While this story centers around themes of grief, I thought The Magic All Around was a delightful read, and I loved the narration by Kathleen McInerney. She pulled me right into the storytelling, and it was so cozy.

*many thanks to Harper and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

A fun light-hearted story about a magical family at a time of grief. Yes that’s right, light-hearted even though our plot revolves heavily around a time of grief for the Russell family.

Mattie Russell and her mother Lilith live a nomadic life, never staying in one spot too long. When Mattie’s mother dies, Mattie returns to Ivy Ridge to stay with her remaining family. Everyone in this family has a ‘gift’ - more whimsical than Harry-Porter-esque magic. Mattie can’t wait to leave Ivy Ridge but she learns there is an inheritance waiting for her at the end of a long bucket list that requires her to stay in Ivy Ridge in order to complete it.

As Mattie completes the list we explore themes of grief, family ties, finding one self and love.

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook

An amazing, heartbreaking story full of magical realism! I loved this book in audio format and highly recommend.

An inheritance that is so much more than money. Never having known a stable life, Mattie is about to find the one thing she didn't know she needed. A fun and sweet book about finding love and family. Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had to DNF this book. Magical Realism is hit or miss with me, and this one was definitely a miss, but that doesn't mean that other might not enjoy it for those who love this genre.

Thank you to my partners, WunderBooks PR, Harper Muse Books, and NetGalley, and the author. I appreciate the gifted paperback and audiobook. I am leaving this review voluntarily!

1. 𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 - This magical and beautiful story is told in such a way as to make the reader fall in love with the Russell family. Everything about them is exquisitely detailed from beginning to end.

2. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 - Just everything…this book just did everything for me. It’s one of those reads that just has a sense of fervor throughout. Happiness mixed with sadness mixed with uncertainty. But all rolled into a ball of enchantment.

3. 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐈𝐬 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐢𝐫 - The extent of heartfelt adoration that abounds in this story is insurmountable. Every storyline has the passion jumping off of the pages right into the heart of the reader.

4. 𝐀 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 - Houses don’t quite have the force that the Russell house has here as it helps to guide the family, but I do feel like houses have an energy. In a sense, the spirits of previous inhabitants live within the bones of a house.

5. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐀 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐡 - Fate is an inevitable power that pushes everyone to their destination. Whether or not that path is accepted is the question. In our story, Mattie has a choice to make and that choice will set up the outcome of her life. The reader becomes enthralled in the possibilities that await.

Jennifer Moorman's The Magic All Around is a reminder to look for the magic in everyday life. It is all around us, if we just remember to take a moment and see it! Maddie has spent her life traveling with her mom, who dies and leaves her adrift. She returns home to Ivy Ridge, where her family is. Everyone has always said that her family is a bit odd, but not in a bad way. See why with Maddie, as she also learns her mom leaves her a list of tasks to accomplish in order to receive her inheritance. A fun story with a good meaning. It will make you smile and laugh and give you a good heart feeling! Hope you enjoy!

Dear The Magic All Around,
I think the best word for me to describe you is "cute". I don't mean it in a derogatory sense, you just didn't have a ton of significance or emotional impact for me, despite being heavily centered on loss and grief. You were better then brain candy, and had more substance then a Hallmark movie, and I loved the quirks of the house. I honestly wished the house had a name; it would have given it a bit more character and life for me. I liked Mattie and Penelope well enough. They were just cookie cutter. You were what would happen if Charmed did a rom-com episode.

After suddenly losing her mom, Mattie finds herself lost. She is used to life on the road, exploring new places. Now the mom that kept her moving all her life, seems to want her to stay in the family home her mom had abandoned so many years before in order to appease her inheritance stipulations. While learning about her family and their community, Mattie has a chance to find herself and maybe a bit of magic along the way.

This was such a tragic, yet heartwarming read. The audiobook truly captured the emotion of this journey of self discovery!

Loved this book and the magic that has been infused into its pages. I honestly loved the house, it made me what to live there. A very fun listen that I cruised through quickly. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to have a listen. 🫶

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
What a lovely book. Well written and thought out. Great narration. I absolutely loved this book.

