A review by kharkeyz
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

hiiiii!!! finished this one quite a bit ago based on this review, so i'm not going too in depth here. i'm mainly writing this post-completion of the final installment of this series [i am extremely numbed and emotional]. upon some reflection of this novel, as the first publication of this series, i can somewhat understand why the series was so overlooked in general. i mainly began reading this series after my mom gave me raving reviews, and i've hardly ever heard the series anywhere else. this installment serves as a great stepping stone to the overall wrap-up of the story of the owens family, howeverrrrrrr as a stand alone i found it as the weakest link. i originally had issues finding interest in the owens family starting from the first prequel in the series, but over time and learning about the characters, every novel serves a purpose. this wouldn't be my first foray into the owens family HOWEVER it serves as an important bridge to the final product, showing us how the curse and how magic affects the owens women in a more modern setting, especially showing how they've chosen to deal with the burden bestowed upon them. the characters introduced here do grow more loveable in the fourth installment, or their second appearances, and a large part of this story revolves around keeping faith as a reader that it'll all come together in the end.

tldr; make sure to read the series in order! this one is weaker than the others, but it was still wonderful to read :)