How to Hang a Witch

by Adriana Mather

The #1 New York Times bestseller!

It’s the Salem Witch Trials meets Mean Girls in this New York Times bestselling novel from one of the descendants of Cotton Mather, 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 who 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 come 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 hanged. If any town should have learned its lesson, it’s Salem. But history may be about to repeat itself.

“It’s like Mean Girls meets history class in the best possible way.” —Seventeen Magazine

“Mather shines a light on the lessons the Salem Witch Trials can teach us about modern-day bullying—and what we can do about it.” —Bustle

“Strikes a careful balance of creepy, fun, and thoughtful.” —NPR
 
I am utterly addicted to 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, bestselling author of All the Bright Places

• ISBN10: 0553539485
• ISBN13: 9780553539486
• Publish Date: 26 July 2016
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 28 June 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 368
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780553539486

Reviews

[Baroness Book Trove]

How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather is about us not forgetting the past but about embracing it so it won't happen again.

Can Sam, with the help of the Descendants, break the curse?

Sam Mather

Samantha "Sam" Mather has come back to Salem, Massachusetts, because of her dad's medical bills becoming too much. I, first thing, feel the same things for Sam since I know how it feels to be starting a new school. Sam is a great kid that just has had the worst luck keeping anyone with her. There is a lot of things that I like about Sam, and one of them is that she embraces the weirdness that she has seen and is trying to deal with the fact that they might be cursed. This curse is around this group of people. She is a strong character, and I think that we probably would be friends if she were real.

The Descendants

The Descendants are a group of five kids that are descended from the accused party of the Trials. They are four girls and one boy. They dress in all black and only hang out together. Well, until Sam comes into town needing their help to break the curse. I like Susannah, Alice, and Mary the best. I like them the best, mostly because they give Sam the benefit of the doubt regarding what she says about evil. Lizzie and John, I didn't care for. Until the book changed my mind about them. Sam might finally have found a group of friends.

Five Stars

How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather is a beautifully written book about how what happened back then could easily relate to something that is happening now. Sam is new to town, and it doesn't help that she's a Mather. Another thing that doesn't help is the deadly cycle. That only happens when a big group of the descendants of the Witch Trials is in Salem. One of the many things that Ms. Mather does with this book is to teach us that high school bullying in a way is like being apart of the Witch Trials. Especially in here. I am giving this book five stars and recommending it.

Next Book in the Series

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather. 

Until the next time,



Happy Reading!

This review was originally posted on Baroness' Book Trove

[Sarah Says]

The story opens with the protagonist Sam’s dad in a coma. Sam and her step-mother Vivian have sold their New-York apartment to cover his rising medical bills and as such need to move back to Sam’s dads’ ancestral home in Salem.

I found Sam (Samantha Mather) to be easy to connect with right from the start. But I found the character of Elijah the most compelling and ended up by far my favourite.

There is an anti-bullying undercurrent to this whole story which I was completely on board with.

The plot was interesting and well executed. The pacing was good. And there were light and dark moments balanced the whole way through.

The only negative I found with the book, that dropped it from a five-star to a four-star read for me (so still an awesome book) was the romance. It felt forced at times and the story already had enough suspense and drama on its own. I just don’t think it was needed. Maybe the reason I couldn’t get on-board with the romance was because I didn’t connect with the Jaxon character? No, I think if they’d just been friends it would have worked fantastically! I did prefer the romance with Elijah, even though it was never going to work, and even if at times it didn’t sit right with me, at least the characters connection felt more built out. Meh, still an awesome book and one I’d happily read again.

How I felt reading this book: intrigued, entertained, occasionally annoyed at some of the characters and angry at bully behaviour (but for the most part just the first two).

I loved the mix of history and fiction and I loved how much the author put herself into the character*.

Who would enjoy this book: anyone with a fascination of Salem and the witch trials, anyone who likes young adult and paranormal fiction.

*At the back of the book there is an author’s note where Adriana talks about her connection to the infamous Salem witch trials, which is fascinating, and which I read before starting the story. I think reading it first gave me some sense of who the author was, her strong connection to the story and some of her hopes for the message behind the book. I think it made for a more connected read – so if you are going to read this book, I suggest you read the author’s note first.

[Beth C.]

Samantha (Sam) Mather is moving to Salem, Massachusetts. Not willingly, mind you. Her father is in a coma, and her stepmother insist they sell their home in New York to be able to pay for his treatment, which means moving back to the home he grew up in. The home of the grandmother that Sam never met. Unfortunately, Salem being the place it is, that means that the Mather name is not one well received—Cotton Mather being one of the prime instigators in the Witch Trials. Even worse, there is a group of kids that are also descendants–of the hung women–and they aren’t fond of a Mather being around either. As people start dying, Sam comes to realize that this is a curse begun during the trials that has repeated over generations, and she and the Descendants (as they call themselves) may be the only ones that can stop it before all of them end up dead.

This is one of those books I debated about getting for a long time (obviously, since it came out in 2016!). There was, of course, heavy interest in the whole Salem Witch Trial connection, but always the fear that it would be some overblown teenage romance with little of actual witches or mystery to really keep things going.

You can find the rest of the review at http://vampirebookclub.net/review-how-to-hang-a-witch-by-adriana-mather-how-to-hang-a-witch-1/

[Nicole Lynn]

Really enjoyed this one. That ending was a little heart wrenching though

[readingwithwrin]

“The air's crisp with the smell of autumn, and the first few leaves have started to change color. The streets have that family-friendly feel. Store windows already have pumpkins and witches' hats in them.”

