Adriana MatherReseñas

The author, herself a descendant of the famous witch trial judge, Cotton Mather, has written a novel about a Mather descendant who moves back to her ancestral home of Salem, MA and is faced with the descendants of the witches who were hanged. This book was a really fun, quick read. I liked the descriptions of Salem. The characters were likeable. The plot has romance, graveyards, a secret library, old grimoires, mean girls, a ghost, good witches and bad witches and a believable main character... all the ingredients for a supernatural teen romance. It is a very enjoyable way to pass a weekend. My one critique is that the plot involving the ghost's fiancee becomes a bit muddled by the end, which I really can't discuss more in depth without ruining it for you. Suffice to say, I still don't really understand the mechanics of how that plot line ultimately worked. Yes, I get that witchcraft was involved, but I think the jump from the past to the present could have been more clearly explained.

Haunting the Deep is a Standalone book from the author of How to Hang a Witch. While the story line is different in this book I think that in essentials you will have wanted to read How to Hang a Witch first to understand the bad story, especially the relationship between Sam, Jaxson, and Elijah, something that I will talk more about in a bit.

In Haunting the Deep we return to Salem Massachusetts several months after the end of How to Hang a Witch. Life has become fairly mundane for Samantha Mather, something that she revels in. However, sadly for our dear Sam things won't stay that way and they are also never what they seem.

I really enjoyed getting back into Samantha's world, I had to do a little digging in my head to remember all the little details that hop from the first book to this one, things that I won't talk about here because I don't want to give away any of the first story. What you need to know is that after a harrowing and horrific experience when Samantha first moved to Salem she's finally found a group of kids to call friends, gossip has started to slow down, and has begun to settle into her new life. As a reader though, we know that this can not stay the same and it isn't long before Samantha's world is once more turned upside down. The one person she thought she could count on always being there begins to act oddly and pull away, the group of girls (the Descendants) who she is reluctant to call friends but finds herself needing become more than she could have ever imagined. Keeping her secrets from her father become harder and harder and the boy she may have loved is gone....or is he?

I love how Adriana weaves history into her stories, I love even more than this history is personal to her, it lends to the authenticity of her characters feelings and their motivations. I loved in this book, and am trying to thing of a way I can apply it to my daughter's schooling, how the entire school rallies around this one theme (the Titanic) and not only is it the theme for the 'Spring Fling' but in conjunction the history and literature teachers are having their students study the history of the Titanic. I love the underlying story of repression and how societies classes were viewed in the early 1900's. I found that you can see a lot of links between what we see happening on the Titanic and with our society today. This is not an overtly political book, don't think I am saying that at all, but I think if you are paying enough attention you can see something in here that you'll say still stands today and should be considered. Why is the 'villain' a villain in this book, it isn't as simple as being a 'bad person', there is an entire history here that brings about what happens in this book and I found it to be an interesting look both into the past as well as at our current world.

Now, the one part that makes me go with a 4 instead of a 5 on the star rating for this book and I am certain this is strictly a me problem. The relationship and dynamics between Sam, Jaxson, and Elijah. I am struggling with this because I feel like though there was some magic involved we are watching the true feelings of one character get either shoved under a rug or completely trampled on, and it is painful to watch.

This book is way underhyped. I really enjoyed it, especially Jaxon's character. I loved him. If you like mystery and witches, you'll probably like this.

I wanted very much to finish this book but I didn't. I enjoyed the parts I did read and made it to about page 140 but I lost interest in the story. It just wasn't for me I guess. I am going to suggest it to my 14 year old daughter who is really into learning about the Salem Witch Trials.

Paranormal YA is not really my kind of book so if you do like that sort of thing, you would probably give this a higher rating. I did find the parallels between the historic Salem witch trials and present day high school bullying compelling if rather heavy handed.

Adriana Mather, the author, did the narration and did a fine job (not always the case of author-narrated books).

DNF at page 150

Why I DNF'd--The writing, the ghost, the M/C.

