Review By Kayleigh
Only Spell Deep is a witchy, rager of a romp filled with magic, power and female rage.
Favourite Quote:
“Despite the Architectural fatigue, the chamber emanates a forceful energy that takes up the whole room, squeezing us out and making the air buzz with invisible presence. It reminds me of parking too close to a transmission tower, the electricity sparking in your teeth.”
Book Synopsis:
Judeth Cole has always had certain uncanny abilities. But when she arrived at Solidago, her grandfather’s estate by the sea, she was forced to keep them secret. There she lived a harsh life under his rule and the haunting legacy of her late grandmother, Aurelia. Until the fateful day she ignited a fire with her magic. It was the last time she saw her family alive.
Seventeen years later, she’s living in Seattle as Jude Clark, and failing at life, when she makes a last detour through her favorite bookstore, selecting a book to read as she waits to die. But when she pulls it from the shelf, an invitation to her for a clandestine midnight meeting slips out.
Jude is quickly swept up into a world of secrets and magic, discovering a circle of powerful new companions led by the mysterious, enigmatic Arla. The source of their magic, Arla tells her, is an entity, trapped and bound, that they call The Fathom. But Jude swiftly realizes Arla wants this power all to herself, and that she’s willing to kill for it.
Terrified, Jude turns to Levi, the handsome bookseller who’s seen her at her worst. With his help, she begins a research journey that leads her all the way back to Solidago, the house she swore to never return to. Now, the Fathom threatening to break free and Arla on the hunt, Jude must finally face her past to save her future.
Ava Morgyn’s Only Spell Deep is a novel that takes readers on a journey into a dark, glittering world of magic, a place where power should never be caged and misplaced trust can have deadly consequences.
Review:
Ava Morgan just keeps getting better and better as a storyteller in my opinion. Only Spell Deep grabbed me deep in the guts and held on until it was finished and I was gasping against my sofa. Jude Clark carries some heavy secrets including killing her family and their staff in a house fire when she was a teenager.
In present day, she’s rebuilt her life into a quiet and normal existence. She doesn’t use her magic, and no one knows her past, the fortune she’s trying to ignore, and the guilt and anger that lies deep inside her.
When her father died, her mother took her back to her family house Solidago, a place ruled by her grandfather: a cruel tyrant who is still so obsessed with her grandmother years after her death that the house is a dangerous shrine filled with secrets of her life and death. As a child, Jude didn’t really understand what was happening to her.
As an adult, however, she has to revisit not only her past childhood trauma, but the maternal bonds that gave her her power when she is approached by a mysterious group offering her a community and a sense of belonging with her magic. This group is not a kind group though, and there is a game being played that Jude finds herself thrust into. Suddenly, Jude realizes as she slips through their tricks and tests, that she’s actually running for her life.
With the help of a sweet and sexy bookstore owner (who she’s quietly fallen for), Jude learns not only about the root of her magic, but how it really grows through her maternal side of her family. Throughout her discoveries, she realizes that a big part of her magic is fueled by female anger and generational trauma. I freaking loved Ava’s world building and magic system here. It’s dark and layered and the story is a dark fantasy that trembles into horror at times. This book is moody, evocative and psychologically powerful.
What does home mean? What is family? When is love earned versus created? Jude has a lot of questions she needs to answer before she can begin her own life and truly live instead of run from repeating cycles.
This is a book that you will swallow in one greedy gulp and find yourself still parched for more.
Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