See reviews first on my blog

Sam's is now having to move to Salem to her old family home with her step-mother because her father is in the hospital. While The step-mother has been around since Sam was little there is still a lot of tension between them. Sam isn't the best at making friends do to a "curse" that she thinks is on her family, but as time goes on we learn that it just might be real and it doesn't just affect her.
Once Sam is at school there is of course mean kids that are the descendants of the people who were hanged at the witch trials, who absolutely hate Sam because of who her grandfather is and they basically try to blame everything bad that's been happening on her.
With the help of someone from the past and the neighbor though Sam might just be able to put a stop to everything bad that's been happening and save the rest of the descendants before they have the same fate as their ancestors.

“It’s not like they exactly agreed. They’re just kinda silent about the whole thing,” I say. “Group silence can be a death sentence. It was in Salem,”

When I started this book I really didn't know much about the witch trials besides the little bit of required reading I did in middle school, so must of this stuff was new to me and I have even started looking for more YA books that are about Salem (If you have any recommendations please tell me!). The author having her own family history in this book made it all the more interesting to me.

Overall I really loved this book. Not only did it have enough mystery and history that kept my interest. I also genuinely liked most of the characters. Sam while having a temper at times it was understandable why she did and you truly felt for her. Sure there was still some teenage angst involved, but who wouldn't at her age in the types of situations she was in. The only thing I could have done without is the romance between Sam and a certain person that kept helping her. I did find the romance between Sam and her next door neighbor nice and I liked how he kept helping her even when she kept pushing him away to "protect him". As for the descendant group most of them were good, and were just suspicious because of everything they had always been taught. I hope that they all can now not hate each other so much and finally let the past stay in the past.

“Almost everything worth believing in cannot be seen. Love, for instance.”

[girlinthepages]

I have a confession to make: I love all things witch-y. Whether fantasy wizards or modern day sorceresses or just basic witch Halloween costumes with the pointy hat, I am all about the witch theme. Somehow How to Hang a Witch sort of slipped my radar when it first came out, but I came across it a few weeks from Halloween and used the magic of the library hold system to acquire it into my greedy hands right before Halloween.

How to Hang a Witch not only dabbles in the paranormal, but in historical fiction as well, which endeared the book even more to me. Set in Salem, where the infamous witch trials took place, it follows the protagonist Sam who has the misfortune of being related to Cotton Mather, a dude who really, really didn't like the idea of magic and was instrumental in the witch-fearing mentality. Salem, being a town that is really proud of protective of its paranormal heritage, takes offense at Sam's existence, and she suffers bullying and harassment from the get-go (especially from "The Descendants" who are, yup, you guessed it, the descendants of the convicted witches.)

I loved how the history of the witch trials from hundreds of years ago was so present and integral to the story. It's such a tragic yet fascinating time in America's history and it's interesting to see how it still plays such a huge role in Salem's culture. It made me want to visit Salem immediately and soak in all of the history, and I loved how atmospheric the entire novel was, from the descriptions of the old Victorian manors to the cemeteries, churches and woods that pervaded the setting. I have no idea if Salem is actually how it's described in these books, but I'm really obsessed with the idea of cozy New England towns so this book definitely fed that addiction. Also, Sam's neighbor was a baker and the descriptions of her baking endeavors were DIVINE and any book that has food descriptions that are on-point is worthy of a read, in my opinion.

While the overarching themes of the book really focus on family, lore, and culture, there was definitely a romance element that was trying to happen. I was less than impressed by this book trying to make a love triangle happen, and those were honestly the parts that I was least impressed with and where the writing quality took a dive. You have Jaxson, who is the son of Sam's incredibly kind (and master baker) and literally Sam manages to push him away at every opportunity (so much YA angst!) and then a hot ghost who can communicate with Sam who's name I can't totally remember (I think it was Elijah)? I liked Elijah's backstory and it was certainly interesting with how it tied into the plot of the novel, but I personally don't think anyone else is going to be able to handle the ghost-and-living-person romance trope as well as Meg Cabot did.

Some other thoughts:
Loves:

-Girl power manifesting itself through magic and spells
-A creepy vibe that was just the perfect amount of slightly unsettling for a YA contemporary
-A "history is repeating itself" theme but with a twist
-The title-I just think it's a clever name!
-The personal connection the author has-she's a real-life Mather too!

Loathes:

-Sam's weird and volatile relationship with her stepmom
-The quality of the writing was sometimes a bit cringe-worthy (but being a debut, I'm not judging that too hard! I'm actually really stoked for he sequel).
-The romance(s) feeling way to stiff and convenient.
- I wish we had seen more complexity from characters such as Lizzie and Tom who were really terrible to Sam. Sure, there are a few lines alluding to the fact that they had suffering but it was pretty inadequate in comparison to the horrible things they were doing.


Overall: How to Hang a Witch is a fun read that feels like watching your favorite Halloween movie in the vein of Hocus-Pocus or Halloweentown. While there are some shady things going on, at the end of the day it stays on the lighter side. I loved the way history was made such a prominent part of this book while still keeping it a contemporary, and how charming the cast of characters was, including the town itself (which often times felt like a living, breathing thing). I'm not exactly sure what direction the sequel is going to go in but I definitely know I'll be reading it!

[jesstheaudiobookworm]

Review coming soon ♣︎

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating 4.5 Stars

Great genre mixing story. Loved how Mather compared the witch trials to modern day bullying. I really enjoyed the "who's-doing-it" mystery portion. I did guess correctly, but I did NOT have the full story, and it was fun trying to figure it out. Honestly, the author's notes probably had the most impact on me. The fact that this work of fiction is based on her own family history, and how after so much time, her last name still garnered any sort of attention in Salem was incredible to me. Once again, a novel with some historical premise captured my interest, and I was throughly entertained as Samantha raced to undo the curse.