Thank you Net gallery for providing me for an early copy of this book.

This narrative made me feel like I was reading a new episode of "Charmed," as a fan of the 90s witch series. It was precisely what my soul needed. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot of these three sisters and their efforts to avoid losing their memories.

Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things" by Breanne Randall is indeed an intriguing novel. It follows the story of Calliope Petridi, a young witch who must sacrifice memories to cast spells. Set in the small town of Gold Springs, Calliope and her sisters guard the secret of their magic and the price they must pay to practice it.

The novel combines elements of magic, love, and self-discovery, with a thrilling plot that involves an ancient evil awakening in their town. Calliope accidentally binds herself to the leader of a rival coven, leading to a sizzling enemies-to-lovers romance.

If you're a fan of magical tales with a touch of romance and family secrets, this book has been on my must read for 2025.

The only reason is 4/5, The blend of formal magical language with modern banter was indeed to be tricky to balance, and it seems like it didn't quite work for me in this case. It was frustrating when the character voices feel unrealistic or two-dimensional, especially when you're looking for that entertaining spark.

As far as that goes I think overall the idea of the plot interesting including the characters that were in this story.

Three sisters are tied together by their shared magic – a magic that requires the sacrifice of memory to power a spell. Bigger magic requires bigger memories. Amidst fracturing relationships, a darkness comes to town, and the sisters must work together to protect their home or lose everything.

I liked the themes of love, family, and the ties that bind; memories and shared pasts connecting us all like magical strings. What happens to those relationships, and even to who you are as a person, when you begin to sacrifice those? When is it worth it? At first maybe you just sacrifice the memory of how it felt to wear a new jacket the first time, that seems harmless, right? But when does that slippery slope become too much, and how do you cope with not even knowing what you’ve given up, and who you were before you did?

An interesting magic system, an ancient evil, and three sisters trying to get along (it’s always 3 with witchy sisters, isn’t it), all things I loved. I wasn’t wild about the romance with the MMC though; too typical, bland broody dark tortured character, etc etc. That relationship felt too much like insta-love, maybe my least favorite trope to ever trope.

Luckily for me, there was plenty of non-romance plot in this book to keep me entertained and the spicy bits didn’t overwhelm the story. (Although if you DO like the FMC falling immediately for the brooding bad-boy with daddy issues, then you’ll be very happy too.) I loved loved loved the whimsical elements like the sentient grimoire, and there were lots of hidden family secrets, revealed for great jaw-dropping shock moments.

Overall it’s a fun little read, and I’m giving it 3 stars. Thank you NetGalley and Random House – Ballantine for an advanced copy, in exchange for my opinions!

What about you? If you could cast magic spells but had to sacrifice memories to do it, would you?

_Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things_ by Breanne Randall is a magical, romantic, and atmospheric romantasy read. Calliope Petridi is a Lightcraft witch who lives in a small California town with her two sisters Thalia and Eurydice. For generations their family has guarded the Dark Oak by their home to protect the town from the dark power trapped within, but Calliope discovers the wards are weakening the same night she meets handsome Shadowcrafter Lucien. Even though Calliope has been taught that Shadowcrafters should not be trusted, she is drawn to Lucien, and now they all must work together to save the town and themselves.

Wow, I LOVED this book. The sisterhood, the nods to Charmed and hints of Practical Magic, the queer representation... I was so here for it. Books like this one would've made my teenage self feel seen and represented. Breanne has a way of writing magical books that leave you eager to read more. Cannot recommend this one enough.

Calliope, the youngest of three witch sisters continues to sacrifice little memories for her magic even though her two sisters, Eurydice and Thalia, long ago swore off their magic when their mother disappeared. One night while out with her best friend, Danny, she feels a cold presence and a shadow whisper to her. She is drawn to the Forbidden Forest where the Dark Oak tree lives and locked away in it a long standing family secret. She finds herself in peril until Lucien, a member of the rival witch coven, steps in to save her and they are bound together.
A beautiful story of family, love, and the importance of even the smallest memories. Yet again, I just love Breanne Randall’s writing.
My only very small complaint is things do get a little too tropey and a little too cliche with some of the sayings.

Thank you NetGalley and Dell for this amazing ARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things has an intriguing premise, with a really unique magic system centered on sacrificing memories. The small-town setting of Gold Springs is atmospheric and richly described, bringing a cozy yet mysterious vibe that complements the story well. While the pacing started off slow, the story did pick up and became more engaging as it unfolded. The romance follows familiar enemies-to-lovers beats, but it has its enjoyable moments. Overall, this is a solid read and I'd definitely recommend it for a cozy witchy read.

This book had me absolutely encaptured. As soon as I started reading it I couldn’t put it down. The characters were so complex and amazing. The plot kept getting better and better and I just couldn’t believe what I was reading

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All thoughts are my own!

Unfortunately, this book was just not for me.

