The small North Carolina town of Dove Pond is in trouble. Good thing they have magical sisters, southern charm, and a savior-who-doesn't-know-she's-a-savior. The novel is cozy af. I don't know if I was medically/hormonally emotional when I read it or if it just got me, but it got me.

That's maybe despite the romanticizing of books, reading, and the town library, not because of it. What's really sweet is a town coming together to help an outsider, and that outsider learning to embrace the town. I also like that the romance is secondary to the friendship story.

A heartwarming story of family and friendship and how sometimes we can't control where life takes us!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley. This is a lovely, sweet, gentle book about the magic of books, of families both found and born, of small towns, and of hope. The prose is evocative and the characters well written. Fans of The Good Witch will love this book. I can't wait to spend more time in Dove Pond.

A fun, light summer read for fans of magical realism and Sarah Addison Allen. The town of Dove Pond gives off serious Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls) vibe, and the whimsy of books speaking to a librarian to assure they’re put in just the right persons hand is adorable.

I have never walked by a bookshelf and had the books talk to me. While I have read books and felt there was something there that talked to me, but I had to open the book and find it for myself. In this case,Sarah, the town librarian had the 'knack' of giving certain people just the right book, after they had fluttered their pages or actually spoke to her. Sarah was one of the Dove sisters who all had special talents. When Grace moves to the area, Sarah believes she is the one to save the dying town. The road to success, friendship and love is rocky but provides a most satisfying read.

This book is the most heartwarming, feel good book I've read in quite awhile. If you like Fannie Flagg and will definitely love this book!!! A small town community of close friends & three newcomers to the town - pulls together as a "family" to make the floundering town prosperous again.

The story begins with Sarah Dove who has the ability to talk to books. Now, this magical aspect of the book at first made me stop reading right away. However, once I restarted, I could see it as a quirky trait and addition to the story line, but the magical powers weren't a key portion of the story.
Overall, this was a nice and charming story about a small town that is suffering from lack of businesses and growth, and how it bands together after the influence of some new blood in town, and jumps into action to host a town festival. There are moments of friendship, adjustment in life due to circumstances such as Alzheimer's, and dealing with some past events. This book also nicely sets up additional books to come featuring the town.

I love books set in small towns, books about librarians and books about books. The Book Charmer by Karen Hawkins has all of that. This is the second book I've read in the magical realism genre and so far, I'm liking this genre.

The plot is not complicated at all. But all the characters in it are so vibrant and realistic, you just can't help but want to hang out with them and get to know them more. The writing flows effortlessly and the magic, once it grips your attention, it never lets go until the last page. So be prepared to wield some self-control if you want to have 10 hours of sleep every night like I do. Just so you know, I lost and ended up sleeping for 6 hours every night until "the end." I tried to relish the words and read slowly but that obviously didn't work. You just want to keep reading.

Just read it especially if you enjoy reading about small towns, librarians and books. Definitely the perfect summer/vacation read.

This is a new author for me, but I fell in love with this book. The author is similar to Sarah Addison Allen, in her writing, which I love.
The small town story of Sarah and her magical ways swept me in right away. It was a nice change from the romance and mystery books I have been reading lately.
Hopefully this isn't a stand alone and there will be more books to come from this sleepy little community.

Absolutely charming little magical read. This book is perfect for the lovers of Sarah Addison Allen or Alice Hoffman who don’t care for a lot of drama but love a touch of magic, other than a couple of minor grammatical errors, I had no problem enjoying the story, getting to love the characters and feeling fully engaged in the story.

I give this book 5-stars. The story is wonderful. The characters are quirky and interesting. It was so easy to fall in love with the town as well. I cannot wait for the next book in the Dove Pond series.

The book has good flow and is easy to read. There is no profanity that I can remember. There are also no intimate scenes. This book is perfect for your grandmother who loves to read, but doesn't like sex in her books. My grandmother tears out the pages, so you have to be careful with grandmothers.

I must, however, join the ranks of confusion regarding the title of the book and the main character. The title leads us to believe the book is about the book charmer of the town. The story is about a completely different character. The book charmer does have a story line in the book, but she is hardly the heroine of our story. I must admit, Ive never been faced with such a dilemma. I do sense that her story will continue on and culminate at some point in the series. Perhaps the book should have been called The Dragon Lady instead?

Daisy, Momma G and Grace will grab your heart in this debut novel of the Dove Pond series. Here's hoping we see more of Sarah and Blake in the books to come.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review The Book Charmer.

Very sweet paranormal romance. I really enjoyed the characters and the settings. A family of 7 girls who each have some sort of powers- not massive dangerous powers- one is special with plants,one grows and makes special teas, and one who talks to books and they talk back. I am hoping this is going to be a series because I would like to read more about the family

Big Thanks to NetGalley and Pocket Books for the ARC!

The Doves of Dove Pond are like no other family. Each of the seven daughters has a particular "gift," particularly Sarah who talks to books, or rather the books talk to her. Each one tells her who needs to read it, and never why. Lately they have been whispering about who needs to save the town from its own financial destruction, and it's none other than newcomer Grace Wheeler. Grace Wheeler just lost her sister and now is caring for her niece and foster mother, Mama G who suffers from dementia. Grace's is all edges and lets nobody in. She has made it very clear to the town that she doesn't plan on staying and wants little to do with them. However, once delegated to run the fall festival she has to learn to put her anger aside to make room for the charming members of Dove Pond.

What a charming beginning of a series! All of the characters in this novel are very likeable and relatable, it has such small town charm and magic! I really enjoyed the story line as well, I liked the idea of the Dove women having "gifts" and how they provide guidance to members of the town. How they took Grace and turned her into one of them and brought everyone together.

