Thank you Net Galley for this ARC. The story centers around Calliope, Eurydyce, and Thalia who are sisters who have magic. However, the price of their magic is losing memories, so only Calliope uses her magic. This use of magic causes tension between Calliope and her sisters which is weakening their sister bond and relationships. While exploring more about her family magic, Calliope awakens a big bad and stirs some negative energy in their town. This leads to Calliope meeting and bonding with Lucien. Calliope and Lucien start out with a light vs dark magic relationship. We see them slowly go from hate to friends to eventually love as they realize that magic, like life, is not always black or white. Overall I think this book was an enjoyable read as the concept and characters are diverse and unique. I also really liked the added recipes in the back of the book that were talked about throughout the story. My one critique would be I think the pacing was a little slow and drawn out in parts which slowed down my reading experience. I would still recommend this book to people who like stories with witchy stories with small town vibes.

Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things is my second book from Breanne Randall and let me tell you, I was very happy with this book.

The author does a great job of crafting an atmospheric read with beautiful descriptions and cozy settings. I love the small town feel of the books and I really enjoyed the cast of characters she created. The magic was well done and I loved the uniqueness of how she tied memory with casting spells. This book gave me Charmed x Practical Magic vibes! While there is a shadow daddy love interest in this book ( he says why would I die for you when I can live for you? SWOON), I was more interested in the sisters and their relationship. I kind of wanted more of them to be honest.

While I did feel the pacing was on the slower side, I didn't have any trouble staying engaged or finishing the book. I will say that the last 20 or so percent was a bit chaotic and I am still kind of processing what happened.

As with her first book, the author has a bit at the end with receipes which I adore. The food showcased in the book was described so well that I found myself itching to bake bread and other tasty treats.

I would recommend this as a fall read to anyone that loves a book with cozy vibes and magic and sisterhood.

ARC REVIEW ✨

Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things by Breanne Randall

“When Calliope must sacrifice memories to fuel her magic and protect her town, will she have anything left of herself?”

Rating: 4.5⭐️
Genre: Romance, witchy fantasy
Yes, no, or maybe: Yes!

Read if you like:
-enemies to lovers
-magic and curses
-sisterly bond
-atmospheric reads

This book was great! It was atmospheric and magical. The writing is beautiful. It looks like this will be a series, but this book could easily be a standalone. There are curses with mysterious origins, secrets revealed, and a few adrenaline packed fight scenes! It’s everything I wanted in a witchy fantasy.

Our FMC, Calliope, is a fearless and determined Lightcrafter. She is trying to hold up the family legacy of protecting an ancient power from those that seek to take it. In comes our MMC, Lucien, a broody Shadowcrafter who is determined to save the people he loves. I’m sure you can guess, but shadow and light are not meant to coexist. But… 👀👀 The banter had me kicking my feet! Then the ending had me feeling all the feels.

The magic system had a unique twist, the sisters have to sacrifice memories to do spells. Mrs. Breanne has definitely started building a captivating world.

Why wasn’t this a 5⭐️ read??
I wanted more!! More build up, more information, more action, MORE! I believe this book could have had more in it and possible have been turned into a couple of books! That being said, I am very excited to see if there will indeed be more books. I am obsessed with a good series with lots of build up and world building. I loved this magical concept and these characters, it would have been perfect to have seen a slower build and more character development.

I cannot wait to see what Breanne Randall will write next!

JUST WOW.

I have been eagerly awaiting this book and so happy when I received the ARC of it because I could wait to dive in.

The vibes of this book are immaculate 🙌🏽 it combines so many elements of so many incredible movies and books and shows.

Think:
-Practical Magic🪴
-Charmed☪️
-Hocus Pocus 🧙‍♀️

Literally all the things culminate together in this perfect book!

We’ve got small town vibes, a shadow daddy, cozy baking vibes (recipes included which I LOVED!), and MAGIC ✨

I ate this upppp. Breanne what a masterpiece!! So many beautifully written quotes, I found myself trying not to highlight the entire book. 🤭

And Lucien, don’t even get me started 😍🫠 yes. Please. 🥺

The FMC is so quirky and headstrong. I found myself responding with her throughout the book.

Definitely some twists and turns I didn’t see coming. 😱

You’ve made it this far in the review sooooo why haven’t you started reading the book yet? 👀

—Note: I received an eARC from Netgalley to give my honest opinion, thank you—

Rating 3.25 /5 stars
I feel like the best way to describe this book is it just took me a bit longer to want to read it, to get through, and then write the review. I enjoyed the blurb and how this book was marketed as well as the description of the setting, it was very cozy fantasy. However, I felt the magic fell a little short for me and the pacing of the story could’ve been better. There were things I loved and things I didn’t but overall I’d say this was an average book and I wouldn’t mind reading more by this author

I really enjoy this read. It was funny and fun. I enjoyed stepping out of my dark romantasy genre and into cozy. This is definitely an adds to tbrs for other readers

Spells Strings and Forgotten Things is a dark cozy fantasy, if we can invent a new subgenre.

