I did enjoy this book but there were a few things I thought could've made it better. For one, I don't think we got enough character development for Jake or Seth. I wish we had more. Jake's character fell flat for me and maybe if we knew more of his background or motives, I would like him more. I did love Seth, I just wish we got more from his character. I adored Sadie's aunts and grandma.

This book was pitched as being similar to Practical Magic and Gilmore Girls however I found it to be more Practical Magic. Our main character, Sadie has grown up with her Grandmother as part of a magical family and finds that she and her twin brother have a curse that needs to be broken.

I fell in love with this family and how they all pitched in to help. There is heartbreak yet a lot of love in this one. I highly recommend!

3/4 stars - Thank you to NetGalley, Alcove Press, and Breanne Randall for giving me the opportunity to read and ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I really enjoyed pieces of this book and was instantly pulled in by the cozy nature of Randall's storytelling. However, I found myself not wanting to reach for the book and feeling like I had to force myself to finish it. Was it boredom? Maybe. Ultimately, I just didn't connect with the dialogue or the cast of characters (and there are a lot of characters to keep track of in this book).

Regarding the characters, our FMC, Sadie is a mess, which I believe is the author's intent. However, Sadie is a 29-year-old with the mentality and problem-solving of an 18 or 19-year-old; so, at least a decade younger than she's made out to be, which made this novel feel very young to me. In addition, the constant bickering between various characters stressed me out and annoyed me more than endeared them to me. And don't get me started on Jake, Love and life are indeed complicated, but this man is the WORST, stringing Sadie along and diving into his old feelings with no care of anyone's feelings but his own. For being a Golden Retriever type man, Jake gave me the ick!

I wanted to love this story and it has quite a bit of potential with the storyline, but I found myself uninspired while reading and wish that there was a bit more depth. Overall an easy read when I picked it up, though.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall. This publishes September 19th, just in time for fall/cozy/witchy reading season.

This has been described as a novel for fans of Practical Magic, Gilmore Girls, and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches–all things I love. And I can see the comparisons for sure–Sadie is a witch who can bake feelings into her goods. It takes place in a cozy small town where everyone knows each other.
I’m still not exactly sure why this one didn’t work for me considering it has all the elements I love. I felt dropped into the middle of the story when it started, which made it hard to figure out what was going on. The recipes (which sound wonderful) are included at the end of each chapter instead of at the end of the book and that placement felt jarring–just as I was getting into it, then here comes a recipe. There were also a lot of similes and metaphors and it made it feel long.

I absolutely adored this book. It simply is magical. I loved the writing--amazed by the author's ability to bring every scene to life. Whimsical and enchanting--I couldn't put it down. I'm a fan of second chances and this story delivered. I'll be watching for more from this author.

When this book was compared to Practical Magic and Gilmore Girls, how could I resist? The comparisons are apt. The relation to Practical Magic was evident in the strong familial magic ancestry. When I think of Gilmore Girls I think of fast-talking, wisecracking Lorelei, and that kind of dialogue was not present in this book. However, the setting of Poppy Meadows was very reminiscent of Stars Hollow.

The magic here is soft and subtle and wrapped into every day life. There are a few dramatic magic workings, but most of it seems to be just part of life in Poppy Meadows. The characters are well fleshed out, and I loved the family relationships in this book and how they supported one another despite their vast differences.

The relationship between Sadie and Jake was interesting, and you find out more about them and their back story throughout the book.

Each chapter ended with a recipe written by Gigi, with her wit evident in the directions. Several of the recipes seem like food I’d like to try, and of course the recipes are for foods that play a large part in the book.

What did not work for me was Sadie finding a dog in the woods, finding out it belongs to her old flame, and deciding to keep it. That came off as kind of weird and out of character for Sadie.

This book felt very much like a warm hug, and was so cozy and witchy, a perfect fall read. But it’s not just a light fun read. The book tackles some very heavy topics, such as grief, suicide, and cancer.

All in all, a cozy, heartwarming, witchy second-chance romance.

DNF at 57%. There were too many things trying to happen and the book never really found its legs. The vibes were stunning, but everything else just didn’t work for me. I do still think this will scratch someone’s witchy fall book itch though!

This book is cozy, yet heartbreaking, and definitely made me think of Stars Hollow on an autumn day, and is best read with a nice big mug of something warm, and a box of tissues.

While heartbreak is in the name, I didn’t expect to cry the way I did, but this will jab you in the heart in the best/worst way.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get Practical Magic or Gilmore Girls vibes other than from the setting and the fact that magic and heartbreak are part of the story. It’s still a great fall read, and I know many people are waiting on this one to come out. I don’t think most of them will be disappointed, but this was a three star read for me.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.

This magical story and genuine characters had me spellbound from the beginning. Loved the chemistry and connection in each relationship. I was intrigued by the comparison to Gilmore Girls and Practical Magic and this book delivered on both. The connections to baking and included recipes really took this book the extra mile. Highly, highly recommend!

This is the coziest witchy read I have ever read. This is Practical Magic crossed with Gilmore Girls and I have never been so in love with a book.

