THE WAY I LOVE THE OWENS WOMEN. The absolute chaos of this series has become endearing to me? It’s important to note how wary I was going into Practical Magic, the namesake of the series, the original installment and the inspiration for the iconic movie adaptation. Having never read Practical Magic and having never seen the movie, I opted to read these in chronological order: Magic Lessons, set in the 1600s, the “origin” story of the Owens family curse; The Rules of Magic, set in the 1960s, prequel to Practical Magic and coming-of-age stories of Aunt Franny and Aunt Jet; Practical Magic, the original, set ostensibly in the 90s; and finally, The Book of Magic, the last book she published AND the last chronologically.

Hoffman returned to build out this series more than 20 years after publishing Practical Magic, and you can absolutely feel the tonal departure between the original and her later installments. Where Magic Lessons and The Rules of Magic are heart-wrenching and darkly magical, Practical Magic is campy with a sharply humorous edge. Thankfully, I was warned of this before starting Practical Magic, and knew to expect a sharp left turn.

All that said - I loved this! I don’t know if it’s my 90s nostalgia or just the fact that I love Hoffman’s writing style, but I read this at the exact right time and thoroughly enjoyed it. This series reminds me of everything I love about magical realism, the subtle blending of the fantastical with the everyday - red hair that turns even the water that touches it red, too, lilacs that bloom out of season, steam that rises from beneath your cuticles when you’re hot and bothered, toads that will race you in the garden and beg you for treats, a gaggle of cats named after birds. It’s just entrancing to me. 

Written as a fictional origin story for The Scarlet Letter, the true alchemy of Albanese’s narrative is in its depiction of a relationship between Isobel Gamble and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The tension! The chemistry! The red flags! Isobel is a young Scottish seamstress recently immigrated to Salem with her much-older husband, an apothecary with an opium addiction and an impossible dream to invent an elixir of life. In short order, her husband succeeds in building a pyramid scheme of investments in his fraudulent venture, steals his wife’s savings and abandons her in Salem while he sets off to sea. Enter twenty-five year-old Nathaniel Hawthorne - brooding, ambitious and set on Isobel.

Hester feels most similar to The Book of Longings in its desire to give women at the center of the narrative agency and voice. Midway through the book, as it becomes clear Hawthorne sees Isobel as his muse, she tells us “...I’m standing before him with a life of my own and a heart that is my own. I’ve told him my secrets and shown him my passion... And still, he looks at me and sees only himself.” And THAT is what we come away with from this read, the frustration that Hester and many women depicted in "classics" have never actually been the main characters of their own stories.

This was an immersive, page-turning read, though I struggled with themes that felt a bit overstated, and I was confused by the depiction of Isobel’s speech (described throughout as the rough Scottish brogue of a new immigrant with little to no formal education, but not written to reflect this?). Contrasted with the dialogue written for other characters, the inexplicably formal speech of our main character was a confusing decision.

 *Edit: This particular frustration has stuck with me on further reflection. It feels particularly uncomfortable because the main character is white, and the dialogue for Black characters feels purposefully broken in a way that isn't reflected equally. I've modified my star rating down to reflect further thought on this.

I started reading Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic series at the end of 2020 after borrowing Magic Lessons (the first chronologically in the series, her third published). Set in 1600s Salem, it traces the Owens family curse back to its start with Maria Owens. Think of Magic Lessons as the Owens origin story and The Rules of Magic as the true "prequel" to Practical Magic. Here we get a 1960s era coming-of-age story for Franny and Jet, a stunning character study that borders on historical fiction in its use of pivotal events (the Vietnam War, Stonewall, etc.) to round out the central plotlines. I loved Magic Lessons, but The Rules of Magic feels so special to me, because as dark as it is, it's also such a moving story of three siblings who find life-altering loves and have to forge their own paths through fate and circumstance. 

And gosh the LAYERS of fate vs. freewill in this add so much depth to the story - an enchanted mirror that grants Vincent a vision of his future he will initially fear and later embrace, the curse that is both cause and effect, reality and myth, the loves they claim and disavow. The construct of the Owens family curse creates a framework for generally reflecting on the roles we play in shaping our own lives. We learn through the Owens siblings that we should love more, not less, despite the certainty that this will bring us both joy and pain. 

This is one I can't stop thinking about, that helped me to articulate something that I do fundamentally believe - that not one of us is guaranteed a life without suffering, and that it's all still worth it, anyways.

