It pains me to rate this book so low but it was not quite what I was expecting. I really looked forward to an adult novel from Young. I've read and enjoyed a lot of her YA in the past and for awhile now my reading focus has shifted to adult only so I was excited to see an author I enjoy come out with something in that vein. Unfortunately, Spells for Forgetting still felt very YA to me. It didn't help that half the story was flashbacks to younger years and those ended up being the parts that were most interesting with more goings-on. When you were thrown into the present again it was still completely ruled by the past and so much time was spent trying to figure out the past that there really wasn't much action on the flip side until the end.

The main characters were hard for me to believe being in their 30s, they continued feeling much younger throughout. Also, I never really connected with them. They felt rather flat, but I do think that the intention was that they were stagnant due to things that happened long ago. I just wish there was a little more to them than that so I had SOMETHING there to hold onto.

One thing that came through was the atmosphere, which Young typically shines at. I loved the idea of the island, this living breathing thing all its own. I only wish she would have leaned harder into the magical elements of it. In some ways we were told more about the magic of it rather than being shown and that always dilutes the magic of it. There were definitely some cool ideas in here but ultimately I was left wanting on each front.

I received an ARC of this book from Random House via NetGalley and this is my honest review.