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A review by iffer
Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton
3.0
A solid 3-star book, maybe higher since I was amused by the dorky knitting references and puns, as well as some practical knitting tips at the end. I think this new-to-me genre of hobby books is going to become singer of my favorite brain book candy.
This story turned out to be more of a romance than a the cozy mystery that I war anticipating, but it had the charm of witch romances and postcard New England that I've enjoyed previously. I had to suspends my disbelief, but if you go into it existing a little but of cheese, it's thoroughly enjoyable.
I also had to tamp down the irritation that Chloe is magically worthwhile now that she's come into her powers ::eye roll:: (um, she was worthy of love and happiness before that). I enjoyed the story, but I don't really want to stop to think about the literal, in this story, transformative power of love. I mean, I get that love is literally magic in this book, and that sparks will literally fly, but it's kind of annoying to me that the only way for Chloe to come into her magic power, the inheritance of 300 years of powerful female ancestors, is to fall in love with a man? Bah. (Note: I've been treating a LOT of feminist books lately.) It niggled a little that the magical community was not only dismissive, but borderline racist towards humans, but I can see how he author is using this as the necessary romance story obstacle. Although Casting Spells switches between Chloe and Luke's perspectives, I found it a little jarring, because Bretton doesn't write a man convincingly at all. Luke has the same voice as Chloe, so I had to double take whenever there was dialog at the beginning of each section, wondering who "I" referred to. the only difference was that Bretton threw in sports references when the make characters were thinking and speaking?
A very fun, entertaining, well-written read, though definitely light-hearted, and reminiscent of, but not nearly as emotionally meaty as something like Garden Spells.
This story turned out to be more of a romance than a the cozy mystery that I war anticipating, but it had the charm of witch romances and postcard New England that I've enjoyed previously. I had to suspends my disbelief, but if you go into it existing a little but of cheese, it's thoroughly enjoyable
Spoiler
though I was bummed about the convenient death of Chloe's best friend who also happened to be a hunky nice guyI also had to tamp down the irritation that Chloe is magically worthwhile now that she's come into her powers ::eye roll:: (um, she was worthy of love and happiness before that). I enjoyed the story, but I don't really want to stop to think about the literal, in this story, transformative power of love. I mean, I get that love is literally magic in this book, and that sparks will literally fly, but it's kind of annoying to me that the only way for Chloe to come into her magic power, the inheritance of 300 years of powerful female ancestors, is to fall in love with a man? Bah. (Note: I've been treating a LOT of feminist books lately.) It niggled a little that the magical community was not only dismissive, but borderline racist towards humans, but I can see how he author is using this as the necessary romance story obstacle. Although Casting Spells switches between Chloe and Luke's perspectives, I found it a little jarring, because Bretton doesn't write a man convincingly at all. Luke has the same voice as Chloe, so I had to double take whenever there was dialog at the beginning of each section, wondering who "I" referred to. the only difference was that Bretton threw in sports references when the make characters were thinking and speaking?
A very fun, entertaining, well-written read, though definitely light-hearted, and reminiscent of, but not nearly as emotionally meaty as something like Garden Spells.