I love a witchy book, and this one was really fun! It's full of magic, feuding families, and mystery. I love the multiple points of views and storylines. And the writing is excellent.

There are a lot of characters, and at the beginning, I did find it a bit difficult to keep track of who was who and how they were all connected. And there were a few details that I wish had a bit more clarification. But overall I enjoyed this book and would read future books by this author.

📖Book: In the Shadow Garden
⭐️Rating: 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️*
✍🏼Author: Liz Parker
📚Genre: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
🗏 Pages: 336
⚠️Warnings: Alcoholism, Domestic Abuse, Child Abuse, Cheating, Death of a Parent
🔖Readability: 2/5 - All Flashbacks are in italic font but with short chapters- Audiobook highly suggested for this one
✍🏼First Line: Yarrow, Kentucky, was big enough that you didn't know everyone but small enough that it felt like everyone knew you.

What to expect:
🐞Multiple POV
🪄A Garden That Can Take Away Pain
🥂Bourdon That Can Take Away Memories
💀A Mystery of one Summer
🫖Tealeaf Readings
❤️Multiple generations of Badass Women
🐌The Garden is a Character

Would you willingly give up your memories?

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind meets Practical Magic with elements of Taylor Swift Evermore in Liz Parkers' magnificent debut in the Shadow Garden. In Yarrow, Kentucky, magic runs deep within the soil. There you can find three generations of empathic witches who are known for their magical abilities to take away your pain, a local distillery that creates bourdon that can remove your memories, a mystery of murder, another man disappearing, and the entire town agreeing to ease their memories of one summer. Generation feuds, a magical garden, tea leaf readings, mysterious bourdon, where a forbidden romance and a 20-year-old secret threaten to unravel everything, in the Shadow Garden hits all the boxes.

Liz Parker tells the story of pain and suffering in one of the most elegant ways. The magical realism of the shadow garden taking away pain and growing it into something beautiful was an excellent theme throughout the story. In life, sometimes we are handed cards that aren't always the best, but it is how we play them and create beauty from them that matters. Liz told this theme with a side of mystery and romance in what I will be calling my favorite read of the year. Not only is the story unputdownable and beautifully written, but it shows growth in healing through gardening, which is real-life magic and makes me truly believe that it might exist. If you are a lover of magical realism, Alice Hoffman, Jessica Clare, or the movie Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind, you will love this novel and debut by Liz Parker. She is now an auto-buy author for me. In the Shadow, Garden comes to a bookstore near you this September 13, 2022. You won't want to miss this. Pre-order now.

* I normally take away an entire star if the book isn't accessible to everyone and showcases font that might be difficult for others to read. However, this gets an extra star for being one of my favorite books of the year, therefore making it a five-star book.

I really REALLY loved this magical book! Generational feuds, a magical garden that eats pain, and mysterious bourbon come together for an incredibly entertaining read. It was a light, easy read but also somehow accomplished such depth and emotion. It was also thought-provoking and made me really consider if I would give up my painful memories if the opportunity presented itself.

This book is a captivating and beautiful page-turner. I highly recommend it!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to review this book!

Wonderful read. My witchy readers will enjoy it, as well as those just looking for a great read. I most enjoyed the setting and the steeped in history. The characters were memorable and I enjoyed every word!

I loved this book! I love books about witches! I highly recommend this book! Thank you to Net Galley for letting me read this book!

A good pallet cleanser. Perfect for people who love cozy mysteries (although i don't believe this is supposed to be a cozy but it definitely felt like one to me!) or if you want a light Practical Magic vibe. I didn't find much depth in this book but I think that's exactly why I enjoyed it. Its definitely a book you can read quickly between heavier books or at the beach. I would definitely recommend this as a great summer read!

The family drama between the two families was beautiful and easy to relate to. I loved the magic of the garden and the tea leaf readings (actually inspired me to start learning how to read leaves). It was magic in the form of words and the story was everything I needed. Thank you!

I got heavy practical magic vibes and I’m not mad about it. I loved the sisters and the small town charm. This will be the perfect book to pick up this fall!

