Review Detail

The spooky season starts now, and I have waaaaaay too much books to recommend for it.

A Spell to Wake the Dead by Nicole Lesperance is YA gothic fantasy mystery novel that features two teen girls who must uncover the dark, occult secrets lurking in their Cape Cod town to solve a series of murders—and save themselves from the same fate—in this twisty, witchy thriller. When Mazzy and her best friend Nora sneak down to the beach one moonlit night to cast a spell, they don’t expect to find a dead body. But as the tide rolls in, it carries the remains of a woman who is missing her hands and teeth. The girls know they should leave the investigation to the police, but they can’t shake the weird, supernatural connection they feel with the dead woman. Using spellwork and divination, they set out to find answers of their own. But after they uncover a rash of local disappearances stretching back years—and both girls start having occult visions and hearing ghostly, whispering voices—Mazzy worries that she and Nora are in danger. Then, Nora finds a second body. And a whispering voice is telling her where to find more. With everything spiraling, Mazzy needs to figure out who to trust and how to sever this supernatural connection—or she and Nora might be the next bodies to wash up on the beach.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Where to even begin with this book, beyond trying to be rid of the creeps and shivers I've gotten while reading it. Seriously, this book may seem like a simple spooky. But boy oh boy does Lesperance have a way of not only transporting the reader directly into the story, but she doesn't have any punches when it comes to her more horrifying content. During, and after reading this book I was literally jumping at every little sound in my house that I could confidently give a logical reason to.

One thing I didn't particularly like about this book, was our lovely main protagonist Nora. In that, she was slightly annoying and her characterization/decision making skills were a little out of place at times. And I solely blame this on the fact that this is YA book and I am not quite the target audience for it anymore.

Regardless, A Spell to Wake the Dead is a nice and spooky read that is perfect to binge when curled up on the couch with a large pumpkin spiced latte. All whilst all the lights are on in your house. After all, you don't know what's lurking in the dark.