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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
elmtreebooks's review
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
It’s cute. It’s cozy. The plot is completely reliant on the main character family of witches being deeply incurious about a hugely suspicious hole in the town’s collective memory… even though the people in town behind “memory wiping” everyone each summer are their sworn enemies, and clear and obvious villains from start to end… so the plot is thin, from start to end.
This book exists to support a clever and interesting concept — the shadow garden — and then the cleverness begins and ends with the basic pitch of the magic garden. Every plot point is completely reliant on the characters being absurdly, obstinately, unbelievably stupid.
The entirety of the magic “reveal” is clearly and explicitly laid out in Kaden’s very first chapter, so you won’t be hanging in suspense at all throughout the book as the world’s dumbest characters fumble their way to the truth very very slowly. But it’s cute. Forgettable. Fine. Good to read on a rainy afternoon with a cup of tea, and then forget immediately.
I do hate the insta-love trope. And a whole town of unreliable narrators— also not great. And for some reason the MMC being named Kaden gave me such an ick, barf.
There was also this weird thing where the author would explicitly mention the race of the most minor of minor characters, like single scene one-to-zero line characters that were acting more like set dressing for the town. I don’t know what exactly it was about the way they wrote it that felt like weird tokenism to me, but just a heads up for readers.
Examples: calling out the mayor (that is not mayor anymore and has no active role in the story) as Black. Calling out that the wife of a founding family member who is a newspaper editor specifically as a “young pregnant Indian woman.” And lines like this:
“On cue, two elementary-school children--a white boy and a Black girl — ran across the stage in homemade firefly costumes, beaming as people erupted in applause.”
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it felt like the author wanted credit for explicitly including POC in the story, while simultaneously giving them the most non-role roles possible and keeping the MCs exclusively white. It’s not representation if the inclusion is a completely meaningless parenthetical for a background character.
Maybe it’s not explicitly evil; but it rubbed me the wrong way. Why are the *only* people in the whole book specifically assigned race the background non-character POC?
This book exists to support a clever and interesting concept — the shadow garden — and then the cleverness begins and ends with the basic pitch of the magic garden. Every plot point is completely reliant on the characters being absurdly, obstinately, unbelievably stupid.
The entirety of the magic “reveal” is clearly and explicitly laid out in Kaden’s very first chapter, so you won’t be hanging in suspense at all throughout the book as the world’s dumbest characters fumble their way to the truth very very slowly. But it’s cute. Forgettable. Fine. Good to read on a rainy afternoon with a cup of tea, and then forget immediately.
I do hate the insta-love trope. And a whole town of unreliable narrators— also not great. And for some reason the MMC being named Kaden gave me such an ick, barf.
There was also this weird thing where the author would explicitly mention the race of the most minor of minor characters, like single scene one-to-zero line characters that were acting more like set dressing for the town. I don’t know what exactly it was about the way they wrote it that felt like weird tokenism to me, but just a heads up for readers.
Examples: calling out the mayor (that is not mayor anymore and has no active role in the story) as Black. Calling out that the wife of a founding family member who is a newspaper editor specifically as a “young pregnant Indian woman.” And lines like this:
“On cue, two elementary-school children--a white boy and a Black girl — ran across the stage in homemade firefly costumes, beaming as people erupted in applause.”
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it felt like the author wanted credit for explicitly including POC in the story, while simultaneously giving them the most non-role roles possible and keeping the MCs exclusively white. It’s not representation if the inclusion is a completely meaningless parenthetical for a background character.
Maybe it’s not explicitly evil; but it rubbed me the wrong way. Why are the *only* people in the whole book specifically assigned race the background non-character POC?
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse
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
sweaterweather_inmymind's review
emotional
mysterious
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Domestic 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
noellelovesbooks's review
4.75
I received an ARC of this book, ahead of release, through the Forever Publishing influencer program. All thoughts are my own.
Content Warnings:
Mention of: trauma, PTSD, infidelity, loss of loved one, child abuse [physical and emotional], an alcoholic parent, and feelings of inadequacy.
This is such a beautiful story! I’m so glad I was able to get my hands on an ARC so I can tell you all you’re really going to want to pre-order this one! I remember reading the summary of this book and thinking…this might just hit me in the feels. There’s just something about books/movies that have generational magic that’s tied to the earth that just feeds my soul.
I love that we get to bounce between multiple perspectives as we slowly learn more about the town, the magic, and what exactly happened in the summer that the town chose to forget.
We also get to see three strong generations of Haywood women who are all so different but deeply connected to each other and the town. Though they’ve each gone through their ups and downs they’ve been able to rely on the strength of their family to keep them going.
Since I don’t want to give away any spoilers or too much information just know that this book is going to have you feeling so many emotions but will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy. If you’re in the market for a book with small-town charm, family feuds, generational magic, and a town mystery…look no further! September is the perfect time for its release so you can get your blankets and hot tea ready to snuggle down as you enjoy this magical read.
Content Warnings:
Mention of: trauma, PTSD, infidelity, loss of loved one, child abuse [physical and emotional], an alcoholic parent, and feelings of inadequacy.
This is such a beautiful story! I’m so glad I was able to get my hands on an ARC so I can tell you all you’re really going to want to pre-order this one! I remember reading the summary of this book and thinking…this might just hit me in the feels. There’s just something about books/movies that have generational magic that’s tied to the earth that just feeds my soul.
I love that we get to bounce between multiple perspectives as we slowly learn more about the town, the magic, and what exactly happened in the summer that the town chose to forget.
We also get to see three strong generations of Haywood women who are all so different but deeply connected to each other and the town. Though they’ve each gone through their ups and downs they’ve been able to rely on the strength of their family to keep them going.
Since I don’t want to give away any spoilers or too much information just know that this book is going to have you feeling so many emotions but will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy. If you’re in the market for a book with small-town charm, family feuds, generational magic, and a town mystery…look no further! September is the perfect time for its release so you can get your blankets and hot tea ready to snuggle down as you enjoy this magical read.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse