The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic

This book is described as for fans of Practical Magic and Gilmore Girls and I can totally see that. There's a small town vibe to it reminiscent of Gilmore Girls and the messy lives of a family of witches like Practical Magic.

Sadie loves her magic - it's what makes her her. So the fact that she has a curse that if/when she experiences four heartbreaks she'll lose her magic she was fine leading a lonely life away from people that could cause her heartbreak. She's already had two and she's as guarded as can be. But when her first heartbreak and childhood sweetheart, Jake, moves back home and her second heartbreak, her estranged brother, also comes back home she has her walls up. Then her grandmother who raised her and her brother is diagnosed with cancer her world is turned upside down. As family secrets comes to light Sadie is doing everything in her power to maintain some semblance of control.

This book was both exciting and like being wrapped in a warm hug. I found the FMC, Sadie, to be kind of annoying and frustrating but I also loved her dearly. It made her character arc so much more satisfying. I did fall in love with every other character and I think my frustration with Sadie was not seeing herself the way the people around her saw her (for good or for bad).

The small town setting was also so perfect. And the magical aspects made the book.....magical for lack of a better word. There was some great buildup and foreshadowing that kept me intrigued through each chapter. And each chapter has some recipes that, along with the descriptions in the book, will make you hungry and want to curl up with a cup of tea. The ending was great and could be a satisfying ending to a standalone or open it up to have a sequel. I, for one, would be ecstatic for a sequel as I've fallen in love with these people and their town.

Highly recommend - perfect read for any season.

I have so many thoughts on this book. I want to start by saying I had such high hopes for this book. I wanted this book to be amazing so badly. What drew me into this book initially was it was marketed as Practical Magic meets Gilmore Girls. And quite literally every single post the author made stated this. That is essentially all that was given to us unless you read the synopsis on Goodreads or a retail website. To this point, the book missed the mark. The book encompasses magic in a small town, which seems to be the only necessary criteria for this categorization.

The story itself was messy. The writing felt all over the place and at times I had a hard time following. There was simply far too much detail for things that didn't serve a purpose. I don't need to know what every herbs magical property in in every baked good in the cafe. There were things that took me out of the story. At one point the main character says she feels like Elsa. Also, I doubt witches would use young living thieves essential oils... are we promoting an MLM or reading a fall witchy novel?

The plot lines felt extremely under developed. The romance plot was hard to get invested in. There wasn't a lot of interaction between the main characters. We're told there was a falling out of sorts a decade ago but never given detail. Some of the plot points felt very cliche - grandma has cancer and the heroine does whatever she can to cure it, love interest's fiancé faked a pregnancy. I also did not like the religious elements but that may just be a me preference.

Onto the main character Sadie... overall she was just extremely unlikable. She came across as thinking she can do no wrong and is better than everyone else. Also she steals a dog and never gives it back? I'm sorry what?

Overall this book felt poorly edited (ex. “...being normal is an oxymoron.”) and structured (I.e. incomplete sentences). The concept of a witchy small town book is great but this completely missed the mark and should have gone back to the plotting stage.

I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

In this book you will find: On screen death, almost suicide, mentioned rape, faked pregnancy, loss of magic

This book was sold to me on giving practical magic vibes and being perfect for fall and while it did give those vibes it was much darker than I expected. Not in a bad way but I would definitely check trigger warnings, I mentioned some of the triggering things I saw above.

However, overall I thought it was good and gave me the vibes fall vibes I've been craving. Love the use of kitchen magic and most of the recipes found in the book I would want to try in real life, so it's an added bonus of 2 books in one. I thought it would be more of a murder mystery and it was more the death of one version of yourself in favor of a new one, which is something that all of us have to do at one point or another.

If the triggers don't bother you and having some dark things come out of left field that I think this book is for you!

1.4/5

This was a complete miss for me. If I didn't have the audiobook for background noise, I would not have finished this book. I would have likely just skimmed through the recipes provided and called it a day. 

Sadie was a terrible main character. If you do it well, having a terrible MC works; in this case, with the vibe of the story, it did not at all. Especially since it seemed as if the author was trying to justify their actions. She is incredibly immature for being 28 years old. It seems that in her mind, everything she does is correct, from using truth serum on people without their consent to kidnapping.

The relationships between the characters change too quickly. First they're mad at each other and then they make up and are the closest again. This is seen in all the relationships Sadie has throughout the book.  I did not care for the romance. Had it been 2–5 years, I would have given them the benefit of the doubt for them to still be in love but 10 years is too much of a stretch. At that point, it's like meeting a completely different person. So this felt like insta-love. I thought that everyone in this book should be alone for a very long time and consider receiving help. 

It covers far too many dark issues for a book promoted as a cozy read. It should have really simply focused on having 2-3 plots and developed them. That would have been better instead of jumping into the next plot point before you even finish the first one. This led to a bunch of plot holes that never got resolved. 

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. This is not a cozy read at all. You can skip this one and find another book that executes this concept.