I was SO excited to get this book at BEA. It was a top priority going in because WITCHES!!! And SALEM!!! But ughhh this one was so hard to read. The writing, I felt, was not up to par. The main character was constantly in her own head and telling us every little stupid snarky thing she was thinking. I don't need to know that you thought "Yeah right" and then all the reasons you can't say "Yeah right" to a whoever. I KNOW why you don't want to or can't say certain things to certain people because I am not stupid. So please Samantha, stop treating me like I'm stupid.

Let's talk about the love interest(s)-- First off, the neighbor boy (who she meets in the first 2 pages) was a combo of 2 tropes I am so bored of. 1-- Sam instantly acts like she hates him, but it's totally obvious she thinks he's dreamy. 2-- he comes on super strong and tells her he likes within the first 2 conversations he has with her. UGHHHH- stop telling the girl you like her right after you meet her. The whole kissing thing was another disaster that added to my frustration. THEN a ghost romance started happening and I was like ????? I was fully prepared for maybe witches, but not witches and ghosts. Just no.

This had the potential to be a favorite book for me. The setting is awesome, the story has potential, but the writing needs a lot of work. A lot.

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FROM AMAZON: 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.

CW: violence, murder

Well that was a good young adult murder mystery with secret spy families that go back generations. The spy boarding school setting was a lot of fun and there was quite a challenging curriculum. The ways of being assessed were literally life threatening. The romance didn't feel too out of place and thankfully no excessive yearning occurred. It took a while for the story to pick up but I particularly enjoyed the family feud drama and look forward to seeing how that plays out in the next book.

Well I enjoyed the first book a whole lot more, but this was still fun!

There were quite a few times where I found my mind wandering in this only to be dragged back in an intense and exciting action scene. Still, the teen drama levels dialled up quite a bit in this second installment which made it a less enjoyable experience for me. I did, however, find the ending action-packed and engaging. Overall a pretty good series.

An edge of your seat thriller. Reminded me a little of a female HP, similar to the fact that she does not understand her abilities and is ill-prepared for the world she is thrust into. There are some very creepy scenes mixed into the story, along with ones that leaving the reader questioning who November can truly trust. Looking forward to the next in the series.

I didn't enjoy this like I thought I would. I didn't care about any of the characters, especially the main character who was far too naive for my liking. The plot itself was pretty predictable and not very interesting. Pretty disappointing.

After spending most of her life in a small town called Pembrook, November's dad enrolls her in a private school for a couple of weeks while he helps her aunt after a break in at her home. While on the way, November blacks out and wakes up at Academy Absconditi, where there is no technology and everybody seems out to kill her. When she begins to take classes, November realizes that the games that her father and aunt played with her as a child were meant to prepare her for what she would face in this school as the stakes get higher by the minute. Learning more about her family's history and her mother's death makes her conscious of the fact that her problems are bigger than just what is happening in this school and that there is nobody she can trust.

Killing November combines aspects of both the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series. Student interactions are Machiavellian to the point of being absurd. Also, it is hard to believe that any father, especially one in this situation, would leave his daughter as unprepared as November's father does in this story. Other than November's frustration and disbelief in her situation, other emotions don't come through as clearly, making it difficult to care about the characters. Overall, this is a well developed plot with lots of twists and turns, but it is a little difficult to connect with the characters.

November and Ash have left Academy Absconditi and are on the run looking for November's dad. He has left November a series of clues to lead her where she needs to go and to the people she needs to see, which offer some surprises along the way, including unexpected help from other students at the Academy.

With November and Ash on the run, Hunting November lends itself to a faster pace than Killing November, which is isolated to the location of the school. The book reminds me so much of a young adult version of the John Wick movies with the Strategia Families, the ruling council, and the rules they all must follow. The plot is a fun ride but a little over the top in terms of violence and drama that sometimes overwhelms the character development. Overall, however, this is an enjoyable story with lots of action and political intrigue making it well worth the read.

Eine gelungene und spannende Fortsetzung!
Mir hat das Buch sehr gefallen, denn es geht sofort und ohne großes Herumgeplänkel genau da weiter, wo der erste Band aufhörte. Man ist direkt wieder voll drin und mir persönlich fiel es auch nicht so schwer, wieder in das Geschehen hineinzufinden, nachdem ich ein paar Ereignisse nochmal durchgegangen bin. Empfehlen würde ich trotzdem, sich nochmal das Ende von Band eins anzusehen, um die Erinnerung etwas aufzufrischen. Dennoch gefällt es mir sehr, dass es sofort im Geschehen weitergeht.

