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A review by turrean
Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Rather like eating not just a spoonful of sugar, but the whole bag.
The book has a lighthearted, whimsical tone sometimes at odds with the gravity of some of the characters’ experiences (including domestic violence and rape.)
It was a strangely old fashioned kind of tale, very focused on romantic love as a woman’s best and most natural destiny. In this magical, quirky town, lots of families have special gifts and abilities, but they’re mostly focused on romance, attraction, and fortune telling. One family’s gift is the sexual prowess of their women; in another clan, men always marry older women. A third family has abundantly fertile women, who often have midlife crises involving immodest clothing and too much perfume, as if the world has no better reward for a mother of six. The main characters’ gifts of magical cooking and hairdressing are very traditionally feminine.
One of the male characters is of the “You told me to leave but I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart!” variety, which seemed distasteful since the villain in a parallel story is a cruel abuser who refuses to accept a woman’s rejection.
The book has a lighthearted, whimsical tone sometimes at odds with the gravity of some of the characters’ experiences (including domestic violence and rape.)
It was a strangely old fashioned kind of tale, very focused on romantic love as a woman’s best and most natural destiny. In this magical, quirky town, lots of families have special gifts and abilities, but they’re mostly focused on romance, attraction, and fortune telling. One family’s gift is the sexual prowess of their women; in another clan, men always marry older women. A third family has abundantly fertile women, who often have midlife crises involving immodest clothing and too much perfume, as if the world has no better reward for a mother of six. The main characters’ gifts of magical cooking and hairdressing are very traditionally feminine.
One of the male characters is of the “You told me to leave but I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart!” variety, which seemed distasteful since the villain in a parallel story is a cruel abuser who refuses to accept a woman’s rejection.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault
Minor: Gun violence and Suicidal thoughts