Author: Alice Hoffman
Series: Practical Magic #2
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Magical Realism, Fiction, Romance
First Published: October 12, 2021
Book Description: The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger—the curse is already at work.
A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about who she is and what her own dark powers are, her aunt Franny comes to understand that she is ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally Owens realizes that she is willing to give up everything for love.
The Book of Magic is a breathtaking conclusion that celebrates mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, and anyone who has ever been in love.
Review:
I was debating if I should just not review this book. I took this out from the library on a whim because I started this series a few years ago and left it on going for a while. I remembered the first book enough that I didn't feel the need to refresh my memory in order to continue.
To give you an idea:
This book felt like it dragged, I was not invested in the characters or their plights. I was in one word BORED! This was clearly not for me, I wanted to enjoy it but it simply did not call for me.
The Owens are cursed, we knew that from the first installment. Here we follow the next generation of the Owens family, Sally doe snot feel like her daughters are in an age of falling in love, therefore they are not told about the curse.
The very idea that young women in college and living away from home are not interested in men- is plainly stupid. Why would she think that the daughter would actually come running to her an aloof mother to let her know once they started to get interested in a specific person? It's plainly stupid. Especially considering that the Owens has spent years working on figuring out the shortcuts to avoid the curse's worst consequences.
The ways to avoid the curse- are inconsistent the most illogical was the example that you can fake a death and then move away from the family and live a happy life with a partner for a few decades. Where the hell would that make sense? So if you pretend to ignore the curse it does not follow you, but for the youngest members that do not know the curse exists- the first time they say 'I love you' to their boyfriend the curse is activated and he ends up in a coma. You have to suspend your disbelief in several chapters.
There were several aspects that I thought I was going to enjoy, we have:
The exploration of the origin of the curse.
Research on an obscure manuscript that shows spells and incantations- believed to be of dark nature.
A secret society dedicated to the dark arts
The descendant of the man who caused the curse in the first place
A mystery involving a great sacrifice that is required in order to dissolve any curse in dark magic
Unfortunately, the story as a whole did not work because the things that annoyed me took the main focus as I was trying to read. I will be giving up on the series - the main series is complete but there are some prequels in the same series, I will not even try them.
This was used towards the challenges:
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