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amandadelbrocco's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I liked the magical vibe of this book. It reminded me a bit of The Ex Hex mixed with Practical Magic with a little more mystery.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse and Alcohol
Moderate: Death of parent and Domestic abuse
theespressoedition's review
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, and Infidelity
Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit, and Death of parent
adrenabereading's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book was way better than I could have imagined! The Haywood and the Bonner family has hated each other since the start of their small town in Yarrow, Kentucky. The Haywood's are known for their magical garden and magic that can cure any pain or heartache. With the help of their garden, the Bonner's make the best bourbon in town that will make any memory disappear. They take us on a journey through their family fueds and secrets.
These two families' beef with each other was very entertaining. I'm surprised they've never taken it to the streets and duked it out. These people really hated each other for decades (rightfully so). Even though it was entertaining, there were a lot of sad truths about their family fued. So, be prepared to be sad.
The magical elements were very interesting and easy to follow. Also, there was some sweet rekindling of relationships and newfound relationships.
✨️Favorite Character✨️
My favorite character was Maura because she never switched up how she felt. She was like, "If we have beef, then we beefing forever." I love that.
Overall, I was thoroughly invested in their fued. You should definitely check it out.
These two families' beef with each other was very entertaining. I'm surprised they've never taken it to the streets and duked it out. These people really hated each other for decades (rightfully so). Even though it was entertaining, there were a lot of sad truths about their family fued. So, be prepared to be sad.
The magical elements were very interesting and easy to follow. Also, there was some sweet rekindling of relationships and newfound relationships.
✨️Favorite Character✨️
My favorite character was Maura because she never switched up how she felt. She was like, "If we have beef, then we beefing forever." I love that.
Overall, I was thoroughly invested in their fued. You should definitely check it out.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Death of parent
agoldendear's review
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
So, I did generally like this book, although it wasn’t anything special for me.
I liked the general concept of a magical witchy garden that can take away pain. I thought it was particularly interesting after reading the author’s note explaining how she came up with the concept. However, I did keep wondering about the ethics of such a concept and I sort of wished that characters discussed it at least a little.
I was hoping there would be more mystery. For a lot of the book, it was more focused on love stories than mystery. And I do love a good love story, but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting and I wasn’t very engaged by this particular love story.
I didn’t find the cast of characters super interesting. I was able to keep track of them all, but they didn’t all do enough to stand out as unique and interesting to me.
As for the mystery—it was the most interesting part of the book, but several plot points seemed nonsensical to me and several plot twists weren’t super surprising/had too much build-up. An example of the nonsense, although it’s quite spoilery:They wanted me to believe that a Bonner had to drink the bourbon in order to steal memories, even though I already knew that everyone drinks the bourbon at the festivals? Of course it’s the victim who has to drink it.
I liked the general concept of a magical witchy garden that can take away pain. I thought it was particularly interesting after reading the author’s note explaining how she came up with the concept. However, I did keep wondering about the ethics of such a concept and I sort of wished that characters discussed it at least a little.
I was hoping there would be more mystery. For a lot of the book, it was more focused on love stories than mystery. And I do love a good love story, but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting and I wasn’t very engaged by this particular love story.
I didn’t find the cast of characters super interesting. I was able to keep track of them all, but they didn’t all do enough to stand out as unique and interesting to me.
As for the mystery—it was the most interesting part of the book, but several plot points seemed nonsensical to me and several plot twists weren’t super surprising/had too much build-up. An example of the nonsense, although it’s quite spoilery:
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse
chelseylb1988's review
dark
emotional
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic relationship, and Murder
rusereviews's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
In the Shadow Garden by Liz Parker is a solid debut women's fiction novel with magical realism and a smattering of romance. The ebook version is 336 pages. We follow a multitude of characters with third-person points-of-view.
The Haywood family has held a symbiotic relationship with The Shadow Garden in Yarrow, Kentucky for as long as anyone can remember. They help ease pain and suffering from the townsfolk, and feed it to the garden. They even helped the local bourbon distillery with seeds for a special dark corn. Once a year, at the Harvest Festival, the townsfolk sip the bourbon and willingly let their worst memory of the year disappear. But twenty years ago, the whole town forgot an entire summer--a summer in which one person died and one person disappeared.
