“Lucky St. James, the orphaned daughter of a bad-ass Métis good-times girl, is barely hanging on to her nowhere life when she finds out that she and her grandmother, Stella, are about to be evicted from their apartment. Bad to worse in a heartbeat. Then one night, doing laundry in the building's dank basement, Lucky feels an irresistible something calling to her. Crawling through a hidden hole in the wall, she finds a tarnished silver spoon depicting a storybook hag over letters that spell out S-A-L-E-M.
Meena has been called to bring together seven special witches and seven special spoons—infused with magic and scattered to the four directions more than a century ago—to form a magic circle that will restore women to their rightful power. Lucky and her spoon are number six. With only one more spoon to find, a very powerful adversary has Meena's coven in his sights—Jay Christos, a roguish and deadly witch-hunter as old as witchcraft itself. As the clock ticks toward a now-or-never deadline, Meena sends Lucky and her grandmother on a dangerous, sometimes hilarious, road trip through the United States in search of the seventh spoon. Will the coven be completed, ushering in a new beginning, or will witches be forced to remain forever underground?”

Every woman in this story depicts the challenges and prejudices women face daily. Focusing on the power of women when coming together and fighting for each other. We can make a real difference if we take the lead. This book is a shoutout to feminism, and I loved - almost - every moment of it. All the women are so strong by themselves without realizing it, and together, they are a force to be reckoned with. I was rooting for them throughout the book, holding my breath at the end, hoping they would succeed. Because deep down, I know that in the world we live in today, something has completely gone wrong, and it is time for women to stand up and fight for what remains good in this world. This book gives me hope that someday, we will succeed in turning everything around and survive. ( )

I couldn’t put this one down! Witches and their history and all kinds of diversity and traditions and funky seers and Bookers (what I would like to be) and Tenders. From Toronto to New Orleans a twenty-something girl named Lucky and her wild grandmother Stella find out there is much more to their story than they ever imagined. I LOVED this book full of badass women! At times it felt like a David Lynch movie and at others straight up sentimental like something mainstream. So enjoyable and empowering. ( )

Lucky St. James does not know she's a witch. Until she discovers the key to a long-locked cabinet in the basement of her apartment building and opens it to find a novelty spoon engraved with the word "Salem". She does know she feels a strange affinity for this object, a desire to keep it with her at all times. It won't be long before she's approached by a representative of the mysterious VenCo and learns of the existence of other spoons, each bearing a different number and each belonging to a woman who is meant to join a potentially world-changing coven. Lucky, who's been struggling financially as she cares for her increasingly forgetful grandmother, jumps at the chance of a better paying job. The problem? The spoon she's found is the sixth out of seven, and if the final member doesn't find theirs soon, the coven will never be able to form at all.

VenCo takes place in our own modern world, featuring locations from Toronto to Salem to New Orleans and everywhere in between. It also features a diverse cast of women, each of whom is given the opportunity to tell the story of how she found her own spoon, and, in some cases, how she found herself along the way. The style is lovely, with figurative language painting fresh and interesting detail and summaries that pop up like a quick snapshot of everything you need to know about a portion of the characters' journey without dragging things out.

It also makes use of the omniscient point of view in a way that gives the reader insights into multiple characters while I as a reader still felt emotionally connected to them. The narration doesn't take the old-school path of telling the reader that the villain is an evil person and raining down judgment upon him, but it does provide a view of his actions and an explanation of his past that allowed me to form my own conclusions. There's a certain level of trust, as if the author knows the way the reader will view him simply because of the way he treats and has treated other characters. The narrator doesn't need to state that he's sexist or point out the ways in which he's being sexist. The narrator trusts the reader to know it when they see it. And in my opinion, this approach absolutely succeeds.

Readers should be aware that there is sexual content in this book, including characters seemingly being magically compelled into desiring sex, but I thought this was handled very well and actually fit in with the feminist themes at the novel's core. I won't spoil the ending, but the way this element, along with others that had been set up along the way, factored into the final chapters was very satisfying. The author clearly knew what she was doing and handled everything so skillfully that I consider it one of the best endings I've read in some time.

There's not as much magic as I would have liked to see, but the depiction of it is fresh and interesting (or at least I can say I've never seen the same before). It also ties into the themes in a way I really enjoyed seeing after I picked up on it. I did wish I had a clearer idea of how much power various characters had, especially in moments where the villain was going up against members of the coven or their allies. At one moment he seemed nearly unstoppable, at another moment very weak, probably due to my lack of understanding the abilities of his opponent, but that's the largest criticism I have for the book as a whole.

I would recommend this book to fans of fantasy with a modern setting, especially if you're intrigued by an extended road trip serving as the modern equivalent of the historical fantasy's journey. Those who enjoy books with diverse characters will also not be disappointed, and the feminism is, in my opinion, perfectly on point. It doesn't have fantastical creatures or the modern equivalent of sword fights or witches slinging spells at their enemies, but it does explore magic in a way that weaves it into the world we know so perfectly as to give the impression that it almost could be real. If that's the kind of book you like, I encourage you to give this one a try.

I don't like stories about witches. I don't like alternate reality stories. Or sci-fi. Even magical realism bugs me. But I do like Cherie Dimaline because her stories are about people. Some of them happen to be, in this case, witches, but they are well developed characters that I can relate to. For example, in this book the witches worked hard to find and interpret clues to aid in their quest. Things didn't fall magically (or otherwise) into place without some work. I loved the aspects of Aboriginal folklore that played into the story. And the time-limited quest kept the plot moving and me turning the pages.

But I am a little tired of all the bad guys being men. Here we have a male witch-hunter, an abusive husband, an absent father. And the acknowledgements say it is always a good time to hex the patriarchy. Sure it is. But not all men are part of the patriarchy. Many enable, support, mentor and cheer for women. I think we are ready for a little more nuance beyond the black and white of male and female conflict.

Overall a good book, well written with a gripping story. ( )

Lucky St. James is a young lady who is taking care of her grandmother Stella, who is in the first stages of dementia and can wander away. She has a job she hates and is being evicted from her apartment she shares with Stella. One day while in the laundry room of her building she follows a story her grandfather told and finds a witch's spoon. Meanwhile VenCo, a business that puts women in places of influence, helps a Salem coven-to-be of witches complete their circle of 7 witches to become a functioning coven. Lucky is contacted and offered a job with them. She and Stella travel to Salem where they find out that Lucky is the 6th witch. She has 9 days to find the 7th witch. The rest of the story follows Lucky and Stella in this quest, traveling to Pennsylvania, Missouri, and finally to New Orleans all the while avoiding or dealing with the Benandanti who is trying to stop them from becoming a coven. ( )