I'll start this by saying that if you're looking for a cozy heartwarming book, this might not be the one. It certainly has most of the elements one would look for in a cozy read. But the plot revolves around grief and death a lot.
That being said, that wasn't the reason why I didn't enjoy this quite as much as I was expecting. I'd say my main issue was the pace. And Sadie.
I really wasn't a fan of Sadie. And we are in her head all the time. I really expected her to be more mature. Instead, she kept pretending not to see things so she didn't have to deal with them. I also didn't enjoy her romance.
Despite not being a fan of our MC and having issues with the pacing, the author managed to pull at my heartstrings more than once.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publishing team for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I don't read cozies with recipes. Ever. This one really drew me in and became more fascinating as I read. It could get schmaltzy and redundant with the romance and the plot line with the scary malevolent presence went nowhere, but I loved Poppy Meadows, a town founded by ten magical families of different ethnicities and religions who, as a result of their differences, have different kinds of magic!

I would just love to live in Poppy Meadows. Main character Sadie lives in the sorta-Baptist magical white family with a phenomenal, loving, foul-mouthed grandmother named Gigi and an enviable extended family with diverse magical gifts. If anything there is too much here for one short book. I can see this as a book series adapted for television.

Sadie's gift, inherited from Gigi, is plants and the ability to cook them into spelled foods. Her twin brother Seth has magic that he longs to be rid of, and the reader doesn't find out what it is, and why he is desperate to escape it until the end.

A flawed but genuinely charming debut novel. Will look for more from Breanne Randall. This author has something special.

I liked the premise for this book and especially enjoyed the character of Gigi and the rest of the family but quite frankly, the book dragged for me which ultimately made the heroine annoying as she just kept going around and around the same plot points and not learning anything. It was an interesting story, I think there is a tighter book here that would have served the story and characters better.

I wish this wasn’t as long and maybe I would have loved it more. For me this was very slow moving but I absolutely loved the story and recipes.

The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall was a super light and fluffy Romantasy!

This is a cozy book following our main character Sadie, a woman who has been cursed to lose her magic after four heartbreaks. At the time the novel begins, she has already faced two and in turn has distanced herself from everyone in an attempt to keep her magic. When her grandmother is given only weeks to live, Sadie’s estranged brother returns with a curse of his own, and Sadie’s ex and first heartbreak is back in town. It’s only a matter of time before Sadie is faced with another heartbreak as she fights to save her grandmother and brother while trying not to fall for Jake again.

The atmosphere and setting in this book are distinct. The way the characters act and speak immediately place the reader in a small, close-knit community where everyone knows everyone and their business. As so many have suggested, it feels like Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic. Sadie’s family feels very genuine, the way they joke with and insult each other. This atmosphere is the best element of this novel by far, and I also enjoyed that the author included recipes for the various dishes the characters bake and eat throughout the story.

That being said, I never fully connected with the characters and their journey. While lives were literally on the line, I never felt like anything was truly at stake and frankly I didn’t like Sadie enough to care if she kept her magic or not. I didn’t like the love interest, Jake, at all and felt there was no chemistry between the two. Their relationship fell flat and I didn’t understand what Sadie loved about him so much, especially after it was revealed that he was engaged.

As I was reading, it was hard to tell what the main conflict was in the story, as new plot elements kept getting added along the way. At first, I thought it was going to be Sadie’s magic going haywire while trying to balance her relationship with Jake now that he had returned to town. Then it was revealed her grandmother had cancer, so I thought that was going to build to her death at the END of the book, only for her to die halfway through. Then we learn either Sadie or her brother are going to die because they were never meant to be born and because their grandmother murdered their father? And suddenly their mother is back after being absent their whole lives, which further confuses the plot. To me, it seemed like this book didn’t know what it wanted to be or what it wanted to focus on. I wasn’t satisfied with the way the end tried to tie everything together.

This book encapsulates the feeling of a hug on a cozy fall day. At one point, I had to put down the book and go buy more tea so that I could pretend it was a cool October day.

It follows Sadie, who is a witch in a small town that owns a magical bakery with her grandmother. Sadie is happy with her life until everything starts going wrong and she finds out a family secret that threatens to destroy everything she’s worked for.

I am usually not a fan of “cozy” books because they tend to be a little too dull for me, but I was obsessed with this book and read it in a day. The story was slow enough that it still felt cozy and relaxed, but it still moved fast enough that you were never bored.

