I feel disappointed writing this because the premise sounded right up my alley, but I didn’t enjoy my time with this book. The writing felt both forced and removed, and I really struggled with the dialogue, which was in issue given that the book is dialogue-heavy. The characters felt a bit flat to me, as well, and I didn’t really feel connected to them. I did love the fall, witchy vibes of the book. It is extremely cozy and entering into fall is the perfect time to read a book with these vibes.

I love a good fall time spooky book, and I really wanted to like this book. Unfortunately I DNF'ed at 40% as I was simply unable to get into and stay in the story. I felt that while it was a good story line and had great potential it read more juvenile than I had hoped, and the use of certain popular terminology that originates in other stories was quite off putting to me. I think this would be a good YA fall read however it wasn't quite what I had personally hoped for,

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for providing an advance ready copy in exchange for my honest review.

Let me start by saying that this book was cute and I enjoyed it. If you’re looking for something lighthearted and cozy, Impractical Magic is a great choice - the imagery used to describe the town and its magic, especially during autumn, is perfect. And so many of the town’s characters are lovely.

That said, the main character is extremely unlikeable, as is her family for the most part. Scarlett’s self-blaming and guilt is too much of a focus and really doesn’t allow her character to develop beyond that. I can’t remember any other descriptors of her, other than this constant self hatred. With that, the family’s resentment toward her is also a bit extreme. These negative feelings seemed out of place in a book where the scenery was so lighthearted and cozy.

This book is also a bit long, in my opinion, and it started very slow. I wanted more details about the history of the struggles with magic, the main conflict and plot line, the magicians, etc. The book really picked up toward the halfway point, but then it felt rushed when things started to get interesting. I found myself thinking that there was a lot of detail in areas that weren’t moving the story along, but when I wanted details about the magicians and the trees, they weren’t there.

Last thing I’ll say is that there were some cringey parts that felt a bit like the author was trying to prove relevance or knowledge of current trends, in a “how do you do fellow kids?” kind of way. Some of the pop culture references just felt really out of place to me.


All in all, I really did enjoy this as a light fall read and I would recommend it to friends, with the caveat that the atmosphere and peripheral characters are what make the story.

I was so on the fence about this second chance magic tale. The author does a pretty good job of world building. Set in a magical New England town, that no one can remember once they leave the town limits. Because magic. The romance focus on Nate and Scarlett. She ran away after a spell went very wrong and he is her non magic (only women are magic here) ex best friend. She left just as their friendship was becoming more. But there is trouble in town, so at the behest of her sister she is back. This is all wonderful and charming. The characters have nice banter. Her mother is kind of emotionally abusive which but not in a plot driven way. And it is ultimately Scarlett’s emotional life is where it broken down for me. There is a “I did something unforgivable” trope, that for me after awhile, I think, you should get some therapy or something. And then the final act becomes a bit fable like. It is a light spooky season read. But not a great one. (I did appreciate the author acknowledging she doesn’t know anything about Mandy Patikin’s life - read it and you will know) I read an ARC.

I'm so sorry, I really struggled with this book. I couldn't get into it at all, I felt there was too much dialogue that didn't need to be there and the plot just felt a bit all over the place.
I don't know, maybe my head just weren't in it?
I'm so grateful for the opportunity to read this, it just wasn't for me.

A fantastic book about a young witch that returns home to find the magic in her quaint little town all screwed up. Scarlett must find herself and realize she is the answer to fixing the magic.

This book is a quaint little read and is full of witches and a little bit of romance. I'm ready for the movie or tv show.
I definitely recommend this book.

Loved this cozy fall, witchy read!

Scarlet goes back to her witchy hometown, Oakhaven, as her sisters think there is something wrong with the magic. Loved the family dynamic, lots of magic and fun.

A great witchy read to add to your fall tbr!!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-arc of Impractical Magic by Emily Grimoire, in exchange for my honest review!

2⭐️’s

In this story, we follow our FMC, Scarlett Melrose, as she returns home after a decade away after receiving an urgent phone call from her sister. The magic of her hometown, Oak Haven, is acting up and they need her help. Oh… her lifelong bestie/crush will be there too.

Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me. It had the potential with the whimsical themes and fall setting but, I couldn’t get fully invested.

Our FMC, Scarlett, was too immature for me, the plot continued to just…not develop, and I overall did not feel connected to any character. They were just simply there and we didn’t know much about them.

I enjoyed Nate and his relationship with Scarlett, but again, could’ve seen more of! (also, how many times did she decide to leave him and come back two seconds later lol)

This story would probably benefit from more editing as the plot is not bad! There were just more filler moments than I would’ve liked and the magic/town didn’t make a lot of sense. I needed more exploration of characters/relationships/history as well as overall world building! (even the slightest amount bc I know this was meant to be a fluffy whimsical fall read)

This is such a cute read and just in time for fall! Scarlett's sisters summon her back to her hometown to help figure out what has gone wrong with the magic around town. Scarlett dreads going home, but knows she has to help. She runs into an old flame and has to navigate avoiding Nate while trying to help her family and the town. This is a cute, fluffy fall read. Loved it!

Thank you to Avon BooksUK for the ARC on NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Scarlet Melrose is called back to her hometown Oakhaven by her sisters as something is wrong with the magic in their hometown. What follows is a really fun and cute Halloween/Fall read.

