I have made it 20% into the book and I feel like it isn’t for me. So unfortunately I will not be continuing on, I may come back to it at a later date.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for giving me an eARC of this book.

I wanted to DNF this so many times - and the main reason I didn't was because it was an ARC. I'll admit that I don't read a *ton* of romance, so there are some romance tropes that can annoy me. If you read a lot of romance then there's certainly a chance you'll enjoy this as a low stress, autumn/witchy themed addition to your TBR.

I, however, could not get past the weak writing, annoying characters, and overabundance of pop culture references.

Scarlett grated on me from the moment she refused to listen to anyone around her and smashed a piano. She's stubborn and self-centered to a fault. I hoped she might grow on me as the story went on and while I ended up with empathy for her, I didn't like her at all (and honestly just ended up liking almost all the supporting characters less than when we started). Delilah, the oldest sister, literally stomping her foot at her big age was embarrassing, tbh. And her mother, Kelly, was deeply unpleasant. I know this is supposed to riff off Gilmore Girls but it felt like it took all the flaws of the GG characters and none of the endearing traits that would balance them out.

Magic-wise, I always side-eye magic systems based on gender. As a queer person, I think that these systems can quickly become gender essentialist in their structure and almost always reinforce the binary. I loved Aphra and was happy to see an out and accepted trans person within this world. While it is trans-affirming to say that Aphra always had magic because she was always a woman, it begs the question of where non-binary people would exist in this magical spectrum. I don't think there were any ill-intentions here, it's just something that always comes to mind with this particular magic system structure and my desire to push back on systems that reinforce a binary.

The cheesy Friends reference 20 pages in should've been my first red flag - and the Trump reference jump scare halfway through was unappreciated (this is a trans-affirming story - woo! - so why would I want any kind of reminder of that man in here?? please). I also do not enjoy witchy books that use the term "muggle" for non-magic users. That's a personal preference but as someone who firmly believes JKR has and continues to cause incredible harm to the trans community, I just think we can use another word. Any other word.

Oddly enough, my closest breaking point was when they implied that "famously happily married since 1980" Mandy Patinkin could be their mom's friend with benefits. (I'm joking. But kind of not. Leave that sweet, married man alone).

All in all, I really struggled to finish this one and personally would not recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It’s a cute witchy book but I wish I liked it more. The fall, witchy vibes are fun, the romance between Scarlett and Nate honestly is what saved this most for me, and I like the magic system and adorable town. But a lot of the book felt like over explaining and random info dumps and less like a well-told story. I wanted to like the sisters more and even wanted to like Scarlett more since a lot of them time she was pretty whiney. Still a cute read though.

If you need transported to New England during autumn with a magical town hidden away from the world ... this is the book for you. There is a feud between witches and magicians, a second chance at romance, and all the family drama one could enjoy.

Scarlett returns from a 10 year absence from her hometown in attempt to escape her past. She is not necessarily welcomed back with open arms and falls back into old habits again. I both like and dislike Scarlett. She is funny, witty, and willing to try things that most would scoff at doing. She is however, also whiney, a bit immature at times, and seems to prefer running to dealing with problems. I can see a comparison between Lorelai (from Gilmore Girls) and Scarlett, especially when it comes to their relationship with their respective mothers.

The sisters definitely draw from Charmed. For starters there are three sisters, a dependable one, a brainiac, and the half-cocked one. I enjoyed the subtle nuisances and saw more of those similarities than the Gilmore Girl comparisons. Del is absolutely the dependable one, holding down the fort with a no nonsense attitude. Luna is the most talented, having spent the last 10 years travelling and learning about different magic types and abilities. Scarlett turned her back on all things magic and pretended to live as a normie as a way of coping. Together, while not the charmed ones, they do have to work together to solve the problem plaguing Oak Haven!

The romance is a little secondary to the rest of the story but was rather cute. A bit will they, won't they. I personally prefer a bit more tension but as it wasn't the main focus it was good enough and absolutely hit. Nate is such a sweet man, and his affections are clear from the beginning. No matter what he is and always will be Team Scarlett in my world.

I would absolutely recommend this book to kick off the autumn season. If you like all things witches and cozy with a little mystery and some cute side moments, this is the book for you. Be forewarned, a tissue or two might want to be handy, as I definitely teared up a time or two!