Es war ein spannender Abschluss, mit einigen turbulenten Szenen und für mich doch ein paar unvorhersehbaren Überraschungen. Zu manchem Ergebnis wäre ich so während des Lesens nicht gekommen, denn Hinweise darauf habe ich nie entdeckt, aber ich finde es sehr erfrischend, wenn ich nicht so schnell ahne, worauf das Ganze hinausläuft. Gleichzeitig gab es aber auch Szenen, in denen es mir doch etwas zu einfach für die Charaktere lief, wo aus meiner Sicht schon rein logisch mehr Probleme hätten auftauchen müssen - gerade wenn die Jugendlichen, die mit der Akademie noch nicht mal fertig sind, auf voll ausgebildete Strategen treffen, die schon einige Jahre dabei sind. So perfekt sind sie einfach noch nicht, auch nicht Ash, der November einiges an Kenntnissen voraus hat.

Man hat recht lange einige Fragen, gerade wenn man beim Lesen viel hinterfragt, oder eigentlich gern Miträtseln möchte. Die meisten Lösungswege konnte ich zwar durchaus nachvollziehen, aber bei einem war das nicht der Fall. Grundsätzlich richten sich die Rätsel aber auch nicht an den Leser, denn manche kann man ohne Novembers Hintergrundwissen so auch gar nicht lösen, weil man nicht alles vor dem Hinweis weiß. Und trotzdem bin ich sehr zufrieden mit dem Buch, denn es macht nicht nur Spaß und bleibt spannend, es kann auf den letzten 100 Seiten auch noch alles sehr gut auflösen, was ich da schon gar nicht mehr erwartet hätte. Doch, ich kann die Reihe immer noch empfehlen, auch wenn ich den ersten Teil besser finde. Insgesamt gefällt mir die Geschichte einfach!

Really fun read, I haven't read many assassin/spy type novels so this was a really good introduction. Looking forward to picking up the sequel.

Really fun read, I hope the series continues :)

teen fiction (suspense)
teen unexpectedly finds herself at a super-secret spy/assassin school where she can't trust anyone.

teen fiction (suspense, intrigue, spies and assassins).

second and final book, Killing November - a fun series with plenty of twisty backstabby bits.

Loved it! Finished it in one night. Can't wait to read what happens next in the sequel.

Ich liebe das Buch, es hat mich schon von der ersten Seite an völlig begeistern können. Sofort war es super spannend und nahm in dieser Spannung auch nie wirklich ab, eigentlich nahm diese eher zu. Dazu dann noch die wirklich interessante Idee, das gesamte Geschehen - eine Geschichte ganz nach meinem Geschmack, mit spannenden Figuren und Hintergründen, die mich schon jetzt wahninnig neugierig auf Band 2 zurück lassen.

In diesem Buch bieten sich viele Gelegenheiten so gut wie jedem Charakter zu misstrauen, man weiß nie wirklich sicher, wem man wirklich trauen kann und ob alle so sind, wie sie sich geben. Außerdem konnte ich hervorragend mitfiebern und mir immer wieder neue Theorien ausdenken, denn genau wie die Protagonistin wird man lange sehr im dunkeln gelassen und erfährt nur langsam mehr, was für mich ein klarer Pluspunkt ist. So ist zu jeder Zeit alles möglich und die Spannung wird einfach immer Größer, während die Fantasie immer mehr mit einem durchgeht. Ich liebe solche Geschichten, vor allem dieses Thema rund um Geheimgesellschaften und Agenten, es ist und bleibt faszinierend.

