How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather

How to Hang a Witch

by Adriana Mather

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 in this thrilling, creepy and romantic New York Times bestseller.

"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?

Reviewed by Beth C. on

4 of 5 stars

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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/

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  • Started reading
  • 27 August, 2017: Finished reading
  • 27 August, 2017: Reviewed