This was the story following Calliope, one of three sisters connected through strings of magic who only have each other after their mom left them. They were brought up to protect wards of the Dark Oak through their connected magic, which demands a high cost, memories. I like the cozy fantasy vibes and thought the story idea was fun. And, while I did like the concept of the magic system and thought it had potential, I wish there had been more a more developed background on it and a detailed description of how it worked.

I had a hard time staying interested in this book because the pacing was hard to follow, and I found the relationship development between the FMC and MMC to be forced and ingenuine, I did enjoy the ending and promise of true development, both individually and together.

Calliope is FMC goals. I love all things Breanne Randal. The struggles of a young witch to save everything and everyone she loves had me absolutely entranced.

** spoiler alert ** First off: congratulations Breanne Randall of having completed another book! This book was 50/50 for me. I have things that I liked about this book and some things I did not. These are only my opinions and everyone has different thresholds for things so take my words with a grain of salt.

What I enjoyed: the setting. Being from a small town, I really loved the community aspect. I hope we see more of that in the next installment.

:Some of the characters. I really liked Dissy and Thalia. I could relate to them in a lot of ways. And I liked Eléa as well.

:The Grimoire-this book was my favorite part of the story, more so before we find out about Aunt Daphne. I loved the imagery of Grim batting Lucien over the head. It made me laugh.

What I didn’t love so much: sometimes the book overexplained. I would rather walk the road a little more with the characters than have everything explained whether outright or in monologue form.

: the main character. She was a hard one for me to connect with. And that’s ok. But she was kind of a pendulum that was irritating at times.

:the spice. Everyone has their threshold with this and while this didn’t exceed my own, I was conflicted. There wasn’t an overabundance of it, it seemed…out of place? For lack of a better term. It didn’t quite seem to fit with the rest of the story. I mean the way the spice was actually written. Maybe others see it differently but I struggled a little bit with how the spice was done.

With Goodreads not doing the half star thing: my official rating for this book was 3.5 stars. And will I read the next installment? more than likely. I’m curious to know how exactly the story continues.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this book early!

This sounded like a witchy good time with sister witches and memory magic. I liked Grim, it had to be one of my favorite characters. I liked the idea of the memory magic but ultimately I found myself not caring about all the small memories. I wanted to love this but I dnfed it at 60%. I was so bored and reading in 10% incriminates. I really didn't like any of the sisters. I found Caliope and Lucien to have zero chemistry. All they did was bicker and try to fight siad attraction only to bicker more. Bickering doesn't equate to chemistry. It wanted to be enemies to lovers so bad but two people from different backgrounds that just like to antagonize each other doesn't make enemies. I also found it really annoying that as diverse as this story is why couldn't Caliope end up with a shadow weilding woman as opposed to some "shadow daddy". It's like the diversity didn't want to committ. The author also uses similes waaaay too much. Almost every other sentence was a simile. I wanted to push through to the end but when I looked down and saw I was only at 60% I couldn't do it. I'm sure this will be a hit for some readers it just wasn't me.

I'm not sure if I was just unfamiliar with this author previously, or if this is a debut novel, but Breanne Randall has quickly become a author to watch for me. As someone who reads hundreds of fantasy books a year, it's hard to find new books that offer something completely original, but Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things absolutely did. I really loved the complexity of the story, and the book offered a very unique magic system.

My main criticism with the book is the way the author over-explained most of the major points in the story, including much of the plot and particularly the magic system. It's a personal pet peeve of mine when an author's writing comes across as if they don't trust the reader is smart enough to understand what it is they are reading, and unfortunately I did get that vibe in this one.

Overall, it's a solid read, and I will be looking into what Breanne Randall writes in the future. While the writing style didn't totally click with me, the plot and concept was so fun and original that I'm excited to see what she does next.


Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending me an ARC of this book.

I really wanted to like this book and there were so many elements in it that could have made it fantastic, but unfortunately it fell short.

Where it fit in the fantasy genre was one of the first issues. In many ways it was a cozy fantasy with the small town and lots of tea and baking, but the stakes ("if the Dark Oak is released the town is doomed") were pretty high, the addition of villains (Shadowcrafters/Ahmed) and a strong love interest with his POV leaned more romantasy. Unfortunately all of these elements really didn't mesh together and I went from baking in the kitchen to wraiths leaving people bleeding.

I was also repeatedly surprised whenever something modern was mentioned, because for the life of me I kept forgetting this was supposed to be contemporary. The way the narration, character dialogue, and much of the descriptions leaned much more into at least an 1800's era and not 21st century.

The plot felt too carefully manufactured. The magic system was interesting, but often manipulated to move the story forward. Calliope and Elea meeting and all of Lucien's secrets coming out was an info dump. And then at the very end to just have pages of explanation behind the curse felt like the easy way out instead of figuring it out how to weave it into the story. The "oh they left out the last two lines of the curse so now it all makes sense" was very cliche and disappointing.

