To set the vibe: this book was extremely YA.

YA is not really my style and I wouldn’t have picked this off the shelf if I was browsing alone. Yet I think for the genre, this is a really well done story. 

The writing style was extremely easy to read. The dialogue felt real. The inner thoughts of the high school level characters felt perfectly done. 

I really enjoyed the mystery and adventure that the two friends went on. I thought it was extremely engaging and entertaining. I found myself wanting to pick up the book and find out what they were up to next. 

Even though the story is set up for two highschoolers to save the day, most unrealistic thing ever. It didn’t feel as corny as a a Disney show. It felt like the story was actually going to end in someway where the two highschoolers leave it up to the adults to solve the murders. 

I will say there were a few aspects of the story in regards to the background and world building that I felt the author should’ve expanded on.

I wish we had the readers knew more about Rosemary. How did she come back? Was it on purpose having the two girls find her body? How was she found? What role did she have? What’s really going on with the detective?

When it comes to world building, it was very confusing if magic was real or not in this world. Is it a secret thing? Is it something that all the adults and all non-practicing magicians or witches believe and know about? And then if we all agree and believe in magic, wouldn’t it have a bigger part in the world? Do the police believe that magic exist? If they do, why wouldn’t they take advantage of magic? All of that is very fuzzy.

Do the parents know the girls practice magic? Do they believe the girls can actually do magic?

Overall, I still think this is a really excellent YA book. I would recommend this to all fellow reader friends that are fans of the YA genre. For my non-YA reader friends, I’d recommend this as a filler book to break up the heavy reads.

Amazon Link – A Spell to Wake the Dead By: Nicole Lesperance

Stats: 352 pages – Expected publication August 26, 2025

**Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.