Garden Spells (Waverley Family, #1) in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jan 14, 2024 Alison Rose rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2-star-books, women-authors, read-in-2024

Too many cooks spoil the broth and too many POVs spoil the novel.

Uhhhh this was underwhelming. I was expecting something much more enjoyable and engaging based on the reviews from most of my friends on here. I will say that I appreciated how the author handled Sydney's abusive relationship, showing that someone ending up in such a situation does not mean they were dumb or pathetic, and that once you're in it, it can be extremely difficult and dangerous to try to escape it. I liked that she took Too many cooks spoil the broth and too many POVs spoil the novel.

Uhhhh this was underwhelming. I was expecting something much more enjoyable and engaging based on the reviews from most of my friends on here. I will say that I appreciated how the author handled Sydney's abusive relationship, showing that someone ending up in such a situation does not mean they were dumb or pathetic, and that once you're in it, it can be extremely difficult and dangerous to try to escape it. I liked that she took her time to plan things out, bit by bit, and all of the careful moves she had to make to finally get herself and her daughter away. And then her shitfuck ex showing up again was also very realistic, because that kind of man doesn't just give up when his victim leaves. He will go to the ends of the Earth to get her back into his clutches. I also enjoyed the kind of kitchen-magic Claire had, although I wish it had been more prominent.

So that aspect of it I thought was well-done (although the resolution of sorts was a little silly and way too quick and convenient), but good Lord, otherwise this was really dull. There were too many voices and too little plot. I do not know why we needed brief POV sections from Tyler and Emma and Henry and Evanelle and Fred and Bay...it was absurd. IMO this should have just been from Sydney's and Claire's POVs and focused in on them, their family, their troubles. The other stuff felt like chaff that added nothing to the story for me. Emma and her family in particular were incredibly annoying and inane. This weird insistence that the only reason Sydney was back in town after a decade was to steal Emma's husband back because they dated in high school was really dumb, and Emma was the most pathetic female character I've seen in a long time. Most of the male characters had like two personality traits and that was it. "Hi I'm Tyler, I paint and I like Claire for no discernible reason whatsoever." Wow interesting.

I wish the apple tree would've just taken all of them except Sydney and Bay out. Not really but kinda. ...more

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Oct 24, 2012 Cora rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, kindle, magical-realism, 1st-in-series, american-south, abuse, north-carolina, series, woman-author, american-author

Garden Spells is the story of two sister in a small North Carolina town. Claire, the older sister, lives alone in her grandmother's house until her younger sister returns with her young daughter. The Waverly women are notorious for their special abilities. Claire makes food with the flowers and plants that grow in her garden that can affect those who eat it. Her honeysuckle wine can help you see in the dark and the apples from her apple tree gives anyone who takes a bite a vision of the most sig ...more

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Feb 28, 2010 Lauren rated it really liked it

Reminds me a lot of the book Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. I liked this book a lot better then PM though. The newest book by Ms. Allen will be out in 2 weeks. I really like her style of magical flair and fantasy.

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