2.5 stars, rounded up. I have mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book on a surface level, despite some nitpicks, but the ending really didn't do it for me, and makes it hard to recapture what I was feeling earlier in the book. Beatrice meets a celebrity psychic who tells her she will experience seven miracles and then die. When Beatrice discovers that her husband is cheating on her, she flees to Skerry Island off the Pacific Northwest coast, where she had originally booked a vacation with her husband. On Skerry, Beatrice soon discovers a long-lost identical twin, and quickly falls in with her new family - a precocious and, as it turns out, manipulative teenage trans niece, a warm and loving sister, and a prickly and unrepentant mother. It turns out Beatrice is from a long line of witches, and she experiences both miracles and magic, making plenty of mistakes along the way. However, her family is much more to blame for the mistakes than she is because they don't explain things to her at all well, and the events that made up the latter half of the book really frustrated me. I wasn't a huge Beatrice fan, but her new family made no effort to actually get to know her and instead it felt like some of her strengths were made out to be flaws just because she has a different approach to life. Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for a digital review copy.

Beatrice Holland just recently found out that her husband has been having an affair for their entire marriage. Instead of letting him take their birthday trip with his mistress, she decides to take the trip solo. On the ferry ride over, a psychic tells Beatrice she’s going to experience 7 miracles and die; the same thing a psychic told her the night she caught her husband. Soon enough things start to get freaky and in the back of her mind she wonders if there might be some truths to what the psychic had told her.

The first thing I loved about this book was that the FMC is 45 years old. Being in my 30’s it’s nice to have older queer characters that I can relate to. Minna, Beatrice’s trans niece, is the youngest character throughout. The diversity of the characters in this book was refreshing.

I immediately got Parent Trap vibes when Beatrice found out that her mom and twin sister were actually alive and that she had a whole family she didn’t know about. Understandably Beatrice is an outsider to the family, but I wish that their magic and family history was more in depth.

The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland is a third person-POV Queer paranormal fantasy. Parent Trap meets Practical Magic in this cozy read. Beatrix’s journey was emotional and engaging. Set in a rich magical world this is perfect for your fall TBR.

<I>Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this ARC opportunity. This is an honest and voluntary review. </I>

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland by Rachael Herron is a third person-POV Queer paranormal fantasy. Beatrice is on her way to enjoy a trip she was originally supposed to take with her husband before she learned that he had been cheating on her their whole marriage. When she arrives on the small island for her mini-vacation for one, she runs into a young woman who might have the key to Beatrice’s past and the things that she could have been in a different life.

Besides Beatrice, who is very explicitly Bi and is still friends with a former girlfriend, there are several Sapphic characters and Minna is a transgirl, giving the story a variety of Queer women in the cast. This is really great to see in a small town paranormal book for adults because there are so many ways that Queer women do exist and we experience grief and joy and struggles just like anyone else does. We ask questions about who we are or who our family is just like anyone else. Beatrice being more Sapphic-leaning but ended up marrying a man is a very common thing many Bi women experience because of the odds more than anything else. Doesn’t make them less Bi or Sapphic and Beatrice shows that in her POV quite a bit.

The use of quotes by Evie Oxby, an in-universe palmist who can commune with spirits, at the start of each chapter added humor to the book that felt much needed. Beatrice’s voice is not really a funny one, but one more tinged in reflection and grief at what she missed out on. The cozy aspects come from the small town setting, the knitting that Beatrice picks up while she’s with her mother, sister, and niece, and the very intimate cast. It’s not quite what I would call a cozy fantasy, but it is leaning in that direction. Small town paranormal is probably the closest subdivision of the subgenre.

A major theme is family after years of separation. Beatrice was raised with the understanding that her mother had died and that she had no siblings. This turns out to be completely false as her father lied to her and hid the fact that her mother was still out there and that Beatrice has an identical twin sister and she has a niece. It is very understandable that Beatrice would be upset about this especially given that her birth name is actually ‘Beatrix’ and her father changed even that. One of the things that helps Beatrice come to terms with everything is remembering the love she had for her step-mother and the love she does have for Minna pretty quickly.

