ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Immersive and magical, this was a delightful book - albeit suffering from a slow start.

It took me a bit to find my rhythm with the story, but once I did, I found that I didn't want to put it down. It was unique and yet familiar at once, in a way that reminded me of watching VHS on the floor of my bedroom in the dark as a child. Which is such a highly specific memory and yet there it is. Despite the fact that I knew exactly how the story was going to unfold from the beginning, it didn't feel predictable; rather, I felt excited to guess things (and satisfied when I was correct.)

I did - however - struggle with certain characterization a bit. It felt very... inconsistent. And while I understand the deeper implications from some characters, it sometimes felt like they couldn't decide what they wanted to be. Maybe I wish they had been fleshed out a bit more or that they had been more present in the book, such as Tío Ricardo.

As for the comparison to the Mummy, I have actually never seen the films (an absolute oversight on my part, I'm aware) but I could definitely feel a similarity to the little I know about the film series and the book (specifically that one scene everyone shares where Brendan Fraser tosses the woman over his shoulder.)

Overall, as I said, this was delightful and the cliffhanger! I already need book two, which is unfortunate since book 1 isn't even out yet. I'm so grateful I got the chance to read this as an ARC and it's definitely going to be one I recommend. 

“There are spells for breaking and spells for mending. But there are no spells for forgetting.”

TW: abduction, abuse, addiction, alcohol, animal death, blood, bullying, cancer, child abuse, death, death of a loved one, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, fire/fire injury, gun violence, injury/injury detail, miscarriage, murder, panic attacks/disorders, physical abuse, pregnancy, self-harm, sexism, sexual content, suicide, terminal illness, toxic relationship, violence.

Beautifully atmospheric, but lacking in nearly every other way.

After struggling to get into the story (I think the beginning was reminding me too much of A River Enchanted), I wasn't expecting to read this book so fast - despite it being relatively short. However, I flew through it. A witchy mystery on an island off the coast of Washington was almost right up my alley, if the execution had been different.

I liked the book, but it was... just okay, which bums me out. The characters were aggravating (they're all supposed to be flawed, I didn't mind that, I just wish they hadn't felt so bland and childish) and the mystery was less of a mystery and more of a "follow us for 360+ pages as we try to figure out what you've known since the beginning".

With that being said, I still had a fun time with this. If you're looking for an atmospheric, quick read with ancestral magic and won't mind a heavily flawed plot, you might have fun with it as well! But I wouldn't expect much more than that.