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A review by artemisienne
Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: A Study In Mischief by Lydia Sherrer
4.0
A 3.5 rounded up.
I first received this short story through the author's newsletter, and it was so good that I had to get the first book ([b:Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: Beginnings|29541796|Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus Beginnings (The Lily Singer Adventures #1)|Lydia Sherrer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1458237137s/29541796.jpg|49842492]) immediately. Considering this was the first story in the series that I had read (meaning I didn't know much about the characters or the universe), this was a pretty good introduction, and it successfully got me invested in the main characters. Although I didn't much care about the plot in general (and to be honest, it wasn't as much of a focus as it was on the characters' evolving relationship), I quite liked the unconventional concept of wizards and witches and how they continue to live in secret among the non-magical folk.
That said, there were several aspects that reminded me of famous fantasy worlds, like Harry Potter and The Mortal Instruments. Other than the obvious main character having the same name as HP's mother (which can easily mean nothing other than to evoke our memory of the HP world), the characters also call non-magical people "mundanes", which is also what the characters in TMI call them. Again, this could also be an honest coincidence, but the names just seem to remind us of these worlds as if to show us how similarly cool the book's world is to theirs, even though they're nothing alike. Added to the obvious comparison to the HP books, it really gives the idea that it may not be a coincidence.
Fortunately, other than the names, there really is nothing else that similar to the aforementioned books, and the main characters (a male witch and a female librarian wizard, not to mention the charming talking cat) is an unusual but quite likable pair. I would definitely recommend this to lovers of magical fantasy and those who love the usual YA boy/girl romance (although this book is not a romance, it has hints of it and is pretty cute and not cliched, if you ask me).
I first received this short story through the author's newsletter, and it was so good that I had to get the first book ([b:Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: Beginnings|29541796|Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus Beginnings (The Lily Singer Adventures #1)|Lydia Sherrer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1458237137s/29541796.jpg|49842492]) immediately. Considering this was the first story in the series that I had read (meaning I didn't know much about the characters or the universe), this was a pretty good introduction, and it successfully got me invested in the main characters. Although I didn't much care about the plot in general (and to be honest, it wasn't as much of a focus as it was on the characters' evolving relationship), I quite liked the unconventional concept of wizards and witches and how they continue to live in secret among the non-magical folk.
That said, there were several aspects that reminded me of famous fantasy worlds, like Harry Potter and The Mortal Instruments. Other than the obvious main character having the same name as HP's mother (which can easily mean nothing other than to evoke our memory of the HP world), the characters also call non-magical people "mundanes", which is also what the characters in TMI call them. Again, this could also be an honest coincidence, but the names just seem to remind us of these worlds as if to show us how similarly cool the book's world is to theirs, even though they're nothing alike. Added to the obvious comparison to the HP books, it really gives the idea that it may not be a coincidence.
Fortunately, other than the names, there really is nothing else that similar to the aforementioned books, and the main characters (a male witch and a female librarian wizard, not to mention the charming talking cat) is an unusual but quite likable pair. I would definitely recommend this to lovers of magical fantasy and those who love the usual YA boy/girl romance (although this book is not a romance, it has hints of it and is pretty cute and not cliched, if you ask me).