I enjoyed this novel, for fans fiction with Halloween, Witch or fall vibes

Thanks to Avon books and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this campy Fall read. The small town of Oakhaven and all its whimsy added a lot of fun to this seasonal read. I enjoyed the book and it felt like a great transition into Autumn, but there were a couple things that stopped me from really loving it: there were parts where Scarlett was really unlikable (all the side characters were fantastic tho), and the reveal of the mystery antagonist/motive was unsatisfying. But still a great October popcorn read that has me craving cider and apple picking!

This book was really fun for the time of year. It was giving me Halloweentown vibes in all the best ways. Small town that has a spell upon it and scarlet is coming home after being away for awhile. Has something from her past she needs to heal and this spell over the town. Second chance romance thrown in as well! I really enjoyed this!

I was really excited about this book and thought it looked like the perfect fall read. Unfortunately, there were a lot of things that I found wrong with the plot, characters, and writing. While the writing style tried to read like Gilmore Girls, it didn't come across the way I think the author wanted. I had a lot of questions about the FMC's relationship with her family and wasn't buying the romantic relationship because while they used to be best friends, there was nothing between them that seemed like they knew each other very well. I wish the relationship with her family was expanded on and there was more about the friendship growing up.

I will still recommend this book on evelynlainebooks (Instagram) because while I didn't love this read, someone else might!

I really wanted to like this more than I did but I had a really hard time following and getting into the story. The plot was good and I liked the romance but it felt a little flat and lacking. I did enjoy the fall cozy town vibe though.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

Eeeeep I wanted to like this one but it was bad, really bad. Sorry publisher and netgalley. I just wouldn’t waste your time. The characters are annoying, the writing is not so good, and merrp.

Scarlett Melrose is a witch, one that ran away from her hometown and her entire family 10 years ago, she hasn’t been back, until now. After a phone call from her sister basically summoning her back to her hometown to help with the current crisis, of magic going wrong. Scarlett wants to get it over with and slink back to her life. It isn’t helped at all by her could have been something, maybe, one day, old flame she almost had with Nate, who’s aged magnificently in the 10 years since she left. Things go from bad to worse after her fix goes horribly wrong. So can Scarlet actually help solve the problem with magic?

I will admit I loved this book, it was fun, it was a great story with magical mayhem and all those great small town vibes. I loved that the town was a giant secret and had the forgetting spell. The magic system was great, well explained throughout the book and fairly simple to follow.

I will say my favourite bit of the book was the characters, they are fab and actually I think I enjoyed them all even the one I got bad vibes from. My favourites were obviously Scarlet and Nate but I also loved Zanir and Aphra just as much.

The storytelling was great, It is well paced with good dialogue scenes mixed in. I did guess where the books was going and I had my suspicions on some characters, which all played out as expected, but I didn’t go into this wanting to be surprised about the storylines direction. It was a joy to read and in the beginning I really enjoyed the cute nods to other magical books / systems from other fictional works. Such as the title. However these little nods quite quickly turned into something that felt a bit more forced and in one instance there was a whole chapter dedicated to a single quote from Gilmore Girls, I totally get that it was a big inspiration for the book and it’s setting and contents, However I feel this chapter was very much played upon to meet that reference rather than being a very important piece of the puzzle. Another instance saw a very intentional addition to the end couple chapters where another reference is placed. This also felt like it was mentioned to meet a quote rather than nicely rounding the story being told out. So I have docked my rating down to four stars as this book could have been epic without the forced references. While we are on the subject, I have my suspicions that Emily Grimoire is possibly a pen name, although I could be totally wrong, the opening page of the book is her life story and it has a very, striking resemblance to that of a rather famous character from a TV show called Emily.

With all that being said, this book is a wonderful autumn/ Halloween read and its release will be perfectly timed for October 1st. I highly recommend for any romance readers who love a small town vibe and witchy characters. It was very good and a great, easy read to enjoy.

I try not to DNF ARCs but I just couldn't with the writing style. A bitt too juvenile for me. The witchy, fall vibes were there. But the romance and writing were just lacking.

This was an adorable and enjoyable read for the fall season! I loved the cozy, small-town atmosphere and the magical, witchy feel. It’s an ideal pick for autumn. The romance was charming too—though it took a bit to draw me in, I ended up really loving it. Super cozy! I'll definitely recommend it!

Thanks NetGalley and Avon Books for the ARC of this book.

This is a super cute romantasy with a few romcom and finding your way home vibes. The writing was really nice and I appreciated the authors storytelling style. The characters were well rounded for the most part. The reason this is a 4 star read for me is there were just so many unresolved threads at the end of the story for something not billed as first book in a series. I was left with so many ‘but what about’ thoughts at the end I was sure there would at least be an epilogue but no the book was just done. It doesn’t distract from the story, and if you aren’t the type to care that every little thing is wrapped up you probably won’t even notice.

This book features Scarlett and her family; her coming home and finding herself (and obviously saving the town). Her struggles to fit in and forgive herself featured prominently and was presented in a relatable way. The love interest started off feeling a little one dimensional but as the story progressed his own story was fleshed out and I grew to really love him.

This was a super cute read and overall I recommend.

1.5 Stars

I really struggled through this book, it just was not for me. The characters all felt toxic and none of them were likeable to me.

I think this tried too hard to be Gilmore Girls but just came off as un-funny and unlikeable instead of the endearing and charming writing Gilmore Girls fans love.

I found everything really drawn out, somewhat confusing and convoluted and the ending was the nail in the coffin for me.

Again, this was not for me and I did not enjoy it.

Thank you Avon Books UK and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.