I received this as an ARC and I just want to say that I loved this book. It was so cozy and cute. It explored some difficult concepts when it came to Scarlett’s feelings of guilt and inadequacy.

Scarlett is a witch from the town of Oak Haven, who fled 10 years ago to San Francisco. She receives an urgent message from her older sister asking her to come home because the magic has gone haywire. Reluctantly, she makes the trek home to discover that not much has changed since she last left. Her mother is still harsh and her sister’s witty, but her almost love? He’s turned into a hunk! This story follows Scarlett’s time back home and she rediscovers her first love and faces the things that made her flee in the first place.

I love a good second chance romance. Nate and Scarlett were always meant to be. And the way he stayed in the grove for a whole year put the icing on the cake. He never rushed her, even though she was hot and cold. He literally followed her lead and would follow her anywhere.

The dynamic between the sisters is what you would expect from teenagers. That’s something that I didn’t quite like. Generally, the personalities would mature after 10 years, but it seemed the sisters literally picked up where they left off. Not the mention the way Scarlett immediately felt inadequate around her mom. Her mother has a terrible way of expressing her concern and love. But not everyone can be perfect, so I did find her mom to be relatable.

The plot was pretty easy to follow and the culprit was pretty easy to sus out. You didn’t quite know the depth of all the treachery and it left a lot of questions that could be answered in a second book, perhaps following the love story of a different sister?

I was really excited for the witchy/fall vibes of this book but unfortunately DNF’d at 40%. I liked the beginning and was curious to see what would transpire between Scarlett & Nate and how the sisters would save Oak Haven from the magic mishaps. About 15% in the book started to lose me. It was just not holding my attention. I felt like the writing was a little bit scattered and it was hard to follow the dialogues.

However, I did like how the author described the town. It was fun to picture the small town and envision the community/nosy townsfolk.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon Books UK for the eARC.

I received this book from Netgalley as an ARC. My first impressions was this was an unedited version of the story as the first 65% of the book felt very scattered. There was a coherent plot of the town's magic system being dictated by a grove of trees that were failing, magical sigils meant to keep the town safe from outsiders being disrupted, and a looming threat of losing the town, which I very much enjoyed but there were a lot of what felt like unnecessary tangents that distracted from the story line and were not fully fleshed out. These tangents left me questioning the direction of the story and unfortunately most of the tangents never ended up leading anywhere.

The relationship between the sisters seemed to fluctuate a lot between Scarletts' internal anguish and the reality of family bickering which never seemed to have a point, explanation, or resolution. The dynamics of the sisters and mother were laid out but there was very little tie in to how that dynamic came to be and why after 10 years of separation it still existed.

The story baseline of a small town in New England where the magic starts to fail and the town has to band together to figure out how to restore magic and grow as a better community had so much potential. However, the reader was left guessing on how the magic worked and why each magical community was different. It took a while to understand whether the Magicians in town were another magical community or just normal people intrigued by the concept of magic.

Overall, I really wanted to enjoy this whimsical witchy story but struggled to really follow the tangents and fully become immersed in the story. I appreciate the opportunity to read this advanced copy and would be interested to see if there is improved structure upon publishing.

The premise of this one was so great, I was eager to pick it up and devour a new fun witchy book. Unfortunately, the book itself was clunky with awkward dialogue, and it took me days and days to finish this one.

The story about magic going haywire in the town was a fun one, but it was so incredibly drawn out and the crazy amounts of pop culture references took me completely out of the story. I usually like a reference or two but there are just far too many here. By the time I got to the important parts of the story, I just didn’t really care anymore. I was irritated with the attitude of the main character, found all of the dialogue to not flow well, and didn’t even feel the romance.

Thank you for the arc. All opinions are my own,

Had to dnf at 25% unfortunately, the characters came across as immature considering their ages and the dialogue and set up for the plot was poor. It didn’t feel cosy it felt like it was trying too hard. I found it difficult to read and enjoy and I just didn’t care about the characters.

