I was so excited to read this book, a prequel to Practical Magic that follows the Owens siblings through to adulthood. A subject very close to my heart this book didn't disappoint. A perfect October/Halloween read! I loved it!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for my advance copy in return for an honest review.

I am so excited to tell you about THE RULES OF MAGIC by Alice Hoffman. I watched Practical Magic years ago and loved the story. I only recently found out it was based on a book when I saw a review for it on Avalinah’s Books. It was then that I decided to request this book. Of course I want more of the Owen’s family. I want to know all their secrets and see if their origins give any hint to where they end up (in the movie, I have yet to read the book).

This story follows siblings Frannie, Jet (Bridgette), and Vincent as they come of age in the 1960s and into their own. The story starts with the Owen’s siblings visiting their aunt in Massachusetts. There they learn more about their unique gifts and why their mother, Susanna, had them follow what they thought were superstitions. It turns out that all of the Owens are gifted with Magic and it is in their aunt’s home that they learn the real reasons for the rules their mother imposed on them.

Susanna’s Rules for Her Children:

Harm none
Never fall in love
No walking in the moonlight
No red shoes
No wearing black
No cats
No crows
No candles
No books about magic

Some of the siblings go on to find out more about their own strengths, while others go on to break every rule. The first rule makes sense, but the rule about never falling in love is nearly impossible for all of them to follow. The Owen’s family has been cursed since 1620 when their ancestor Maria Owens swore off love after being scorned by the man she loved. Ever since then ever Owens that has fallen in love has lost that love to tragic circumstances.

The foundation for this book is the three siblings and indeed, the story follows them into old age as they deal with their fates and come to terms with their losses. Each of them comes to understand that they can’t hide from who they truly are, although some take much longer than others to realize this. Each sibling has a different temperament and natural magic ability, but they all end up practicing magic.

I enjoyed getting the know the whole family. There are a few key side characters that aid the siblings, and they were all worth knowing well. I admit to being anxious to see where the girls from Practical Magic came in and I was completely satisfied with their placement in this book.This story is mainly about the aunt in Practical Magic and it explains their parentage.

This story is told in 3rd person which left me feeling like a voyeuristic outsider, but I still really enjoyed this story. I think a story like this really needed to be told in that way lest we loose track trying to imagine their emotions as they deal with what life hands these siblings. Although this did make really connecting with the characters a bit difficult for me. I almost wish each character could have their own book because they are all so very interesting.

I also has a bit of an issue with this story. View Spoiler »

Their magic plays a part in this story but it isn’t used a crutch to move the story forward. The story’s pacing was beautiful. I loved that we covered so much time and that the story really focused on the most important parts of these character’s lives. I am so happy with the ending of this story because I know that the Owen’s story does continue with Sally and Gillian.

I would highly recommend this to readers who enjoy a good story about family and magical realism. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

I have always loved Alice Hoffman and this was classic! A prequel to Practical Magic, the novel delves into the storyline of the aunts, Frances, Jet, and bother, Vincent. The family, of course, has been cursed because of witches in their past and each of the children has abilities beyond the normal--some good and some bad. They've been warned not to fall in love as only evil will befall the loved one, but who can resist the lure of love? So we are drawn into their lives as well as the lives of their quirky Aunt Isabel and cousin, April. Magical realism has never really been my thing, but as usual, Hoffman's writing is so lyrical and rich that I can't help but believe everything she writes. Beautifully woven story and characters that are warm and tender. One can't help but want this magic in your life!

The storyline was entertaining and Ms. Hoffman’s writing is beautiful, as always. I enjoyed this book.

I enjoyed Practical Magic years ago, so I was excited to read the prequel, The Rules of Magic. It’s wonderful as a stand alone, but having seen the movie Practical Magic, I had a vision of the family home in Massachusetts and how the relatives might look and dress.

In The Rules of Magic, readers are introduced to Franny, Jet and Vincent Owens. The three siblings are close in age and all share special gifts, such as reading people’s thoughts and being unable to sink in water. They descend from a long line of Owens witches and are avoided by most people in the community.

This is more or less a coming of age story of the siblings, but it also follows them into their adult lives as they discover who they are and the importance of being true to themselves.

This is a wonderful October/Halloween read with witches and curses that are presented in a light-hearted way. After I finished reading, I had an overwhelming urge to watch Practical Magic--again!

I would like to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

*I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

Alice Hoffman has always been one of my go-to authors. Her use of magic realism is how I came to love my favorite genre. When I heard about this book last year, I couldn't contain my excitement.

