2.5 stars but I'm not rounding up.

The finale of the Practical Magic series started off as a hope it would be the best one for me in this series. I was intrigued and had high hopes that maybe this one would be it and I'd actually enjoy it. And I didn't hate the ending. Very much like the other books in this series.

Although the beginning was mostly a recap of the previous books, I was excited to see how their story ended and glad to put this series to bed. However, like the previous books, the middle is where I began to drift and it felt like a chore to get to the finish line.

It was a meandering tale, with a bunch of unnecessary fluff, to the point where I feel the author had a word count goal and she exceeded it. I was just ready for it to be over. There's a lot of five star reviews for this series and it could very well just not be my cup of tea. I love a descriptive book but not when it feels redundant. Thankfully, it finished off strong and I'm glad to have a conclusion, but I would not recommend this book. Unless you loved the books leading up to it, in which case, you will love it.

***Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book!

The Book of Magic is the last book in the Pratical Magic series and it doesn’t disappoint! As the story begins the death beetle is clicking all over the house, Aunt Jet instinctively knows who is it coming for. The entire family gets caught up in ending the curse that has been on them for hundreds of years by their ancestor Maria Owens, that love would not end well for anyone in the Owens family, as she was being hanged for witchcraft in Essex, England. An accident which leave Kylies boyfriend Gideon in a coma and fighting for his life sends first Kylie to England and then the rest of the family to save her from the black magic she thinks she needs to end the curse and bring Gideon out of his coma. People are not always as they seem and the Owens family has to be careful on who to trust and who just wants to use them for their own dark means of revenge. When this journey begins the family are all going in different directions not sure how this will end but in the end they pull together to break the curse. I am a diehard Alice Hoffman fan and am sorry to see this series end. 5 stars
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Every October for the last 3 years, I've read the newest installment of the Practical Magic series, and every October Alice Hoffman draws me under her spell with her lyrical writing and her broken-but-lovable characters. The Book of Magic was a satisfying conclusion as the Owens from nearly all the books come together to try and break the curse. This book felt a bit like a reunion tour, checking in on all the old characters, with plenty of winks towards events in the previous novels. At times, I felt the pacing was a bit too slow, but I still enjoyed this magical story!

Be still my witchy heart. 🖤 The fourth and final installment of the Practical Magic series is downright delightful. I loved everything from the first sentence — "Some stories begin at the beginning and others begin at the end, but all the best stories begin in a library." — to the final walk up the bluestone path to the house on Magnolia Street, and especially the heartwarming reunion with Vincent Owens who is the fictional love of my life. SWOON. Read this when you are in the mood for a comforting seasonal mystery with lovable characters. It is the Louise Penny version of The Rules of Magic. Best paired with tipsy chocolate cake. XO, Tara

Thanks to Net galley, Simon and Schuster , and Alice Hoffman for this ARC.
I love Alice Hoffman books, Practical Magic being one of my favorites. This book was just okay for me.. in my opinion, there was a lot of unnecessary words and descriptions. Honest.y, I couldn’t wait to get to the end of this book. I rated it 3 1/2 as compared to all of this authors other fabulous books.

I loved this book! I'm a big fan of Alice Hoffman's writing and the Practical Magic series and this book did not disappoint. I loved the magic and the adventure. I had a hard time putting this book down and spent a couple of late nights up reading.

I highly recommend this book for fans of magic, love stories and family history. I hope they make a movie out of this book!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!! My favorite people are back. Love the whole series and cant get enough of my witchy sisters. Give me more!

I absolutely loved this opportunity to return to the world of the Practical Magic series, it has been close to my heart for so many years! I loved seeing the way this conclusion united three generations of the Owens to break their curse on love set by their ancestor. The book was, as a whole very bittersweet feeling for me, especially with how it even starts out, but I felt it brought a very satisfying sense of closure to the series and it was so well-done.

Perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman. I truly enjoyed reading this tale of the famous witch family. It was bittersweet moment when Owen family finally realizes how to break the curse but now that this is finale is pretty sad. The writing was exceptional and it flowed perfectly. It was a bit slower than the author's previous books but I have no complaints as I liked the extra information about the family.

The Book of Magic, by Alice Hoffman, is entirely enchanting. The characters are finely drawn, completely nuanced and thoroughly enjoyable. The plot has the pace of a mystery, but it is the Owens Family's special abilities and the impact it has on each of them that I found compelling. Hoffman is an exceptional writer whose mastery of language and imagery is compelling.

When reviewing one book in a series, I generally urge readers to start at the beginning and work their way through in the order that the books were intended to be read. I broke that rule this time, and I am so sorry I did. Although this book is listed in Goodreads as the second entry, it seemed to be more of a conclusion to the saga which it is. Unbeknownst to me, there are two additional books which are prequels and written after the first book in the series. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to going back, reading the prequels, and eventually rereading The Book of Magic. Yes, it was that good! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read a digital ARC. It was a pleasure.

I absolutely LOVED this book and the finale of the Owen's family curse. I didn't know there was any way to love these characters more or to care about any new ones but here I am. The new characters introduced were sheer perfection. Thank you, Alice Hoffman!

The Owens family has known nothing but heartache for over three hundred years when it comes to love thanks to a curse bestowed upon generation after generation of their family. When the deathwatch beetle makes an appearance in the Owens home Jet knows she isn't long for this world. She knows she doesn't have much time and that the family curse is already rearing its ugly head. Three generations of Owen women gather together to try and save another male that will soon die once the curse takes hold. They travel to where it all began in hopes of breaking free from magic that has held their family in its grasp. Follow as each woman discovers just what they will do for family and in the end for love. Can they break free of a curse that has been a part of their family for so many years or will they discover that it can't be broken. This was a lovely ending to a fantastic series filled with strong women and magic that pulled you into a story that was definitely enchanting.