In the Shadow Garden: Yarrow, Kentucky is home of Bonner Bourbon and the Haywood Shadow Garden; it is also home to a major feud between the Bonner family and the Haywood family. Three generations of Haywood women use their magic to help ease people’s pain - feeding the pain to their Shadow Garden in return for bountiful fruits, vegetables, and herbs. The Bonners use their bourbon to help the town forget – literally! One night every summer, the people in town can give up their worst memories by drinking a shot of Bonner bourbon.

When Kaden Bonner returns home after being away for over 20 years, he is surprised to realize that not only does he have gaps in his memory, but so does the entire town. These gaps are so wide that no one remembers what happened the summer he left town (including a murder) and most people do not even remember he existed. Kaden joins forces with the Haywoods to figure out what happened that fateful summer.

This was a magical mystery that mostly held my attention until the end. I did not feel particularly connected to any of the characters and I did not really like the way the magic happened, but this did not significantly impact my reading of the book. It took a while for the mystery to unfold, and I did find myself getting a bit bored, but stuck with it anyway. There were some writing-style issues that bothered me, but again, nothing that made me want to stop reading. The main romance is between two older characters, which was a welcome change to the typical young love stories.

Overall, this was a fun fantasy to read, but nothing earth-shattering. Thank you Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an eARC.

This didn't work for me. I have trouble connecting with stories that have a different character's perspective for every chapter. I lost interest too quickly, slow paced, and background narration thrown way too quick into the book to have me hold on.

Magical from beginning to end! Nature/Earth magic, lost love, found love, secrets abound - small town politics and long histories with layers of deception and manipulation - and the love of family and friends around the shadow garden and the magic of the long-standing family that nurtures it. A true delight!

For the most part I really enjoyed this book. I read Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe a few months ago and it gave me those same kind of vibes so if you enjoyed that, I would definitely recommend that. I loved the way the story went back and forth. It was a little hard to keep the characters and their relation to each other straight in the beginning, but I was eventually able to figure it out. I've leaving a 4 star review on Netgalley, but my true rating is a 3.5. As much as I enjoyed this book, there are a few things that have been bothering me since I read it. I understand that with fiction, and magical fiction especially, there has to be some suspension of belief but I really struggled with two things. 1. Addison seemed very clueless for a MC. In a vague explanation, at one point she interprets the leaves as "truth used as a weapon". She is then presented with a truth and not once does she stop to think, "is this the weapon my tea leaves warned me about?". At times it felt like Addison read the leaves, they said a tornado was coming and she thought, what a wonderful day to go fly a kite! I just wanted to grab her and give her a good shaking a couple of times. The second thing was, if I recall correctly, Addison is 26 years old. Addison was conceived the year the town lost their memory. In 26 years Addison never questioned who her father was? Irene never once thought, why don't I remember who the father of my child is? It just seemed like a big thing to be so nonchalant over. Even days after reading, that's still nagging on me. I would like to restate though, I definitely recommend this book! I don't think those flaws should take away the joy of this novel. What a wonderful debut novel! I hope to see more from Ms. Parker.

This book was incredibly beautiful. Truly a work of art. In her authors note she says to write what you know and imagines a garden that can ease and thrive on pain. Gardening and caring for plants is truly a type of therapy and I felt that throughout this story. I loved how there were multiple povs throughout the generations of women. I also absolutely loved the tea leaf readings and found myself drinking tea way more than usual while reading this book. This story just made my heart happy.

Unputdownable, beautiful, romantic and heartfelt. This story is a must read for anyone who loves magical realism.

Thank you to netgalley for this earc in exchange for an honest review.

In the Shadow Garden by Liz Parker
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Start date: July 10, 2022
Finish date: July 16, 2022
Release date: Sept 13, 2022

▫️witchy magic ✨
▫️family drama 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦
▫️intriguing mystery 🤨

Thank you @netgalley and @readforeverpub for a digital advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely adored this. This releases in September and would be such a fun fall/Halloween read. The magic was so interesting to learn about as the story progressed, and almost felt believable. I loved each of the characters, and I enjoyed all of their individual growth & development. Magic + drama + mystery… this book was remarkable, and extremely well-written. Plus that cover 😍😍😍 It is stunning!

