Adriana Mather

"I am utterly addicted to Adriana Mather's electric debut. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, twisting and turning with ghosts, witches, an ancient curse, and - sigh - romance." Jennifer Niven After Sam's father is hospitalised, she has to move from New York to Salem with her stepmother, Vivian. Unfortunately, Sam is related to Cotton Mather, one of the men responsible for the Salem Witch Trials, and to say she feels unwelcome in Salem is an understatement... She is particularly unnerved by The Descendants, a mysterious and tight-knit group of girls related to those persecuted in the Trials. At the same time, she must deal with Elijah, the handsome but angry ghost who has appeared in her house, and her new neighbour Jaxon only complicates things further. When a centuries-old curse is rekindled, Sam finds herself at the centre of it. Can she stop history repeating itself? "I am utterly addicted to Adriana Mather's electric debut. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, twisting and turning with ghosts, witches, an ancient curse, and - sigh - romance. It's beautiful. Haunting. The characters are vivid and real. I. Could. Not. Put. It. Down." Jennifer Niven How to Hang a Witch is a New York Times bestseller and has been named one of New York Public Library's 50 best YA Books of 2016. Apt comparisons include Mean Girls and The Craft.

How to Hang a Witch

For fans of Conversion and Mean Girls, comes a debut novel where the trials of high school start to feel like a modern day witch hunt for a teen with all the wrong connections to Salem's past. Salem, Massachusetts is the site of the infamous witch trials and the new home of Samantha Mather. Recently transplanted from New York City. Sam and her stepmother are not exactly welcomed with open arms. Sam is the descendant of Cotton Mather, one of the men responsible for those trials and almost immediately, she becomes the enemy of a group of girls that call themselves The Descendants. And guess who their ancestors were? If dealing with that weren't enough, Sam also comes face to face with a real live (well technically dead) ghost. A handsome, angry ghost who wants Sam to stop touching his stuff. But soon Sam discovers she is at the center of a centuries old curse affecting anyone with ties to the trials. Sam must comes to terms with the ghost and find a way to work with the Descendants to stop a deadly cycle that has been going on since the first accused witch was hung. If any town should have learned it's lesson, it's Salem, but as Sam and her frenemies soon find, history may be about to repeat itself.

Megan During

Very good book with a very good message. I highly recommend reading the acknowledgments.

Courtney

Follows teenager Samantha Mather, who has moved to Salem with her stepmother 300 years after her family hanged witches there, to find she is ostracized by the witch descendants at school, as she unravels the lost secrets of the hangings and her family.

Lilian Housley

WOW!!!!!! I have a few problems but overall it is amazing

Courtney Gendreau

Original Review at: www.literarychaos.com

Being the history buff that I am, I was so excited to read this novel. I kept seeing the book trailer and author video all over my social media, which only made me want to read it more. The videos left me so intrigued by the premise of the book that I built up very high expectations. In many ways, the author, Adriana Mather, surpassed my expectations, in other ways I was left feeling disappointed.

While I had high expectations I was not sure what to expect when I first started reading the novel. I wasn't sure if it was going to be some kind of paranormal historical fiction or if it was going to be a paranormal romance. I was pleasantly surprised that while history is important to the book it takes place in present day and uses the past to make parallels to the present. I personally thought this was a very unique and intriguing way to use history as a plot device.

One of the things that I liked most about this book was the setting she created. Mather created a world that was so vivid, the description of the homes and the town really gives the reader feel for what Salem looks like in the modern day. This coupled with the creepy atmosphere that she creates as the reader gets further into the book lend for a visually appealing read.

The characters in the book were rather hit or miss for me. There were times that I really liked the main character Sam, and there were other times that I felt she was childish and bullheaded. Then there was the love triangle--if you can call it that. I personally am just so tired of the cliche that is the love triangle. It is so overdone in young adult literature, and this one, in particular, was poorly constructed and just felt forced.

The other big miss for me in this book was the fact that many of the characters simply felt too juvenile for me. I oftentimes felt like the characters were being childish simply for the sake of being childish, and this got on my nerves multiple times throughout the book. There were some points through the book that I had to sit back and remind myself that the characters are young high school students and not adults. After trying to alter my mindset a little it did get better.

