Review: Spellbinding by Maya Gold

Title: Spellbinding
Author: Maya Gold
Series: Stand Alone
Published By: Scholastic (April 1, 2013)
Source: ARC Copy Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Fantasy
My Rating: 3 Stars!

Book Description:
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. 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.
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Purchase Links: Amazon/Barnes and Noble

My Thoughts and Review:

I admit, there is nothing new or even very original about the storyline here. A young girl, not very popular, sort of plain and “invisible” who has a crush on the jock, is being tormented by the mean girls at school, falls for the “new hot guy” (albeit in a different town, but still) and oh yeah, she starts to have nightmares. Nightmares about being a witch and drowning and of course the nightmares lead to strange things happening to her. Strange new abilities and a long line of witches tracing back to Salem just waiting for her to take her place in their plot for revenge.

So yeah, not very original and okay, probably done before but you know what? I still had fun reading this one. I still really liked the storyline and I still liked Abby. I didn't love her, but I liked her. And even if it wasn't very unique in the genre, it was well written and the story was engaging so that has to count for something. At least, it does to me.

I love books about witches, they have always been a favorite with me so naturally I have read a lot of them and quite frankly after awhile they do sometimes start to bleed over into one another. It can be hard finding something original and that blows me away and that is okay, it happens.

But I think it says something for the author that while this wasn't all new and exciting, it was entertaining and it did keep me reading and I liked that about it.

I would pick something up from the author again simply because I liked her writing style and would be willing to give her another chance to (hopefully) come up with something all her own and completely unique and there were some unique characteristics to this one, it wasn't all the same ole' same ole'.

I think overall it was a fairly easy enjoyable read and I give it 3 Stars!