However, while this is a wonderful story there are some issues I have with it. The book starts out solid, there is depth to the emotions of the characters and a rawness to them. I feel like towards the last third of the novel, the characters lose that and they are all "forgiving" and "soft", a complete 180 of how they were from the start. Grace especially is victim of this. She could be almost cruel to the other characters in the beginning and then she's all "oh you're my best friend, and everyone helps!" It was unrealistic and almost boring to read at that point. I also did not like the story of Sarah and Blake, that had so much promise and could really go somewhere, but it just ends. In fact, nothing happens at all. I got to the last page and was very disappointed that NOTHING happened. Hopefully that picks up in the second installment!

While some things could have been better, I will say overall I enjoyed this piece of work, and I will most definitely be reading the second book in the series!

Rate: 3.5/5 (rounded up)
Fiction
Author: Karen Hawkins
Pages: 368

Easy read for fans of family books with a touch of magical realism. It reminded me of Sarah Addison Allen's books. I became attached to the characters, but the story takes a while to really get started, and the ending was not as satisfying as it could have been. That is tempered by the fact that it is planned to be a series, so we will get to see what happens next in Dove Pond.

I was provided an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

How could I not love this magical novel about a small town librarian who has the ability to "talk" to books, and the other wonderful characters inhabiting the southern town of Dove Pond? There are unexpected depths to this story, as it deals with foster care, aging, dementia, loss and second chances. I loved getting lost in the world the author created, which reminded me why books are good for the soul. I will happily recommend it to fans of Sarah Addison Allen, Susan Bishop Crispell, and some of the novels of Cathy Lamb. More like this one, please!

What a charmer, both Sarah Dove and the story. A little bit of magic to overcome too much realism brings Grace to new horizons. Lovely.

Great book awesome characters. I would recommend to all book lovers. I love books with the word book in them.

After finding a home with a foster mom, Grace grows up to deal with the heartbreak of losing a sister to an overdose, and a mother to Alzheimer's. Despite the profound sadness that comes with these events, Grace is able to find hope and love with the help of The Book Charmer. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the mysticism that comes with harsh reality.

If you’ve read Karen Hawkins’ books before and you love them you might still love this book, but put away all the things you expect about Karen Hawkins’ stories except it’s going to be sweet; it’s going to have humor; and it’s going to be about connections.

This is a small-town story of revival, both personal and community, and a story about friendship.

The book charmer, Sarah, is the small town librarian from the founding family of the Doves. The Dove family women have a little bit of magic. Some people might consider it intuition, some people might think it’s New Age baloney, but the Dove women have their gifts. Sarah discovered as a small girl that books actually spoke to her, quietly and her brain - sometimes disruptively, not always in a welcome way - but the books know things so Sarah listens.

Sarah grew up thinking that somehow she was going to save their struggling, little town. She was waiting for the wisdom. The burden is so clear to her that she doesn’t consider that the inspiration may come from another person.

Enter Grace, she moves to Dove Pond with her tiny, hurting family just for a year to help her ailing foster mother, her young niece, and herself grieve her sister and gather themselves before moving back to the big city of Charlotte. Really, she doesn’t want to get to know people; she will just be leaving again. So this is a story about how even reluctant neighbors learn to trust one another, like one another, and then rely on one another.

The book starts slowly as we are introduced to many people but then takes off about the end of chapter 9. It is the first of a series about the small town and I am pretty sure there will be love stories coming up. There was a bit of romance in this one but it was a healing, tentative reaching sort of romance with the promise of an HEA.

I am not a writer but I am an old and avid reader so I confidently state that Ms. Hawkins could have written this story so that the townspeople were introduced and friends were made without quite as much detail or in a more concise way. The first part of the book would’ve gone a lot faster if she had been able to take the time to refine and choose what to save for the next story. I’m saying this because some people will be turned off at the slow pace and that would be too bad, because there’s meat here and beautiful lessons about trust and connection. There are hints of some fun stories ahead and I have faith that they will be her usual funny and sweet romances.

Now for a tiny soapbox interlude:
Writers today are under a lot of pressure to produce. I’ve been reading for 50 years. I patiently waited at least a year for the next Thomas Tryon or Barbara Delinsky 30 years ago. In today’s instant gratification culture, constant media updates, fans pleading with authors to put out their next book (no polite snail mail fan letters... or weird ones), and authors having to be in charge of their own publicity as well as taking the time to write good quality work, there is way too much pressure on authors.

So, even though I cannot rate this book as five stars, it is a good beginning to what looks to be a fun series. Buy the book (or get your librarian to), read it, be patient with the slow beginning, and enjoy the sweetness of getting to know a new group of friends because although we don’t learn each other in a day we can still be kindred spirits.

The Book Charmer charmed me. This story, full of magical realism, is full of love, longing, determination, and friendship. When Grace Wheeler moves her family to Dove Pond, it’s a temporary solution after a run of bad experiences. Distrustful of others, Grace is used to handling things on her own. Sarah Dove has other ideas. Sarah, the town librarian, is known for her magical connections with books, who actually talk to her. Sarah knows that Grace is there to save the dying town. Not only is The Book Charmer filled with whimsical moments, it entertains with a cast of characters that warm to Grace and show her what friends, and a community, can do. The relationship between Grace and Mama G is lovely and heartbreaking, which makes Grace’s relationship with Travis even more endearing. I smiled and teared up, but overall, I enjoyed the story and look forward to the next book in the series!