Calliope and her two sisters, Thalia and Eurydice, run a book and tea shop. Most people don't know that they are witches and keeping the town safe by binding the Dark Oak in the forest. The sisters are Lightcasters, using nature to fuel their spells, while Darkcasters use their soul. The sisters are actually special Lightcasters but not in a good way. There is a curse on their family that means they have to sacrifice a memory to perform magic.

Each sister has sacrificed something - Thalia refuses to use her magic, Dissy lives in fear of everything, and Calliope has lost many of her memories. The sisters have lost their strong connection to each other. When a Shadowcaster, Lucien, shows up in town, she is both drawn to him and repelled by him and what he represents. He saves her one night when she makes a huge mistake, binding the two of them together. His coven is here to take the power from the Dark Oak, but Lucien believes it is for a good cause, saving his sister.

This book is a little spicy, and definitely dark at times. But it still feels cozy as you see the power of sisterhood.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

Honestly, I struggled to get through this book. I enjoyed the thought behind a curse on sisters that created a unique magic system. Otherwise, this book was too long and too repetitive for my tastes. Some of the nicknames used had me cringing and I have never in my life referred to my sisters as I was talking to them as “sisters.” I pushed through to the end of this book to give it a fair chance and the ending was the best part. This just wasn’t for me.

This book was a fun read, but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that at times, the plot did drag. It seemed unnecessarily drawn out in the middle of the book as things were building to salvage the situation with the Dark Oak.

You could see the romance between Calliope and Lucien coming from page 1, and I was totally ok with that. There is a strong Pride and Prejudice/Mr. Darcy vibe with Lucien, despite Calliope being kind of immature for her age. She reads as much younger character than she is. My favorite aspect of the book is the relationships between the women in this family-- the sisterhood and the aunts. Plus, Grim! Yes, a book might be my favorite character.

Overall, this was an easy, enjoyable escapist read. I went in with no expectations. Yes, there are places/plot devices that didn't quite work for me, but I'd recommend it to someone who is looking for some romance and fantasy/witch stories.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I found myself lost in the first two chapters of the book. It was redundant and I truly felt I was reading the sentences multiple times to even grasp the content of the plot. I felt like many times it was so repetitive and there was too much detail given even to help understand what was going on.

As I got to the end of the book, I finally understood but it was too late to redeem the content I had already lost during the rest of the book. This is my first book by Breanne Randall and I believe in second chances but I probably will put this series as a DID not complete based on the fact alone that i truly did not like the book.

I love this book. It was exactly what I wanted and what I didn’t know I needed!!

I love the magic system and how everyone had their own twist based on their culture. It was so refreshing to see the spells in different languages, Greek, Arabic, French, and Turkish.

I really enjoyed the sense of sisterhood. It was so real. How they fought but were viciously loyal to one another. Each sister had their own kind of role to play. I love how they knew they could depend on each other even when things aren’t perfect.

While the love story is more of a side plot, it hit me so hard. The theme of being deserving of love as a whole, not just pieces of yourself.

While the main character irked me at the start, I loved her character development. At first, she came off immature and unappreciative but as I got to know her, I really came to love Calliope.

The story ended without a cliffhanger but open for a second book. If I could make a request, I would love to have the POV’s of the other two sisters in the next book(s).

Additionally, I was pleasantly surprised to find recipes in the back of the book!! And they were recipes of things I had highlighted so I could look them up later!!

A cozy story about healing, memories, and magic, with a side of enemies to lovers. This one started a little slow for me, but the pay-off was absolutely worth it.

Things I loved: the witchy magical realism, small town vibes, inclusive cast of characters, and how the sisters’ bonds evolved. And no spoilers, but the epilogue had me kicking my feet. 💕

If you enjoy books like The Ex Hex, The Spellshop, and Legends & Lattes, add this to your TBR!

Thanks to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell for access to the ARC!

#SpellsStringsandForgottenThings #NetGalley

A witchy story about sisters. Set in a small town, this is the tale of Calliope, who is changing things up, especially once she meets Lucien. There's a fair amount of worldbuilding (always helpful) but it feels a tad overdramatic in spots. Thanks to netgalley for the ARc. For fans of the witch-y genre.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC copy.

This book follows Calliope, a twenty something witch who is cursed to sacrifice memories to fuel her magic, as she attempts to convince her sisters that there is a threat in their little town. Along the way she finds herself bound to a rival coven leader with his own agenda to claim power.

