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desiree930 's review for:
Garden Spells
by Sarah Addison Allen
4.5 Stars, rounded up because I can.
This is the second book I’ve picked up by this author. I just love her stories and can’t wait to move on to the sequel.
What I liked:
1. The magical realism. I feel like magical realism doesn’t work when it’s not grounded in reality in some way. Books like Wild Beauty seem more like surrealism to me because there is nothing showing that this is actually taking place in our world. Sarah Addison Allen knows how to create a story that feels like it takes place in our world, with just a little magic thrown in. And I loved that the magical element varied with each member of the Waverly family. Claire’s would probably be my favorite. I love the idea that certain foods would create certain situations.
2. The food. I want to eat all the food mentioned in the book. I would legitimately like the recipes for the food. Pretty please.
3. The quirk. I love the quirky and whimsical nature of the town and the characters in this book. Evenelle may have actually been my favorite character. She also has a fantastic ‘ability’ and the way that she navigates it is really fun.
4. Sister connection. This book deals a lot with issues dealing with abandonment and anxiety. I love that over the course of the book Sydney and Claire learn to trust one another and really cultivate a bond that was missing in their youth. I like that it didn’t just happen overnight, but was worked on throughout the book.
5. The writing style. I love the quirky, whimsical style the majority this book is written in. SAA writes in a very lyrical way without becoming overly-flowery.
Other odds and ends:
1. This book does deal with some heavy subject matter. TW for rape and domestic abuse. I do feel like there are some parts of the book that seem slightly out of place with the more whimsical passages, so I could see how that could turn some people off.
2. This book has more sex in it than the other book by her that I’ve read. It’s not overly graphic, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind if you are the kind of person who doesn’t like to read sex scenes.
3. This book does have a case of insta-love, but it is mostly one-sided in the beginning and takes a good portion of the book for their relationship to actually progress. Also, I tend to forgive the insta-love trope in a book like this because there is a sense of fate and destiny running through it that is supported and helped along by the magical elements at work.
4. I wish the ending wasn’t quite so abrupt. There is an event we build up to throughout the book that is supposed to build tension but when it finally happens it’s solved very quickly and feels more than a little anti-climactic.
Even with the few critiques, I still loved this book. If I were to rate it critically it would still get a 4 because I think it’s a well-written and unique story. Adding in my level of enjoyment into my rating kicks it up to a full five stars and I can’t wait for her next book.
This is the second book I’ve picked up by this author. I just love her stories and can’t wait to move on to the sequel.
What I liked:
1. The magical realism. I feel like magical realism doesn’t work when it’s not grounded in reality in some way. Books like Wild Beauty seem more like surrealism to me because there is nothing showing that this is actually taking place in our world. Sarah Addison Allen knows how to create a story that feels like it takes place in our world, with just a little magic thrown in. And I loved that the magical element varied with each member of the Waverly family. Claire’s would probably be my favorite. I love the idea that certain foods would create certain situations.
2. The food. I want to eat all the food mentioned in the book. I would legitimately like the recipes for the food. Pretty please.
3. The quirk. I love the quirky and whimsical nature of the town and the characters in this book. Evenelle may have actually been my favorite character. She also has a fantastic ‘ability’ and the way that she navigates it is really fun.
4. Sister connection. This book deals a lot with issues dealing with abandonment and anxiety. I love that over the course of the book Sydney and Claire learn to trust one another and really cultivate a bond that was missing in their youth. I like that it didn’t just happen overnight, but was worked on throughout the book.
5. The writing style. I love the quirky, whimsical style the majority this book is written in. SAA writes in a very lyrical way without becoming overly-flowery.
Other odds and ends:
1. This book does deal with some heavy subject matter. TW for rape and domestic abuse. I do feel like there are some parts of the book that seem slightly out of place with the more whimsical passages, so I could see how that could turn some people off.
2. This book has more sex in it than the other book by her that I’ve read. It’s not overly graphic, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind if you are the kind of person who doesn’t like to read sex scenes.
3. This book does have a case of insta-love, but it is mostly one-sided in the beginning and takes a good portion of the book for their relationship to actually progress. Also, I tend to forgive the insta-love trope in a book like this because there is a sense of fate and destiny running through it that is supported and helped along by the magical elements at work.
4. I wish the ending wasn’t quite so abrupt. There is an event we build up to throughout the book that is supposed to build tension but when it finally happens it’s solved very quickly and feels more than a little anti-climactic.
Even with the few critiques, I still loved this book. If I were to rate it critically it would still get a 4 because I think it’s a well-written and unique story. Adding in my level of enjoyment into my rating kicks it up to a full five stars and I can’t wait for her next book.