TL;DR: A charming tale about coming home, even if you’re already there, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen is as magical as the Waverly’s garden.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
Sisters Sydney and Claire Waverly haven’t ever been close, but when Sydney arrives on Claire’s doorstep with her daughter, Bay, they get the chance to start again. They also have to face their past, open their hearts to the future, and finally find that safe space called home.
I was in a reading slump. Nothing I’d read captured my interest, until I read this book. It has a touch of magic and a sweet story centered around family, forgiveness, and how to move past your past. The sisters are flawed in different ways, the magic they each own is subtle and yet powerful, and the conclusion fits perfectly with what the author set up. For all this and more, I’ve given it 4.5 stars.
The Plot
Claire Waverly lives in her grandmother’s house in a small town in North Carolina. She has a successful business, using herbs and a touch of magic to create an environment, enhance emotion, or even to increase night vision. But she’s also closed herself off to many things, including change.
When her wayward sister Sydney turns up on her doorstep with her daughter, Bay, Claire’s life is turned upside down. Sydney left home a long time ago, much like their mother had. Her return brings back all she left behind, while prodding old wounds – and her magic – as well. The sisters must navigate the past to create their future, along with the bumps and bruises that past caused.
What I liked & liked less
This book is the epitome of charming. It’s easy to read, full of interesting descriptions and a funny apple tree, and includes a few life lessons along the way. I loved a lot about this book and the cozy feeling I had when I read it.
Claire Waverly has structured her life so much that she doesn’t have room for anything else, including love. Her journey to dismantle the walls she built to protect herself is interesting and she fights it almost all the way. While I enjoyed the romance aspect of the book, there was one detail that felt out of place with Claire’s story.
(Small spoiler here) She never talks about past relationships but has no problem having sex for what could be the first time and even enjoys it. It’s a small thing – a very small thing – that niggled at the back of my brain. Otherwise, all her efforts to fight the romance worked perfectly.
Sydney Waverly has a darker past and the scars to prove it. The author did a great job showing us that tension of what she was running from while also showing her growth as a character. Sydney definitely has more to learn, forgive, and grow from. The author handled this well – it didn’t feel like she rushed any one aspect of it and there’s still more for her to do to address her wounds from the past.
The secondary cast of characters, a few of whom have their own POVs (but only for one or two chapters) were well-rounded, interesting, and reflected some of the same themes we see Sydney and Claire struggling with (stuck in the past and lonely). I enjoyed the sprinkling of other POVs because it fleshed out parts of the story to create a fuller world for the book.
This is definitely a small town, and it comes with all the backbiting, jealousies, and powerplays you’d expect from the setting. What I liked about how the author handled the small-town aspect was that it didn’t end with a bow and the Waverly’s being accepted and included in the high society of the other families introduced in the book. There is no happily ever after on that front, but there is a small shift in one of the characters, Emma, which feels consistent with Emma’s history with Sydney.
The magic and the lore around it fit with the cozy feel of the book. It’s present without being too much, it works but not all the time, and it’s a subtle thing, a perspective shift, rather than a spell that makes people do things. I also loved the aunt, Evanelle, who hates all the stuff she has in her house but also can’t resist her magic’s need to give people random items. It shows that the magic is also a burden, but one they’ve all accepted.
To Sum Up (Too Late!)
If you love books that feel like a cozy blanket and a hot cup of cocoa, you’ll like this book. If you like books about families but with a touch of magic, you’ll also like this book. It is Practical Magic, but with less darkness and less community happy-ever-afterness. It feels rich, warm, and soothing, even though there is some darkness to it. I needed Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen in a way I hadn’t expected and thoroughly enjoyed. I also look forward to reading more of Sarah Addison Allen’s work on those days where a little comfort would be good.
About the Author
New York Times Bestselling novelist Sarah Addison Allen brings the full flavor of her southern upbringing to bear on her fiction — a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town sensibility.
Born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Allen grew up with a love of books and an appreciation of good food (she credits her journalist father for the former and her mother, a fabulous cook, for the latter). In college, she majored in literature — because, as she puts it, “I thought it was amazing that I could get a diploma just for reading fiction. It was like being able to major in eating chocolate.”
After graduation, Allen began writing seriously. Her big break occurred in 2007 with the publication of her first mainstream novel, Garden Spells, a modern-day fairy tale about an enchanted apple tree and the family of North Carolina women who tend it. Booklist called Allen’s accomplished debut “spellbindingly charming.” The novel became a Barnes & Noble Recommends selection, and then a New York Times Bestseller.
Allen continues to serve heaping helpings of the fantastic and the familiar in fiction she describes as “Southern-fried magic realism.” Clearly, it’s a recipe readers are happy to eat up as fast as she can dish it out. Her published books to date are: Garden Spells (2007), The Sugar Queen (2008), The Girl Who Chased the Moon (2010), The Peach Keeper (2011), Lost Lake (2014), First Frost (2015) and Other Birds (August 30, 2022).
If you wish to purchase this book, pick your vendor of choice, or just cave to the man and get it from Amazon.
This fills in the Magical Realism slot on my Fantasy Bingo 2023 card.