This was such a delightful book. 3 generations of witches have kept the magic alive in Yarrow, KY but something is up. The youngest, Addison, takes more than just the pain and grief from people (the Haywood's specialty) she takes the whole memory. Because of this she's been relegated to the Shadow Garden and feels like she is now enough. To add to things, a long lost (weirdly forgotten) Bonner (The Haywood's rivals and creators of a bourbon that allows you to forget any memory of your choosing at the annual festival) has arrived and brings with him a tidal wave of questions about a summer 25 years ago that that whole town forgot.

This book is a beautiful book, both physically (I mean look at that cover) and story wise. I loved getting to know the Haywood's and their dynamics as 3 generations of women given great responsibility but not always great at communicating with each other. This is a story about grief, pain, and how to move on healthily. I definitely saw some of the twists coming but that did not take away my enjoyment from the book.

Thank you Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for the arc!

Yarrow Kentucky is known for its Bonner bourbon and the Haywood shadow garden, both of which have their own magic. The bourbon aids in forgetting, while the garden aids in healing. But not all is as it seems. No one remembers a summer from 20 years ago, and when Kaden Bonner comes back to Yarrow for the first time in 20 years, no one remembers him either. As the Haywoods struggle to piece together what happened, tensions between the two families come to a head, threatening the town’s peace.

I absolutely loved this book. The romance in the work occurred between two older characters rather than focusing on the teenager’s romance – I can’t say enough how excellent this was. I will say that I never had a deep connection with any of the characters, but I was able to connect to them enough to enjoy the story and become emotionally involved with what happened to them. Make sure to utilize the family tree at the beginning. The work is told from the POV of several different characters, and it was a bit tricky to keep them all sorted at first.

The author did an excellent job at keeping the mystery going until the end of the work, but still contributing enough information during the book to maintain the reader’s interest. The pacing was well done, and I enjoyed how the author incorporated the remembrances/flashbacks throughout the work. I would have liked some explanation for how and why the magic worked as it did, and where that magic came from – this wasn’t addressed at all, and while it didn’t leave a large hole in the work, I would have appreciated some exploration of this.

The whole idea of the shadow garden taking pain and growing something beautiful from it was an excellent metaphor of real-life healing from trauma. The combination of auras with different plants to indicate someone’s emotions was really well done and created some beautiful imagery. I also enjoyed the exploration of the tea leaves and the meanings of different symbols.

I highly recommend this work of magical realism and look forward to reading more from this author. My thanks to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for allowing me to read a copy of this work; all opinions expressed in this review are my own. This book will be published on September 13, 2022.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for a chance to read In the Shadow Garden.

This book was so beautiful. I loved the magic, the garden, the bourbon, the rival families, the multiple generations of witches, tea leaf reading, and the flashbacks to the past. I loved that the magical garden was sentient and the grew from the negative emotions the Haywood witches withdrew from their clients. I also enjoyed all the relationships in this book. This book was a cozy read with a little bit of suspense sprinkled in. I can’t wait to read it again.

I love fantasy magic witch books and multi-POV chapters, however I did struggle to connect as much as I would’ve liked with the characters but I really loved the magic and the mystery and everything else, it’s a great read. Its everything I could want in a mystery witch book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book has such a unique premise, and I really enjoyed it! Highly recommend if you like fiction with a bit of magic sprinkled in. Thanks to NetGalley and Forever Books for the ARC!

I really enjoyed this book! In The Shadow Garden is a great fictional story about magic found in routine places: teacups, gardens, Kentucky, cornfields, bottles of whiskey. The magic of the families at the center is unique and central to the story, with enough twists and turns to keep the reader enthralled with the plot. There are tons of strong women characters throughout, with strong relationships of all types that are explored. People who enjoy fantasy and feminism will enjoy this book!