Hunter and Mercy Goode are twin witches, direct descendants of the founder of their town of Goodeville. As their ancestors have done before them, it is now time for the twins to learn what it means to be Gatekeepers–the protectors of the Gates to different underworlds, ancient portals between their world and realms where mythology rules and nightmares come to life.
Plot
This book has an intriguing plot. The author did a great job building up tension and leading up to the insisting incident at the beginning of the book. Although it didn’t feel like an entirely unique story, there were elements that added new twists to similar books in the genre. The romantic subplots of the twins created a nice variety of pacing.
Characters
The characters in this book fell flat for me. Each character seemed to fall into archetypes that I’ve seen many times before: the bookish twin and the party twin, the girly best friend, the “cool” mom. As such, their dialogue felt stiff and I had difficulty connect to both the main and supporting characters.
Setting
It took a while to settle into the place for this novel. While the book is clearly set in the modern-day mid-west, the magic rules were unclear for the first quarter of the story. For example, it was vague whether or not others in this town were aware of the Goode’s family’s magic and how the magic functions in this world.
My Recommendation
Spells Trouble is the first book in the Salem Sister’s series. The plot was interesting and enjoyable, but I struggled to connect to the characters and settings. If you’re a big fan of twin stories or teen witches stories, this is a great book for you!