I would recommend this to fans of small town paranormal fantasy and readers of cozy fantasy looking for something with a bit more bite

Synopsis:
📍 Beatrice flees to Skerry Island after her marriage falls apart.
✨ A psychic predicts seven miracles before her death.
🪞 Meets her twin sister and mother—both she thought she’d lost.
🧙‍♀️ Learns she’s from a powerful witch family.
👻 Her magic draws dangerous supernatural enemies.
🕵️‍♀️ Niece goes missing, forcing Bea to face her fate head-on.

Thoughts:
The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland had an intriguing premise and moments that pulled me in, but it ultimately left me wanting more.
While Beatrice and Reno’s relationship had potential, I didn’t feel the spark or deep yearning their connection was meant to convey. The secrecy within Beatrice’s family felt overly drawn out, and when she finally wakes up in the hospital, their quick acceptance of her without meaningful conversation felt unrealistic and unsatisfying.

Additionally, the subplot involving her trans niece—who lies to her—left me wishing for more emotional resolution, especially between Beatrice and her sister. These threads had the potential for powerful, heartfelt moments, but they didn’t quite land.

Overall, it’s a book with a beautiful concept and some touching moments, but the emotional depth I was hoping for never fully materialized.

3.5⭐️
1🌶️

*Thanks to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing and Hachet audio for early copy for review*

The first 60% of this was fantastic. I loved seeing the miracles and learning about magic. The last bit were the conflict really introduces itself frustrated me to no end. Beatrice makes a lot of mistakes which is due to people not communicating the rules. She also makes the mistake of listening to someone who she craved a familial bond with. Beatrice has a lot of issues with control and missing a relationship with a mother, especially after her stepmother passing. I felt also that in the end the conflict wrapped to neatly in a bow and would have preferred more consequences as well.

I had the audiobook as well as the ebook and wished that the production team added ambience of the ocean or something more to it to make it more atmospheric. Also the narrator's breathy voice would of had me rewinding audiobook if I didn't have ebook as well.

4.5/5. Thanks to Netgalley, Ms. Herron, and the publisher for the eARC!

Sometimes books really just strike a chord, even if they aren't technically perfect. That was this book. I'm not an overly emotional person but two scenes really had me tearing up and that says something. I didn't expect my "cozy side read" to strike my heartstrings.

Beatrice, coming out of a marriage and traveling on a pre-planned birthday trip for her soon-to-be ex-husband, arrives on Skerry Island after being told that she will experience seven miracles and she will die. At first, the skeptical Beatrice, our spreadsheet loving, list-making protagonist, brushes it off as psychic woo-woo. But after her first two miracles arrive in rapid succession - one of which is finding unknown members of her immediate family - she starts to come around to the idea of miracles <i>and</i> magic.

I liked the way magic was portrayed in this, as well as witchcraft as a whole. Minna, Beatrice's niece, really sounded like a teenager to me and her story was touching. Though the entire "you have family you never knew about" is a bit of a stretch for a plot, I enjoyed it here. I thought it came together well.

Definitely one to read again, and one I will miss reading for the first time.

If you're looking to pick something up that gets you in the mood for fall, this is the book! It's got a mix of Practical Magic and Parent Trap, with our main character, Beatrice, getting the heck out of dodge after her husband cheats on her, and in consequence, being thrown into the family she thought was dead and a world full of magic.

I thought this was an easy, fun read, and I appreciated the range of characters. There is a good amount of queer representation, and the island that everyone is on is just a hair utopic, which made this a more cozy read, given the depth of topic that is covered. I enjoyed the story of two sisters reconnecting, assuming the other was dead, and seeing their relationship grow, as well as Beatrice's relationship with her niece.

