Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Garden Spells

Author: Sarah Addison Allen
Publisher: Bantam Books
Year: 2007
Genre: Magical Realism
Age: Adult 18+
Page Count: 290 pages

Rating:

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This is the first book in a duology about the Waverley family. It was this months pick for the Cook the Books book club that I run at the library. We usually read traditional cooking murder mysteries like Joanne Fluke but when the book club started I told them as long as it involved food & they wanted to read it that was fine.This book isn't the traditional cooking murder mystery but I still really enjoyed it & I'm hoping to eat something delicious at this months meeting. It's kinda fun meeting every month & not knowing which recipe the host will pick, you never know what you'll get.

When this book was first chosen I was a little worried about liking it, it didn't sound like something I would normally read. But once I started reading it I was getting some serious Practical Magic vibes & I liked that. Practical Magic is one of my favorite books & I love Alice Hoffman, I've read several of her other books. So I pressed on & actually really like the book in the end & I want to read the next one.

In this story we meet the Waverley sisters. They live in Bascom, North Carolina in a big old Queen Anne style house that overlooks the town square. They grew up there with their grandmother after their mother left & eventually died. Now Claire presides over the house since their grandmothers death. her kid sister Sydney has come back home with her daughter Bay, fleeing her abusive boyfriend, Bay's father. Claire isn't sure about Sydney coming home, espcally since she starts trouble the second she arrives based on her high school expereinces. But Sydney surprises Claire & the rest of the town with her actions & the love she has for her daughter & her family. The sisters are related to a woman named Evanelle who has a particular talent for bringing people what they need. They may not need it right away but some day they will eed that strange objects she brings. The Waverley's have a magical garden behind the huge house. It has herbs that can be used to heal, flowers that can trick the mind, & an apple tree with a mind of it's own. Between the sisters various love interests, the whispers of the town's people, and the story of the feud between the Waverley's & the Clark's that started generations ago this book is filled with so much magic it will practically turn the pages itself.

One of the things that I loved about this book besides it being funny & full of life was that it had a happy ending. I won't give it away but between a sister on the run with her child, an abusive boyfriend, & a town full of people that think the Waverley's are witches you can imagine for yourself all that could go wrong. Plus the mix of the magic apple tree, Claire's herbal concotions, & a small southern town full of secrets makes the story very interesting.