Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Book Review: The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman



Description from the Amazon website:
From beloved author Alice Hoffman comes the spellbinding prequel to her bestseller, Practical Magic.

Find your magic.

For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.

The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy. Thrilling and exquisite, real and fantastical, The Rules of Magic is a story about the power of love reminding us that the only remedy for being human is to be true to yourself.

My review:

 I am already a big fan of Alice Hoffman because of the book and movie Practical Magic so I could not wait to read The Rules of Magic.  Let me start by saying, I hope this book is made into a movie. I really enjoyed the story and getting to know the Owens family better.  This book is a follow-up to Practical Magic, but can easily stand on its own.  I liked how the Owens children found ways to overcome and deal with a terrible curse that was put on their family.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book for review of my honest opinion. I look forward to reading more books by Alice Hoffman.