Recently Finished (and Recommended)

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

I finished Dracula relatively quickly (it was longer than I'd initially thought), so when pressed to read something else, my mother suggested Garden Spells, as she remembered I'd been meaning to read it for quite some time. Since it came out, in fact. Everyone kept talking about it, not to mention it became a B&N Recommended Book.

Now I know why. It is a really good book. Simple. Fun. Intriguing. Full of love and hurt, and even some magic - including a tree that throws apples. I often go into literary books wary because I admit, I often find them slow, full of characters whose pain knows no bounds, and generally not my style. But this book worked perfectly. In fact, I read it in a single day. Couldn't put it down. I loved all the fun magic things involved, all the herbs and food, how the whole town had a little something special even though the focus was on the Waverleys. Even though the magic was never explained, it actually worked here and you didn't need - or want - it to be. And of course it had what I like: a happy and satisfying ending.


Notes from the playlist: "The Bioluminescence of the Night" by James Horner