One of the most unique aspects of this book is the recipes found throughout the story. There were many times throughout the story where I would be drooling over whatever Sadie was baking and then I would turn the page and see the actual recipe! I definitely want to actually try out some of them to see if they are as good as I was imagining them to be.

I would have loved it if the ending was wrapped up a little more nicely, but it left room for a potential sequel! I ended up rating this a 4.5/5⭐ and rounded it up to 5⭐.

I would recommend this to anyone that likes:
— Practical Magic
— Gilmore Girls
— Fall
— Witches
— Baking
— Small towns
— Complicated family dynamics (but they still love each other)

The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak by Breanne Randall is one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it did not disappoint. It was described as “Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic” and it truly gave me those cozy, witchy, banter-y vibes. This book was everything I wanted and something I didn’t know I needed.

Sadie has magic that is unexpected but wanted despite the curse that comes along with it. During her life she is to expect 4 heartbreaks. Her and her twin brother, Seth, where raised by their grandmother, after their mother’s curse sent her away after they were born. When her first heartbreak returns to town, Sadie is hit with another heartbreak in the form news from her grandmother. With each new turn Sadie must face a new challenge and in doing so finds a strength she always had but never realized. As things between Jake, her first love, take root once again he has to decide if her magic or her love are more important.

This book is riddled with magic and warmth. Throughout the pages are recipes that go with different chapters or things that Sadie or others make throughout the story and they sound mouthwatering. I have nothing but praise for this book and the quirky characters that come with it. I cannot see what other adventures this new author has in store for us.

This feels like a great cozy fantasy read. It's like a warm cuppa spiked with magic and heartbreak and hope. Sadie has the magic to bake good fortune into cakes and honesty into scones. She can brew a tea to give you clarity. But all magic comes with a price. Hers is to suffer four heartbreaks, each more painful than the last.

There was more swearing than I'd expect in a cozy read, so maybe this isn't truly cozy. It also has higher stakes--those of life and death. It deals with grief and loss as well as the bond of family. But my heart broke right along with Sadie's every time. I'd like to revisit this book in the autumn when I'm in the mood for cozy melancholy.

I read this as an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.

The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic | Breanne Randall

Easily my favourite book about witches I’ve ever read!

Sadie is your typical twenty-odd year old witch who loves baking, herbalism and her plant-oriented magic. But there’s a curse of four heartbreaks that could take her magic away from her forever. She therefore lives a loveless life, afraid of loosing her abilities, until one day when the love of her life returns, her twin brother reappears and her beloved grandma is diagnosed with cancer.

Secrets, curses, magic and baking - that’s how I’d describe this book in 4 words. I loved the autumnal vibes, the subtle magic that perfectly fits the Practical Magic’s cosiness. I loved that this was not a romance, but it still was a book about love (and forgiveness). Food plays a big role in this book since a lot of the magic happens through combination of different herbs and plants; and each chapter ends with a recipe!

I loved it. I will read it again. I will gladly watch an adaptation because it deserves one.

Sadie’s family is full of magic and she is happy weaving her own into her bakery and helping her small town of Poppy Meadows along the way. But she is cursed as well - doomed to multiple heartbreaks if she wants to keep her magic. So far, there have been two: Jake, her first love who left her and her twin brother Seth, who also left. When both of them return, when she also receives doubly dire news (a curse and an illness!), Sadie is overwhelmed. Can she figure her way out of the mess?

Overall, a quick and fun read with magic thrown into the mix!

Flew through this book, it was very eventful and fun and so so heartbreaking and wonderful and angsty! Felt myself smiling and crying a lot.

I enjoyed the setting, even though a small town really isn’t all that rare to find in books. The characters were well thought out and the plot was paced in a way that made sense. I would recommend this book to others and would enjoy reading other novels by this author, as they are so breezy and easy to get through!

I do not read a lot of witchy reads, but this book made me feel all of the feels. The Unfortunate Side Events of Heartbreak and Magic was a cute and cozy witchy read that will make you believe in magic and love again. This book is being marketed as Practical Magic meets Gilmore Girls, and I agree with that. I loved Sadie and her close relationship with her grandmother. I also loved the charming small-town feel that Poppy Meadows had. The magic aspect was very unique. It was an intriguing twist that the magic was linked with food. The characters could manipulate other people’s emotions and behaviors based on the type of food they offer to them. I also enjoyed all of the recipes that were between the chapters. It went well with the unique magic aspect, and they all sounded appetizing. The ending allowed for a potential sequel, and I loved how much growth Sadie had throughout the book.