The thing that I love most about this book is that you don't have to read Practical Magic in order to understand the plot. While I try to watch the movie every year, it's been a long time since I've actually picked up the book.

Hoffman does a fantastic job of creating characters that are both vivid and old friends. The three Owens siblings--Franny, Jet, and Vincent--are the most interesting group of young witches in a long time. Each one has his or her own distinct personality, and that makes you love them even more. Their trials and tribulations make you wish for happy endings and love for each.

The book takes us through the interesting decade of the 1960s, where free love and social justice was rampant but often came with a deadly price. The author intricately wove the plot into history to create wonderful piece of work. I loved the chaotic scenery of Central Park and the whimsical Owens family home. One of my favorite additions was definitely the animals.

This is a book that has just enough magic in it to be perfect for fall.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for letting me read an ARC of this book to review!
I absolutely love the book Practical Magic -- It was one of the first books that got me back into reading after college & graduate school, so to say I was thrilled by the prospect of a prequel would be an understatement. The Aunts were intriguing characters, to say the least, so I couldn't wait to learn their history.
I love backstory & knowing how characters got to be who they are, and this book fits that bill exactly. We follow Franny, Jet, and their brother Vincent as they come of age in the Sixties. They have to contend with all of the regular travails of growing up, but also the family legacy and the family curse.
This book is about so much more than just magic -- It's about growing up and learning to be true to who you are, something I am definitely still learning.

I received an ARC of this ebook, from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first novel I've read by Alice Hoffman and I was absolutely enchanted. The story, which can no doubt be considered the prequel to the well-known Practical Magic unfolds beautifully. Each character offered something to love/hate, at any given moment, but you were able to watch each one grow and contort into full-fledged adults with very real practicalities about life and love.

Having never read Practical Magic, I thought I might feel lost, or disconnected from the story, but that was not the case. This novel is every bit as good as a stand-alone, whether you ever find a reason or want to read it's predecessor. If anything, the reading of this may inspire many to seek out the other.

What I loved most about reading The Rules of Magic was the way each character developed as they blossomed from children into adulthood: in love, in loss, and in tragedy, you could see how every one of them changed. Each experience, for better or worse, marked them and changed their philosophy about how they should live and what is most important.

And while you felt their pain, with each successive emotional (and physical) challenge, as individuals, you also understood their triumphs.

Jet was by far my favorite character in the story. She endured so much and had the most reason to be made bitter by life's unfairness. Yet, she made the decision to continue to live a life based on her own terms, centered around its goodness. She remained bruised, but never broken, and her decision to do so, in light of all she went through, took an unspeakable amount of courage.

Franny and Vincent were interesting, but I liked them considerably less. That said, they offer much in the way of learning how often we all tend to pass judgment and offer intolerance, as opposed to acceptance.

Even so, in my opinion, because each appeared to be utterly self-serving in their pursuits of living a life worthy of contentment, they left much in the way of collateral damage. That was tough to watch and left me unsympathetic to their pain much of the time.

Having said all that, however, each of their journeys was fascinating because evolution-even when it is born of unexpected circumstances-is always expected. Each character evolved in his/her own way and, eventually, don't we all?

I truly enjoyed this book.

In a time when humanity seems to be lacking, in the real world, it's always lovely to escape into one where it can so skillfully exist.

Great read.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2131029306

A little out of my comfort zone, the Owens family current generation highlighted in this book is made up of three siblings who are each trying to figure out who they are. With magic abilities running through their blood, trying to figure oneself out may be a little harder. AND then throw in a curse!

I don't tend to read books with magic, but when I saw a release date of 10/10 and I am trying to push myself out of my comfort zone again and again, I decided to try this one out. It had the right amount of magic where the characters were still human, but they all had great abilities where they could see the future or see things in other people, but at the end of the day the weren't floating around which made me enjoy this more than most books with fantasy and magic.

I loved at the heart of the story was family. I love a good family drama, so with the foundation of the book being a family dealing with pain and tragedy and maybe a dash of a family curse. I was so glad to read a book with magic with a male in the family with abilities. I don't read a lot of books with magic and witches, but I still feel like every time witches are mentioned it is a female connotation, so I enjoyed some male witch action.

I have only read one other Alice Hoffman book and I two-starred that one, so I may need a suggestion or two of where to go from here with Alice Hoffman.

