Spells for Forgetting

I received a digital advance copy of Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young via NetGalley. Spells for Forgetting is scheduled for release on September 27, 2022.

Spells for Forgetting follow Emery, a woman who is not where she would have predicted fifteen years ago. She had planned to leave the small, touched by magic, island community with her high school boyfriend. Instead, the day after graduation, her best friend was dead, the orchard at the heart of the island community was burned to the ground, and her boyfriend August was accused of the murder. August left the island, not formally charged, but chased out by the stares of the community. Emery stayed behind, taking care of her father who had been injured in the fire, and taking over the running of the family tea shop.

Now things on the island are strange. The delayed autumn descended overnight, leaving the trees blood red and decorated by scores of starlings. With the fall of autumn, August returns to the island to deal with his own family history. His return stirs up the community, raising new questions about the death and fire in the past, and Emery’s failure to move on.

The first thing to take in from this novel is the atmosphere. Young has created a magical place, that is inhabited by very real people. While they use touches of magic throughout the story, the issues they are facing are very much of the “normal” world. Characters are dealing with family dramas, disagreements with neighbors, friendships and romance (including love triangles), and illness. The result is that we have a believable story inhabited by people we can imagine meeting in real life.

Overall Spells for Forgetting is a lovely blend of magic, murder mystery, and romance. I would recommend it to anyone who likes any of the components and is willing to explore the overlap.