There's a family tree included at the beginning of this book, and it is very important that you keep that handy, so bookmark it if you're reading digitally. I will say that over the course of my read I started getting confused between the names, but the tree really helped with that.
There is a dash of romance here, and I was thankful the author focused on two people who were around age 40 than the romance around the couple who were around age 20. I also really enjoyed the author's expansion of the idea that when you heal from trauma, you can create beautiful things out of pain. This extended metaphor was great.
I'm a big fan of tea, so I really enjoyed reading about the different blends that the Haywoods create, and how they interpret tea leaf readings. There's a glossary in the back of the book with information about the tea leaf symbols described in the book that I really appreciated.
I think the pacing was better in the second half of the book compared to the first, where the story probably could have been tightened up a bit. I ended up reading the entire second half in one sitting!
I would have also loved a bit more worldbuilding here, like more of an explanation about how the magic works and how it came to be.
If you liked Practical Magic you'll probably like this book! This felt like a perfect end-of-summer/beginning-of-fall read.
Tropes in this book include: family drama, small town
CW: grief, loss, stolen memories, child abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence, death
The publisher provided an ebook galley of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.
The Haywood family has held a symbiotic relationship with The Shadow Garden in Yarrow, Kentucky for as long as anyone can remember. They help ease pain and suffering from the townsfolk, and feed it to the garden. They even helped the local bourbon distillery with seeds for a special dark corn. Once a year, at the Harvest Festival, the townsfolk sip the bourbon and willingly let their worst memory of the year disappear. But twenty years ago, the whole town forgot an entire summer--a summer in which one person died and one person disappeared.
There's a family tree included at the beginning of this book, and it is very important that you keep that handy, so bookmark it if you're reading digitally. I will say that over the course of my read I started getting confused between the names, but the tree really helped with that.
There is a dash of romance here, and I was thankful the author focused on two people who were around age 40 than the romance around the couple who were around age 20. I also really enjoyed the author's expansion of the idea that when you heal from trauma, you can create beautiful things out of pain. This extended metaphor was great.
I'm a big fan of tea, so I really enjoyed reading about the different blends that the Haywoods create, and how they interpret tea leaf readings. There's a glossary in the back of the book with information about the tea leaf symbols described in the book that I really appreciated.
I think the pacing was better in the second half of the book compared to the first, where the story probably could have been tightened up a bit. I ended up reading the entire second half in one sitting!
I would have also loved a bit more worldbuilding here, like more of an explanation about how the magic works and how it came to be.
If you liked Practical Magic you'll probably like this book! This felt like a perfect end-of-summer/beginning-of-fall read.
Tropes in this book include: family drama, small town
CW: grief, loss, stolen memories, child abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence, death
The publisher provided an ebook galley of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Child abuse, and Death
tessa_b's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting
Moderate: Child abuse and Domestic abuse
savvyrosereads's review
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Out September 13, 2022 [Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review!]
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
The Haywoods are three generations of women with a special power—they can pull suffering from others and use it to fuel the special magic of the shadow garden. But their magic isn’t the only power in town—mysterious memory powers circle the Bonner Bourbon distillery, and may lie at the root of a years-ago murder and a long-forgotten summer.
A generational story about magic that also involves bourbon, small towns, and an unsolved murder? The second I heard about In The Shadow Garden I was on board, and I’m SO happy to say that not only did the book not disappoint, it exceeded my expectations. This novel is refreshing, unique, genre-defying, and wholly enthralling, and I loved every second of it. By the end, I was so hooked into the story that it actually took me a minute to “wake up” after I finished reading—the absolute best kind of bookish hangover.
I adored each of the characters, although if I had one small critique it would be that there are a lot of viewpoints and it took me a minute to learn who everyone was. That said, there’s a super helpful family tree included (which I definitely referenced a lot), and once I got the hang of things the cast felt like it was the perfect size. I truly wish I could go visit (and yes, I did Google to check whether Yarrow, Kentucky, was a real place!)
If you are looking for a witchy book, a feminist book, or really just a refreshing and unique book with a brilliant core concept (that the pain we feel can eventually transform to something beautiful), look no further.
Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: generational witchy stories; magic Bourbon; ensemble casts
CW: Murder/death; gaslighting/manipulation; physical/domestic abuse; infidelity; alcohol; grief.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
The Haywoods are three generations of women with a special power—they can pull suffering from others and use it to fuel the special magic of the shadow garden. But their magic isn’t the only power in town—mysterious memory powers circle the Bonner Bourbon distillery, and may lie at the root of a years-ago murder and a long-forgotten summer.
A generational story about magic that also involves bourbon, small towns, and an unsolved murder? The second I heard about In The Shadow Garden I was on board, and I’m SO happy to say that not only did the book not disappoint, it exceeded my expectations. This novel is refreshing, unique, genre-defying, and wholly enthralling, and I loved every second of it. By the end, I was so hooked into the story that it actually took me a minute to “wake up” after I finished reading—the absolute best kind of bookish hangover.
I adored each of the characters, although if I had one small critique it would be that there are a lot of viewpoints and it took me a minute to learn who everyone was. That said, there’s a super helpful family tree included (which I definitely referenced a lot), and once I got the hang of things the cast felt like it was the perfect size. I truly wish I could go visit (and yes, I did Google to check whether Yarrow, Kentucky, was a real place!)
If you are looking for a witchy book, a feminist book, or really just a refreshing and unique book with a brilliant core concept (that the pain we feel can eventually transform to something beautiful), look no further.
Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: generational witchy stories; magic Bourbon; ensemble casts
CW: Murder/death; gaslighting/manipulation; physical/domestic abuse; infidelity; alcohol; grief.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Alcohol, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Physical abuse
caseythereader's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Thanks to Forever for the free advance copy of this book.
- IN THE SHADOW GARDEN is cozy, magical, and heartbreaking.
- I loved following the saga of the Haywoods and the Bonners as they unraveled their own shadowy histories, and as love and magic bloomed.
- This book is such an interesting exploration of grief and memory, and whether it's better to remember or forget the pain, especially if it means forgetting the love, too.
- And I must note that there are some secondary queer characters, and I loved how warm and inclusive this story is for a book set in rural Kentucky. Queer folk are everywhere.
- IN THE SHADOW GARDEN is cozy, magical, and heartbreaking.
- I loved following the saga of the Haywoods and the Bonners as they unraveled their own shadowy histories, and as love and magic bloomed.
- This book is such an interesting exploration of grief and memory, and whether it's better to remember or forget the pain, especially if it means forgetting the love, too.
- And I must note that there are some secondary queer characters, and I loved how warm and inclusive this story is for a book set in rural Kentucky. Queer folk are everywhere.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Abandonment, Grief, Infidelity, Blood, Child abuse, Alcohol, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Death, and Domestic abuse
our_bookish_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I really have a hard time writing this review. Not because the book is bad in any way, but because it was a fantastic adventure!
• Told in multiple POV; present and past. The past is in italics, so it's super easy to decipher the timelines.
• Generations of green witches.
• Feuding families.
• Magic
• 2 whole decades lost to the entire city of Yarrow.
• A garden that takes pain away.
• Bourbon that makes you feel/relive things.
There is a lot going on in In the Shadow Garden, but it was a very quick read and I enjoyed it. Very reminiscent of Practical Magic.
At points it was a little difficult to keep track of some of the characters and which family they were connected to, thankfully the author provided a family tree. The ending felt a bit rushed, but it was tied together very well and beautifully written otherwise.
Thank you Netgalley, Liz Parker and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
• Told in multiple POV; present and past. The past is in italics, so it's super easy to decipher the timelines.
• Generations of green witches.
• Feuding families.
• Magic
• 2 whole decades lost to the entire city of Yarrow.
• A garden that takes pain away.
• Bourbon that makes you feel/relive things.
There is a lot going on in In the Shadow Garden, but it was a very quick read and I enjoyed it. Very reminiscent of Practical Magic.
At points it was a little difficult to keep track of some of the characters and which family they were connected to, thankfully the author provided a family tree. The ending felt a bit rushed, but it was tied together very well and beautifully written otherwise.
Thank you Netgalley, Liz Parker and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Infidelity
Minor: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Vomit