Ein unheimlich tolles Buch, mit einem sehr angenehmen Schreibstil, der es einem möglich macht, das Buch in eins durchzulesen. Allerdings gestaltet sich ein pausieren hier ohnehin sehr schwer, denn es gibt kaum eine Stelle im Buch, an der ich nicht gern weitergelesen hätte. Man muss einfach wissen wie es weiter geht und wie es enden wird. Und auch wenn man bei keinem Charakter weiß, ob man ihm wirklich trauen kann, so gibt es trotzdem ein Paar, die ich mochte, auch wenn nicht alle so viel vorkamen, wie ich es mir gewünscht hätte. Ich hoffe also darauf, im nächsten Band auch von diesen mehr zu sehen, denn sie zeigten trotz ihrer kürzeren Auftritte gute Entwicklungen und lassen so viele weitere Möglichkeiten für das zweite Buch entstehen. Für mich war es eine besondere Geschichte, die ich auf diese Art noch nicht gelesen habe - trotz meiner liebe zu solchen Jugendbüchern. Meiner Meinung nach gab es hier nicht nur bekanntes, sondern auch neue Dinge. Einfach ein tolles Buch, das ich sehr empfehlen kann, es hat Spaß gemacht und konnte mich vollkommen von sich überzeugen.

Samantha Mather is still trying to recover from events that happened in Salem six months before. She started seeing ghosts, was almost hanged and was betrayed by someone she had once trusted. Her family ties to the Salem Witch Trials caused magic and spirits to become a part of her life. She's hoping that all goes away. But, when she starts seeing victims of the Titanic disaster....ghostly figures dripping sea water....she knows it's not going away.

Haunting the Deep is the second book in the How to Hang a Witch series. Samantha finds that her life is tied to the sinking of the Titanic. But the strange events aren't just effecting her....some of her friends and her father are also getting pulled into the situation this time. Strange dreams, packages showing up on her porch, weird feelings and strange artifacts....what's going on? And how can they stop it?

I enjoyed this book. It's a great follow up to How to Hang a Witch. Samantha has found a home in Salem....but her life isn't easy. The supernatural and magic just seem to crowd in on her. Makes for a great suspenseful story. This book is definitely YA, but not juvenile. As an adult, I still enjoyed reading the story. Samantha is an intelligent main character. Her friends, father and the other supporting characters aren't well developed, but do help move the plot along. They all have their quirks and personalities. All in all, it's a well written book. The fact that the author is actually descended from Cotton Mather and survivors of the Titanic sinking add another facet of interest to this book.

The front cover-art is great!! It really draws attention to the book.

I can't wait to see what the next book will have in store! I will definitely be reading more of this series!

Samantha Mather lived in New York with her dad and step-mother Vivian until her father suddenly fell into a coma. With medical bills mounting, Vivian sells their NYC apartment and moves them to Salem, Massachusetts. Samantha's grandmother owned a house there before she died, and they can live there while Samantha's father is hospitalized. Immediately, things do not go as planned. As a relative of Cotton Mather, a proponent of the Salem witch trials, local descendants of those killed in the trials take a disliking to her. Strange things begin happening....accidents, injuries, deaths. Samantha has felt cursed all of her life. Maybe it's more than a feeling. Maybe she is actually cursed. With the help of a friendly spirit that only she can see, Samantha works to unravel the mystery causing harm to descendants on both sides of the infamous witch trials.

This book is an enjoyable read. The mystery is engaging and the plot moves along at a nice speed. The suspense kept me reading until the very last page. While definitely a YA book dealing with teen social issues alongside the witch trial, history of Salem, etc., the plot is not juvenile. As an adult, I still enjoyed the story. There is no sex, graphic violence or anything that would make this book inappropriate for middle grade aged students through adults. It does have a witchcraft theme...if that isn't your bag, then I'd pass this one by.

How to Hang a Witch is the first book in Adriana Mather's series about Samantha Mather. Luckily I have the second book, Haunting the Deep, on my TBR shelf waiting for me! Interestingly enough, Adriana Mather is actually a descendant of Cotton Mather just like the main character in her series.

Well written and a fun read. Hard to put down once you get into the story. The author is decended from Cotton and Increase Mather of the infamous Salem witch trials, which she researched for the book. it reads like historical fiction.

For a YA book things move very slowly. The characters don't feel real. I have plenty of other books to read, so I won't finish this one.

I gave this book half a star and rounded it up to 1 star on Goodreads. I also did not finish this book and quit at the 50 percent mark.

