This is a very atmospheric read. A tad slow at the beginning, the story eventually unravels to tell us the secrets of the main characters, Emery and August (August Salt? Hello, Swifties), as well as other inhabitants of the mystical island of Saoirse. I thoroughly enjoyed the eerie vibe, the picturesqe setting and the subtle magic of it all. Our protagonists are ones to root for and the book is definitely engaging, because we want to keep reading to learn about their past and solve the mystery of Lily's murder. Multiple POVs scattered throughout the narrative were a nice addition and kept me on edge, providing new suspects with each chapter. Another win for Adrienne Young in my book!
Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC.

I don't usually like slow paced books, and this one did frustrate me in the beginning when not a lot was happening. But the mystery kept me reading, and I'm glad I did because I ended up enjoying this one a lot.

A lot of the things I liked about this book came from how competent the writing was. The dialogue made sense (not as common as you might expect). The descriptions conveyed a sense of place that made Saoirse feel like a real town.
The story speeds up as it goes, and there is a gradual building up of tension that was very well executed.

I did have some trouble telling apart the side characters at first (mostly because other than Emery, August and Dutch, they were all grumpy old women and gruff old men) but the main characters were well written - somewhat understated personalities maybe but they still felt like real people, and the way this book portrayed emotions even made me weepy a few times. Always a good book when it makes me cry.

The mystery got wrapped up neatly and there were enough clues by the end for me to mostly guess the solution, but not the whole picture, so that's nice.

Overall I recommend this book and I highly enjoyed it, but the beginning is slow and even when the pace picks up it's not exactly an action packed story - the focus is on the relationships and emotions of the characters. There's also not a whole lot of magic for a fantasy book, so don't go in expecting too much there.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus Books for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for graciously allowing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Emery and August were always destined to be together. They had plans to leave the island of their birth - to make a new life together away from the small island community. That all went horribly wrong on the fateful night of their graduation.

Then August returns to the island to visit his mother - an extremely unwelcome visitor.

The story unfolds, following the mystery of what happened that night, and who was really to blame.

A lovely, magical tale that makes you want to both move to your own little fantasy island, but also never step foot off the mainland!

This is a hauntingly captivating book that I couldn’t put down. An expertly written mix of fantasy, murder, spells and lore, relationships, community, love and unrequited love. Set in a remote Island community of Saiorse, where the locals are fearsomely protective, thole the daily summer incomers and teenagers may grow up wishing to cut ties, but the Island always calls you back. Thank you to Quercus Books and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine freely given.

This book is called Spells for Forgetting but I will not be forgetting this story.
Told through flashbacks and many different narrators, this is a story of a tragedy and its aftermath in a closed and close knit community with a bit of magic, a hint of romance and lots of suspense. It's so atmospheric and the tension ramps up with every page as you're deciphering more than one mystery.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and @adrienneyoungbooks for gifting me a arc for a honest review.

This was my first book by Adrienne young and I can say the writing was beautiful. I speed through this it was atmospheric eerie and so easy to loser yourself in. I will definitely be getting more of her books.

Spells for forgetting is set in the magical island Saiorse. It’s a very small community where everyone knows everyone and everything’s that’s going on in it. Emery’s life change when there was a fire and on that night her best-friend was killed and the only suspect is August. Every autumn tourist flock the island this year it includes August. They now work together to solve the mystery of this island. I loved the fantasy that was woven into this story and the mystical atmosphere. The writing was so Immersive I could picture the island so clearly. I feel like this is the perfect book for autumn to get cozy with.


This is available for pre-order for September 27th

Spells For Forgetting is a murder mystery that is beautifully intwined with magic. It is a deeply atmospheric tale that completly entrances you and leaves you wanting more from the magical island of Saoirse. Emery and August are beautifully crafted characters and I really enjoyed their story. Spells For Forgetting is the perfect book to read as winter approaches.

This adult debut by Adrienne Young is bound to captivate fans of her young adult books who are looking for something darker and more mysterious.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Mom had gotten better through the years at blending in and appearing at first glance like the other mothers. But she still spent the equinox in the woods and the solstice at the sea”
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August is the last male heir of the Salt bloodline and the Salts have owned the apple orchard on the island of Saiorse for as long as anyone can remember, until one night when the orchard burns and a young girl loses her life. Fleeing Saiorse with his mother, August starts a new life with a new name, but eventually the island calls him back. Once he’s there he cannot run from his old girlfriend Emery, from the island folk or from what he has done

In part Spells for Forgetting is a murder mystery set on a small island off the coast of Seattle. There’s love, betrayal and above all, forgiveness, but what I loved most about it was the island setting of Saiorse. Magic forms part of her bedrock, and Saiorse shows her moods as the sea fog rolls in, when starlings flock and pine trees bend in invisible winds. The women of Saiorse can use magic, both to heal and to harm. On the Main Street, there’s an apothecary where locals buy herbs and tourists have their tea leaves read. Family grimoires are left on mantles and draws of candles are kept by aunts. This casual, everyday magic somehow made it seem even more real and the fog-laced island of Saiorse reminded me of a line from the The Tempest
“Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.”

Come for the mystery, but stay for the atmosphere. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my eARC

WOW, just WOW!
The suspense throughout this book, it kept me up thinking about it! The magic being a part of the island itself was an interesting aspect.
You could feel the tension between the residents of the island, but also between the residents and the island itself.

Honestly, I cannot go wrong with an amazing Adrienne Young book! I've loved all of her books and they've all been favourites of mine and this one was no exception!

Spells For Forgetting was such an intriguing read, I flew through it as it flowed easily and I was hooked with the plot and the characters were interesting I adored Emery and August so much!

