Book Review: Spellbinding by Maya Gold

Author:  Maya Gold

Publisher: Scholastic 

Release date: April 1, 2013

Age Group: YA

Genre:  Supernatrual 
Format: E-book
Source: Netgalley

Available:  Amazon / B&N 

Goodreads: There's more than one way to be powerful . . . 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.

I know we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but the cover of Spellbinding is just beautiful! I love how fierce Abby looks surrounded by water and lit candles floating.  Although I enjoyed the story, I feel like it is more for middle school teens.    

Abby is in high school and you can say she is not one of the popular girls.  Of course, you know there are going to be some mean girls that Abby tends to avoid at all cost, but it's pretty hard when the main "mean girl" is dating the boy you have been crushing ever since you were a little kid.  Then one day, during one of her school classes, one of her teachers hands out an assignment for all the students to look into their family tree and see who their ancestors were.  Abby doesn't have much to go by, but that her family has lived in Massachusetts, Salem to be exact since it was first colonized by the first English settlers. To find out more about her family's history, she and her best friend, and only real friend, decide take a trip to Salem and visit their local library. But before heading into the library, Abby gets this strange urge/vibe to go inside this little coffee chop.  That’s where she meets the most beautiful boy ever!  Of course there is going to be a love interest here, and no doubt he is going to be super cute!  While looking around in the library, one book in particular seems to catch her attention.  It doesn't look like the other books though.  She looks through and realizes that it's more of a journal than a history book and its full of what look like spells.  It was during that trip to the library that she discovers that some of her ancestors were killed because they were accused of being witches.  Could she carry some witch blood in her?  That could explain the weird things that have been going on lately.  Like how she wished she would pass her "sure to flunk" driving test and how she thought about the red cone moving a little further back (and it literally did) so the driving instructor wouldn't see that she had moved it while she was parallel parking.  After getting back home, Abby realizes that the journal she was looking at in the library somehow got in her bag.  She opened it up and what better way to figure out if she is truly descended by witches, than to try a spell out and see if it works.  Well, it does work and Abby gets a little bit more than she bargained for. 

I really enjoyed reading Spellbinding.  Even though there were times that it got a little slow and certain parts were predictable, the story continued to intrigue me and I had to finish it to see what happened in the end.  If you are in the mood for a cute short Salem witch book, I recommend Spellbinding.