Synopsis:
Welcome to Myrtlewood, a quirky town, steeped in magic, tea and mystery…
Life’s a struggle for Rosemary Thorn and her teen daughter, Athena. But their regular troubles are turned upside down after Granny Thorn’s mysterious death.
Despite her cousin’s sinister manoeuvrings, Rosemary returns to Myrtlewood and the sprawling, dilapidated Thorn Manor. But there’s more to the old house than meets the eye, as Rosemary and Athena soon find out — in a whirlwind of magic, adventure, mystical creatures and endless cups of tea.
Life in Myrtlewood would be bliss if Rosemary could only clear her name in a certain murder investigation, solve the mystery and stay out of mortal peril – for at least a little while!
A small town with endless secrets, strange activities and a house with a mind of its own.
Review:
I picked up Accidental Magic because it was advertised as Practical Magic (which I haven’t seen) meets Gilmore Girls (which I love) and I feel like it did deliver on those vibes. You could definitely tell Rosemary and Athena’s relationship was supposed to be like Lorelai and Rory and honestly, it worked. Their banter was very similar and I enjoyed that Rosemary was very rambly, just like Lorelai.
The “mystery” part of the book took a very long time to get going and honestly, you get to the end of the book and you don’t really learn that much about it. Well, you find out who the murderer is, but it does feel a little underwhelming. It is, however, a good set-up for the next book.
God, I love a book with weird townies (just like Gilmore Girls) and this is another area where this book delivered perfectly. The inhabitants of Myrtlewood were strange to say the least, but I really liked them. I also loved how open they were about magic and treated it like an everyday normal thing to do. It’s refreshing compared to the common ‘we must keep this secret, you must never talk about magic or cast spells’ palaver that usually happens in witchy books.
I thought this book was going to have autumnal vibes (based purely on the cover and witchy nature of the book) but sadly, it did not. This book is actually set in spring and while I did enjoy the festivities, I think a murder mystery set in autumn is far more interesting.
Accidental Magic wasn’t really a quick read for me and sometimes I did feel like I was making no progress, but once the story really started to move, I got through the book quite quickly. I’m curious to know what is going on, so I am planning to read the next instalment.
Check out Young Creative Press on all socials
You can also check out my StoryGraph here
Like this post? Why not read this one too: Re-Watch Review: Gilmore Girls S2-EP13
[…] Like this post? Why not read this one too: Book Review: Accidental Magic by Iris Beaglehole […]