It took a while to get into this. Was almost a dnf, and felt like a bit of a chore to read initially. But I’m glad I persevered as it had me hooked towards the end.

It’s a shame the beginning is written so clunky and quite difficult to follow because it is an interesting premise and a good plot.

Scarlett returns home after 10 years to deal with magic gone wrong in her perfect magical home town. Her almost-boyfriend (they never dated) is still there (men can't leave or they'll forget the town exists) with unfinished feelings. Scarlett's sisters and mother are part of the town's history, adding weight onto "screw-up Scarlett's" shoulders, especially after the incident 10 years ago.

I started reading and was almost immediately put off by the number of pop culture references - not least "a wizard school in England". The references slowed down and the story was intriguing. Then it all went weird. This book seems to set up a series - who are the "bosses" and who is the woman tasked with keeping the evidence safe? Mama Melrose is right to question why they let one of the magicians escape when they could get more information. The book also says it takes 3 days to forget if you've been in the town long enough - he's gone a few hours and forgets, even after staying for months and figuring out how to get around the spell, where's the consistency? How did no one notice some magicians in top hats lurking in the background when the final spell took all day. Why did the magicians hang around so long?

The book ends happily but unconvincingly. The sister has been gone for a year after she's (partly) kidnapped - but there's no mention of anyone being bothered about finding out who attacked their magic (maybe it's Penn and Teller?! They have a throw away appearance if you're paying attention) or why.

The story idea has a great opportunity to create a world of magic and mystery. The pop culture references date this book immediately and it feels like more plot points were shoehorned for the sake of it. Nothing is really explained, there's no explanation of the magical systems or what the point is (or why everyone needs to forget the town really). The relationship between the sisters immediately reverts to childish and resentful (understandably for Delilah) and their mother is a "character". All their issues are eventually resolved with a sentence and a hug.

As I said, it seems to be setting up a series with the unresolved questions but I'm just not interested in finding out what happens. I'd read this concept again - if it was more focused and had less pop culture references.

I happened to spot the author biography (as the arc first page) part way into reading, which is a touch of whimsy and made me laugh, but in the context of everything else feels like another forced pop culture reference. Not everything needs to relate to the Gilmore Girls - the pen name and biography are a step too far for this story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.

The premise had such potential, and the cover was really cute, but it didn't live up to it. It had no heart, and it felt as if the words were just a vessel for strange pop culture references that didn't fit the story. The whole thing was disjointed.

Impractical magic was a fun read, but it managed to tackle the subject of grief in a good, well researched way.
I liked the idea of magic needing the woodland to thrive.
The romance was nice but fairly slow going. I did really like the ending and I wanted the main characters to end up together.

Such a great story! Loved reading this just in time for halloween! Overall a cute and quick read for halloween

DNF at 57%.

Thank you AvonUK & NetGalley for the e-ARC, but this was not for me. I typically love your cozy, witchy fall romances but this felt like it was written by a teenage girl or AI. The writing style was all over the place; way too descriptive on unnecessary parts and zero description for others.

The FMC was unbearable, immature and so negative. Her toxic relationships with her mother and older sister were not pleasant to read either.

Many thanks for the ARC of this book.

As soon as I read the description and saw on the cover that it was perfect for people who loved Charmed and Gilmore Girls, I was excited to get my hands on this book. Unfortunately it did not live up to my expectations.

I found myself bored and not very interested in continuing. I found the characters quite irritating and very changeable from one page to the next which I found quite jarring.

I also found it very difficult to get into the romance as it was very drawn out with very little pay off.

It was OK but I won't be rushing to read it again and wouldn't recommend it.

Thanks Avon UK and NetGalley for the e-ARC. The opinions are my own.

DNF'd at 25% because woof. Is AI in the room with us? Because no way this was written by a grown woman. What is it with modern romance novels being so incredibly immature? This FMC in this novel and her sisters are meant to be in their 20s or 30s, but they talk like teenagers.

