Thank Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an arc of this book. Unfortunately, this book was not for me. It doesn't help that I never watched Gilmore Girls, so that concept kind of flew over my head. However, the plot was just kind of all over the place but repetitive at the same time, if that makes sense. I was not really drawn to any of the characters, and while it did have a good witchy element, I was expecting more. I would try another book from the author to see how they grow in their writing style though.

I love a good book of witches and magic. Super cute, fast seasonal read (or any time of year 😂) just read it!!

Cute, whimsical and mystical book. I enjoy this authors titles for its creativity, imagination and bewitching charm. Highly recommend this title . It was a good choice for a cozy fall read

3.5✨ what a lovely cosy read perfect for the autumn spooky season!!
Thank you SO much to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. This story follows Scarlett - a witch who’s spent 10 years away from her home town of Oak Haven as she believed she caused her fathers death and could never forgive herself.
When she gets a message from her sister Delilah to return home immediately, Scarlett reluctantly obliges and as soon as she sees her home town she knows something isn’t right. Magic has gone haywire and things are all over the place. On top of that, the guy she almost dates before she left bumps into her but they start off on the wrong foot. Can scarlett and her family work together to fix the magic of Oak Haven or will all be lost. Recommend this for YA readers, or if you like a romance with minimal spice and mystery!

'Impractical Magic' by Emily Grimoire follows the prodigal sister, summoned home to help her family address problems with their town's magic, and as a result she has to also address her relationships with her family and the guy she left behind.

There were a lot of references in this book, and I could feel the author trying to mimic the Lorelai/Rory Gilmore back and forth dialogue, which I found to be fun, though maybe didn't translate quite as well to in written format. I loved the setting, and the plot feels light and irreverent. The magic has. a sense of humor, boarding on the ridiculous at times.

Thank you to Emily Grimoire and Avon Books UK for the ARC in exchange for an honest review of 'Impractical Magic.'

3.5 stars - cosy urban fantasy with witches

Scarlett is summoned home by her sister to her childhood home of Oak Haven, when the towns magic goes haywire. Oak Haven is a town ran by witches and is protected by a forgetting curse to non witches who leave the town. Scarlet, along with her sisters and mom, try to figure out the reasons behind the magic situation, whilst scarlet also runs into her childhood best friend Nate and confronts why she left the town in the first place.

An enjoyable autumnal / fall read that’s really easy to get into due to the idyllic setting and loveable characters. I liked the complicated family dynamic of the sisters and mother and the responsibilities they each felt towards the town.

I liked the slow burn romance between Scarlet and Nate and thought it was super cute how Nate reacted to the twist at the end of the book. One mild spicy scene which I preferred to some unnecessary smut in some cosy reads.

Overall a good one time read just not one I will likely remember.

Super cute WITCHY read 🧡🖤

After receiving an urgent voicemail from her sister, Scarlet finds herself returning to her hometown of Oak Haven after abruptly leaving 10 years ago. When she arrives it is clear that the magical town she once knew is in fact losing its magic. Once she arrives home, not only does she discover her mother’s Inn is now cursed but also her ex-boyfriend Nate, a hardware store owner, is her handy man. Now she must work to mend the relationships she ran from all those years ago and work with her witch sisters to help save the Inn and Oak Haven. As their paths continue to cross, it’s evident there’s some unfinished business for Scarlet and Nate. Will Scarlett be able to restore the magic in Oak Haven and possibly get a second chance at love?

Impractical Magic has all the witchy vibes and is perfect for your spooky season tbr. It’s a super cute witchy read.

dnf @55%. i just cannot finish it. the fmc is genuinely unlikeable. she comes off as an immature brat much more than an adult wishing she could change the past. there is very little about why she hates home, why she has a bad relationship with her mom & sister, or why she chose to 'give up' magic when she left (while i know there was still story left, these things should have at least been touched on by over halfway through the book). there were too many current, now references and the trying to make everything fallish because that's what's in were too prominent. overall, i'm deeply saddened because this book should have been the coziest fall read.

Plot ⭐️ ⭐️

Scarlett Melrose, a young witch, estranged from her family after a tragic accident a decade earlier, returns to her hometown to help deal with misbehaving magic. Only, Scarlett’s a bit out of practice and her actions end up making the situation go from bad to worse. Now, she’s got a mystery to unravel, a family to mend and a town to save.

A quaint idea but the story felt a little all over the place at times, with shaky rationale for key plot points and had a rather predictable ending which felt unnecessarily drawn out without consequence.

Characters ⭐️ ⭐️

I didn’t really gel with any of the characters and found them really rather annoying. Most scenes included arguing or bickering of some kind between family and friends and, as a result, the relationships felt very superficial and one-dimensional for the majority of the book.

Setting ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I felt this was a strength as the environments were beautifully described and very vivid. If only the town of Oak Haven really existed, I’d visit in a heartbeat.

Writing ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I feel quite neutral about the writing, on one hand, the plot and characters fell flat but the setting was delightful. If the storytelling was strengthened, this would have scored higher.

Readability ⭐️ ⭐️

Pacing was fine and the story was easy to understand. I just found the constant chaotic family dynamics a bit too irritating and repetitive.

Overall Enjoyment = ⭐️ ⭐️

Honestly, this is a book I felt obliged to finish for review purposes. I could tell early on that the story wasn’t for me but I know others would probably enjoy it.

Many thanks to Emily Grimoire, the publisher and NetGalley for the electronic review copy they kindly provided. In response, the above review is my critical reflection and honest opinion.

