Magic Lessons is the book that Alice Hoffman and Owen's family fans have been waiting for. I enjoyed the story tremendously, Beautiful, emotional, and engaging it was my favorite book of the year. The Owens family curse is, in a sense, generational trauma being passed down and we get to see the core of the story. This book has a strong narrative that feels very personal and a beautiful descriptive tone that Hoffman masters.

Dark and twisted and emotional and well written! Hoffman just keeps getting better with each prequel, making the Owens family's stories a delight to read.

This is a great beginning to the Practical Magic series. The story line contains a great mixture of reality, magic, and history. There are alluring lessons in seeking love, coping with struggles of everyday life, and dealing with loss. The characters are strong and resilient. The beginning was a little slower than the author’s other books I’ve read, but the middle picked up speed. The ending was fantastic and more of the Alice Hoffman style I’m accustomed to and as always, leaving you wanting more. Well done.

I think I just really wanted a happier story for Maria Owens. This one dragged and was just so sad when her story was sad enough.

A great addition to the Practical Magic series. This one moves slower and seems more deliberate, but it is no less interesting!

Magic Lessons brings the Practical Magic series full circle, as it chronicles the beginning of the Owens bloodline. Maria Owens begins her life, left by her mother in a field, which thus starts a series of abandonments, both deliberate and unexpected. Taught the Nameless Arts at a young age, will Maria learn how to channel her growing power and not travel down a dark path?

Although I did not find the middle of the book to be compelling nor unexpected, I did enjoy the fact that Magic Lessons brings the series in line with the former novels. There are historical facts and tidbits scattered throughout the book, especially regarding New England and the treatment of those different from others. I liked how the author did not go straight to the expected, namely the Salem witch trials, but instead weaved the characters into the historical framework.

Overall, those looking to complete the Practical Magic series will enjoy how Magic Lessons fits into world created by Alice Hoffman. I definitely did not feel as though I wasted my time, but the book did travel down a more familiar path than I was hoping.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Magic Lessons by NetGalley and the publisher, Simon & Schuster. The decision to review this book was entirely my own.

I love the work of Alice Hoffman but this novel is a treat, in particular for those readers who are a fan of Practical Magic. The book is alight with magic but had a story heavy enough to keep us grounded.

Maria is abandoned by her mother and soon found by the kindly town herbal lady, Hannah Owens. Seeing that Maria is a natural witch, Hannah tries to teach her how to teach her how to use her gifts to help people. That is until Hannah is hunted down and Maria forced to run for her life. She starts a journey towards her birth mother, the American colonies, and maybe even, love.
Alice Hoffman has finally revisited the world of the wildly popular Practical Magic with a prequel. Magic Lessons gives the readers a detailed background of the Owens family and the family curse that is subject in the following books. Those that have read the previously published books will be excited to read Magic Lessons. It is enjoyable for readers to recognize themes that will come up in later books. It is undoubtedly the beginning of a cohesive narrative that leads to The Rules of Magic, Practical Magic, and, soon to be published, The Book of Magic... I recommend this book for fans of Magical Realism and eagerly look forward to the next book.
#NetGalley

Another Great book by Alice Hoffman! I love how she makes you part of the book by getting me emotionally involved with her characters. Reason why she is one of my favorite authors!

I feel like I always want to like this authors books because so many of my friends do, but I just can't get into them. I've tried a few and find myself in the same spot so I think I'll just move on and read authors/books I know I will enjoy. Thank you for the opportunuty yo try again!

LOVE! This is the origin story of Maria Owens, the matriarch of the witches we know in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic. Anything would be a spoiler. Know it's a very compelling story with lots of NY and Salem Mass history, filled with love, family, compassion, pain and redemption. So thoroughly enjoyable.

Where do you start when looking for an origin story that'll stay with you for a while? You look for Alice Hoffman to tell the story of Salem and curses and a tale of the Owens that span centuries back to the begin. Fans of Practical Magic rejoice.

Magic Lessons is the prequel to the practical magic series by Alice Hoffman. It is the story of Maria Owens, the matriarch of the Owens clan, and where the story begins.
For readers of Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic, Maria is a well-known and well-referenced legend in the Owens family but now her story is told in Magic Lessons.
Maria Owens was abandoned as a baby in a snowy field in rural England in the 1600s. Raised by the local "healer" Hannah Owens, Maria learns many lesson and the "Nameless Arts". Hannah is wise and loves Maria as her own. She knows that Maria is blessed with other abilities that could be used in the wrong way which Maria is reminded on many times throughout her childhood.
Hannah's most important lesson is one that all of the Owens clan come to recognize as the lesson they don't always adhere or listen to which is, "Always love someone who will love you back."
Maria's story takes her from rural England to indentured servitude in Curacao to Salem, Massachusetts which is not necessarily the place to be for a woman like Maria in the 1600s.
But it is if you are in search of the man you loved that left you with a young baby to raise all alone. Maria and baby Faith's journey is filled with peril and betrayal. But the journey is also filled with joy and love.
Hoffman's story of Maria and Faith is one of true magic and love. It is one of learning and overcoming the darkness that exists in the hearts and minds of people who are prejudiced and judgemental.
Alice Hoffman is a brilliant writer and her books are one that should be savored for the beautiful language and story-telling.
Roy T. Bennett once said, "Believe in your heart that you're meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles." Alice Hoffman, I believe, follows this doctrine. Magic Lessons is a thought-provoking tale that was written by the passionate, purposeful, magical, and miraculous writer Alice Hoffman.
I received an advance copy from NetGalley. #NetGalley #MagicLessons

The movie adaptation of Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic was released in 1998 and it's become one of those movies that I will watch any time I come across it playing on t.v. I have yet to pick up that book; why I don't know. But when Hoffman released the prequel, The Rules of Magic, I was quick to grab that up (my review here) and I was charmed. So, of course, it stood to reason that it was a given that I would read this book, which is a prequel to a prequel. If you've never read any of the books, you might as well start with this one and work your way from 1664 to the 1990's, rather than as they books were written.