(I received a copy from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review!)

Cute, cozy, and perfect for fall. This was a fun read. The will they, won’t they drug on a bit long and was too focused on, but overall still enjoyable. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a quick fall read. The premise was great. A small town run by witches. The magic in the town has been strange lately and the daughter of the most prominent family has returned home to try to fix it along with her sisters. The book took a lot of inspiration from Gilmore Girls. I hate leaving a less than stellar review but I need to be honest. I love Gilmore Girls... but this was a bit much. It felt like a fan fiction of the show to me. I noticed multiple grammatical errors. The story did not feel polished. The characters were not my favorite.
The inner dialogue of the main character drove me crazy. I liked the idea of the book but the execution just didn't hit for me.

Charm, magic and atmosphere are all found in abundance in Emily Grimoire's Impractical Magic. Scarlett returns to her home town after 10 years to find the town and the magic in turmoil; working with her family, can she save the magic and their town? I really enjoyed the sense of magic and witches in this book, the town has an interesting magical system that keeps it hidden from non-residents. I enjoyed the sister relationship between Scarlett, Delilah and Luna, I love how they bickered, fought and loved each other like real sisters. I struggled a little bit with Scarlett's guilt over her father's death and her relationship with her mother. There were interesting characters and some truly hilarious moments, but also moments of tenderness and love. I would love to see more books focusing on other characters in the town of Oak Haven.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

DNF at 10% in.

I love the quick-witted banter of Gilmore Girls, so I was very excited for this book. Perhaps I am extremely impatient, but I found it really hard to get into. It feels like there are a plethora of details and Grimoire doesn't know which ones to focus on first. The world-building is fun, but it feels almost overwhelming if that makes sense....but perhaps that was intended? Please take this opinion lightly.

Thank you kindly to the NetGalley team and Avon Books UK for the opportunity to read this book. I hope that everything goes well with it.

Unfortunately, this book was not one I could not finish since I found it incredibly hard to get through, as the main character was profoundly annoying and frustrating. I disliked being in her head and how she interacted with others, and I generally didn't like the writing style. There were too many pop culture references and these days I simply refuse to finish things with JK Rowling/Harry Potter references.

This badly needed more editing.

Thanks to the publisher and net-galley for an e-arc.

This was a neutral read for me. The novel follows Scarlett, a witch from a small town who's been gone for 10 years and is called back by her sisters to help at their family inn. Awaiting her arrival is a town that's gone magically haywire and a childhood friend that she can't seem to forget about.

Pros: I liked the setting! A cozy, perfect fall town in New England with magic, witches, and community. Sounds idyllic and exactly where I want to be this time of the year!

Cons: 1. The FMC was incredibly annoying. As a reader, it felt like I was bouncing around with no clue what she was going to say, think, or do next. Her relationships with her sisters and mom were uncomfortable. I have a sister and even at our worst we wouldn't banter or argue with so much hostility (especially when it also seems like the sisters are supposed to be close?).
2. The "slow burn" relationship was not really slow burn or a focus of the story. There was a lot of time spent on the relationship in terms of pages, but it felt like it didn't add to the plot until the very end (which was super rushed).

Overall, this novel had the basis of a great story! It does have cozy, fall elements and is a quick read if you're looking for something lighter this fall.

Scarlett our FMC has just been called home to Oak Haven, where she hasn't stepped foot in 10 years. After running away one night without a word to anyone to San Francisco, she finds herself wondering what could possibly be so wrong and rehashing old memories. Oak Haven is a beautiful town in the northeast where all women are witches and everyone who is not a witch will forget about the town after leaving. Scarlett has been tasked with helping her sisters and mother (one of the elder coven witches) save the grove from catastrophe all while re igniting old and new feelings towards her old "friend" Nate.

I really liked parts of this book, and felt other parts fell a little flat. I so wished the author would have spent more time in some areas to make the book not feel as choppy with jumping between what was happening.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Ten years ago, Scarlett Melrose left Oak Haven (and being a witch) but when her estranged sisters call to tell her to come home, she knows it's time. It turns out that the magic in town is acting up. Unfortunately, it's not an easy fix and the more time passes, the worse things get around town.

