Simon & Schuster Spells for Lost Things

A fair amount of useful information

I had to have this book because it's about witches and magic and takes place in Salem! I just got back from a trip to Salem and it was fun recognizing the names of streets and places there. Although, one minor complaint, Gulu Gulu Cafe doesn't have booths! Maybe they used to at one time, but they currently do not, so that was a little disappointing. But altogether I enjoyed the story of Willow and Mason being magically drawn together on this adventure to find the hidden letters/clues left behind by Willow's Aunt Sage who recently passed away, an aunt she never knew she had!The story is told in dual POV, alternating chapters, which gives readers a glimpse into the family lives of both Willow and Mason. Willow's parents are divorced. Her dad has a new family now, and Willow and her distant mother moved to California. Her mother is a workaholic who never talks about her past. But when she receives a letter that her sister has passed away and left her their childhood home, she takes Willow to Salem to try to sell the house. Willow is extremely curious about everything, but her mom isn't willing to talk. Good thing there are some self-proclaimed witch Great Aunts waiting for Willow when they arrive! She tries to learn as much as she can about her family and her mother while she follows the clues in her dead aunt's hidden letters.Helping her on this quest is Mason, a foster child who is desperately waiting for his mom to get clean so they can live together again. He has recently been taken in by his mom's childhood friend Emma and her family in Salem. Emma's husband Simon is the real estate agent helping Willow's mom sell the house, and Mason tags along with Simon one day and falls in love with the roof of the house, the perfect place for stargazing, his hobby of choice. One night Mason sneaks over to use the rooftop for stargazing, while Willow also sneaks into the house, looking for clues about her family's past. They run into each other there and are drawn together to complete the task of finding Aunt Sage's letters.I love a contemporary story with just a hint of magic and this one is the perfect blend.

Just as expected, kids loved it

Looking for a YA book with some magic for October? Look no further! Jenna Evans Welch is back with an adorable YA romance set in Salem, MA. I was hooked from the first lines and you will be too.“Fernweh (noun): a German word that means ‘farsickness’, best understood as the opposite of homesickness….See also: an excellent way to ignore the fact that although I definitely have a place to live, I most definitely do not have a place where I belong. It turns out that home and belonging aren’t necessarily the same thing.”Willow has never felt like she belongs anywhere and dreams of traveling the world in search of home, away from her mostly absent mother. Mason has bounced from foster home to foster home and also feels like he has no home, but dreams of reuniting with his mother who can’t care for him. They find themselves in Salem for the summer, drawn to one another and working together to untangle a set of clues left by Willow’s aunt related to her family’s secretive past.I loved that this story tackled difficult family dynamics and showed how Willow and Mason were approaching issues with their families from opposite viewpoints. I was enchanted by the story and their search to find a place to belong and what home and family mean to different people. There’s even a bit of a scavenger hunt to uncover clues that fill in the history of Willow’s family’s past.In 3 words, this book was heartwarming, charming, magical.