I absolutely fell in love with this book and the house! It's not every day that a main character in a book can be a house. Magical Realism at it's finest with a touch of mystery, found family, friendships, and getting through hard times to find your happily ever after is how I would describe The Magic All Around.

Mattie's mom, Lilith, passed away and that had her heading back to her home town of Ivy Ridge, Georgia to see her Aunt Penelope. Penelope was a constant for Mattie and welcomed her with open arms. As soon as Mattie returned the house was up to it's old tricks with magically tuning radios to songs that matched each moment and doors not opening until you told the house the truth. The house knew just what you needed.

Mattie was left an inheritance but in order to receive it, Lilith set up tasks and clues that had to be completed. From baking class to planting flowers, Mattie worked hard at getting things complete so she could purchase and open an art studio in San Francisco.

A blast from her past, Jonathan, just happens to be in Ivy Ridge helping care for his father's business while he recovered from illness. Jonathan was a workaholic and the slow pace of Ivy Ridge was making him go mad up until the moment he ran into Mattie.

As the characters and story develops, you can't help but fall in love with every person that plays a role in getting Mattie to her finish line. Even Penelope has an unexpected gift that Lilith made sure would happen. I loved that the story had an epilogue so you weren't left hanging. I would love to see another book expanding on what happens to Penelope!

Thank you @netgalley and @jenniferrmoorman as well as @harpercollins for the audio copy to devour and review!

2.5⭐ rounded up to 3. Small-town romance, boy next door, life after loss, whimsy and witchy, first love… I really wanted to like this one. However, I really struggled to finish it. To sum it up in 3 words: sweet but plain. I think it had tremendous potential, but too many things got on my nerves. I love a feel-good book, but this one failed to make me feel good due to the rather unpleasant characters.

❤️ Easy, cozy read with a witchy feel
❤️ Sassy sentient house
❤️ Gardening and plant love
❌ Love interest impossible to root for
❌ 25-year-old FMC that feels and sounds like a teenager
❌ Very predictable
❌ Too long and repetitive

Trigger Warnings: death of a parent, grief, miscarriage, heart attack.

Plot:
After being on the road since birth, Mattie returns to her hometown following her mother’s sudden death. But Ivy Ridge doesn’t feel like her home, so Mattie plans on leaving right after the funeral to continue travelling. However, to claim her inheritance and buy the art gallery she sets her heart on, she needs to complete seven tasks in Ivy Ridge. She begrudgingly undertakes the tasks, making friends, finding her birth father, setting down roots, and meeting up with her first love along the way.

I liked the plot, with the quest / tasks and the parallel romance, but there were simply too many irritants, especially when it came to the characters. I wasn’t even remotely surprised by any of the plot twists. The fantasy elements didn’t feel as whimsy as I had hoped—too much and not enough at the same time. The random songs got on my nerves at some point. The plot also felt too slow, then too rushed.

Characters:
It was very hard for me to feel involved, and it’s mostly because of the characters. I didn’t feel any attachment for any of them, except maybe Penelope and Stephen. Some were so stereotyped (Mattie is *not like the other girls*!) or exaggerated (such as Sophia and that girl from the nursery whose name I’ve already forgotten) I cringed a few times. Mattie felt like a 16-year-old who had a very toxic relationship with her selfish and manipulative mother. She was so clueless and annoyed me to no end. Jonathan sounded like a jerk, and his character development didn’t make him a more interesting love interest. So, it’s hard to enjoy romance about two characters you don’t like.

Writing:
The writing wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. It felt plain and repetitive. I couldn’t find a quote to add to my review, like I usually do, so I guess that says a lot… (And for the love of God, when adding words or sentences in another language, it’s basic writing rigor to make sure the spelling is correct!)

Audiobook:
The voice actor was wonderful! Loved the narrating.

The Russell family women have magical gifts: older sister Penelope can infuse the clothes she creates with love, strength, joy – whatever the wearer needs, while younger sister Lilith always happens to run into someone with exactly what she needs at any time, such as a job or an apartment, as she moves from city to city. Lilith’s adult daughter Mattie always hears the perfect song playing around her and is able to paint pictures that will mean more to their buyers than she could imagine. When Lilith dies, her will requires Mattie to stay in the family’s hometown of Ivy Ridge while she completes a set of tasks in order to receive a trust. Resistant at first, Mattie is able to learn more about her past, who she is as a person, and what she wants for the future as she works through her mom’s tasks.

