*2.5 stars*

I recently listened to the audiobook "Inheriting Magic" by Jennifer Love Hewitt. This book is part memoir and part inspirational guide, focusing on holiday decorations, activities, and small ways to create "magic" in everyday life.

As a long-time fan of Jennifer, I found the initial chapters moving. She shares her experience of losing her mother to cancer, finding the love of her life, and starting a family. Her reflections on grief, especially how it affects holidays, are heartfelt and relatable.

However, the rest of the book takes a weird turn, focusing heavily on Jennifer's passion for decorations and traditions for every possible holiday. While her intentions are good, aiming to share her tips and tricks, the book often feels overly commercial. There is a strong emphasis on buying decorations and other items, with frequent mentions of stores where these can be purchased. Although she often says that things don't have to be expensive, the constant focus on shopping can be overwhelming.

I appreciated the book for its creative ideas, but I wish it didn't come across as a book for the more privileged. More free or low-cost tips would have made the book perfect, especially given the current economic climate. Additionally, not everyone has the time or resources to redecorate and deep-clean their homes twice a month.

Overall, "Inheriting Magic" offers some useful tips, but it's best to take what works for you and not feel pressured to follow all the advice to the letter.

This was really raw and sad and you can feel the emotions pouring out of Jennifer as she's narrating this. I'm gathering my thoughts as of the moment and I'm going to go back and edit this.

Jennifer Love Hewitt’s memoir centres around the lessons she learned from her mother’s death and how her legacy lives on through Jennifer. Jennifer has taken her mum’s magic and filled her world with it for herself and her children.

In theory, this is all well and good, I do think it’s a bit flimsy to fill out a memoir but this is a short book so that’s fine! In practice, none of this was enjoyable. This should’ve been a blog post (affiliate links included! No seriously, I could not get over how many times ‘I bought this from Amazon, Etsy, etc. was said, I was waiting for her to direct readers to her storefront link) and not a published book. Even for the length it was still repetitive and there is just very little substance.

The larger issue from my perspective was this book is essentially a celebrity saying ‘here’s what I do with the resources I have’ without even ONCE acknowledging that her resources, both financial and time-wise, are greater than most of the women and mothers who will read her book. The whole thing feels very tone deaf and I think it may be enjoyed by other tone deaf women but that’s about it.

Of course Jennifer’s narration was delightful and she bought a lot of life to the performance.

Jennifer tragically lost her mother to cancer and shares how this moment changed her life forever. She describes her personal journey through grief and how she keeps her mother’s memory alive with traditions and magical moments throughout the year.

I have always loved Jennifer since Kids incorporated
and I have all her music which I constantly play daily. Those special occasions and milestones are when we feel the loss most deeply.

As a wife and mother of three, Jennifer encourages quality time with family and to cherish every moment with our loved ones. It’s a book with lots of fun and inspiring ideas on how to create joyful memories, with those we love, every day of the year.

Overall, it’s a lovely book that I can tell has been written with much love and consideration.