Very intriguing book; the way things unfurled felt very realistic. I related to the main character a bit as she’s a people pleaser. 

Mae lives on this island with a family that’s done magic for years and they’re the only ones who can. They’re rich and a bunch of pompous jerks because of their privilege. Mae’s father recently passed and now she’s alone on the island with the family. This causes her to fear that they will exile her from the island. In response to this fear, she attempts to be more useful to them, so they will let her stay. Her desire to be one of them leads her to do some reckless things and it hurts to read. Through her actions she discovers some dark truths about the family and it goes sideways pretty quickly. She’s the kind of main character that you want the best for but she doesn’t make the best decisions. Mae is naive and desperate, and you can feel her pain through the exposition.

She has one friend within the family, but as the reader, you can’t help but doubt her. There are also spirits on the island, but only one is sentient and it’s a jerk. All it does is pull pranks throughout the story, but it also acts as a spy for the head of the family. It seems harmless, but is it? There are other family members, but all of them are pretty one dimensional. I can’t recall much about them other than their prevalent better-than-you attitudes.

This story hurts to read so you can’t help but root for Mae to realize her own worth, and though the journey has some interesting moments, the lack of worldbuilding and characterization (other than Mae) leaves the story feeling less impactful than it should have been.