Sadie Revelare has lived most of her life in fear of losing the people she loves most in her life. This is until everyone who has left starts to come back. There are a lot of mysteries in their small town the biggest being the dark presence that has started to haunt their garden.

Why this book is amazing:
~Single POV
~Witchy Read
~Magical
~Cozy
~Overcoming Fears
~Loving Family
~Overcoming Adversity

Trigger Warning:
~Death of a loved one
~Stage 4 Cancer

Thank you so very much NetGalley and Alcove Press for the opportunity arc read this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you love witchy tales, big family, small town and second-chance love, you're going to adore this book. Sadie has magic, but with her magic, comes a family curse. She struggles to protect her magic and the person she (thinks) she is, but then Jake McNealy comes back and throws her world into a whirlwind. How much heartbreak can she truly take? Well, according to the curse, only 4.
I loved how the author was open about mental health in her novel, including biopolar disorder, anxiety and depression. Also, she explored the way we sometimes guard our hearts to protect ourselves, when really, we are doing quite the opposite like Sadie. Finally, the relationship Sadie has with her grandmother is something I felt deeply moved by. I cried. I laughed. I couldn't stop reading.
If you're in the mood for a witchy book that feels like a hug, I totally recommend The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic.

Thank you to Netgalley and Alcove Press for my eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I fully believe I’ll love this book. If it is what the author says it is, a witchy Gilmore girls meets Practical Magic book, I WILL love it. But the formatting of the arc document makes it impossible for me to read.

So I will be buying this book to read and hopefully give a glowing review for!

Dnf @ 44%
I could not get through this book. Every time I read a contemporary witchy book I hope it will be different, buy it never is. This book felt completely like a contemporary world and the witchy magical vibes I wanted just weren't there. Also, this book could just not figure out what it was. So much stuff was going on but also nothing at all. It just felt like a bunch of pieces of separate books put together.

This book appealed to me instantly as it was described as “Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic.” I’ve been craving cozy magical reads and this book did not disappoint! The Gilmore Girls reference is about the small town where there’s a cast of wonderfully wacky folks for the reader to meet.

I loved Sadie (the main character) and how each person in her family has their own special type of magic specific to them, but is accompanied by a specific “curse” to balance out the power. It’s the type of magical system that I am obsessed with - “Sure? You can be really powerful, but there will be Consequences!”

Sadie, the lead character has been twice unlucky in love, only to have her True Love move back into town right as she has rebuilt her life after heartbreak. Because, of course.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a cozy afternoon with magic, witches, and of course, romance!

The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall is promoted as being for fans of Practical Magic & The Gilmore Girls.

Unfortunately for this book the character development was not as strong as in Practical Magic and the wit didn't even come close to Gilmore Girls.

This book is about Sadie, a woman in her late twenties whose magical powers came with a curse. She lives in a cute small town with her grandmother and works in a bakery. What Randall got right was creating the setting and atmosphere. Were the recipes at the end of each chapter necessary? I didn't think so. In some cases they were too sweet and didn't match the mood of the chapter.

I couldn't get into this book because it was all over the place. Sadie had a lot going on between her quarter life crisis, her high school love returning to town, her grandmother dying, and trying to find a way to break the curse she was given at age 13. There were several times where I wasn't sure what the mood was supposed to be, or it would be one thing and then give me whiplash. The "romance" in this book was rather uncomfortable and the brooding about the curse repetitive. I had little interest in picking up this book to continue reading it but I somehow made it to the end.

*MILD SPOILERS HERE*
In addition to the identity crisis of the book, there were 3 major events that made me feel incredibly uncomfortable as a reader. Describing them includes mild plot spoilers. The first is the casual mention of a rape that is later used in an unnecessary victim blaming moment. The second is an attempted suicide. Both of these events are incredibly traumatic and I feel like they were majorly downplayed. While a character suggest therapy following the suicide attempt, it felt like too little too late. The last event was a faked pregnancy.

This book missed the mark for me in a lot of ways so unfortunately, it was not for me.

Sadie Revelare has learned to cope with her curse; four heartbreaks for her magic. She has settled into her life, helping to run the family bakery. But life has other plans. As her Grandmother is diagnosed with cancer, her first love returns to town and family secrets are revealed; Sadie must find the strength to keep her family and magic standing. Can Sadie survive her last potential heartbreak along with everything else? Will love or Magic win the battle?

This one is definitely an emotional roller coaster. As Sadie copes with her grandmother’s diagnosis, family drama and her personal relationships.

I really enjoyed the magical elements and how Sadie’s magic was connected to her baking and garden. And there are recipes!

The love story wasn’t my favorite part but was secondary to the other storylines.

The ending sets up for a potential sequel and I would be interested to see what is going on with the Revelare family.

The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic is the first novel by Breanne Randall. The story is described as great for fans of Practical Magic and Gilmore Girls, which is an interesting combination so I was excited to see which elements would appear in this story. The setting is in the small town of Poppy Meadows, California. Based on the descriptions, it does not seem like California, however, that state has a huge variety in climates/surroundings/etc. where an environment described in the book could exist. Sadie Revelare has magic that she believes is tied to a curse that involves four heartbreaks. Her twin brother, Seth Revelare, reunited with her after their grandmother, Gigi Revelare, is terminal. As their grandmother has been the backbone of the family, Sadie isn’t sure how their family, or her, will move forward. In addition to going through her family tragedy, Sadie’s first heartbreak, Jake McNealy, has returned to town.

