Reviews - Like a Charm | The StoryGraph

234 reviews for:

Like a Charm

Elle McNicoll

4.25 AVERAGE

bluewithstars's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This has been an absolute dream to read. My favourite book by Elle so far. She just has a way of bringing real characters that you feel you know. Outstanding as always.

lucyreads_books's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

starshine1's review against another edition

3.5

mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

cedardleland's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

burntout_bookworm's review against another edition

5.0

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Elle McNicoll you have now been cemented as one of my favourite authors!!! How is it that you always know what I need to read right in that moment. I was sobbing within the first two chapters because Ramaya's Grandad reminded me of my own. And the messages that are in this novel people need to read this!!! Beautiful! I can't wait for next year and the next installment in this series!

ros_lanta's review against another edition

3.75

Elle McNicoll has a writing style that I love and always produces characters I instantly care about. Like a Charm was no exception and there was a lot that I really liked about this book.

Unfortunately though the plot just didn't work for me - I didn't have much interest in the fantasy elements of the story. I had a similar reaction to her sci-fi book Show Us Who You Are. As someone who doesn't usually read contemporary fiction (middle grade or otherwise) this is unusual for me to say, but I read her books for the real world aspects not the SF ones. My favourite book of hers so far is easily A Kind of Spark which is pure contemporary.

Ultimately I will probably carry on reading (and hopefully enjoying) everything Elle McNicoll writes, I just don't know if I will ever love one enough to want to reread. I would highly recommend her to kids though and suspect that had I read her books as a child they might have been favourites.

acascadeofbooks's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

whatellisreadnext's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was just lovely 🥰

bookbingingbedlam's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It's always a little more magical to read a story set in the streets you've grown up in, but McNicoll does an excellent job with the imagery to really bring this story to life. It's also always nice to see a neurodivergent main character, particularly in a fantasy setting! More of this please!

skyblue's review against another edition

3.5

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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