Thank you to NetGallery and to Alcove Press for giving me a copy of the book.

Loved this! As a huge Gilmore girls fan- I loved that this book reminded me of them. Great characters and story!

I heard about this back in January and immediately added it to my TBR for the year so obviously I immediately requested the ARC on NetGalley when I saw the email.

I was pretty disappointed though. The book felt oddly religious for a book about witchcraft. I didn’t really get any Practical Magic or Gilmore Girls vibes from it. I think it had too many twists to the plot and I think the brother could have had his own book.

The family are all adults and it was just too painful to watch them all have so much massive trouble communicating. It made a lot of the problems seem contrived and silly, while the family is having legitimate and concerning problems.

Review: The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall

Looking for an adventurous witchy read? This might be the one.

Read it if you love:
🧙‍♀️witches and magic
🏘️small towns with quirky characters
⚡️family drama
❤️second chance romance
🍂delicious fall vibes
🍰baking (there’s recipes!)

It is no secret that I love a book with baking and even more so if it includes recipes. This was a fun and light read that let me feel some of the fall vibes I’m looking forward to. I enjoyed the dynamic of the characters and the inclusion of adorable animals. I admit that at times I found the pacing a bit slow and some of the language jarring, but overall it was an enjoyable read with quirky characters, and delightful message to celebrate life and embrace your own personal magic.

“Sadie hated running. But it was the only way to get her anxiety out.” This, to me- as a runner who loves to run and wouldn't advise anyone who hates running to do it ever- is a key testament to how unrealistic this book is. I know, I know, it’s supposed to be cozy fantasy, but it just didn’t flow or feel right to me… starting with the fact that this family with magical abilities refuse to be called witches: that’s just silly and strange. And Gigi's entire way of speaking was crass... what magical, ailing grandmother swears so much? AND Sadie tried to steal her ex's dog when the he shows up back in town- not ok and not normal- and beyond yet, their passion didn't translate as this star-crossed couple fighting for love against Sadie's curse. I didn't feel anything between Sadie and Luke nor did I understand why he was back at all.
Now, some positive notes: I liked how magic was tied into recipes. It reminded me of the witch in The Irregular School for Extraordinary Witches and her teas. It gives a sense of realism to magic when it can be baked or grown or mixed versus intense backwoods ceremonies with an entire coven (not that I don't love that as well). The town of Poppy Meadows was cute, though its cast of characters was a little big and hard to keep track of. I liked the mental health mentions- Seth's reluctance toward therapy and Raquel's bipolar disorder- and while we're on the topic of Raquel, the nods to her Hispanic family were cute and unique. Also the addition of the recipes at the beginning of each chapter were right on par for a cozy.
This book just seemed disjointed to me, the good was good, but that bad was too strange and unrealistic. I felt like I was reading two different authors at points, like this book didn't know who or what it wanted to be. As far as cozies go, that's not acceptable. Straight-forward, simple, cutesie is the recipe for that and, sadly, The Unfortunate Side Affects of Heartbreak and Magic missed the mark for that. I'm sure it'll still be a fall success. It's got that catchy long title that's so trendy right now and the cover is gorgeous, but overall, this schtick has been done better elsewhere, IMO.

This is a sweet sentimental story filled with delicious descriptions of small town life involving a magical family. The author wrote her book while grieving the loss of her grandmother. It was a bit like Gilmore Girls but not as much as I expected. I related to her off beat family and the way food brings everyone together. I especially loved the recipes at the end of each chapter!

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for sending me a ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a story of a woman who has to sacrifice herself for her family who treats badly.

When we are first introduced to Sadie we learn that every member of her family possess some small kind of magic. But right from the beginning we see Sadie's magic acting up and behaving badly, ruining everything she is trying to do. The implication is that her magic does not normally behave this way and she can usually use it make food and salves to help the people in her community.

And then we meet Sadie's family. Although Sadie seems to be in her late twenties or early thirties her grandmother bosses her around and scolds her as if she were a small child. Although Sadie clearly loves her grandmother and tells the reader how wonderful she is we frequently see Gigi swear at Sadie and call her demeaning names.