I'm very much looking forwards to Adrienne's next book!

Thanks to NetGalley and to @adrienneyoungbooks for this book, really. This book was really beautiful to read. The story of the Saoirse island will be with me for a while I think.
The atmosphere, while you read it, is breathtaking, really. The magic (which is not the main character, even if I believe the Island is) is something that is more natural, like siege, willow trees and so on. I would think like that if I have to think about magic, like you feel it in the bones. This island kinda of remained me of my own hometown in Italy, where everyone has secrets but everyone kinda of knows them in a way or not. And can we talk about the plot? The mystery that comes with this book gave me shivers.
To be fair honest, I didn’t expect the ending. Not at all.
Emery, August, Lily and Duch and all the people of Saoirse will keep you reading til the end.
But… there are a few things I didn’t like. That’s why the 4 ⭐️, otherwise would have been a top 5, for sure.
The book has multiple povs, which usually I like if they are well written. But I found that every character has the same print. Looks like is the same person who is telling the story. And I wanted to read more about Lily and her reason for everything, not just in the last 10% of the book. And nothing happens if not after the 60% of the book. And I would have liked to see more clues in the book.
Once again, looking forward to have the physical copy of this book on my bookshelf. Totally worth it.

This is the perfect fall read if you are like me and love a gloomy fall in a small town!

I love this book. It's so atmospheric. The setting is a dark, eerie, magic-filled island where everyone knows everyone. The writing is great - somehow the author is able to paint a whole picture with just a couple of words. And I felt connected to the characters as well. It's not a long book but somehow it manages to do a lot in quite a small amount of pages.

This is going to be a book I re-read every fall from now on. There are a couple of tv shows I watch every single fall because of these exact dark fall vibes and I've wanted to find a book like this for years so I can stop watching tv so much and get my fall feels from a book. And now I've found it!

By the way, the author has created a pinterest board and a spotify playlist for this book (the links are on her website) and it was so nice to listen to the music while reading and every so often look at the aesthetic board on pinterest.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Quercus Books for the ARC!

Written in Adrienne Young's usual distant voice, Spells for Forgetting is an atmospheric witchy murder mystery set in a small island community where secrets are everywhere.

The book has a good mix of obvious and surprising twists to keep the reader engaged, and the eerie vibe of the book left me looking over my shoulder long after I had finished reading. An excellent novel to pick up!

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Gosh this book has both Harry Quebert’s and The Scorpio Races’ vibes, with just the right amount of nostalgia. Besides the story and the murder that are really thrilling, what really hooked me up was the relationship between Emery and August. Theirs should have been just a juvenile love, but after 13 years apart it still lingers and it seems as if time has never passed for them. It’s so romantic and sad and I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or have heart eyes the whole time. The magical realism that surrounds the island where Emery lives just makes everything more believable, even if there are spells and magic involved. Everyone is lying, everyone is keeping secrets, even the dead and the magical place that gave you birth could be your damnation, because it’ll always call you back.

A murder mystery, a who done it rather than magical fantasy. Magic was alluded to at times and yes spells were used but it felt very subtle and on the hinges of the story. I would have liked to read more about the magiks of the island, the characters and the spells.
I did like the past and present aspects of the narrative and the world building was perfect.
Unless I skipped it, I there wasn't a spell for forgetting, the magic became lost and I wanted more.

A good book and worth the read and I love the writing style. I just felt I didn't get what I thought I would from the title and blurb.

Spells for Forgetting takes place in a close knit community on an island 14 years after a fire and the death of a teenage resident. After a slightly slow start, I literally could not put this book down. I was so engrossed in the story I just kept needing to read on so I could find out what had happened those years before and how the story would conclude.

The setting of this story is what makes it. Adrienne Young has created the perfect island full of magic, secrets and mysterious neighbours and it all adds to the tension and drama of the story.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and Adrienne Young for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. I read this book by choice and all opinions are my own and given freely.

Spellbinding!!!!!From the New York Times bestselling author comes an evocative, compelling novel of ancestral magic, an unsolved murder, and a second chance at true love.

I love Adrienne young books usually but was so excited to see this adult novel coming out. It's different to her other books but just as beautiful a story.

Captivating! This story just kept you on the edge, guessing what was going to happen around the neverending corners of secrets and lies. I didn't want to put it down, it drew our that need in me to continue on until I had found out the truth. While based in a modern day society the story still intricately weaves magic into the storyline, making it all seem possible that magic lives in our current lives. An amazing read by an amazing author.

I’m almost not sure what to say about this book except for: wow.

Spells for Forgetting is the perfect blend of contemporary, fantasy, mystery, and romance.

Adrienne Young is an auto-buy author for me so I was incredibly excited for her adult debut. As much as I love her YA books, I feel completely confident in saying that this is her best work yet. The writing is just gorgeous. Every sentence feels intentional and the way Adrienne built the atmosphere of the island it felt completely real.

The POV choices were really interesting. We predominantly read from August and Emery’s POVs but there’s the odd chapter from others on the island sprinkled throughout, giving some of the missing fragments from the mystery. All of the characters were really well done but August and Emery were just incredible. They were both really strong as independent characters but Adrienne wrote the bond between them so so well. I couldn’t get enough of them.

I really enjoyed the mystery and witchcraft elements. I think the flashbacks did a great job of teaching the reader about the witchcraft especially, without feeling info-dumpy. The way the mystery all tied together worked really for me and I loved that the island became almost a character in its own right.

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year and I can’t wait to see what Adrienne Young writes in adult next. Her writing is always such a breath of fresh air and Spells for Forgetting is no exception.

Content warnings: fire/burns, murder, suicide, guns, violence, domestic abuse, child abuse, pregnancy, drowning.