The layout of the story is not going to be for every reader as the chapters were on the longer side. While I believe longer ones can work, I believe this novel would have benefited from shorter ones. There are recipes that relate to the material at the end of each chapter, which was a fun touch. The first portion of the novel, I believe, needed a little more streamlining compared to the latter half. Since this is a shorter novel, this is unfortunate as I can see readers DNF-ing before they reach the turning point. There are nice, detailed descriptions, but I think if the author was going to include them, the page length needed to increase a little. Since there is a lot of set-ups for the characters and world, it does take a bit for the official plot to become clear. As there is a romance developing, character development for both the primary and secondary characters, plus moving through the plot, there is a lot the book tried to accomplish in a short number of pages. Overall, I think this novel needs a little reworking to be perfect, however, it was still interesting and enjoyable.

**I give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Alcove Press, for the opportunity to read this entertaining novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**

I requested this book thinking it would be a story about witches and magic and cosy things very much in the line of the movie “Practical Magic” as the blurb seemed to promise. However, despite having seen that movie countless times in my life I always seem to forget there’s a very dark side to it. I always remember Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock dancing around the kitchen isle and all the autumn vibes that the movie brought, but there’s a side to the plot that focuses on grief, loss, and the need to be reborn from the ashes again and again. In the movie Sandra Bullock’s husband dies and she has to learn to live without him, without his love and without the father of her two daughters. And she finds what she needs in her family.

In the book, our main character Sadie, and all of her family have been born with magic and a curse, each of them. In Sadie’s case her curse tells her she will hace to suffer four heartbreaks in order to grow and let go of her anger and her fear. Her mother left, her boyfriend leaves, her brother leaves and then her granny is about to die of cancer… so all she has for sure is her magic. But then everything comes back to her, to a woman who is utterly scared of trusting and then losing people again. So she refuses to forgive and to rely on her people until she learns that perhaps love isn’t the thing in her life she should be sacrificing. And that there are things worth sacrificing for love, including herself.

So if you open this book expecting to be a cosy small town romantic comedy, this isn’t the book for you. The plot is dark and gloomy but also full of hope and promise. For we all need to break into million pieces before coming back stronger.

Did I find this book interesting? Yes, but perhaps it’s a bit too heavy on the grieving side of it so I wouldn’t say I’ve enjoyed it. And yet, there’s something to it that is… practical magic.

A book described as "Practical Magic" meets "Gilmore Girls"? Sign me up! I'm not sure that's how I would describe it, though. Did it have magic? Absolutely. Awkward family dynamics? Sure. A curse about heartbreak? Yup. So I guess it could very loosely fit that description. But it wasn't at all what I was expecting.

Main character, Sadie, knows that she is cursed to have four heartbreaks and the last will affect her magic. Enter Jake, her first love - and the cause of her first heartbreak - who arrives back in town just as she receives bad news about her grandmother. Add in an AWOL twin brother and a best friend who may have feelings for said twin, and you've got a pretty good cast of characters. Everyone in town seems to have their own little magical flair, which I enjoyed. I also enjoyed the recipes at the end of each chapter. (Although, let's be serious, I have no talent in the kitchen, magical or otherwise, so I'll probably never make any of them.)

Long story, short, though, this wasn't really my cup of tea. It ended on a bit of a cliffhanger which makes me think it is meant to be the start of a series. And I love a good series, but I don't love when the first book feels too much like a set-up for the next. Will I read the next book if it is a series? Most likely.

Bottom line - three stars for me. It kept me interested enough to keep reading, and I'd recommend if you like a book with a touch of magic.

I was so excited to get
approved for the e-arc of The Unfortunate Side Effects
of Heartbreak and Magic! ✨📖

The story follows Sadie Revelare, a young woman who
has known her whole life that her magic has come with
a curse: if her is heart broken four times, it will
disappear forever.

This novel is set in such a cosy town (Gilmore Girls
vibes!) where Sadie co-owns a bakery and creates the
most delicious-sounding cakes, pastries and other
treats that all leave the person who eats them with
magical effects. I loved the cooking and baking
descriptions, they were so vivid! 📖

But what I loved the most was the strong sense of
family and the bonds that keep us together, even during
the worst times. The relationships between the
characters (especially Seth, Sadie and Gigi 🧡) are
written in such a truthful way and each member of the
Revelare family is totally different with their own
personality, which was great!

This is a great choice for a cosy fantasy/autumnal read
with a strong emphasis on family bonds and a romantic
sub-plot 🍂✨

Oh and FYI - check out the trigger warnings for this
book on Goodreads, I didn't see any before I started
reading but think it's worth mentioning!

thank you to @netgalley @alcovepress and
@houseofrandall for the advanced copy of this book in
exchange for my unbiased review! 🫶