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| Garden Spells (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper))
Large Print
Author: Sarah Addison Allen
Publisher: Random House Large Print
Release Date: 2007-09-04
ISBN-10: 0739327437
ISBN-13: 9780739327432
List Price: $20.00
Average Customer Rating:
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Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it.…
The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.
A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants—from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys—except for Claire’s rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before.
When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire’s quiet life is turned upside down—along with the protective boundary she has so carefully constructed around her heart. Together again in the house they grew up in, Sydney takes stock of all she left behind, as Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. And soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy—if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom—or with each other.
Enchanting and heartfelt, this captivating novel is sure to cast a spell with a style all its own….
From the Hardcover edition.
Magical and will cast a Spell on you!
| Customer Rating: | What a wonderful book!
I laughed.
I cried.
I really felt for and with the characters.
What more can you want from a book? A great read!
I just LOVED this book.
I want more of these charaters. I want to know more about what happens in their futures.
LOVED IT!!!!
I am starting The Sugar Queen today. The authors next book (unrelated to this book). |
Enjoyable, but not necessarily memorable
| Customer Rating:  | The Good: I liked the sisters, Claire and Sydney: their childhood rivalry, the very different ways they coped with their traumas, and the way they slowly develop a deep bond as adults. I also liked the characters of Bay and Evanelle. Another nice touch was the Waverly magic in its various manifestations. One family member might have a magical touch with cooking, another with hairdressing. Evanelle's gift is particularly endearing, and sometimes heartbreaking.
The Bad: The plot is too derivative of Practical Magic. The climax is wrapped up too tidily after so much buildup. Also, the romantic subplots fell a little flat for me. Claire's and Sydney's love interests both seemed too good to be true, not real men but paragons of sensitive-maleness. Sydney's romantic plot was especially problematic. Her eventual suitor is not introduced until page 138. Around the same time, a subplot involving her high school sweetheart and his deceitful, petty wife loses its steam and heads toward a too-neat resolution. I couldn't help but wonder whether Allen had originally planned to have Sydney end up with the high-school sweetheart but decided it was too morally controversial because of his marriage. Enter man number two.
I started this review a few months ago and found it unfinished on my computer this morning; reading it, I realized I couldn't think of anything to add to it. I enjoyed _Garden Spells_ while reading it, but evidently it hasn't stuck in my mind.
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Interesting premise but not well written
| Customer Rating: | | I liked the idea of a magic apple tree and enchanted, edible ingredients but the book is not well written. The characters seem flat and silly. This is simply a romance novel in disguise. I hope there really aren't people out there like the characters in the book. The author uses way too many similes. |
Garden Spells
| Customer Rating: | | I got into this book the moment I began to read it. The characters are interesting and you just know something is brewing in the witches' pot of their lives. Evanelle, their relative, is a complete hoot. I will read this one again. I anxiously await the release of Sarah Addison Allen's May 2009 book. I devoured the first two. |
Fun!
| Customer Rating: | | This is normally not "my type" of book, but I thought it was charming. Will share it with friends and family for sure. |
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