When I wrote my review of The Rules of Magic, I noted that even though the book was about witches and curses it felt much more like a book about families than about magic. This book feels more centered around magic, largely because it is set just after the witch hunts in Europe and during the witch hunts in the Americas. Still, at its heart, this is also a book family and even more about love. And while there is straight up magic in the story, much of what is considered by others in the book would be what we now consider homeopathic medicine - using what Mother Nature has given us to heal ourselves.

As with The Rules of Magic, this book can drag on too long in places and frequently felt repetitive (yes, yes, I get it Ms. Hoffman, familiars have to pick their people). And having read these book in reverse, I was struck by how the ending of this book didn't jive with an impression I got about the way the Owens women were perceived in the community in the later books.

Still, Hoffman pulled me into the story from the beginning, with Maria's life being upturned, to Curacao, where Maria first meets James Hathorn who will turn out not to be the man he appeared to be, to Salem then New York and back to Salem. We learn to listen to our inner voices (even if it takes Maria a good long while to do that), that revenge never bring happiness, that there are some bonds that can never be broken, and that you should always love someone who will love you back.

I am a firm believer that anything Alice Hoffman writes turns to magic. She has a true gift for storytelling and weaving the most incredible stories. This one will stay in my heart for a long time.

Alice Hoffman has created another wonderful book. The story has many life lessons, a collection of amazing characters and family connections. I look forward reading the rest of the series.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Good book but felt more rushed than other Alice Hoffman books that I had previously read. I really like the exploration of Maria Owens and getting to hear the story of the first "Owens" woman in the new world, but I felt that the character wasn't as descriptive as the sisters in Practical Magic.

As a ginormous fan of Hoffman, I was over the moon to hear about this prequel. Practical Magic was a story that I fell in love with 20 years ago and it has stuck with me ever since.

Maria Owens is adopted by Hannah Owens as a babe, as Hannah can tell that Maria is a born witch like herself. The women grow together, Hannah teaching Maria her magic. Maria coming into her own meets John Hawthorne and falls in love, becoming pregnant. She flees England and goes to the New World, seeking acceptance and looking for her child's father. However, once there, Maria learns one of many lessons along the way that she and her daughter, Faith must master in the New World. Magic is not omniscient and only real love wins.

I could a write a thesis about how masterfully Hoffman delved back into this world. The little asides to herbal remedies to maladies to details of physical space and people that deeply bring the reader into a sense of story. There was almost a sense of a slow burn build at the beginning. I was a little worried that the story was going to have Hannah as the main vehicle, eventually switching to Maria. I'm happy I was wrong. Not that I think Hannah wouldn't have worked as a vehicle with more development. Maria is who is mentioned in Practical Magic as the ancestor everyone descends from. It just felt right considering.

The way the story built with Faith was fascinating. I'm not sure now how I missed Martha figuring how about iron. I've thought about it a little more. The only thing I can thing is Maria must have mentioned it to her when Martha visited her in jail and I just missed it. The thing that baffles me about the iron with Faith is how it kept Maria solidly at bay for five years. I mean, that there was never a single moment of slip up. Even as Faith got older and Martha would have had to to get bigger bracelets for her. There had to have been a time. I know it's a foil in the story and it was needed for the ending. But it just wrinkles me a little. I want to believe. But it's difficult.

Beyond this, I was a little mystified with Samuel's death. I think the biggest issue comes through in how the curse is described in Practical Magic. It's because of Maria that the women have trouble finding love and their love surviving. She had heart her broken by John Hawthorne and she was betrayed hence the curse. As such, the beetle shows up and will steal their love away. Yet, by the end of this book, Samuel survives and defies the curse needing to be in existence. I think I'm being kind of stubborn about this because I feel like the Owens sisters would have known the true love loophole about Samuel and known that part of the story. It's difficult because it's rewriting some of the families lore. I can accept it as the book itself now. I guess it kind of throws the curse up in the air for Practical Magic. Thank you magical realism?

I think it's just a tip of the hat to Hoffman that I'm still working this through my brain a week plus later after I read the book. I'm trying to work it through and figure out a way for it to be okay! I believe these stories appeal because it's magic, but it's also family history and it tells such a mixture of a compelling life of both. Our/Others family origins are always the best stories.

Thank you so much for this. I will always enjoy Hoffman's works and this was no exception. I look forward to the next!

Nothing makes a person feel immersed like a good Alice Hoffman novel and MAGIC LESSONS delivers. For fans of the series, Magic Lessons takes the reader back to the very beginning of the Owens family legacy and walks through the origins of the curse during the 1600’s. The novel is magical with well developed characters, exciting plot twists, and so much power. It starts a little slow and takes a while to get into but once you do, you will want to shut down all distractions and get to the end. I did not know that there is one more book in this series coming out later this year so the end of this novel sets up the beginning of that one very well. I am going to read the rest again in order before it comes out.

This novel traces a curse to its beginnings. Maria Owens was left by her mother as a baby and taken into the home of Hannah Owens. As Maria grew up, Hannah realizes that Maria has a gift with the “unnamed arts”.

Maria falls in love with a married man from Boston and ends up pregnant with his child. She chases after him but he does not love her or their child. Maria invokes a curse that will effect the Owens women for generations to come.

I have not read Practical Magic or seen the movie so I went into this book completely blind. I really enjoy Hoffman’s writing style and her lyrical descriptions. I found this story interesting and it has caused me to add the rest of the series to my reading list.

I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion