Spells and Sorcery (Lexie Carrigan Chronicles, #1)

by S. Usher Evans

You have magic.

One sentence, three words, four syllables. Enough to change my life forever. And I'm not talking about the whole spells and sorcery thing.

Lexie Carrigan thought the weirdest thing about her was she preferred watching documentaries and reading the newspaper to reality TV and Twitter. But on the eve of her fifteenth birthday, her aunt and sisters drop a bomb--she's magical.

Now the girl who never made waves is blowing up her nightstand and trying to keep from wreaking havoc on her school. When a kind stranger shows up with all the answers, Lexie hopes he'll be able to help her control her newfound powers. But Gavon may not be as kind as he seems, and soon Lexie finds out that being magical is the least weird thing about her.

Spells and Sorcery is the first YA fantasy from S. Usher Evans, author of the Razia series, the Madion War Trilogy and Empath.

• ISBN10: 1945438045
• ISBN13: 9781945438042
• Publish Date: 4 October 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Sun's Golden Ray Publishing, LLC
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 380
• Language: English

Reviews

[Chelsea]

After DNFing this book at first, I knew I’d eventually go back and give it another shot. It just wasn’t the right time for me to read it. I’m glad I brought it with me on my trip though because it’s one of those easy to read books that fit with all my running around.

I like Lexie. I feel like she could be a younger me. Yes she’s immature and doesn’t think things through. Name me a teenager that does. I’ll wait. She fits the book perfectly and that’s all that really matters.

Her family though. Oh man. They drove me insane. I hated how in the dark even we were as readers let alone Lexie herself. Their reasoning made no sense to me and I hated not having any idea what was going on. Sure I had my guesses but I needed a confirmation at some points.

The plot was fun and went by really quick. I like being able to read a book fast like I did with this one. No unnecessary drama thankfully. This book didn’t need fillers and side plots. It stood just fine on its own.

[Leah]

I loved Spells & Sorcery – it’s my first foray into the books out S Usher Evans, but it won’t be my last (not least because there’s another #LexieSpells book coming in April next year). It’s one of those books that you just fall into right away, and it reminded me so, so much of my favourite TV show when I was younger, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, they’re very similar. Learning the have magic as a teenager (Lexie is 15, Sabrina 16), living with an Aunt (although in Sabrina’s case it’s 2 and in Lexie’s case it’s one and 2 annoying sisters), dealing with school and magic at the same time, all Lexie was missing was her very own Harvey Kinkle, but I hear that MAY be coming in book 2?!??!

Seeing Lexie come into her powers was both amazing and frustrating. Amazing because learning you’re a witch has been my dream for forever (I’m not kidding) and while Lexie struggled with it at first, it kinda came naturally to her but it was also frustrating because no one helps Lexie. Marie, Nicole, Jeanie, no one helped Lexie, or explained anything and while it does all eventually tumble out, a lot could have been explained before hand and they just irritated me, with their know-it-all looks and ability to yell for yelling’s sake. I did, however, like the introduction of Gavon, who seems to mentor Lexie, helping her the way her family should, and their interactions were so much fun.

I really enjoyed this, this really set the world going forwards with the series, and it was actually quite refreshing to have a YA book without a romance, there wasn’t even a sniff – it was all about Lexie learning about her magic, controlling it, and that was so much fun to read. All that was missing was a talking cat named Salem. This is the perfect read for Sabrina fans, I’m not even kidding. I lapped it up and I’m so, so excited for Magic & Mayhem and more from Lexie Carrigan!