Book Review: Spellbinding by Maya Gold

Title: Spellbinding
Author: Maya Gold
Publisher: Scholastic Inc. Point
Date of Publication: April 1, 2013
Source: Net Galley & publisher
Format: Kindle, paperback, 272 pages
Links to Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | 


Book Synopsis:

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 Thoughts:

I really really love this cover!  I think the cover art is what grabbed my attention first before the synopsis did.  I love how the model's hair is free flowing wildly behind her with all the candles and all the blue.  Love it!
I really had high hopes for this novel because I really love reading about witches and the history of Salem and whatnot.  The description makes the book sound very powerful and Abby an interesting character.  


Unfortunately, I couldn't connect with her very much.  She had parts where I wanted to learn more about her and other parts where she just really bored me.   I also felt like the story played up to this extreme confrontation yet I didn't really feel that great about it.    I really didn't feel too many connections with any of the characters.  I did enjoy the job at the New Age shop and the owner.  I felt like she needed to be a more important part of the story because she was so informed on so much.  
There are some pretty funny parts though.  I really enjoyed the way Abby dealt with her dad having a girlfriend.  That was interesting  and definitely hot!  (Excuse the pun)  I could understand why she would be upset especially since it seemed that she was invisible when it came to her family.  

Other than that, I really could not get into this story.  I tried and tried, up to the very end, but I just felt like this story promised a lot and didn't execute at all.  Even now as I write this review, nothing really stands out for me that I have to tell you about.  It was just boring for me.  Abby seemed silly at times, other times she seemed lost.  I thought Remy would be more of a intrigue for me but he turned out to be just as flat.  

Now with that being said, Maya Gold is a good writer.  She has a talent that we can see, even in this story, it just needs to be developed a little more.  I love the idea about descendants of the accused witches of the Salem Witch Trials in modern settings.  Spellbinding just didn't do it for me.   But someone much younger than me could possibly get into this story more and maybe even connect with the characters a lot more too.  I think this story would be okay for someone in the late middle grades into high school too.  So maybe it is the age difference that caused me to lack the enthusiasm for the book as I read it.    

Overall, I expected much more from this book and felt it lacked a lot of ummph! that I was hoping for in lieu of the description.  It wasn't a terrible book for me but it wasn't an outstanding one either.  It definitely didn't stand out as a book that I will read again, and probably in a few months I doubt I'll remember much about it.  Nothing really jumped out at me in the plot and made take extreme notice.  No warm fuzzy feelings, no tingling at the back of my neck,  just nothing.  
I gave it 2 hearts.

Connect with Maya Gold:

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