While the world felt magical and beautiful and there were a ton of uplifting moments, there were so many editing errors and plot points that went nowhere. So much of this served no purpose and it could've been helped with a lot more editing. Unfortunately, this ultimately fell flat for me.

“The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic” is 100% true to its name! Full of heartbreakingly beautiful moments and magically uplifting scenes I could not get enough of the Poppy Meadows universe!

The story follows Sadie Revelare as she whisks up enchanted goods at her bakery, tends to her garden, cares for her grandmother and tries to help everyone in her small town of Poppy Meadows. Her only worry in the world is avoiding heartbreak because of her curse - that is until her old love blows back into town, her missing brother turns up and her grandma is diagnosed with cancer. Now Sadie must try and protect her heart, save her family and keep her magic all while keeping her sanity.

5/5 magical stars!! I absolutely loved this debut and am so excited to see what Breanne Randall comes up with next!

Pick up “The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic” when it hits shelves on 9.19.2023!

Thank you to Alcove Press for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

An uneven, if mostly pleasant romance with magic. I feel like it needs a copyedit--there are loads of little errors, and plot devices that don't go anywhere or disappear from the narrative without explanation. There are some weird time-slips as well, which might be from moving sentences around and then not making them fix with their new locations. This surprised me, since the book is from a major publisher. Nonetheless, it's a cute book. It's very predictable and readers will immediately know what Sadie's sacrifice will be, just as we know from her first appearance that Bethany isn't pregnant and that Sadie and Jake will end up together. The characters are solid, and I like the diversity of them, although it's a little heavy-handed. How a town so small supports so many quaint little businesses is one of the things readers will have to suspend disbelief about, but after all, they're reading about magic food.

Is this supposed to be a Practical Magic retelling? Because that’s the vibes I was getting from this book, and I loved it so much. Such a cozy romantic witchy novel.

Thank you to the publisher for the arc!