Review Detail

THE FORGETTING SPELL by Lauren Myracle is the second in a three-book series focused on the Blok sisters. Natasha, Darya, and Ava are all approaching their magical thirteenth year in each of the three books. Myracle’s WISHING DAY was Natasha’s story, and it was one of my favorite books of 2016. In it Natasha makes the three wishes she is entitled to on her wishing day (the third day of the third month after her thirteenth birthday), and the sweet story of a family dealing with loss through love unfolds from there. You can read more about the book and check out my review of it here: http://www.yabookscentral.com/kidsfiction/19797-wishing-day#userReviews.

So. THE FORGETTING SPELL. This book returns readers to the little magical town of Willow Hill, and this time the focus is on the middle Blok sister—Darya—and the challenges she faces after HER thirteenth birthday while managing with the gift and the curse of coming from a mysterious and magical family. It was going to be hard to measure up to WISHING DAY for me… the first book left a lot of questions unanswered, but it also left me in love with the main characters and rooting for them with every turn of the page. Unfortunately, although it’s a book worth reading, THE FORGETTING SPELL didn’t quite hit the rather high mark left by WISHING DAY. My primary problem is that I can’t see THE FORGETTING SPELL standing on its own. That said, if you’ve read WISHING DAY, then you should definitely pick this up to flesh out the story that was started in the first book of the series. Darya was an elusive figure in WISHING DAY—rightly so since the story was Natasha’s story—and Darya has her chance to shine in Myracle’s second visit to Willow Hill. Although the first half of THE FORGETTING SPELL is a bit slow, and Darya isn’t as engaging as I had hoped she would be, the book picks up steam through the second half, and it evolves into a wonderful story of middle school angst, family drama, and magic. I couldn’t put the book down after I hit the half-way point.

The best of the first two books is that Myracle gives Natasha, Darya, and Ava plenty of wisdom, wit, and charm. I was rooting for these three from the start. In THE FORGETTING SPELL the girls’ mother, Klara (whose disappearance was a focal point in the first book), has returned. I really wish Klara’s story had been fleshed out more, and I’d love for her to be a sympathetic character. Unfortunately, I don’t understand her at all, I don’t understand why she did the things she did, and I definitely dislike her… but that makes me all the more eager to see where the third book in the series takes us!

I recommend THE FORGETING SPELL, and I’ll be anxiously awaiting the third book in the Wishing Day series. Ava’s story has the potential to be the best of the three—and that’s saying quite a lot.

My thanks to YA Books Central and the publisher for an ARC of the book in exchange for my unbiased review.