One of my favorite authors is back and I could not wait to get my hands on her latest, due out November 10 (thank you Net Galley for the advanced copy!). While I loved The Musuem of Extraordinary Things and The Marriage of Opposites, The Dovekeepers of 2011 remains my favorite due to its setting in biblical times and the extraordinary four women who tell the story of the Masada. In Hoffman's latest venture, she returns to the world of one of her earliest works, Practical Magic, and the Owens family of witches. Thanks to the long-ago Salem witch trials, the intermingling of two families, and a dark curse that hangs over the Owens' head every generation, falling in love can be a deadly prospect. The three Owens children, Fran, Jet, and Vincent, are each highly unique. Hoffman uses magical realism in a delightful way, with mischievous happenings, some humor, and then some dark magic thrown in as well. I was mesmerized by this story - it is what I call a 'delicious' read that will keep you entertained until the very last page.

Another well written tale by this author, who adds magic to every story. This one I couldn't put down. it was very absorbing/

To be in the world of the Owens' is to be a world of wonder and wonderful warmth. I love all the characters and their twisting plotlines surrounded by magic. Alice Hoffman has done it again creating a world i can get lost in

I'm rounding up from 3.5--a lyrical story of three siblings who are born with magical powers and a curse. Despite the length, I didn't find the characters that well developed. Their stories were poignant and while the book started slowly, the pace quickened in the later parts. I have not read Practical Magic. The book is well written. Story intriguing but somehow a bit superficial. Some of the material about witches felt discordant from the story. Ultimately, I never did understand the curse, I found the siblings interesting but ultimately a bit under developed and opaque other than their physical descriptions. A pleasant book.

I'm a fan of Hoffman, most of the time, and this turned out to be one of the times I can give her a total thumbs up. I haven't read Practical Magic (which this is a prequel to), but I watched the film, so I had a smidgen of an idea about the storyline. I really enjoyed the characters in this one, though once in a while, some of the twists felt very token. However, it was well written, well paced, and I read through it quickly, which indicates to me that it was engaging. Fans of magic stories, sister stories, and good writing will enjoy.

I have a love/hate relationship with Alice Hoffman books. I always love her writing. So lyrical and engaging. But her stories aren't always my favorite. I am happy to say that this is one big A plus! I had not read Practical Magic, or even seen the movie. But luckily that did not matter. This book stands alone. Now I need to read Practical Magic and see what happens next. I am hooked.

Classic Alice Hoffman, engaging and sharp from the get go. Stands alone as the prequel to Practical Magic.

Loved loved loved this book! I would recommend it to anyone! For an in depth review, you can visit my website! https://spicesandbooksblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/28/the-best-book-you-could-read-this-fall-the-rules-of-magic-by-alice-hoffman/

Everything I love about Alice Hoffman is in this book. And more time with the Owens family was a great treat. For lack of a better word, magic.

Free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

MY REVIEW:

Last year I read and reviewed Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic on my blog. As much as I enjoyed the read overall, I remember that my one disappointment was that I really wanted to know more about Sally and Gillian’s aunts. The aunts just always seemed to pop up out of nowhere whenever they were needed and were just so mysterious and intriguing, even though they were only secondary characters. At times I actually found myself more interested in the aunts than in Sally and Gillian. I had no idea at the time I was writing about my thoughts on Practical Magic that Hoffman was already actively writing a prequel to Practical Magic that would give me exactly what I wanted, a back story for those two aunts. There was actual flailing on my part as soon as I heard about The Rules of Magic and I was truly over the moon when Simon and Schuster provided me with an advance review copy.

So did The Rules of Magic live up to my expectations? YES! It was everything I wanted it to be and even more. Memorable and loveable characters, gorgeous storytelling, and exquisite prose, The Rules of Magic truly has it all!

The Rules of Magic follows the Owens children, Franny, Jet, and Vincent as they are growing up in 1960’s New York City. Their mother, Susanna, knows that her children are unusual, perhaps even dangerously so. To keep them from drawing unnecessary and unwanted attention to themselves, Susanna has a list of rules that she insists they follow at all times: no walking in the moonlight, no cats, no crows, no wearing black, no red shoes, and no books about magic. And the most important rule of all, never ever fall in love. That last rule dates all the way back to 1620, when their ancestor Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man. Ever since then, love has been a curse for the Owens family. Susanna fights so hard to protect them from the curse because she herself has been a victim of it.