What bugged me was the total flip in that growth near the end, on the part of everyone but Beatrice. I was pretty ticked off for her and how little information was given her while she was simultaneously expected to be perfect and know everything-this made the climax kind of frustrating to me. I liked Beatrice'a arc, but the rest of the characters kind of plopped for me after that. That plus the sorta inconsistent pacing kept this from being a big emotional hit for me, which is was close to being.

In the end, I still liked it and would recommend it for people wanting to read about discovering family and some light, creepy, witchcraft!

Thanks to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for the e-ARC!

Beatrice Holland has been told by not one but two psychics that she will experience seven miracles and she will die. So when she miraculously escapes a wood chipper accident and finds the identical twin she didn't even know she had on the same day, well, that's two miracles down.

For me, the interplay of family, strained relationships, love, and forgiveness, and magic, really really worked. There's a lot of grief in this story, and it absolutely pulled on my emotions. I love a story where a character discovers her powers and begins to grow into them, and that's Beatrice. Because this is a story filled with magic and ghosts as well as family.

Just lovely.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

really good movie, really great ending and plotting and some really effective storytelling. would definitely recommend. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Oh no, this was a dud for me!

I like the foreshadowing in the form of fortune told. The supernatural circumstances that led Beatrice to her lost family. The idea of finding herself, and shedding her people pleasing ways. These all happened, I love it for all of them!

What went wrong for me were the characters together. Individually they all rock, together they lacked chemistry. If this were in real life, performative is the perfect word to describe it. Beatrice’s parents are despicable, magical reasons or not, they could rot; and Beatrice is the only one who had a logical reaction to the whole thing! The rest barely blinked.

Don’t take my word for it though. This has good small-town story with witchy vibes. There’s a level of coziness about it, and the found family trope was ok.

I so enjoyed this book! It has so many of my favorite things:
🧙 Witches
🪄Magic
💃 Midlife women coming into their own
🏘️ Adorable small town
💞 A touch of romance (with queer relationships as normalized as straight ones, which they should be!)

I can’t wait to look up more of Rachel Herron’s books!

(Found?) family, female power, and a dash of queer magic make this cozy novel a great read. Giving this a 4.5 out of 5 stars. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This story has so many elements that I adore: older protagonists, authentic queer representation, and characters that royally mess things up. Each character is so perfectly flawed in ways that are believable and as a reader, I don't blame them for making the decisions that they did. Everyone was missing key bits of information but had the best intentions.

The pacing of the story can be a bit jarring... The first 3/4 of the story is very cozy and slow, focusing in on the characters themselves and the quirks of the setting, Skerry Island. Beatrice is just learning to tap into her magic, while also being under the pressure of an untimely premonition of seven miracles and a death, plus you know, finding a long lost family and dealing with grief over an impending divorce.

But the last 1/4 of the book goes from 0 to 100 FAST. The ending is a true dark fantasy, with a missing child, generational ghost enemy coming for their just desserts, and the knowledge that someone WILL die.

Overall a very entertaining read.

ARC provided by NetGalley and the publishers! Thank you so much for allowing me to read this early in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, this just didn't really click with me. I think there are a lot of things going for it individually: unconventional older woman protagonist, relatively cozy urban fantasy, LGBT positive themes, and a sense of camaraderie between women. My problem is all these things may fit together, but that doesn't necessarily make for an interesting story.

Sadly, this is a case of those individual things adding up to be a bit of a snoozefest for me. I dragged myself through this, but if it wasn't an ARC I likely would've dropped it. Most frustrating for me is that I read it! I did! But I feel like pretty much nothing stuck in my head! I could barely tell you anything about what happened here except that it started okay, but quickly became very boring and burned off most of my hope in the final act.

I don't think this book is truly terrible, but it suffers from not sticking a landing and being pretty boring. This may click for somebody else!

When Beatrice goes on the trip she was supposed to take with her soon-to-be-ex, she encounters two different psychics who say she will soon experience seven miracles and die. Beatrice doesn't believe in psychics (or magic), but all that changes when she realizes her mother didn't actually die when she was an infant, that she has a twin sister, oh, and that she might be a witch.