ARC READ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 for a perfect charmed/ Gilmore girls fall book. Perfect for spooky season. This reminded me so much of the old charmed tv show and I LOVED it. Based of other reviews I saw this isn’t for everyone but you have to go into knowing it is what it is a fluffy romance. I’m not a huge fan of second chance romance but this childhood friends to lovers was really really cute. This books releases Oct 1st of this year. Highly recommend for my witchy read girlies or any fan of charmed. thank you to @netgalley abd the author and publishers for giving me this arc to read and review.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon for approving me to read Impractical Magic by Emily Grimoire. This was a really fun read, perfect for those looking for something with great autumn vibes. That said, while the tone of the book was very light, there’s some stuff in there that is actually kinda dark if you think about it too much, mainly the memory spell that protects the town Oak Haven. This isn’t a major spoiler, but do stop reading if you want to read the whole book with a fresh slate. While the book focuses on how it protects the town and its witches from outsiders, it reveals but then glosses over the fact that all the town residents who aren’t witches are the essentially held hostage by the spell, since they can’t leave town for very long without forgetting everything that happened there, which for lifelong residents would be literally everything…I kept waiting for breaking the memory spell to be a major part of the story but it never really came about. Also, while I liked Scarlet, she didn’t have as much main character energy as either of her sisters, and the family dynamic never warmed up enough for my taste, so much so that I honestly think Scarlet maybe WAS better off in SF versus her hometown. Again, I want to reiterate that this was an enjoyable read, but there are also aspects that just didn’t land the way they were intended, at least not for me.

I tried so hard to like this.
It just felt so unfinished. The dialogue drove me insane and read so badly. A lot of the narrative was quite good, but then descriptors like "mansplaining" or "Canadianishly" would be thrown in and I very almost put the book down. Also, I feel like the author was adding words in that sounded impressive but actually made no sense in context. There's a specific word that's used to describe a pillar of smoke which actually describes something to do with calligraphy. Using words to make a sentence seem more impressive are fine as long as they make sense.
It had potential, but I just couldn't gel with it.

Overall, I love the concept of the book and think it’s a cozy fall read! My main struggle getting into the book was that it took too long for us to dive into the main problem of the book. It just felt like it was trying to emulate Gilmore girls but there was no main conflict for a while. I forgot entirely about that plot line because there wasn’t a big focus on it. I also thought this was a YA book because it felt so young, but there was spice and cursing. If this IS an adult book, I think we can go further with the adult humor and spice. If it is YA, we can take those back even more. It just felt like a weird in between book and I couldn’t quite place what audience is being reached with this one. The main romance, although I think it is meant to be a side plot, lacked depth or care. I completely forgot about that plot line as well and didn’t care too much. In the end, I did enjoy my time, however I just felt like it was chaotic trying to read this book. I’d be interested to read another book by the author! 2.5/5 but I’m rounding up to 3!

I absolutely devoured this book! If you are a fan of Gilmore Girls and identify as "an autumn," this book is for you. This book follows Scarlett, the middle daughter in a family of witches, who lives in an Inn (that reminds me a lot of the Dragonfly Inn). Scarlett is called home to Oak Haven from San Fran to help save the town and restore the magic. There are a lot of twists and turns and magic mishaps along the way, and you'll just have to read to find out what happens. And in the joy of being from a small town, Scarlett comes face to face with her old friend, and potential love, Nate. I loved the slow burn between the two. However, I could have done well with a little less indecisiveness from Scarlett. Overall, the vibes of this book were just what I was looking for- cozy, fall, love, magic, small town. If that is the kind of book you're looking for this crisp spooky season, this is the one for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for a free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I really liked this book, I think it was an enjoyable silly, fun fall read. This was a bit of a palette cleanser for me after reading some denser high fantasies, so I appreciated I was able to get through this book on vibes alone. Scarlett felt a bit immature especially at the start, I didn't understand why she didn't expect that people had changed in the 10 years since she left, but was also confused people were upset with her for not having contact/visiting in 10 years. Aside from the rocky start, I think the book improved once it found it's rhythm.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

This is exactly as described - a perfect mixture of Gilmore Girls and a little witchiness, with just a dash of second-chance romance and yearning. This is the perfect book to curl up with in the summer - though it felt like sometimes the plot meandered a bit (I was particularly annoyed at the magician in this book from the get-go, just bad vibes I guess?) I felt like this book somehow captured coziness - even if it was a bit in your face about it. Perfect fall read!

Thank you to NetGalley and to Avon UK for sending me an early copy of this book. Although I did love all the witchy and fall vibes, this one fell a little short for me. The writing seemed a little chaotic and some parts of the story were not easy to follow. The plot of the story had a lot of potential, but this one was not for me.

“Impractical Magic” by Emily Grimoire was, unfortunately, not my cup of tea.

As advertised, I found the story to have very fun, whimsical and witchy vibes.✨”Magic isn’t something you do… [it’s] something you are”✨

However, the plot never really “hooked” me and I struggled to get invested in the story. I found myself getting bored of how much backstory was being set up (up until around the 35% mark) before the action actually began. Honestly, I think this (the pacing) may have been the biggest factor in how difficult it was for me to want to continue reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am super excited for this book to come out! I will be picking it up on the publication date to support the author. I love the premise of witches and who doesn't love a good story about magic going astray? especially when the only one to help is the old flame; sign me up!

This debut had a lot of great starts. If you’re looking for a witchy fall book with cozy vibes and small-town charm, this is a cute and fast read that will deliver on those things.

Where it fell flat for me was the writing. I’m honestly still not sure if this was written by a person or by AI. But it felt very much like a first draft that had not found its voice. It read like it was written someone who had only experienced American culture through media, but the author is apparently a US native. A few more round of edits would have helped this story be told in the way it deserves to be. I hope this author finds a better editor moving forward because she had great ideas, I just don’t think they were nurtured enough.