A review by brandetl27
The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall

slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

There’s so many spoilers in this, I can’t possibly tag them all. Proceed with caution.

As someone who LOVES cozy, witchy books, this just did not do it for me. The way this was marketed felt extremely inaccurate. Do not serve this to me as a “Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic” & then let me down. Whoever marketed this like that has clearly never seen either of those. If you’re gonna throw those big names around, you better at least attempt to live up to it. 

This was painfully overwritten. There were too many descriptions of ingredients and plants & baked goods & not nearly enough details that help explain the actual plot. It was very messy & got confusing at times. The overall plot was too complicated & not cohesive at all. Like what was ever actually going on? 

I didn’t like any of the characters really because they were either extremely insufferable or we didn’t get to know them enough in order for me to care about them. I wanted to like Gigi because I love a grandmother character but to be honest, she wasn’t the greatest either. One of your grandkids is going to die & you know exactly what needs to be done to save them & you’re leaving secret messages in letters after you die instead of explicitly telling someone? It’s giving Dumbledore in the worst way possible.  

The romance storyline felt like a complete afterthought. What a waste of time that was. I didn’t know Jake or their backstory well enough to care if they got together. But also, you’d think your dying grandmother & impending death of your brother kind of takes priority over your ex boyfriend coming back into town? 

There was also some causal murder, attempted suicide, faked pregnancies, sexual assault, drugging (which was done twice btw). Like what? This was too much. 

Also things that were brought up regularly but ended up being such a waste because it added nothing to the story & had nothing to do with anything:

•dog napping

•the high school putting on a production of Carrie as their play

•the fall festival 

•A mysterious figure constantly being seen in the garden which ended up being their late grandfather 


Also, when you really think about it, what was the purpose of the 4 heartbreaks curse? After 4 heartbreaks, Sadie was going to lose her magic. She only had one left, her brother dying would have been her 4th one. They made a big deal about her having to give up her magic to save him but she would have lost it anyway if she died because of the heartbreak curse so it really didn’t seem like that much of a heroic move for her to give up her magic. The heartbreak curse should have never been a part of this because without it, Sadie giving up her magic would have been a huge sacrifice for her to save her brother. They made her out to be so selfless & brave at the end but she literally wasn’t at all. Her choices were: lose your brother & lose your magic or give up your magic & save your brother. It seems pretty obvious to me which one your would choose here. 
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