Maya Gold

Maya Gold’s Spellbinding has a tried and true plot with a magical spin. Abby is a loner at her school with only one person whom she considers a friend. She’s crushing on the clueless (but brilliant) cute guy whose girlfriend is the popular girl that terrorizes anyone who gets in her way. Abby is given a history assignment to research her family tree, she finds that her mother’s family were descendants of Salem witches and just around the same time, strange things start happening.

Spellbinding was a really quick read, but there were a lot of parts that seemed rushed or left me scratching my head, the first being how quickly Abby accepts that she has supernatural powers. The family history didn’t seem very compelling, it only spoke about a distant relative being accused of being a witch during the trials and there wasn’t a lot of convincing evidence that she inherited powers, but she practically jumped on that explanation when strange things start to happen around her. It might have been more interesting if Abby found a diary instead of just a spell-book—this would also mean that she could have discovered more about her family history.

I also wasn’t convinced with the romance. As with many YA novels, there is a love triangle (though it wasn’t an annoying one), Abby finds herself drawn to the new, mysterious guy—who might also have super powers—and her high school crush. The redeeming thing about this love triangle though, was that it helped move the story along, even if I thought it took away the focus from other aspects of the book.

All these aside, I did enjoy Spellbinding. It’s a quick weekend getaway read; definitely a beach time book.
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I thought this was a good, solid biographical book. This is a chapter book that details Mother Teresa's life, accomplishments, and remarkable work conducting throughout the world. This is an informational book that provides illustrations, photos, quotes, facts, etc. to give readers a better understanding of Mother Teresa and all that her life entailed. One thing I liked about this book was how it provided text boxes on pages with photographs to further explain certain things. For example, there are charts on pages that briefly explain things like, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, nun's habits, the festival of lights. These are things that can help the reader get a better understanding of things they might not exactly know much about while reading. The next thing I like is how the book provides real life photographs of places, people, and objects. I've always believed that photos do a better job of explaining things than illustrations. The final thing I really like about this book is the use of quotes from Mother Teresa. In order to get a better understanding of what someone was really like, what that person actually said/says is vital to understanding who they were all about. Overall, I thought it was a very well designed chapter book and could one that children use for projects or assignments in school.… (mehr)

I really loved this book. If you love fantasy and romance, this is the book for you. Abby is your average girl who's mother died when she was 11. But, after her 16th birthday, strange things start to happen. A traffic cone moves by its self, and candles flicker off and on at her command. And then there is the confusing matter of the mysterious boy Rem, who seems to know more than he will let on. Over all, I think that Spellbinding is a really, really, really, good book, and I feel that it will be read so many times that the cover will forever stay open!… (mehr)