Practical Magic

Book 3 of the Practical Magic series

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The books in the Practical Magic series can be read in the order they were published: Practical Magic (1995), The Rules of Magic (2017), Magic Lessons (2020), The Book of Magic (2021), or they can be read in chronological order: Magic Lessons, The Rules of Magic, Practical Magic, The Book of Magic.

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For my own clarity, I chose to read these books so the story unfolds in chronological order.

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This book is packed with action. As in the other books, the characters are so well sussed-out that the story moves at a quick pace.

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A halo around the moon is always a sign of disruption, either a change in the weather, a fever to come, or a streak of bad fortune that won’t go away. But when it’s a double ring, all tangled and snarled, like an agitated rainbow or a love affair gone wrong, anything can happen.

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At times such as this, it’s wise not to answer the telephone. People who know enough to be careful always shut their windows; they lock their doors, and they never dare to kiss their sweethearts over a garden gate or reach out to pat a stray dog.

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Trouble is just like love, after all; it comes in unannounced and takes over before you’ve had a chance to reconsider, or even to think.

The main characters from the previous, second book (the sisters) are now elderly and live together in the ancestral house. The main characters of this book are their nieces and grand-nieces, none of whom want to do magic, fall in love, nor live in the ancestral house - they want to be normal.

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When Sally swings the door open, Gary looks into her eyes and sees himself upside down. He finds himself in a pool of gray light, drowning, going down for the third time, and there’s not a damn thing he can do about it.

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His grandfather told him once that witches caught you in this way – they knew how much most men love themselves and how deeply they’ll let themselves be drawn in, just for a glimpse of their own image.

And they do a good job of it until the wild aunt (who is a child in the previous book) shows up and turns everybody’s life upside down. Which is great because they need magic to fix the issues that come up.

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‘What’s wrong?’ Sally says. ‘What’s the matter?’

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Gary shakes his head; it always takes a while before he can talk. His grandfather used to say that holding tears back makes them drain upward, higher and higher, until one day your head just explodes and you’re left with a stub of a neck and nothing more.

One can feel that this book was written separate from the others. It feels as if it might have been written by someone else. The way Ms. Hoffman wrote in the 90s is different to how she writes now.

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This one has 80% more sexy-times and 50% less magic, but because the situations in it are interesting and it has plenty of herbal lore, it's a great read.

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