No matter how much Susanna tries to shield them, however, Franny, Jet, and Vincent soon begin to realize how different they really are and want to know more about themselves and about their family history. Franny discovers that she can communicate with birds, Jet realizes that she can read other people’s thoughts, and Vincent finds he is able to charm anyone and everyone around him without even trying and sometimes whether he wants to or not. They secretly begin to experiment more to see what other special powers they may have. A trip to the town in Massachusetts where Maria Owens was charged with witchery leads the children to uncover old family secrets and thus to begin to understand the truth of who they really are. Once they return to New York City, each of them begins their own potentially dangerous journey of self discovery. They also learn that there is no way they can escape love and so must determine if there is a way to escape the family curse so that they aren’t doomed to be alone.

The Rules of Magic is a beautiful, heartwarming and, at times, heartbreaking story of family, love, loss, acceptance, and finding oneself.

LIKES

The Characters. Franny, Jet, and Vincent are just such wonderfully drawn characters. I fell in love with them immediately. Not only were they fascinating characters individually, but I also adored their sibling bond. They’re all so loyal and protective of each other. Watching Franny and Jet, in particular, and just knowing they would grow up to be the aunts in Practical Magic was just thrilling and made what was already a beautiful journey even more captivating. I don’t want to give away any details about their individual journeys, but I’ll just say that Hoffman is a master storyteller and each journey is equally compelling and unique because each of the children feels differently about what their family history means and what their own powers mean. I was so invested in each of them and hoping they would find a way to have everything they want. When they were happy, I was right there cheering for them, and when they experienced tragedy, I grieved right alongside them.

Hoffman’s Prose. Every time I read one of Alice Hoffman’s books, my immediate thought is “Man, I wish I could write like she does.” And this book was no exception. In fact, I was even more enamored than ever before by her writing. Her prose is truly exquisite and even though I hate to sound cliché, it’s spellbinding. The words just flow so smoothly and naturally and yet read like poetry all at the same time. The Rules of Magic, in particular, is full of colors, smells, sounds, and beautiful images. I felt like all of my senses were engaged the entire time I was reading.

The Setting. We travel many places during the course of this novel – 1960’s New York, Massachusetts, and even Paris – and Hoffman captures the atmosphere of each location perfectly. I especially loved the way she captured the lower Manhattan area and gave it such a forbidden, taboo quality. Equally fascinating was taking us to the street in Massachusetts where the aunts lived in Practical Magic and showing how the Owens history permeates that entire area. I also thought it was fabulous how Hoffman incorporates details from the Salem Witch Trials into her narrative, and especially her inclusion of John Hathorne, who was an actual judge during those trials.

Works Perfectly as a Standalone. Even though this is technically a prequel of Practical Magic, the way Hoffman has written it, you don’t need to have read Practical Magic to enjoy The Rules of Magic. Hoffman does a beautiful job of inserting some subtle nods to Practical Magic, which gave me a few OMG, YAY! nostalgic moments as I was reading, but The Rules of Magic is a beautiful story in its own right even without any ties to the other novel.

I could go on for days about all of the things I adored about this book, so I’m just going to stop now before I give away all of the important details, haha.

DISLIKES/ISSUES

None at all. For me, The Rules of Magic is about as perfect as it gets. It will definitely be on my list of favorite reads for 2017.

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you love stories about magic and witches, this is your book. If you enjoy books about love, family, and finding oneself, this is your book. And by all means, if you loved Practical Magic, you’re going to want to read The Rules of Magic. It’s the prequel you probably didn’t even know you needed in your life. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

RATING: 5 STARS

Practical Magic is one of my favorite films ever, but I will talk about that later this month. To be completely honest, I wasn't sure about The Rules of Magic. I didn't enjoy the first book, Practical Magic, and I thought it would be the same for this one. But my love for the film is still strong and I was curious. So I decided to try it out. This is a prequel, so it tells the story of Aunt Frances and Jet (and their brother Vincent).

At first, I was sure I wasn't going to like it, but I decided to keep on reading. And you know what? I ended up really enjoying The Rules of Magic. It's not my favorite book ever, but I think Alice Hoffman's writing is gorgeous and despite feeling like the story has some wasted potential, the book started off pretty bland for me but progressed into a beautiful tale. And I guess I love it when stories connect together (think it like watching Rogue One and knowing how A New Hope begins), so overall it was a positive experience for me.

Still, when I'm reading a book about witches, I want more magic, I want more spells. Because I've always felt that despite certain elements, these stories could be about ordinary families too. And believe me, I have nothing against that, I love family dramas. But witches are more fun.