A review by cozysabie
Spells, Strings and Forgotten Things by Breanne Randall

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted sad 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

5.0

 

"Magic is like love. Once it breaks your heart, well, it's hard to come back from that."

"Spring here was more than a season. It was rebirth. But it was hard for Calliope to drink in the beauty of it all."

"Hope doesn't have to be a blazing fire," Thalia said, her voice growing gentler. "Sometimes, it's just a flicker in the darkness, but it's enough to guide us through."

GENRE: Witchy Romantasy
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
FORMAT: eBook Arc from NetGalley

Would I recommend to others?: YES, YES & YESS! What are you waiting for? Spells, Strings and Forgotten Things has refreshed my interest in Romantasy after I burnt myself out by reading only one sub-genre. Its a beautiful book that combines multiple themes: sisterhood, understanding oneself, magic and shadow MC so like....everyone needs to read it, that's all I have to say. Let's just look at the prose of the book, which should be enough to convince you as Randall writes beautifully:

Everywhere Calliope looked, she was met with a Kaleidoscope of colors that heralded spring.

Long Review:
Spells, Strings and Forgotten Things is a story about three sisters who are meant to be witches and part of the Petridi family. They are meant to protect their town and the covens of witches all over from dark magic and the way to do this? Sacrifice bits and pieces of their memories to use their own magic. The three sisters continue to do this and have to learn all about magic once their mother vanishes and never comes back.

Spells, Strings and Forgotten things is advertised as Charmed x The Notebook and I think this is the perfect way to describe it and describe the sisters. Let's learn more about them:

We follow along with the youngest sister: Calliope Petridi and how she sacrifices many memories AND in fact, you'd say she mainly builds memories in order to sacrifice them.

"I'm going to the Piano Rouge," she said... The dark bar in downtown Gold Springs had live music, and her best friend... And, best of all, it was ripe for forming strong memories to sacrifice."

She is the only one of her sisters that maintains her magic and has grown up learning from her grimoire and yearns for her parents and acceptance:

"We're all on our own path you know? You just have to find yours. And I hope you find someone that makes you feel, I dont know, like you can be yourself with them. Mess and all. Because we're all a mess in some way Opie. The point is to find someone whose baggage goes with yours."

Her eldest sister, Thalia, is a different story. She, as is typical with elder siblings, takes care of her sisters once their mother vanishes:

"Thalia had turned eighteen years old the year their mother vanished. And the moment her mother left, Thalia, with two younger sisters to care for, vowed to follow their mother's forbiddance of magic.

To this day, she never let a drop of magic pass her fingertips, swearing to guard her memories like the treasures she knew them to be."

And the middle sibling, Eurydice, is the calm sister who always fixes things between Thalia and Calliope. She is what you would think of spring in the form of a person and she is the main cook in the family and there are mentions of a lot of lovely recipes throughout the book. (Just like charmed, if you watched it!)

And now regarding the plot, we go on an adventure with the 3 sisters and find out who is trying to threaten the peace of their town and harm all of civilisation by stealing the dark magic they are vowed to protect. There are two type of magic wielders in here: Shadow crafters and Light crafters. Calliope and her sisters are Light crafters and they have been told by history that they need to protect their magic from Shadow crafters, who are meant to be evil.

We then meet a group of Shadow crafters led by Lucien, the shadow MC here. We also have a diversed cast with Sarai being a hijabi (hello from another hijabi fellow) and of course, we have a relationship building up with each of the sisters (hence, the romantasy part) and we see Calliope and Lucien develop their relationship.

I wont lie, usually I find it hard to enjoy books with Shadow MC but in here, I just couldnt get enough of Lucien & Calliope, especailly that he calls Calliope Little Muse like AHHHH:

"He tasted like coming home, like rain and storm nights and lost dreams."

"He didn't coddle her with false words and promises, and she appreciated him for it."

And here is a quote that beats "I'd die for you" in Lucien & Calliope's way:

"I would say 'I'd die for you'...but what's the point in that? I would live for you. I've done monstrous things, little muse. I don't know if I'm worth it. But for you, I'll try. So yes, I'll dry your hair and bring you coffee with too much sugar. I'll buy you mismatched socks and organize your disastrous drawers. I'll fight for you. With you. Because you gave me a reason to piece myself back together."

And if all this wasn't enough to convince you to read Spells, Strings and Forgotten things, we also deal with the concept of grief a few times throughout the book and the way it can present so differently. In Randall's previous book, grief was a heavy thing but in this book, it is a secondary theme, which in my opinion, was done quite well:

"Her brows furrowed as she observed the townsfolk going about their business, a stark contrast to the grief still suffocating her soul. And yet, somehow, it was also a balm. A reminder that life marched on in spite of tragedy."

And side note, I LOVED Lucien's sister, Elea! She is one of the side characters that I just understood on a deeper level:

"Sometimes the heart hears better than the mind, and only love can make you truly list." (Elea)
"How old are you?" Calliope demanded
"Almost eighteen, but I've read a thousand books and lived a thousand lives," she answered with a small smile.

My reviews are always so long when it's Randall's books but alas, I think I do have to end it. I will end it by saying that this book beautifully addresses hope, grief, and how to heal as a person one step at a time:

"You've been sabotaging yourself for so long because you think it's all you have. And that's bullshit. The only thing I've ever seen you be afraid of is yourself. So you have two choices. Sit here and wallow, or get up and do something." (Thalia to Calliope)

We also see the beauty of sisterhood and the power of relationships:

"We're only as strong as each other" Thalia said. "One in three, three in one. We lean on each other. That's what sisters are supposed to do. You're not strong enough? Fine, take some of my strength. And when I feel like giving up, you give me some of yours."

And let's end this review with a word from Calliope:

"Calliope still couldn't walk by her shop without tears welling up. But as the days wore on, the tears turned happy. To be loved so fiercely was an honor, and she knew Rosalind would disapprove of too much sorrow."

Thank you to Netgalley, Breanne Randall and Aries & Aries for the eArc in exchange for my honest review.