Hunter is quiet, thoughtful, a want to be writer, lesbian; Mercy is an extrovert, dynamic and defiant. The girls have a unique connection, affection, loyalty and closeness.
This tale begins with Sarah Goode and her young daughter sitting in a jail cell, accused of being a witch, listening to the hammering as the gallows are built. Sarah and her daughter manage to escape. Fast forward to present day where we meet Hunter and Mercy, direct descendants of Sarah Goode. On their sixteenth birthday they will participate in an initiation ceremony at which time they will become the keepers of the gates/portals to the underworlds. The underworld is filled with all types of evil. There are various gates/portals leading to a Japanese gate, Egyptian gate, Norse gate, Greek gate and a Hindu gate. The girls have spent their life studying under the tutelage of their mother, Abigail and their cat Xenith. The night of the initiation something horrendous happens forcing dire choices and altering their life directions. The girls struggle with grief, anger, and their desire for revenge.
I have mixed feelings concerning this book. I felt the sex scene was too graphic considering the rest of the book. Mercy was shallow. Hunter was my favorite character. Abigail did not act like a mother; she was too new age. I enjoyed the prologue, but the rest of the book was too exaggerated and too forced. The behavior of Kirk was atrocious. Jackson was a nice guy. I like Xenith the cat. The dialogue didn’t flow smoothly. All in all this plot had great potential but fell short.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

Spells Trouble was just a tad too unbelievable for me. I don't want to have to suspend my disbelief that much for a story to work. I'm all for authors writing progressive female characters, but the twin's mother was annoyingly sweet and supportive. Her comments were a little too endearing and nonjudgmental, which I found off-putting. She felt more like an eccentric aunt than the girl's mother. It didn't help that they called her Abigail instead of Mom, which we get no explanation for. Right of the bat she's talking to Mercy about safe sex, condoms (making sure they make it onto her new boyfriend's penis), her clitoris (and how she's been blessed with multiple orgasms), and even discussing the ring size (Mercy's boyfriend gave her his ring) and insinuating that it means her boyfriend has a large dick. None of this felt like appropriate "Mom talk," because of how their mother chose to address these topics. She made it creepy and gross, not educational and informative.

I enjoyed the prologue, but everything that happened in the present felt over-the-top and forced. It was like jamming two puzzle pieces together because you're convinced they fit, only to realize your mistake later on. This book had a lot of pieces that felt forced together, which really hurt the story's believability. There was also a lot of telling and very little showing.

The chapter with Dearborn? WHAT? That whole debacle was very poorly explained, and then his behavior later on was incredibly offensive (it honestly felt like he was a completely different person). He should not have been talking to the girls about their dead mother (it's in the synopsis, lower your pitchforks) so casually. Where was his sensitivity to their loss? The other officer just kept apologizing for his behavior, but it wasn't even remotely acceptable. I don't care if he's been through an "ordeal," he can't be callous and insensitive. He also can't discuss another investigation with two teenage girls. It was just too unrealistic for me to continue reading this one. Stopped around 24%. (★★☆☆☆)

Narration: I started listening to an ARC of the audiobook and seriously considered switching to my physical ARC after a few chapters. The voice really didn't work for me, and I thought it made the characters sound ditzy and immature. Even their mother's voice had a childlike quality to it, which made it hard for me to take anyone seriously.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to listen to this ARC audiobook. I was very excited to start the book because I love witches, mythology, and YA novels--it seemed like a perfect fit for me. However, I was a bit disappointed in the plot line. It started off strong with Sarah Goody and went downhill in my opinion when it switched to present time. I felt that interactions between the twins were a bit artificial and not really reflective of how teenagers speak. This is just my opinion, though, since I'm a high school teacher and hear teens all day. The narrator did an excellent job and had a lovely, soothing voice that made it so easy to relax into the story. I don't think I'll read any subsequent books for pleasure reading, but I will recommend this novel to my students.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Wednesday Books, P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast, and Cassandra Campbell (narrator) for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I very much enjoyed the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast and followed those books through their publication all the way to the end. While I have seen some of their other books around, I have been a bit wary about trying out something new by the duo. So this was a bit of a leap of faith for me.

I used NetGalley Shelf app to listen to this audiobook, and I felt that the narrator, Cassandra Campbell, did a nice job portraying both sisters, Hunter and Mercy, though the third person narrative. Her voice acting vibe really fit in with the fantastical witch element as well as the mythological aspects of the novel.

Hunter and Mercy are twin sisters, descended from the original line of witches in Goodeville. When their mother seems to have been mysteriously murdered, the sisters use magic to investigate. Their mother isn't the only one who is murdered; more residents of the town seem to die an untimely death. Could it be someone has followed the faith of the wrong deity?

There is a blend of both Greek and Norse mythology within the novel, and an interesting mix of mythological beasts from both that wreak havoc on the town. Fenrir and a certain famous cyclopes are to name a few. There is a lot of similarities to House of Night, such as goddess worship and cats as sacred/magical beasts (one cat in particular who seems to take the form of a rather helpful human).

