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!

A Discovery of Witches

This book started out SUPER slow, I wasn't sure I was going to make it. But I did and I got super invested in the characters. There was a bit of a twilight/50 Shades of Gray vibe as the main vampire is VERY protective and controlling of his love interest, the hapless witch, who needs to be rescued time and again. They weren't my favorite characters and I found myself really identifying with the side characters (of which there were plenty). The quick and dirty summary of this book is that a historian (who is also a witch - who denies her powers and lives as a human) who studies old alchemy manuscripts finds a weird bewitched text in an Oxford library and suddenly witches, daemons, and vampires are following her every move. They want the manuscript and they can't believe a lesser witch such as her somehow found this seemingly lost text and managed to open it. Her life is in danger as all the magical creatures converge on her. One creature (who may or may not have ulterior motives) seems to actually care about her. A scientist (whose also a sexy centuries old vampire) takes her under his wing and protects her until they figure out what the big deal about this manuscript is.

Serpent & Dove

Give me the sequel and give it to me now! I haven't been this obsessed with a young adult fantasy/adventure for years and I'm ALL IN!

A witch is forced to marry a witch hunter... who doesn't know she's a witch. How can this possibly go wrong?! Delightful and full of characters that just reach out to you from the page and right into your heart. Funny, inventive, and endlessly witty. I won't say much more than that, other than I read this book in like one day. I couldn't put it down! As a final note, I will say I pictured the Archbishop (head of the witch hunters) as Frollo from Hunchback of Notre Dame. You're welcome. 

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!

The Daughter's of Temperance Hobbs

This book was the perfect witchy summer read that I didn't know I needed. I have never read the first book in this series, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment or understanding of this at all. Connie thought she just had to worry about finishing her book, getting her tenure packet in, and grading her student' papers; but on top of that her boyfriend just proposed, she might be pregnant, and she found an old family heirloom that could turn her research and life around. Her mother has convinced Connie that no men live long after "the next generation is set" and Connie is desperate to discover if that is true. She plunges herself into researching family history and realizes that her mother is right, but there may be a loophole, weather work. If she can figure out the writings she discovered in her mother's house, she may be able to save the life of the man she loves and become more intimately connected to her family history then she ever thought possible. Fascinating read! I loved the history components and all the characters, I'll have to go back and read the first one now!

Spell On Wheels

I LOVED this graphic novel! I think it sets the right tone for starting off a series and I loved the three witches it featured. It's fun, sassy, intriguing, and honest. Everything I want in a comic. It was refreshing to see some diversity in body types and race as well. Think charmed, but way cooler. Someone breaks into their house and steals some of their magical goods, they find it's popped up on the online black market so they go on a magical road trip to recover all their items and seek vengeance on whatever black heart stole from them. Super fun and I can't wait to continue the series!

A Wrinkle in Time

This was one of those classics that I never got around to reading as a child. Which is honestly quite a bummer, because as an adult, I couldn't relate to a lot of it. I found myself irrationally yelling at Meg for whining to much, whereas had I been nine I would have completely understood what Meg was going through. While this children's fantasy was good, I don't think I'll be checking out the rest of the quintet. The premise is that stubborn Meg and her younger brother Charles Wallace find themselves cavorting with a passel of witches, their schoolmate and newly found friend, Calvin, also comes along for the ride. Meg and Charles Wallace's father has been missing for several year and Mrs. Who, Mrs. Witch, and Mrs. Whatsit (the three witches) take the three children on a ride throughout the galaxy to find their father and help battle evil. It's full of fun and fancy (and hidden religious meanings) that young children will love. While I'm not inspired to read more of the series. I am inspired to check out the movie.