I’m sorry to see that Alice Hoffman is ending the beloved Owens family saga after twenty-five years. I haven’t read the first book, Practical Magic, but found pure enjoyment in her last three novels, including the movie “Practical Magic” as a precursor to Halloween every year. I’ve been told the book is even better than the movie (which they usually are, right.)

The Book of Magic opens with, “All the best stories begin in a library,” and this story begins in the Owens Library, in Essex County, Massachusetts.

The Owens family curse began three hundred years ago in the 17th century. The curse, cast by Maria Owens, demands that descendants avoid entanglements of the heart because love cannot be trusted. What was meant to protect them from love, now harms. Well they’ve learned to trick this curse (or so they’d thought) — by never declaring love or marrying, as it always destroys those they love. Death being the end result.

When the curse strikes the youngest generation, Sally’s daughter Kylie, Kylie vows to break the curse once and for all. She will do everything possible to not lose her best-friend (and secret love) Gideon (whom was just involved in a life-threatening accident.) She travels to England to where the curse began, with two older generations of family following close behind to help. I love that Alice Hoffman has layered her story with strong women, love, independence and equality. I couldn’t be happier this last generation of Owens ends on a happy note. Alice Hoffman has written a magical series that I highly recommend. ❥

*Thanks to Simon and Schuster via NetGalley for kindly providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rounded up from 3.5 stars. I love the stories of the Owens sisters and their families so I was really excited to get an ARC of The Book of Magic. Unfortunately, I didn't love it as much as the others. The writing was still beautiful and the descriptions really let you imagine the settings but this one dragged a bit for me. This book tells the story of trying to break the family curse, the one that says bad things happen if you fall in love. There were so many characters and they all had their stories told that it was sometimes hard to keep it straight. And so many details! I found myself wanting to skip ahead just to find out what happened. Overall, it was still a wonderful story of a family and witchcraft but it rambled on at times.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"The Book of Magic" is hands down my favorite book the in "Practical Magic" series. It was such a lovely conclusion to the story. I could not have asked for a better ending.

Alice Hoffman has such a beautiful writing style, where she really weaves a story. For some that may make the pace a little slow, but I really enjoyed it.

One thing to note, this book requires you to have read "Practical Magic" and the prequels "Magic Lessons" and "The Rules of Magic." It combines the characters and storylines from all three books.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

A perfect culmination to the beautiful Practical Magic series. Hoffman really has taken us on such a beautiful journey with the family and seeing how they take on the challenge of breaking the curse to allow themselves to truly find and cherish love is astonishing, heartbreaking and really well wrapped up. I love that their brother was finally able to rejoin the family after all these years apart for his love.

It could not have been better.

I loved this book! Alice Hoffman really delivers. I have now read all the books for this series and it is one of my favorites. The characters are old friends. I enjoyed getting reacquainted with them and realized I have missed them.

A few new characters are introduced and I developed a big crush on Ian. I think this is my favorite book of the series. Hoffman writes beautifully and bewitchingly just as I had hoped she would. I am very grateful I was allowed an advance copy for review. This one is unforgettable. 5 ⭐️ stars from me for The Book of Magic. I know this is one I will read again. Very satisfying.

Many thanks to the publisher via NetGalley for a digital copy to read for review. Highly recommended. All the magic!!!

Being a fan of Alice Hoffman I was excited to read the sequel to her wonderful book, Practical Magic. This book continues with Jet and Frannie and the curse that’s plagued their family for generations. Hoffman did a great job building the characters and tying in her other books. It was a great conclusion to the series and had a good mix of history, romance, and adventure that kept me reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5

I thoroughly enjoyed the writing, so smooth and the story flowed so wonderfully. I loved that the characters throughout the series made appearances and we got to see them again, such interesting people with a very interesting history. I love where this story went and how it all ended, perfect. Alice Hoffman is a wonderful storyteller, her writing is just so easy to read, it flows. I will continue to read more of her books.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me an ecopy of The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman in exchange for an honest review. I have enjoyed each of the four books in the Owens Sister's series. I read them in order of publish date. This means I literally read Practical Magic nearly 25 years ago! My favorite of the series, so far, has been Magic Lessons, which was released in 2020. The other three have now all received 3 star reviews from me. To me, this is indicative of the fact that the books are uplifting, feel good stories, but not particularly profound or believable. Perhaps I just have a natural inability to immerse myself in the types of magic presented in the books. Also, as anyone who has followed my reviews through the years would see, I do not ever give 3 or 4 stars to love stories that happen too quickly or unbelievably. In this book's case, two love stories were too quick and with characters I hadn't had time to get get to know for me to believe or even root for.

I was very pleased that The Book of Magic used many fewer uses of the phrase "do as she pleases" than its predecessor used. (Repetitive phrases almost always annoy me.) I really enjoy the sisterly bonds presented across the series and in this book there were three sets of sisters, plus one brother thrown in the mix. These all tied the first, second, and fourth book of the series together and referenced the family curse's origins fleshed out in the third book, Magic Lessons, last year. I know with certainty that I like the Owens family and would have loved this book more if there hadn't been quite so many stories happening in it that no story got its fair share of time. Looking back at Magic Lessons, I think the main difference between it and the others was focus and character development seemed better. It was a long book, focused on fewer characters than this one. That said, if The Book of Magic really is to be the last in the series, I am glad it was able to address and give closure to all the current day Owens's.