The only cool thing about this book is that a descendant of the Mathers (see Salem Witch trials) wrote a book book Salem and what happens when a descendant of Cotton Mather moves to Salem. There appears to be a curse at work on Sam and the Descendants (the book titles them that way, not me) of the supposed witches that were hanged. Other than that, there is not really anything to see here.

The world building in this book is not great, we have a love triangle (of course) and the development of the main character and others is non-existent. It does not help that crucial details are being left out of things everywhere you turn and you are just supposed to figure out what is going on. I read to the 50 percent mark due to the chapters being so short. But at that point (Chapter 30 to be exact) I pulled the plug and said forget this noise. There are better books out there and I rather be reading them.

The main character of Samantha (prefers Sam) Mather really needs to be worked on. he is not really solid as a character. She is either fighting with her stepmother Vivian, or getting into fights/arguments with teachers or other kids at her school. We keep hearing about terrible things that happened to Sam at schools, but the things described (a hair cutting incident) is assault plain and simple and I have to wonder at Sam's father and stepmother trying to gloss over the whole thing. Of course the book tries to tie in Sam's problems with a "curse" and all, but that didn't really work for me since one incident involved a childhood friend and we don't know what happened there, and the second incident was her having her hair cut and once again I don't know what led up to it.

The secondary characters are written terribly too. Sam's stepmother Vivian has apparently been in her life since she was a child and up until Sam's father had his accident they were really close. But Sam keeps fighting with Vivian and will not tell her what is going on. So there's just a lot of scenes with Sam acting like a jerk (my words) and then saying I should tell Vivian what's going on. Yeah girl, you should.

Other characters such as Jaxon are there to just be a love interest to Sam. I have no idea what this guy really looks like besides the color of his eyes. In fact every guy in this book gets the color of his eyes described. I don't know why Jaxon likes Sam besides the story is making it so. Once again she's not interesting at all, they just live next door to each other.

We also get the Descendants of those accused of witchcraft. Why Mather actually decided to make these Descendants actual witches baffles me. Frankly I wonder why the character of Sam has not said to at least one of them, well so my great great great whatever was right? Still a terrible person to have people be hanged, but you all were witches? That whole thing drove me buggy while reading. Also these Descendants all wear black (yes cause witches wear black...always) and they go off into the woods, they have a circle (but the last time I checked I don't think there are 13 of them, but they all started to blur together so don't quote me on that), and they all wear hooded capes or capes when going out into the woods. I just could not stop laughing. These were stereotypical witches that made me roll my eyes a lot. They were also bullies and acted like asses to Sam. I also don't get why any of these kids would bully someone just because their last name was Mather and no one in the school picked up on it at all. Ugh. I will be here all day if I get into this anymore so moving on.

The other townspeople are a bit much too. Everytime Sam tells someone their name they freak out. There is an incident when she goes to get coffee and the cashier requests her last name (please) and she says Mather and gets the stink eye from the cashier and others. I mean the incidents like this in the book were ridiculous.

The writing was not good. I really don't know what else to say. The sentence structures were all over the place and depending on who was talking it got even more messed up. For example, the character of Elijah should not be speaking in modern speech at all since we know what era he was born in. And having the character speak as if he just learned English was not working for me either. Having the chapter headings started wearing on my nerves while reading too. I don't know why some authors need to set the mood so to speak, but readers are smart, you don't have to have a chapter that says "Under All that Bravado" and then have a character say that later on in the chapter.

The flow of the book was really bad too. The chapters kept ending at weird places and nothing really synced up.

The world building for this book should have been easy. Salem is a real place. I have no understanding at all of how the town looks besides almost all of the houses are black, witches symbols are all over the place, and the school has a witch as their mascot. I also got that same information from Wikipedia. I need to actually be able to envision it. How does the town look, is it a straight route from Sam's house to downtown. How do the trees look? Do the houses have gables? Widows walk? Salem is a huge tourist attraction, this book takes place during September/October, are you telling me there are no tourists anywhere? I have a friend that lives in Boston and she always goes to Salem for Halloween and based on the pictures there are a ton of things to do there. The Salem Sam inhabits seems kind of desolate.

I can't speak to the ending because I stopped reading this at 50 percent. I would definitely recommend skipping this.