I liked the magical realism of the book, with the women’s talents being set in an otherwise ordinary world. It took a while for the plot to start moving, but once it did, I enjoyed the story. I think tightening up the first half of the book could have allowed some deeper exploration of the things that happen in the second half. Despite the book being about Maddie’s mom dying, it was not a heavy or sad read overall. Kathleen McInerney did a nice job with the narration of the audiobook.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Net Galley for an ARC of this book. in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are completely my own.
I adored this book. It was magical! The house was a character! I loved the little mystery, the family, the romance--just everything. I'm ready to move to Ivy Ridge and make friends with all the characters.. This book was a warm hug. If you need a feel good book this is it.

Thank you to @netgalley for the opportunity to review The Magic All Around by Jennifer Moorman. After the sudden death of her mother Lillith, Mattie Russell returned to her family home in Georgia - the family home that seems to be sentient! Mattie has to stay in the house long enough to complete seemingly absurd tasks in order to claim an inheritance.

It was fun getting to learn each of the Russell family members' secrets, and I thought the some of the silly tasks were charming. The multiple POVs were enjoyable, but it did seem to slow down in parts, but then was very fast in other sections. I liked the mysticism of it and how the idea of fate was woven throughout.

The narration by Kathleen McInerney, as usual, was perfection.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Liked it, fun while I was reading it
The Russell women have always lived in a house that is as special as they are—a century-old Victorian with a radio that tunes itself to the listener’s mood and a pantry that rearranges to provide just the right ingredients for any baking need. Lilith Russell was the exception. She left the family home in Ivy Ridge, Georgia, and has been flitting like a hummingbird from place to place with her daughter, Mattie, in the decades since, only returning each summer to drop Mattie off with Lilith’s sister, Penelope.

When Lilith dies suddenly, Mattie is left without her sole companion and the captain who steered her ship. That is, until she visits Ivy Ridge and learns Lilith charted one last course for Mattie: a series of tasks that she must complete to earn her inheritance, with Penelope overseeing the process.

Part mystery, part family drama, part treasure hunt, part examination of grief and one's past, I really enjoyed this cozy magical realism story. I loved how the house and town were their own characters and how Mattie found herself through reflection, uncovering memories, and intuition. She was nudged into her own selfhood by the living and the departed. This heartwarming novel centers around themes of love, family, home, community, gifts/talents, and growth. The characters are magical, eccentric, and genuine which all adds up to a sweet tale of finding your adult path.

The narrator, Kathleen McInerney, did a good job, I had no trouble understanding who was saying what, where, when, and with what expression/intension. It was a pleasure to listen to.

Thank you to HarperCollins Focus, NetGalley, and author Jennifer Moorman for providing me with a digital ARC copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. The Magic All Around is out January 16, 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jennifer Moorman, and HarperCollins focus for an eARC of The Magic All Around.

This book was quirky and cute. I lenjoyed the innocent love story between Mattie and Jonathan, the fun way the house interacted with the Russels, and I thought the premise of the book was super intriguing.

The descriptions of both the Russel house and the Delacour mansion made the house come alive in my mind. I had such a vivid picture of both in my head that I could probably draw them!

The pacing of this novel was a bit slow for my taste and the drawn out emotional scenes are, in general, not my taste. With that being said, I still did enjoy the book and all of its fantastical, magical elements.

3.5 stars rounded up!

This was a wonderful book and I could hardly stop listening. It was just the right combination of sweet and poignant. Family drama at it's best. As a music junkie, I really loved the radio and the song choices!! It was a delight and I really enjoyed it.

A very heartwarming story that revolves around themes of family, love, home, community and self-discovery. I loved my trip into Mattie's world, her family, and her community as she tries to get over losing her mom. It had just the right amount of magic to make it pleasurable yet it wasn’t too over the top. Highly recommend! Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.