I also think we need to stop with the Mad Libs pick n choose of pop culture references that include Gilmore Girls, Harry potter (in 2024?!) and Taylor Swift. Now we're throwing in Trump 😮‍💨 But please leave Tom Hardy out of this. also weird flex to have a grown woman's first thought about male witches is "do you think they enlarge their penises?" 😒

I liked the premise of this book- prodigal witch returns home to help her cursed hometown- it had potential, it just did not work for me. It leans really heavily on quirkiness and banter and pop culture references, and there’s not enough heart or focus on the characters and their relationships.

Thank you to Net Galley for the e-arc.

Overall, this book fell short of my expectations. I found myself putting it down multiple times due to a lack of engagement with the storyline. However, I pushed through to the end in order to provide a fair review.

One of the major issues with this book was the lack of context. I often found myself confused about the characters' motivations and the overall setting of the story. Additionally, the relationships between the characters felt underdeveloped and lacking in depth. This made it difficult for me to fully invest in their journeys.

Furthermore, I found reading the book to be incredibly slow, which made it a struggle to stay interested. It seemed to drag on without much excitement or momentum. And to top it off, the ending was unsatisfying.

In conclusion, this book needed a lot more work in order to reach its full potential. With more attention to detail, character development, and pacing, it could have been a much more enjoyable read. Unfortunately, as it stands, I would not recommend this book to others.

Dnf

Thank you netgalley and avon for the gifted arc.

I was really excited for this book bc I’m a huge lover of Gilmore girls and fall. I didn’t make it very far before deciding this just wasn’t for me.

I feel like it’s trying too hard to be Gilmore girls. I was hoping for something that just had the cozy, quirky vibes of Gilmore girls, not something with a very similar plot and characters. The town sounds really cute, but I wasn’t vibing with the characters.

I think a big issue I had while trying to get into this is the dialogue. I just feel like the nonstop banter from Rory and Lorelei is hard to replicate and it didn’t feel genuine here. It felt really choppy and awkward imo.

This book just isn’t for me!

I can see why this has appeal. However, while it attempts to be cozy, it’s just…boring and hard to get through. It is light and fluffy but, it could do with a little more oomph. Especially when the premise is so intriguing!

This story gives the same vibes as the tv show Charmed. Cozy town, magical mystery, saving the day, and a splash of romance.
The story was really cute, and I enjoyed the quirkiness of all of its residents. I was a bit disappointed that we were left in the dark as to why Scarlet felt it was her fault her dad died until the very end, but that was a minor thing. I also wish there would have almost been less side characters so that the main ones could have more space for deeper development.

NetGalley ARC Review✨

Impractical Magic
By Emily Grimoire
Pub Date: 10/01/24


After leaving home and living in San Francisco for 10 years, Scarlet is called home because there is something making the magic in her hometown glitch. As she confronts hard things from her past (her father's death, her former best friend, her mom and sisters) she must also try to figure out why the magic is reacking havoc.

Her hometown is a magic haven and the women of the town are witches. It is deep rooted in history and when the magic broke in the past, Scarlet helped fix it. So she must be able to fix it again, right? After a couple failures she only had one person that believes in her...her former best friend, Nate.

When she left her hometown behind, she also left her friendship with Nate behind. They were on the brink of more but then she ran away. Can they overcome their differences and rekindle their friendship? Or has Nate moved on?

Will Scarlet be able to fix the magic before the town in no longer filled with magic? Will the magic die?

This story is perfect for people who love small town settings, sweet romance with second chance tropes, and complicated family dynamics.

I loved the beginning of this book, but felt like the story was too drawn out and at about 50% through, I decided not to finish it. I enjoyed the banter, but didn’t find the story captivated me. While I can see many enjoying it and I wished that I did, I could not seem to gain enough interest in the storyline.