Review by Kelly Jarvis: A Spell to Wake the Dead by Nicole Lesperance
Set along the deserted Cape Cod beaches in November, A Spell to Wake the Dead delivers witchy vibes, coastal magic, and frightening occult practices wrapped up in a Young Adult novel about three friends navigating the liminal space of their senior year of high school. Mazzy, a cellist with a father battling alcohol addiction, and her best friend Nora drag their third friend Eliot to the beach one night for a full moon ritual that will reveal what has been hidden. They find a dead body, missing its teeth and hands, and quickly become embroiled in a murder mystery. Detective Huld, a police officer wearing an Icelandic rune necklace, and Ione, the proprietor of a metaphysical shop called Midnight Alchemy, both warn the trio to stay out of the investigation, but Nora and Mazzy continue to use witchcraft to connect with the dead woman, who leads them toward the discovery of more bodies. Soon the three teens are battling with the Hand of Nephthys, a cult who chaotically pulls from several esoteric traditions without honoring the history or culture of any.
A Spell to Wake the Dead is a wild ride, with plenty of spooky twists and turns to keep the plot moving forward. The characters are typical young adults balancing murder investigations with AP exams, and early on, a love triangle in which Eliot likes Nora and Mazzy likes Eliot, provides fuel to the narrative. Nora is bolder in her approach to spell work, while Mazzy likes to do things by the book, and while there is a clear regard for the beauty of alternate spiritualities and the power of Tarot, the negative depiction of the cult leans into stereotypes about Pagan beliefs. Running beneath the story is a subtle recognition of real-world struggles including addiction and economic burdens. My favorite part of the story is the setting which is drawn with rich imagery and detail. This is not the Cape Cod of tourist season, but a haunted Cape turned desolate by winter weather, and yet each beach, each remote roadway, each landmark is described with austere nuance and appreciation. As I read, I pictured myself wandering through abandoned towns and over deserted boardwalks, making gruesome discoveries and wondering what was going to happen next.
If you are a fan of The Craft, Egyptian mythology, and Young Adult narratives featuring murder, mystery, and the magic of friendship, A Spell to Wake the Dead is the perfect book for you. Although I would have appreciated more nuance in the “good” and “bad” characters, I eagerly continued turning pages well into the night and enjoyed the sweet resolution after the climax of the tale. This book definitely had me longing to visit the shoreline during the winter, and you can’t go wrong if you are looking for a fun, addictive, and witchy story. You can find it here.
Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review.
Kelly Jarvis works as the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine and teaches writing and literature at Central Connecticut State University. Her work has been featured in A Moon of One’s Own, Baseball Bard, Blue Heron Review, Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer, Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly, The Chamber Magazine, The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers. Her debut novella, Selkie Moon, was released in 2025. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author) or Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or find her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/