In total, I did really enjoy this book. It was by no means a perfect read, and I really had to put myself in the right headspace to read it. But it was a fun easy paranormal read, that while part a series can easily be read as a standalone. I think this would be a perfect fall read for a younger audience.

Our young protagonist, Samantha, finds herself in none other than Salem, at a new school and having already made an enemy of some of the girls at school. She's trying to adjust to the move and having been descended from the man who hung witches back in the day, she's not exactly having an easy time of it. It seems like the whole town and school are against her, but she does have at least one friend. Strange things seem to be happening around her and she thinks she is cursed. She looks to a group of girls descended from the witches to help her figure out how to break a curse that affects more than just Samantha 

To make matters even weirder she is now being confronted by a ghost who is adamant that she leave Salem. She accepts the idea of spirits a lot faster than I expected and the pacing for this story is told bit jarring.

Simple writing and short chapters made this a very easy book to breeze through.

It gives off The Craft vibes, but if Disney produced it.

Sasha Mann

Our young protagonist, Samantha, finds herself in none other than Salem, at a new school and having already made an enemy of some of the girls at school. She's trying to adjust to the move and having been descended from the man who hung witches back in the day, she's not exactly having an easy time of it. It seems like the whole town and school are against her, but she does have at least one friend. Strange things seem to be happening around her and she thinks she is cursed. She looks to a group of girls descended from the witches to help her figure out how to break a curse that affects more than just Samantha 
To make matters even weirder she is now being confronted by a ghost who is adamant that she leave Salem. She accepts the idea of spirits a lot faster than I expected and the pacing for this story is told bit jarring.
Simple writing and short chapters made this a very easy book to breeze through.
It gives off The Craft vibes, but if Disney produced it.


Elisa Bieg

I cannot think of a single person to whom I would recommend this book — not to Salem witch trials aficionados, who would likely find this to be mostly fluff, just as I have; not to fans of paranormal fiction, who might find little more than mostly under-developed tropes; and certainly not to YA readers, who could use a better heroine to follow, than a girl so insecure that she will fall in love with anyone who is remotely nice to her.

Nope.

Lydia Burrell 

It was so good! Historical fiction with a touch of thriller and romance and a large plot twist at the end. Highly recommend. Exceeded my expectations.

caroline glover 

Jordan /

Reread cause I didn’t remember anything about the book and FINALLY found the next one!

Samantha Mather moves to Salem, with her stepmother, 300 years after her family hanged witches there. At school she is ostracized by the witch descendants, as she unravels the lost secrets of the hangings and her family.

Kaley Catron

You know what. I really enjoyed that. It wasn’t as amazing as I would’ve wanted but the story was solid and it carried well. I liked the characters and I loved the spirits and magic and all of it. It’s also so cool that the author used her own heritage as backstory for her book!

Chandler Primak

So much hope for this book and then it turned out to be one that seemed waaaaay too focused on budding teen romance. GIRL YOU ARE THE DESCENDANTS OF ONE OF THE MOST HISTORICAL EVENTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY AND YOU FORGET YOUR DAMN PLACE BURN THE BOY'S HOUSE DOWN BURN THE WHOLE TOWN DOWN

Justine Rose

*3.75 
I had my ups and downs with this book, but the last half made up for the iffy first parts. Samantha was a different protagonist than I usually read in that she had a serious temper, but I think I liked her better for it. Was not a fan of the love triangle though, both guys were perfectly nice and all, but one was dead and the other seemed a bit like a second choice.

Tanya Sutton

This was a fun book and a really quick read. While it read a bit too YA for my personal tastes, it has a great premise and I enjoyed the story. It sounds silly to say, but one supernatural element in general had me rolling my eyes (a bit of a Salem deus ex machina at play). Had I read this as a tween or early teen, though, I think I would have adored it, so I think I'm just too old and used to scarier horror for this to have entirely worked for me. 

