The Lies of Alma Blackwell

Nev has been told two things her whole life; it’s her duty to take over as the town’s protector that keeps the spirits at bay and that her mom ran away from this duty and never returned. This is the truth Nev believes, until it’s time for her to take the vow and a boy who’s a little too familiar shows up. She doesn’t have long to figure out what’s truth, what’s lies, and what the true history of her family is.

The Lies of Alma Blackwell is a story of magic, love, and secrets. There’s a twinge of romance between the main characters, but it’s not over powering. But there’s one other romance that is important to the plot and I love how it’s handled as it’s between two girls from a hundred years ago. There’s subtle disapproval, which is normal for the time, but otherwise it’s treated as if normal. The magic system is simple and hardly needs explained, it’s easy to understand. There’s foreshadowing from the beginning about Nev’s past, it’s not entirely subtle, but it did take me until the reveal to actually realize it.