“I would say I’d die for you, but what’s the point in that? I would live for you.“ <<< excuse me, sir. My heart just burst.

The first few chapters of this book takes some time to digest. There’s world building and characters being introduced which can be a bit wordy at times. However, once we are introduced to the MMC, I started to become more invested. The banter, the cozy vibes, and the little bits of spice that do not take away from the plot are wonderful. I am so ready for the next book!!!

This book is one I’ve had to reflect on my review for a little bit. There was a lot that I enjoyed with this book, but there were also some stumbling blocks that were hard to overcome. Starting with what I enjoyed — I loved the relationship between the sisters. They clearly had a strong bond in the beginning; however, they were merely coexisting. Throughout the story, those bonds have to be re-evaluated and strengthened to truly understand each other, their various sacrifices, and what they want in life. I also enjoyed the dynamic between Calliope and Lucien. I’m always a sucker for enemies to lovers so watching their dynamic play out was equal parts interesting and heart wrenching. I also enjoyed the characters having to reflect on previous prejudices and overcome them. Where I struggled with the story, though, was the overall plot. The main plot kept getting lost and tangled in some of the side stories. The pacing was also off. It felt too drawn out for much of the book and then all rushed together at the end. There were also a lot of telling moments over showing, which isn’t my preferred story format. Overall, I found the story interesting and really loved a lot of it. Given that this is the first book in a series, I’m hoping some of my issues will be improved in the next book.
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Overall rating: 3.5⭐️

I received an advanced copy for review. This is my own opinion.

First off, I want to say how much I love the practical magic vibe we have going here. The sisters’ relationship was frustrating at times, but that made it all the more real.

This book will be perfect for fans of Sarah Addison Allen or Alice Hoffman.

I didn’t finish this one BUT BEFORE YOU GO AWAY know that I enjoyed everything I did read, I just think this specific book would hit better for me as an audiobook. And I plan to listen to the audio.

I flipped through and rated 4 stars based on what I think I would’ve rated. Again, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to a friend looking for a practical magic vibe! I’m just weird and sometimes need audiobooks 🤷🏻‍♀️ thanks to Netgalley and Random House | Ballantine for the arc. I look forward to picking this back up once the audio is out!

This book was just ok for me. I love the concept, but the execution didn’t really work. Unfortunately, this is one of those reads where it’s really difficult to pinpoint what I didn’t like. I did enjoy the sleepy, small town witchy vibes! I think maybe the prose was a bit too flowery for me…like sometimes, it was just so over descriptive that I missed what was actually happening? If that makes sense? I never really came to care about the characters either and the romance felt very quick and forced to me. Maybe this is all just a me problem…I can see this story working for a lot of people, and I hope those people find it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced digital copy to read and review.

Oof.

Just like a good writer can fully flesh out a story and characters within a novella, there are authors who overwrite and overembellish their story to the point that the plot gets muddled and the characters cannot breathe.

This book needed a different editor, one who could say, "look, 25% of the book is just repetitive and useless descriptions" because holy crap, this was bad.

So much wasted space on belabored details and not enough to make the main character well rounded.

All vibes, no substance.

This witchy read had such a great premise - a witch able to do spells by giving up her own memories?? There were things I loved and things I didn't love, leaving me with a solid 3 star read.

I loved the magic system, the sisterly bond, and the fiery personality of our main character. The small town was cute, and points for a unique system using memories and bonds.

I didn't love the love story, where I didn't feel any chemistry and things felt forced in for plot's sake. The pacing also felt off, with the middle section absolutely dragging on for me. I was left with unanswered questions as well- maybe this will be a series, and the next book would answer them? Regardless, this one was unfortunately not for me.

Thank you to Dell for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This had all the elements and story ideas for a great book, but it fell very flat in the execution.

The biggest issue I had was the dialogue which had me actually cringing at times. It didn’t feel like actually conversations real people would have.

The relationships didn’t have enough depth and that includes the three sisters. We didn’t get to SEE their bonds and dynamics, it was just hastily told to us but I would’ve loved to see the memories of the sisters growing up. At the beginning of the book, it honestly felt like they didn’t even know each other.

Do not get me started on the romantic relationships in this book because even the main one between Calliope and Lucien was about as deep as a kiddie pool. And to make it worse, Lucien was the primary guilty party of the cringey dialogue.

The town is a big part of the story along with being the setting, but it just did not feel real. And the people were like cardboard cutouts of small-town shop owners from every small town TV show/movie. The world-building was just shaky and unclear.

Overall, I loved the diversity in this book and the general plot with the curses and that’s about it.