The ending definitely leaves the reader waiting for more, as this is just the first book in the series. This is great for older teens, those interested in mythology, or those interested in witchcraft, as well as those who like the "high school experience" type of book. There are certainly some older teen elements on the sexual side, but those who know P.C. and Kristin Cast know that their young adult novels generally have some spicy romantic bits and drama. A fun novel, though a bit basic. I am interested in the next one, but not whole-heartedly invested.

Spells Trouble (Sisters of Salem book 1)
By - P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Narrator - Cassandra Campbell
Genre - YA/Fantasy
Rating - 5 out of 5 stars
Narration - 4 out of 5 stars

This was a great book! I loved it from beginning to end. I do have to let my readers know that if you are the type of person that doesn’t like unresolved issues at the end you should wait until the second book to read or listen to this book.

This book is about a set of witch twins coming into their full powers. Although something goes wrong and their mother is killed in the process. It is part romance, part mystery, and part witchcraft. There are a lot of twists and turns in the book and it keeps you on your toes. It has some funny parts too which also make it a good listen. Also some teen drama and a very explicit oral sex scene.

I gave the narration 4 stars only on the fact that there were a couple of mispronounced words in it. Otherwise the narrator was good. She made the characters come alive and keeps the book going even if listening at a normal speed. I did not like that she didn’t really change her voice for different characters.

This was all in all a good book and would be good for 16 year olds or up. Including adults. I have just started reviewing YA books and I am finding them quite good.

This one was a big letdown for me.

You can tell there are two different authors as the tone changes are very abrupt. There’s a sex scene that feels completely out of character compared the rest of the book. I don’t mind sex scenes but this just felt so awkward and unnecessary.

The story itself had potential. It’s the story of twin witches who must work together to save their town while dealing with the death of their mother.. They’re just starting to find who they are individually. One is a lesbian, one not. The authors decided to use the sexuality storyline as a reason why one would choose to serve a god and one a goddess, which just feels icky. Made it feel like they were linking gender, sexuality, and spirituality together and choosing anything that others don’t expect of you is somehow being a traitor. Just weird.

It started out okay and ended okay, but most of the story was just not great.

This was a very okay book. It had witches and magic and an evil entity which I liked, but the plot wasn't exciting and didn't dive very deep into the characters or the specifics of the magic. It sort of skimmed the surface of the story and established things, like an introduction. I'm really hoping we'll get a lot more world building and action in the sequel.

There are two main characters, Hunter and Mercy. Hunter is more self contained and feels like she shoulders all the girls' problems. Mercy is a social butterfly who falls apart easily. Both have their issues, but Mercy bugged me. She didn't listen to her sister about a few things and I wasn't happy that she insisted she knew better than others.

Despite the fact that there was a killer on the loose, the pacing never felt urgent. I was waiting for everything to get crazy but it never really did. The stakes felt low and I just wanted to feel excited and on the edge of my seat.

I'm interested enough to check out the sequel and I hope we'll see more magic and gods, along with some romance to spice things up!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the copy

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to receive an advance copy of Spells Trouble by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, given how much I have enjoyed their other works. This new series features twin witches, Hunter and Mercy, who come from a long line of witches. Their 16th birthday arrives and they, along with their mother, go out to the tree to complete their annual celebratory ritual. From there, they are forced to grow up very quickly to save the trees, recover from a devastating loss, and adjust to their “new” normal.

I had a hard time getting into this book and found the story to be lacking. I feel like there was a lot of information being shared with the reader, but also banter between the characters that was a little hard to follow. I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately, it fell short for me. I am willing to read the next book in the series once released, with hopes that it will shape up to be a more exciting read, given the conclusion of the story.

I had really high hopes for this. It started off super strong and then lost me when Mercy decided she was suddenly the strong twin and knew what was best for Hunter. I would have liked to have seen more of what happened with Sarah and her daughter but we are immediately taken to present time. What I did like about the book was the characters for the most part, aside from Mercy. What confused me was at the beinging their friend Emily said that the party doesn't start until Mag got there making it sound like she was the most popular girl in school, which later in the story doesn't seem to be the case anymore? I am not really sure.... The narrator was fantastic! She kept a steady pace and it was easy enough to just go on with my day and listen to a book being read to me. I am not sure if I am really invested enough to read the second book but only time will tell. Thank you NetGalley for the e audio version.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'll admit that I was pretty excited to dive into Spells Trouble. So it pretty much kills me inside to say that I didn't really like this one. I had so many expectations and they ended up being way too high to begin with. So that's on me, unfortunately.

In it, you will meet Hunter and Mercy. They are twin witches which was pretty cool to me. That's pretty much the only thing I liked about these two if I'm being honest. I tried to find something else but they just really frustrated me throughout the entire book.

Then when we dove into little revenge/avenge moments, I was thinking 'yay - it's finally getting interesting' but then that feeling went away pretty quickly. I think my favorite part was the epilogue. Mostly because it gave me hope that the sequel could be better. Or maybe even redeem this entire book for me. Not a whole lot of hope.. just a teeny tiny bit.

In the end, I was excited to dive into something that just left me completely disappointed. Maybe the next one will be a good one. Maybe not. I'm willing to find that out for myself.