The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

The Rules of Magic (Practical Magic, #0.2)

by Alice Hoffman

From beloved author Alice Hoffman comes the spellbinding prequel to her bestseller, Practical Magic.

Find your magic.

For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.

The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy. Thrilling and exquisite, real and fantastical, The Rules of Magic is a story about the power of love reminding us that the only remedy for being human is to be true to yourself.

Reviewed by Martha G on

3 of 5 stars

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I’d give it a 3.5. I liked it very much but this one didn’t grab me like some books do. Some books I can’t wait to get home and finish and this wasn’t that. In some ways it was a bit sad. I did enjoy learning about the back story of the aunts from Practical Magic and I liked the second half more than the first. I also enjoyed that it covered decades but that also made it hard for me because I had trouble keeping track of how old they were in their life. A solid book and I’m glad I read it.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 24 November, 2017: Finished reading
  • 24 November, 2017: Reviewed