I enjoyed Lucien's character, but I felt nothing for Calliope's character. I didn't dislike her, nor did I like her. Rarely did I really feel anything when I read from her POV besides some annoyance when she seemed to always be crying. I often felt a lot was told to me, like her talking about? It was mentioned many times and yet I wouldn't have described her that way at all. Her dedication to Elea at the end was weird and made zero sense as the characters had spent all of an hour together yet suddenly Elea was their spirit sister.

I'm going to refrain from posting a public review at this time due to my low rating.

I went into this book fully expecting to finish it in one day, the same I did for The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic. But it sadly did take me a little longer than I anticipated, as the first 20 ish chapters dragged on for me - but I was still intrigued enough to keep reading. There were a few times I had to remind myself I was reading Spells, Strings and Forgotten Things and not Heartbreak and Magic.

So what bumped my rating to four stars? I thoroughly enjoyed the magical system, the explanation behind curses, LGBTQ+ representation, character diversity and themes of the delicate balance between good vs evil.

Breanne Randall delivers another enchanting tale with Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things, but while it’s a delightful read, it didn’t quite capture the same magic as her debut, The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic.

The story brims with intriguing concepts, but some of the plot details felt a bit rushed. I wanted to dive deeper into the conflict between Lightcrafters and Shadowcrafters—it felt like we only got small snippets before it was all tied up too neatly. And don’t even get me started on the sisters’ mom’s spell. What exactly did she do before she disappeared? The girls seemed to understand it, but I was left scratching my head.

Now, let’s talk characters—because Lucien? Absolute Shadow Daddy perfection. And Grim stole every scene he (it? I'm not sure of the pronouns of a magical book...) was in. Randall is fantastic at crafting complex, compelling characters, and I’d happily spend more time in their world. That said, Lucien’s coven drama also wrapped up a little too nicely for my liking. The stakes could have been higher, and the resolution felt a bit too tidy.

Despite a few loose ends and overly convenient plot twists, the book was still a joy to read. Randall’s blend of magic, emotion, and sisterly bonds shines, and I’d love to see these characters explored further in future stories. If you’re a fan of whimsical, heartfelt fantasy with a hint of darkness, Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things is worth the read!

If Breanne Randall’s previous book was a mix of practical magic and Gilmore girls, this one is totally reminiscent of the TV show Charmed! Three sisters with magic deal with a prophecy that threatens everything they believe in. This is so charmed coded! I really do enjoy Randall style writing. She has such a unique, magical flow to her writing. My highlight of this book was the mix of Turkish, French, and Greek cultures mixed with the American. I also really enjoyed the dual POV. Highly enjoyed the pride and prejudice influences!

Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things by Breanne Randall is a third person dual-POV contemporary fantasy romance perfect for fans of the TV show Charmed. Calliope and her two sisters, also named after Greek myth figures, are Lightcrafters who sacrifice memories in order to use magic. When Calliope binds herself to Lucien, a Shadowcrafter, the enemy of Lightcrafters, she unintentionally sets in motion a prophecy that could bring the two kinds of magic together again or wipe the other one out entirely.

In Calliope’s family, there is a strong Power of Three element as every generation is made up of three sister witches. This plus Calliope binding herself to Lucien in a sort of Phoebe/Cole enemies-to-lovers dark vs light situation makes the book feel like it’s adjacent to Charmed. Where it’s different is that Shadowcrafters are just as human as Lightcrafters, though instead of sacrificing their memories, they sacrifice pieces of their soul when they cast spells. This also follows the romance genre structure while Charmed is more of a paranormal show that has strong romantic arcs.

Most of the chapters are from Calliope’s POV but the handful of chapters we get from Lucien’s POV do sell his motivations a lot more than if we hadn’t had those chapters. He cares very deeply about his sister who is being used by his father to feed his magic and his coven is willing to stand against him if it means their survival. Lucien was torn between two cultures as a child, Turkish and French, much like Calliope was torn between being American and Greek. Seeing those moments from his POV and how it impacted him instead of us being told via a conversation with Calliope was the more powerful choice, I think.

I would recommend this to fans of Phoebe/Cole-style relationships and the original Charmed TV show and readers looking for a contemporary fantasy romance with a fairly straight-forward magic system

Magic, love and self discovery. Calliope and her sisters are able to cast spells but they pay the to practice it, memories. Unfortunately their magic beings to fade. Calliope must face her painful memories of her past, family secrets and ancient magic in order to protect her love ones.

I enjoyed the characters but found the story to be a little slow. It just didn’t keep my attention the way I hoped it would.

Thank you NetGalley, Breanne and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the ARC!

Publication Date: March 4th 2025
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review will be posted on @thehomebodybooknook

#NetGalley #SpellsStringsandForgottenThings

I adored this book so much that I immediately preordered it. It is deep and emotional and sweet and magical and just everything I needed to read right now. The characters are so vivid and the story is just perfect! It truly is Pride and Prejudice meets Charmed!

The first book I saw by this author was compared to Gilmore girls and this one compared to Charmed so I think both books I just had really high expectations. The author is obviously a good writer but a little too wordy for my brain.