The Invisible Hour

I go into every Alice Hoffman book thinking it is going to be as magical and perfect as Practical Magic, and I am always "slightly" let down. But really, I loved this - it was just different from what I was expecting. Alice Hoffman always writes BEAUTIFULLY and her words are like a warm bath on a cold night. They just roll over you. The Invisible Hour is about a mother and daughter both trapped in a commune. Told in alternating storylines, the reader discovers how Ivy could be tricked into joining such a cult like community and the repercussions it has on her daughter. When her daughter starts sneaking out to walk to the library in the next town, she discovers a whole new world in books. And when she reads The Scarlett Letter which has striking similarities to her childhood she feels connected to the long dead, Nathaniel Hawthorn. I don't want to say anything else and risk spoiling the plot. Just know that it is beautiful magical realism. I love me some Alice Hoffman!

The Book of Magic

I adore all the books in this series and this final installment (I think it's the last? it felt very final) was "chef's kiss!" From start to finish I could not put it down and I definitely teared up at the end. As readers of the first three books know, the Owens family women have been cursed in love for over three hundred years. Anyone they love is doomed to die before their time. All Owens girl's know not to fall in love, all except Sally's two daughters, Antonia and Kylie. Sally's heart has been broken twice by the curse and she is very anti-magic. She has refused to tell her daughters anything about their witchy ancestry so they have no idea to not fall in love. When Kylie's love of her life, Gideon is struck by a car and put in a coma - all because of a curse she didn't know about - she decides to take matters into her own hands. What follows is a dangerous journey back to where it all started with their ancestor, Hannah Owens, in England. Fantastic, compelling, and magical. I gobbled this book up and it gave me all the feels!

The Rules of Magic

This book was spectacular from start to finish! Honestly I liked this even more than Practical Magic. I LOVED learning about the great-aunts and how they came into magic and into the Owens family house. It was a fantastic prequel that began in New York City  with an oddball trio of siblings - Franny, Jet, and Vincent. They grew up completely "normal" - even though there has always been something pulling at them. When Franny gets an invite to go to her aunt's house in Massachusetts for her 17th birthday she feels the pull. She never even knew she had family outside her household, so the siblings are extra curious. All three decide to spend the summer with their mysterious aunt and that's when everything changes. They learn about their family's history, curse, and magic bloodline. Nothing will ever be the same for them. Filled with love, loss, lyrical genius, and heartbreaking beauty - this book is impossible to put down. I loved every flawed, complicated, and beautiful character. 

Magic Lessons

Captivating from the very beginning - fans of Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic, will absolutely adore every line in this prequel. Set in the seventeenth century this prequel traces the family magic all the way back to Maria Owens and her daughter. Filled with adventure, travel, curses, familiars, the witch trials in Salem, love, and the all too familiar witchy adages - this prequel fits perfectly within the series and help fleshes out the backstory of a family's magic. I don't want to divulge too much other than this is gorgeously written and will make you want to re-read the other books in this series. Truly this may be my favorite. I adored the characters and the trials they faced as Owens women. Fantastic - I hope that Alice Hoffman writes more about this amazing family. The Owens' curses, magic, and familiars merged together for a perfect October read. I need more!

Practical Magic

I haven't seen the movie in a minute, but I grew up LOVING it. I was way past due reading the book the film was actually based on and I''m so excited that I listened to the audiobook version of it, it was WONDERFUL! I couldn't have asked for a better narrator, she embodied the Owens sisters so completely! It's a witchy book that's not really about witches; it's about sisterhood, love, trust, and hope. It's beautiful and haunting and you really root for all the characters despite their faults. It's the perfect fall time read as the leaves change and the witching hour grows closer. The Owens sisters had a unique childhood; raised by their aunts, the girls were mercilessly teased and bullied for their aunts potions and love spells the villagers used in desperation. Sally just wants to be normal and settle down, whereas Gillian wants to paint the town red; jumping from man to man until she can get the hell out of town. Years pass and the sisters have moved on with their lives though they haven't seen each other much in two decades. Sally is living with her two daughters in a nice suburban town when Gillian shows up on her doorstep with a problem so big it threatens to tear everything apart. Wonderful. Such unique and vibrant characters! The writing is beautiful as well! Although the movie is quite different; it's a wonderful tribute to the book!