Next we meet Jake, Sadie's ex-boyfriend who ran away many years ago while they were still teenagers after professing his love for her and swearing they would be together always. He literally left the morning after these events happened and she hasn't heard from him since. But now that Jake is back, showing up wherever Sadie is, watching her with doting eyes, perpetually invading her space, ignoring her requests to leave her alone and insisting that she forgive him. And Gigi is on Jake's side! Gigi repeatedly tells Sadie to just get back together with Jake (who cares that he left and broke your heart, he's back now so what's the problem?) and invites him over to dinner multiple times (where he sits next to Sadie and presses his leg against hers under the table).

Our next big character is Sadie's twin brother Seth, who also left home unexpectedly over a year ago without telling Sadie he was leaving or contacting her since. Gigi collapses and needs to be taken to the hospital and Seth, who hasn't been home for over a year just happens to be with her when this happens. Seth also seems to think that the fact that he left is completely irrelevant now that he is back and can't understand why Sadie is mad at him. He is frequently rude when he talks to Sadie, bossing her around, repeatedly telling her he had to come to "kick her ass" because he apparently doesn't approve of what she's done with her life after he walked out of it.
And Gigi and all of Sadie's aunts and uncles who show up suddenly agree with Seth and keep insisting that Sadie needs to forgive Seth, who, by the way, hasn't apologized or acknowledged that he did anything wrong.

And now, almost halfway through the book it is revealed that Gigi has cancer and is going to die any day. Gigi has known she had cancer for years and just didn't bother to tell anyone and she calls Sadie stupid when Sadie tries to use her magic to help Gigi get better. Gigi also reveals that her cancer is linked to a curse she had been holding at bay ever since the twins were born and after she dies the curse will claim one of the twins and they will only have a month to live. But she doesn't know which twin will be cursed or how they can break the curse.

In the middle of all this drama Jake gets Sadie alone, yet again, saying that he needs to tell her something. He has done this two or three times already but never actually managed to tell her the thing. So now after pursuing Sadie for days, nearly kissing her, regularly pressing his leg against hers, inserting himself into her family, and basically acting like her boyfriend (including not contradicting any family members who think he is her boyfriend) he tells her that he is engaged, his fiance is pregnant and he's moving her into the house next door to Sadie's.
The author clearly intended for Jake to be a tragic romantic hero, doomed to love Sadie but not be able to have her because he's a good man and therefor must do right by the girl he got pregnant. But since he knew the whole time that he couldn't be with Sadie his actions are very manipulative and cruel. He tricked her into thinking they could be together again and then ripped that away. Both women should dump him.

And then Gigi dies and it is discovered that she left letters for each member of her family. Her letter to Sadie clearly states that Seth is the twin who will be cursed and Sadie will have to sacrifice herself to save him. So first of all Gigi totally lied about not knowing and then left a note that could easily be misconstrued when she could have just told them point blank what they had to do before she died.

But because Gigi left a confusing note Sadie comes to the conclusion that she has to commit suicide to satisfy the curse so that her brother can live, and even though she doesn't want to die she is willing to do this to save her brother. Seth finds her in time and he and Jake are able to rescue her, but then Seth yells at Sadie and calls her stupid and never once shows any gratitude for the fact that she was willing to sacrifice herself to save him. Now granted, I don't think committing suicide is the right way to save Seth, or at all a good idea, but come on, she loved him enough to die for him and he calls her stupid and berates her up one side and down the other. Why did you want to die for this guy again Sadie?

In the end Sadie has to sacrifice her magic which is her favorite thing ever to save her brother, and then her brother who hates magic and has been trying to get rid of his for his entire life gets to keep his. Seth is at least grateful for Sadie's sacrifice this time but he and everyone else act like Sadie has learned an important lesson and is a better person now and Seth says he's going to stick around instead of leaving again because Sadie needs someone around to "kick her ass" and keep her in line...

So in short Sadie's family is awful. They all treat her like a child and expect things from her that they refuse to give her in turn and she sacrifices her most treasured possession/favorite thing about herself for them. I hate it.

This book was just what I needed. It's been described as being reminiscent of Practical Magic and Gilmore Girls, and it definitely gave me those vibes. I was also reminded a bit of the Madrigal family from Encanto. I enjoyed the coziness, the amazing descriptions of food, the family dynamics, and the deep conversations. This book has themes of grief, loss, heartbreak, and mental health issues that were discussed so well in my opinion. Also, after each chapter the author included a recipe that was either mentioned or is related to what happened in that chapter. Some of them look delicious! This book felt like chicken noodle soup for my soul.