(I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)

Arabella Mai Wallis

4.5/5

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the writing style was so immersive and easy to follow that, combined with the fast pacing and shorter chapters, I just could not put this book down. The only reason is loses .5 is because it did have it's fair share of cringe lines but other than that I loved the characters and the plot twists and the connections made between modern day bullying and the witch trials. I also liked the interweaving truth of history in a YA novel and think it is something there should be more of. Also, am I supposed to have fallen deeply for Elijah? Because I have.

Megan Leprich

In keeping with my spooky theme books until Halloween, I knew I had to include this one in my list. I love any YA book about witches and I'm so glad I found this book. I completely agree with the Mean Girls meets Salem Witch Trials title that this book was given and I love that the author is actually a descendent of the Salem Witch Trials, it made the book that more awesome.

This book is about Samantha Mather who is moved from New York to her grandmother's house in Salem, MA after her dad becomes sick and slips into a coma. Living with her stepmom who has been her mother figure her whole life, Sam is not looking forward to starting again in a new school and fears that her "curse" has followed her. After making friends with Jaxon, her next door neighbor, Sam begins to question whether she is losing her mind or if someone is messing with her. Considering her name makes her one of the most hated people in town, she assumes that the group of "descendants" are just toying with her to get her to leave town. When she starts to find odd things around her grandmother's house and can now talk with a spirit, Sam soon learns that the town of Salem lives up to its name with witchcraft and spirits.

This was an excellent book and I'm very excited to read the sequel to it. Adriana Mather is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

Amanda Furlan

2.5 * I went into this book thinking it would be really interesting but ended up not really. The author notes is what made the book interesting as she explained why she wrote the book because her ancestors were around during the Salam witch trails. I just think there could have been more

Aly Valenz

Everywhere she went , trouble followed her , she thought she was cursed..  Samantha Mather , moves to Salem and lives in her father’s old home. I loved Sam’s take on her sneaking antics , it’s fun and keeps you on your toes wondering what’s happening next .

madie anne 

Gretchen Gomez

https://chicnerdreads.wordpress.com/2...

I’m just going to outright say that I felt like I read 300+ pages of story/plot building for a rushed and very abrupt ending. I was expecting way more from that ending. I feel like a lot of my questions weren’t answered. And I really thought they would’ve been answered because the story was progressing nicely. But because of this abrupt ending, I also feel like most of the characters didn’t receive an appropriate ending.

I did really enjoy the book, despite the ending. This is the author’s debut novel. The writing was good and easy to get through. The story is told in 1st person and I thought the story was well developed. The plot was super cool and everything looked like it was connecting while the book went on.

The author took advantage of her family history to develop this novel. If you don’t know, the author is a 12th generation Mather and her ancestor, Cotton Mather, played a really big roll in the Salem Witch Trials. Not a good roll, he made sure these witches were hanged. In Mather’s authors note she stated that she went to Salem and still did her research. I feel like this is another reason the setting of this story was amazing. I definitely got the creepy feel off this town and the people in it. It’s as if the towns people live in another world where paranormal exist and that’s okay. This book also takes place in Fall and I was just like “September where art thou?”

We meet Samantha, the main character who I feel like we see in a lot of YA novels. She was annoying at points and sometimes her actions didn’t make any sense to me. I couldn’t really connect with her at all. Regardless that her father was in a coma, I couldn’t sympathize with her. And trust me, I am the first to be like “OMG BUT SHE’S GOING THROUGH SO MUCH IN HER LIFE” yeah no not in this one.

This story definitely had it’s tropes, you know the new girl in a new town and once she starts school the famous clique doesn’t like her. She also befriends the neighbor who so happens to be a boy.

I honestly wish we had gotten more from the clique aka The Descendants. Although, I understand that this is a story being told from the other side of the spectrum. BUT!!!! The characters were incorporated and some had developed/changed throughout the story. We meet a ghost by the name of Elijah, who I really liked and he played a big part in the plot. Having Elijah incorporated to the story definitely gave me Hocus Pocus feels.

Another pet peeve of mine was the sorta love triangle and Insta-LIKEY/love. The book could’ve been way better without any type of romance incorporated.

I was super rooting for this book in the beginning and in the end, I was definitely disappointed.

How to Hang a Witch

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