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A review by speculativeshelves
Grimoire Girl: Creating an Inheritance of Magic and Mischief by Hilarie Burton Morgan
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Compared to The Rural Diaries, this is less of a memoir and more of a self-help book (with occasional memoir elements) and therefore this isn't the kind of book I typically enjoy. Content-wise this is a mixed bag for me - some chapters were fascinating and inspiring, others I didn't care about. I connected with a lot of her reflections on life - we share a love of magical stories, history, houses with character, and old things. While I don't think I'll integrate every idea in this book to my own life, this book did inspire me to once again attempt journaling.
Hilarie Burton Morgan has a compelling voice and her writing is full of warmth. This warmth is especially present in the audiobook which makes it feel as if you're getting advice from a friend. I wasn't invested in every chapter, but I was invested in her narration. She's a natural storyteller and I love for her to write a fiction book one day - one full of all of the magical gothic vibes that she and I both love.
Witchcraft is an interesting topic that I haven't read a lot about outside of fictional settings. That is particularly because my feelings on it are a mix of contradictions - on one hand there's a part of me that is fascinated by magical/mystical things, on the other hand I'm also extremely skeptical about a lot of it. This isn't a "Witchcraft 101" kind of book and instead more of a "find magic in your everyday life" kind of book. While she talks about grimoires and spells, it's open ended and there is lots of room for you to reflect on what that means to you (and how literally you want to believe in it). It's accessible both to readers who may actually be interested into getting into aspects of witchcraft but also readers like me who don't consider themselves witches but have a tendency to view life through a magical lens anyway (I am a fantasy reader after all). I especially appreciated reading about intersections of witchcraft and Christianity - it's a topic I may have to look into further, especially since I've already found myself fascinating by the mystical elements of Christianity.
It was interesting to read this after reading Dinner for Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz, Hilarie Burton Morgan's former OTH co-star. While different in structure and content (Dinner for Vampires is a straightforward memoir), each of these books has a significant focus on their respective faith journeys. Faith is an important part of both of their lives, despite their significantly different practices and it has been fascinating to read about. If you placed each of their approaches to religion on two ends of a spectrum, I feel as if my own relationship to faith and religion sits firmly in the middle. Both of their books have caused me to do quite a bit of reflecting!
Hilarie Burton Morgan has a compelling voice and her writing is full of warmth. This warmth is especially present in the audiobook which makes it feel as if you're getting advice from a friend. I wasn't invested in every chapter, but I was invested in her narration. She's a natural storyteller and I love for her to write a fiction book one day - one full of all of the magical gothic vibes that she and I both love.
Witchcraft is an interesting topic that I haven't read a lot about outside of fictional settings. That is particularly because my feelings on it are a mix of contradictions - on one hand there's a part of me that is fascinated by magical/mystical things, on the other hand I'm also extremely skeptical about a lot of it. This isn't a "Witchcraft 101" kind of book and instead more of a "find magic in your everyday life" kind of book. While she talks about grimoires and spells, it's open ended and there is lots of room for you to reflect on what that means to you (and how literally you want to believe in it). It's accessible both to readers who may actually be interested into getting into aspects of witchcraft but also readers like me who don't consider themselves witches but have a tendency to view life through a magical lens anyway (I am a fantasy reader after all). I especially appreciated reading about intersections of witchcraft and Christianity - it's a topic I may have to look into further, especially since I've already found myself fascinating by the mystical elements of Christianity.
It was interesting to read this after reading Dinner for Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz, Hilarie Burton Morgan's former OTH co-star. While different in structure and content (Dinner for Vampires is a straightforward memoir), each of these books has a significant focus on their respective faith journeys. Faith is an important part of both of their lives, despite their significantly different practices and it has been fascinating to read about. If you placed each of their approaches to religion on two ends of a spectrum, I feel as if my own relationship to faith and religion sits firmly in the middle. Both of their books have caused me to do quite a bit of reflecting!