Can you believe that I read The Peach Keeper and The Sugar Queen before I dove headfirst into Sarah Addison Allen’s debut, Garden Spells?

I have not read many novels in the magical realism genre–elements of magic inside a world that is otherwise just like ours. However, even while a former girlfriend of his stays at his home for a couple of days, Tyler finds himself still attracted to Claire. Unbeknownst to the Waverlys, they were hired to cater the party as part of Hunter’s mother Ariel’s plan to humiliate Sydney and convince her son that Sydney is not worthy of him. She has everything she thinks she needs – until one day she waked to find a stranger has moved in next door and a vine of ivy has crept into her garden . As the sisters reconnect and learn to support one another, each finds romance where she least expects it, while Sydney's child, Bay, discovers both the safe home she has longed for and her own surprising gifts.Form the dough into a round shape inside the pan, sprinkle over sea salt and more dried lavender, and drizzle with some garlic olive oil. This is one of those novels that enchant me from its first sentence, leaving me in a daze where I can hardly do anything else but read the story and think about it when I’m not. Meanwhile, her e

Claire has built up a successful business, but is shy and wary of people due to being abandoned by her mother at a young age. Thirty-four-year-old Claire Waverley manifests her talent in cooking; using edible flowers, Claire creates dishes that "affect the eater in curious ways. Taught the fine art of table place settings at an early age, she has never quite shaken off her inherited urge to rebel. It turns out that Emma's mother Ariel Clark set the situation up to try to show Hunter John that Sydney was trash, and Claire was unaware of her motives.The garden in the back of the house, which has been in the family for generations, is shielded by a nine-foot fence.

Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. We see it only in glimpses until the climax of the story–in an apple, a revelation, a chance meeting. Sitting at his father's old desk, he had invoices in front of him, but judging by the way he jumped when Claire opened the door, his mind had been on other things.For nearly a decade, 34-year-old Claire Waverley, at peace with her family inheritance, has lived in the house alone, embracing the spirit of the grandmother who raised her, ruing her mother's unfortunate destiny and seemingly unconcerned about the fate of her rebellious sister, Sydney, who freed herself long ago from their small town's constraints. It kept popping up on many of the book recommendation lists I’ve looked at this year: lists featuring witchy books, books inspired by nature, books containing descriptive prose. From routine based Claire to spontaneous Sydney to quirky Evanelle, they all have such distinct personalities. Of course there will be conflicts with her old school friends (who never really were her friends, and I felt the sub-plot was a bit forced, and kind of unnecessary).

The Waverley family has always been a subject of gossip and curiosity, but it’s their garden that makes them famous. As I read, I felt as if I fell into the story and was swallowed by it, like Harry falling into Dumbledore’s memory in the Pensieve. Business was doing well, because all the locals knew that dishes made from the flowers that grew around the apple tree in the Waverley garden could affect the eater in curious ways. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear.The garden was quiet and damp, the temperamental apple tree at the back of the lot shivering slightly as if dreaming. Garden Spells is so tender and enchanting, it drew me in on page one, and held me captivated—without letting me go for even a minute—until the end. I like GoodReads summary of the novel: “The women of the Waverley family — whether they like it or not — are heirs to an unusual legacy, one that grows in a fenced plot behind their home in Bascom, North Carolina. Psychic abilities, being able to shoot fire from one’s hands, or even just mystical elements is enough for me to give a book a double take.