Written by the actual descendent of Cotton Mather, we get a story of the fake descendent of Cotton Mather! Yeah. Inspired by the infamous Salem Witch Trials, we have a story of curses, accusations, spirits, and high school. Should be interesting. Let's dive right in.
Samantha Mather didn't mind the move to Salem at first. Vaguely interested in the dark history her family has there, she looks forward to seeing what the mysterious town has to offer when she moves in with her stepmother. But Sam quickly learns she's not entirely welcome in Salem. A clique at school known as the Descendants, whose ancestors were the victims of the trials, have singled Sam out and make her life miserable. It doesn't help that mysterious occurrences are taking place around Salem, and people are dying. Now Sam must break an ancient curse set upon the denizens of Salem before she, or her father, are the next to die.
Now the concept of a curse in Salem and using the actual people descended from the victims is actually not a bad one. There's a lot of potential here and that's where some of the highlights of this book shines through. The fact that the situations are reversed, that the family of the accusers is now being victimized, is also pretty clever. The author is trying to relate the trials with modern day bullying and, while that may seem like a stretch to some, the themes have much in common. While there are times when it isn't exactly handled well (I'll get to that in a bit) it is a valiant attempt. The messages of speaking up and refusing to continue the cycle are good ones and I did appreciate that in this book.
What doesn't work, unfortunately, is that this book relies on a lot of typical YA tropes to tell the story. The additions of things like a love triangle with the boy next door and a magical convenience fairy...I mean...ghost just kind of feels forced and doesn't help the story overall. There's no denying that Sam is a self insert character (they have the same last name and heritage for crying out loud!) and her personality is a bit...lacking at times. While she's certainly not perfect and does have natural reactions to situations at times, her general reaction to most paranormal scenarios is "Seriously?" There was no real spark of life to her. Also, she doesn't do much to help her situation and can make matters worse for herself at times. For example, there's a scene when she goes to a local coffee shop and the barista asks for her name to put on the cup and, knowing full well that her name is going to get her grief from the other patrons, she just gives it to her. Here's an idea, Sam. If you don't want a barista to shout out your name to the whole world...lie! It's a freakin' coffee house, they don't care if you tell the truth or not. You can tell them your name is "Batman" and they won't question it. You could have just given a fake name and avoided the grief but no, you just had to make things worse for yourself. Little touches like that make Sam come off kind of stupid and that's the biggest problem with her character. It's hard to convey her as a victim being bullied when she's not really doing anything to help herself.
The supernatural elements to the story can be interesting, but those are often ruined because, again, YA tropes. That ghost boyfriend I brought up before is by far my biggest complaint. He's available at her beck and call (he only complains about being summoned once and is totally fine with it the rest of the time), he does all the hard work and research the story requires so she doesn't have to, he's able to magically produce a picnic feast with yummies from all over the world to cheer her up, and he's corporeal, so they can make out. He's strictly there for wish fulfillment purposes and it was just silly! While there were fun things like curses and a truly interesting mystery for most of the book the resolution of the mystery...was a bit of a let down. I really didn't like what they ended up doing. I saw it coming, for starters, and the villain's motivations were...head scratching. I won't give it away but I was just underwhelmed by the big reveal of the story.
Finally, what kind of bothered me about the story was some of the historical inaccuracies. I liked studying the Witch Trials when I was in school and so some of the stuff that was changed around or excluded was...irksome. Now, sure, creative license is a thing and I understand and respect that. I liked Stalking Jack the Ripper a lot even though that was pretty inaccurate too. The problem here is that this is written by the actual descendent of Cotton Mather. I just feel like, if anyone should get the facts straight, it should be this person! But no. No, we just throw details away for the sake of a pretty story with the world's most perfect undead boyfriend. Such wasted potential.
Final Verdict
If you're just looking for a typical YA story, Mean Girls in Salem, or what-have-you, this book won't bother you and you'll like it just fine. I ended up disappointed but that doesn't mean you will. If this sounds like your cup of tea, go ahead and give it a shot but maybe check it out at your local library.
Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer
Next Time:(singing) Grim, grinning ghosts...come out to socialize....
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