Magic Lessons

I was ready to fall in love with this book, it has some of my favourite tropes, tashreads catnip if you will. Strong female leads, witches, magic (but not too much!), revenge, narrow escapes and complicated mother daughter relationships.

But I'm sorry to report that I failed to connect to the way it was written. I felt the writing style kept me at arm's length from the characters - I never really knew them. The story was great (and I think it would translate well to screen - just like Practical Magic). I am in the minority, most people loved it, but the magic of this novel fell a bit flat for me.

Many thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! The pace, the people, the surprises. I can't wait to read the next one.

Rating: 4 leaves out of 5-Characters: 3/5-Cover: 3/5-Story: 3.75/5-Writing: 5/5Genre: Fantasy, HisFic, Magical Realism, Romance-Fantasy: 3.5/5-HisFic: 5/5-Magic Realism: 5/5-Romance: 3.75/5Type: BookWorth?: I believe so.Hated Disliked Meh It Was Okay Liked LoveI am so glad I am reading this in story order. I loved the story. The characters were so/so. Maria annoyed me when she was younger but loved her as she grown. Same with her daughter. I was disgusted with a 30 yr old man knocking up a 16 year old girl, but what do you expect from those times? Rebecca is a POS and you can't change my mind.I loved seeing the women rise up from their trauma and the things I recognized from Practical Magic (the movie). What I didn't care for too much was the filler between scenes. I know it made the book run through smoothly, Alice does this in pretty much all of the books I have read by her, but somehow I don't mind it. It is like a car ride where you have this long stretch of nothingness but you admire it for the beauty.

Ok, so... Chapter 11 was wonderful. Absolutely perfect. I didn't expect that.
But then Alice spoiled it all by writing and writing and writing and writing... and writing hogwash. I hate the movie Practical Magic because of the ending. The whole town hated them for being witches, but then everyone just magically loved them. And here this end of 17th century Salem that burned witches just 10 years earlier, we have these witches everyone knows to be witches being respected citizens who do modern things and everyone is happy and loves them. Yeah, sure. Tell me that story about little Red Ridinghood, too. Sure a teenage girl walks around wearing trousers and reading books, sure :-D Why, didn't they make pocketbooks in the 17th century?

I also don't believe in karma. “The witches' rede” or Wiccan Rede was written in the 60s. The 1960s, that is. It's a lot of BS, IMHO. I believe witchcraft is like anything else one does, and one's personal ethics is the only rede one needs. We all know you don't get what you give, nice people are nice to everyone, mean people are mean to everyone, and if someone is having a p*ssy day, they don't suddenly become all sunshine and unicorn farts just because you smile to them. I suppose you can tell I'm not a “white witch”, nor a fluffy bunny, but more a “grey witch” and a stinking badger pagan :-D But - I accept that in Alice's universe witches bleed black acid and follow the ancient laws from the 1960s - so mote it be.

There were also a lot of historically questionable details there, like how likely was it for some witch living in the woods to get their hands on ginger? Also, they didn't call the wild herbal teas “liberty teas” before the Boston Tea Party.

Nevertheless, I like Alice Hoffman's books. It's easy to read her writing (even though she doesn't know when to stop:-D) and she creates interesting characters and stories.

I was instantly hooked from the very first page. It's like she bewitched the pages and I couldn't help but read until my eyes were burning!

We start right back at the beginning of the Owen's family line. Maria, what a captivating woman. I could not get enough of her. She truly shines and I could feel the loss emanating from the words and into my soul. I felt like my heart was screaming and had no release. The way the characters blend and the manner their lives were intertwined... Sheer brilliance. To see how Maria and Faith turned from children to women and the strife they endured, especially during the most dangerous time in our history, not just for witches but for women as a whole.

It was the such a genius roller coaster of true good magic, dark magic, passion, life, surrender and despair. I would have been shaken less placed in a martini shaker. I loved the little notes about what plants do what too. It made me wish I had a garden so full of magical wonder!

I thoroughly enjoyed how well researched the book was and the tempo the book was written at. The highs and the lows. It was all done with such delicacy and charm that you wonder how anyone can write a book any better.

If you love books with strong yet humble lead characters and men who bring you trees from the furthest reaches of the world, then this is the book for you. It truly was the best of the three for me.

Your heart will break a dozen different ways but the love that shines from the pages will have you put back together a better person.

5 stars from me. I cannot wait to see what comes next

This prequel-prequel to “Practical Magic” is brilliant. Fantastic writing, storytelling, rich character development and complex character relationships, and plot. I often go into books knowing little about them, so I was surprised to find it is historical fiction covering the end of the Salem Witch Trials in the US and more. I was constantly looking things up and who knew a fiction book would lead me to learn more about Dengue Fever. I also thought I knew how this book was going to end, but I was very pleasantly surprised.

A masterpiece. Maria Owens, a witch, start as a foundling in Essex County, England in the 1600s and ends up in Essex County, Massachusetts in time for the Salem witch trials. Along the way, she finds her mother, falls in love (unfortunately), and sails to Boston. The author's lyrical style, combined with recipes for healing herbs that can cure a fever or a heartache, season the story. This prequel to [b:Practical Magic 22896 Practical Magic (Practical Magic #1) Alice Hoffman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490354120l/22896.SY75.jpg 4030671] and [b:The Rules of Magic 34037113 The Rules of Magic (Practical Magic, #0.2) Alice Hoffman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1492802012l/34037113.SX50.jpg 55038896], MAGIC LESSONS can definitely be read without reading the others, but I doubt you will. I stayed up until 4:00 am to finish this book. Yes, it's just that good.

This is technically the second time reading this book. I should do that more often because I understood and noticed things more the second run through. I love this book and the story and characters. The ending was bittersweet but understandable. 

Hoffman does it again!

Magic Lessons is the origin story to the famous Practical Magic (which was made into a movie starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, a favorite of mine!). It takes place in the late 17th Century and follows Maria Owens, the original Owens Witch who casts the deadly curse that plagues the Owens family for centuries to come. Magic Lessons definitely has a darker, more violent tone than do Practical Magic and Rules of Magic - perhaps indicative of the setting of the novel (Salem Witch Trials), or maybe Hoffman just wanted to try something new! Either way, I felt this darker tone to be very refreshing; Hoffman does not however stray from her themes of sisterhood/womanhood, magic, and family. It might sound like a weird combo (motherly love in the times of unprecedented and mind-boggling persecution of innocent women), but it really really works!

The book takes us around the world, from England to Curacao to Salem, with each location having a completely different tone and energy. The stark differences in description between each location highlights Maria's journey from abandoned orphan to powerful witch. Along the way, she falls in love (of course!) and masters her Craft.

One (small) thing I didn't love about this one was, well, Maria. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand why Maria needed to be the protagonist (original mother witch, duh), but I didn't find myself completely enthralled by her story or her motivations. She was obviously a brilliant and powerful character, but for some reason (probably me), every decision she made was “meh” to me. I'm having a lot of trouble explaining this right now, but it just didn't feel like she had a ton of personality - To me, Maria's personality and decisions just felt like a product of everyone else around her (perhaps until the end). Ok, I'm realizing now that maybe that's the whole point of Maria's story arc... nevertheless, I think Maria was exactly the narrator we needed to set the foundation for the iconic Owen's women to come!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an e-ARC for Magic Lessons - it's a must read for Hoffman lovers!