As Aunt Isabelle teaches Franny: 
"'Don't try to hide who you are, Franny. Always keep that in mind.'
'Or I'll be turned into a rabbit,' Franny quipped.
Isabelle went to embrace her favorite niece. 'Or you'll be very unhappy.'"

This was a four-star romance that I read in two sittings.

Things I loved:
🪄 The magic system is so lovely and unique - absolutely my favorite part of this book. I really appreciated the witch mythology as well (and it felt like the groundwork for more books is here - let's hope?!).
💞Found family - a found family dynamic that is reminiscent of The House in the Cerulean Sea, complete with hilariously stubborn children.
✨ Witch banter - the number of times I laughed out loud as witches questioned the existence of fairies, traded potion brews, joked about spells - so delightful.
🌛 Dreamlike setting - the house by the sea, her travelling greenhouse and koi pond, collecting stardust - it was all beautifully portrayed.
📚 Bookish fandom shout-outs - multiple shout-outs for us, bookish folks! It made my little SJM-loving heart so dang happy.

Thing (singular) I did not love:
🫠 The third act conflict. I respected how it was portrayed for its realism and depth. But I HATE true conflict between MCs in my romances. HATE. IT. My heart felt a bit bruised toward the end. As always, these conflicts are resolved (because this is ROMANCE folks and to quote Ali Hazlewood in a recent insta exchange, what are we, lit fiction?!). But I'm still nursing a bit of a grudge. 

 I cannot express how excited I was to receive an ARC of Heart of the Sun Warrior (thank you Netgalley and Harper Voyager!). Falling back into Tan’s world with this sequel was so effortless. Honestly, when we wrapped up Daughter of the Moon Goddess, everything felt… resolved, so I wasn’t sure where this would take us. I’m unfamiliar with the mythology of Chang’e and had no expectations entering Heart of the Sun Warrior. That said, I did struggle to understand the story arc for the first third of the book - the action is well-paced, but I kept wishing that the central conflict had been made just a bit more explicit earlier on.

Minor plot commentary aside, this book is just as stunning as its predecessor. The IMAGERY. I could get lost in this world, and Tan’s prose is so poetic and insightful that I often just paused to appreciate a phrase or a description - Xingyin commenting on the forgotten beauty of a half-moon, visualizing a “painstaking effort” as “trying to untangle a folded cobweb…”, reflecting on the role death plays in an immortals’ war (“Death would feast well, gorging itself over the immortal table it had once been cast from”).

And the character development! The character arcs for Xingyin, Wenzhi and Liwei in particular are so well-paced, and Tan’s execution of the love triangle is so surprising and original that I wasn’t even frustrated with it? I am no fan of love triangles, but this one works, particularly because it’s less about the conflict between characters and more about their personal growth - I loved the evolving alliances and the constant flux between each of the three.

The. Ending. It was so layered and so entirely unexpected. I can’t stop thinking about it. This was a 4-star read, solely due to plot confusion at the start, but then the ending swept me up, so a solid 4.5 it is. 

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy came as such a lovely surprise! This recent release is a stand-alone fantasy romance (they DO exist, fantasy friends!!) and was overall a four-star read for me (swipe for the mini review). Our two loveable main characters are Mercy, an undertaker, and Hart, a marshal (in our fantasy world, this is a federal official who patrols the border of Tanria and hunts drudges, aka zombies). A few small details that immediately won me over - Mercy is a TALL GIRL (hallelujah, tall friends, there is no massive-height-difference-trope at work here, our girl is tall and proud of it). And Hart is a library patron who frequently mentions his inter-library loans while patrolling the western wilds of Tanria. We have a mystery-pen-pal storyline at the start, as Mercy and Hart, sworn enemies, begin anonymously (and unknowingly) writing to each other, and the absolute sincerity of their connection underscores their admissions of loneliness and yearning and dreaming.

This was a well-paced read (I read it in a day or so because I didn't want to put it down) with two primary mysteries at the heart of the story. One of those mysteries felt a bit disconnected - it was an easier one to anticipate and I am not entirely sure it was as necessary to the storyline. The other mystery, though - executed beautifully. The writing at times was a bit over-descriptive for me personally, but not in a way that distracted me while I was reading.

I would absolutely recommend this one - these (very small) notes aside, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read with adorably sweet and sensitive main characters that you will want to take with you.