I would say it's a cozy-adjacent book. The first 2/3 are pretty cozy, but there's some high cost drama towards the end. It's an absolutely lovely book, filled with found family, lots of familial drama, and a bit of mystery. It's about learning to trust yourself, to forgive, and to take up space. I can't wait to see what Herron writes next.

Rep: bi MC, queer romance, trans secondary character, PoC secondary characters...
TW: mild transphobia, infidelity, self-harm, death, lots of family secrets.

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I liked this a lot! I loved the found family aspect - the grief and the conflict between logic/gut instincts was well done. I also liked the way the LGBTQ characters were handled and how none of them felt like afterthoughts.

This book was great! I loved every minute of reading it. There is nothing better than a great witchy read with twins and found family!

Family, fate, and feminism meet in this queer, spell-drenched stunner.

If Practical Magic and The Parent Trap had a queer millennial baby and then raised it on Pacific Northwest fog and family secrets, it would grow up to be The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland. And let me tell you—it would know exactly how to break your heart, make you cackle, and leave you believing in miracles you didn’t ask for.

Beatrice Barnard—newly scorned, thoroughly skeptical, and spiritually allergic to the word "destiny"—was not expecting to find herself on death’s doorstep courtesy of a flying axe. But that’s miracle #1. The rest? Well, things get increasingly wild from there.

Skerry Island is the kind of place where secrets bloom like mold in the corners and your long-dead mother might just make you tea. When Bea stumbles into the arms of Cordelia, her long-lost (and sassier) twin sister, and Astrid, their once-deceased matriarch, the story blossoms into a multi-generational tapestry of magic, pain, and fierce, feral love.

And the twist? Beatrice is a witch.
Not just a witch—an anchor, a conduit, a cosmic switchboard operator for the dead. Her family’s legacy isn’t just magical, it’s entangled in an ancient spiritual war. And as she reconnects with the family she never knew she had, Bea must also reckon with her own grief, fear, and growing sense of purpose.

🌙 What’s to love?

Sharp, witty dialogue that sparkles even in the darkest moments
A beautifully queer, deeply feminist take on magical lineage
Found (and re-found) family that feels raw, real, and messy
A ticking clock of seven miracles that feel less like blessings and more like warnings
A setting so lush and eerie, it feels alive—and maybe slightly haunted
💫 It’s not all spells and specters, though. This story hits emotional beats with surgical precision. Bea's transformation from jaded woman on the run to fierce protector and reluctant believer is as satisfying as it is earned. Add in a missing child, ghostly threats, and that ever-looming seventh miracle, and you’ve got a story that’s heartfelt, high-stakes, and wholly enchanting.

📚 Perfect for fans of:

Sarah Addison Allen
Alice Hoffman
Queer cottagecore with a bite
Sisters who fight side-by-side (and occasionally with side-eye)

The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland is a gorgeously witchy, emotionally rich tale of power, love, and the miracles we never see coming. It’s about rewriting the story we were handed—and sometimes, raising the dead while we’re at it.

Thank You NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC!

I absolutely loves this! It sucked me in and I couldn't put the book down! The scenery described sounded beautiful, and lush. I was such a cozy read that gradually began to tackle some more hard hitting questions, which made the tone of the book feel like a mixed bag between cozy and serious.

Overall, I enjoyed reading it and absolutely loved the characters.

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this magical trio of women. The family dynamic was strong and I loved Beatrice as the main character. The magic was well handled and interesting. The danger was imminent and the plot carried it forward. I loved the descriptive writing. I did feel it could have been a little longer. The ending seemed rushed to me.

This story is tender and so beautifully written. It is about grief, hope, magic, and second chances. Rachel uses such beautiful lyrical prose.
Beatrix herself is a quietly powerful and very relatable character. This book is like a cozy sweet hug that you didn’t know you needed.