This book is described as 'where Gilmore Girls meets Charmed', so as a millennial I was immediately excited. It also didn't hurt that the cover is so cute. I like the premise of the story - a quaint town that's inhabited by witches. It's the epitome of Fall vibes.

Unfortunately, the story fell a little flat for me. In the beginning, there were a lot of nods to Gilmore girls, to the point that it felt like characters were created just to fit that narrative instead of using the shows as loose inspiration.

Scarlett has an incredibly toxic relationship with her family. They continually view her as a problem, even when that's not the case. It was also weird that they called her home to help fix the town's magic problem, only to turn around and either blame her for the mess or question her about her childhood crush (and if they'll finally be getting together now that she's home).

Nate is still hopelessly in love with Scarlett. It's almost like he's been cast with a love spell, just based on how devoted he is to Scarlett. It was a little pathetic, like his entire identity is based around Scarlett.

There's some romance and mystery, though the mystery portion is unsatisfying. I'm not sure if it's done to leave a door open to a sequel. It's easy for the reader to guess who is causing problems early in the book but there are a lot of loose ends and it left me with mixed feelings.

This story had a lot of potential but there are too many pop culture references that will age poorly. Also, Grimoire uses the term 'muggle' which really pulled me out of the story (I'm not sure that's a typical word for non-magical people).

I was drawn to this book by the beautiful cover and was after a read to match the current change of season. I mostly enjoyed this book. It was a little hard at times to keep up with who was talking during conversations, but I loved getting to know the interesting characters of oak haven. A lovely book to curl up with this Autumn.

This was absolutely a great addition to my fall reads of 2024! I love the heavy focus on magic and family, and the romance was still important (not to mention Nate & Scarlett are adorable) but it didn’t take the main focus. I laughed, cried and felt so content by the time the book was over. Now I’m hoping for future adventures in Oak Haven!

Book review 📚
Impractical Magic by Emily Grimoire
⭐⭐⭐⭐

I won’t lie to you – the two reasons I requested this book? Firstly, impractical magic? I know I was not the only person who thought of ‘Practical Magic’ almost instantly. Second, Emily Grimoire? That, that is a goddamn genius move on the authors behalf. I LOVE it!!

Anyway, that’s why I wanted to read it but now let me tell you why I continued to read it and I why I rated it 4 stars. It is the perfect book for autumn, cute and cosy vibes all the way through, with some added Gilmore Girls vibes along the way. The characters we’re “okay”, some were annoying and irritating and some were just …. Meh. They could of done with some more work as they just wasn’t very standout-y. The whole family dynamic/drama, is a bit much. I get it, we all have these moments but we didn’t need quite that much.

But the ending made it as good as it was. I wasn’t left disappointed, or angry, or heartbroken, or anything. It was a good ending and a lovely wrap up to the story. There is definitely some room for improvement, but I fell in love with the overall theme and plot of the book.

What I loved about Impractical Magic it’s cosy autumn witchy romance book I loved reading it, loved the plot fully enjoyed reading it I’m now going to pre order it and thank you NetGalley and Avon books for the arc

I had high hopes for this book. The vibes were so cute in the beginning. But by the end I was questioning what the heck was even happening. Didn’t really love.

Unfortunately this was not for me and I had to DNF about 40% of the way in. Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in wxcjange for an honest review

Thank you Avon Books UK and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book wasn't for me as I DNFed at 35%. I have never seen Gilmore Girls, so perhaps if I understood the reference more I may have felt differently?

Impractical Magic follows Scarlett Melrose as she returns to her hometown (and by default, returns to her estranged family). Magic throughout the town has been acting up, and Scarlett and her family will do whatever it takes to bring it back to normal.

Unfortunately, I did not resonate with the author's writing style. The dialogue was tough to get through. It felt like I was watching a early 2000s sitcom - the jokes were cheesy, the pop culture references were overwhelming, and the pacing was sporadic. I'm sure others will enjoy this, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

1.5 ⭐

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eArc.

This wasn't for me. The premise of Oakhaven, a mashup of Halloweentown and Stars Hollow, was interesting. But, the execution was lacking. Impractical Magic read like a first draft. It tried to emulate the banter of the Palladino's writing style, and failed. The dialogue is unrealistic and flat. The result was word soup with some really bad jokes (I cringed several times). The characters were undeveloped, and the story lacked any real tension.