Garden Spells (Waverley Family #1) by Sarah Addison Allen

Garden Spells
Waverley Family #1
by Sarah Addison Allen

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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 Queen Anne home on Pendland Street in Bascom, North Carolina. There, an apple tree bearing fruit of magical properties looms over a garden filled with herbs and edible flowers that possess the power to affect in curious ways anyone who eats them.

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. Using her grandmother's mystical culinary traditions, Claire has built a successful catering business -- and a carefully controlled, utterly predictable life -- upon the family's peculiar gift for making life-altering delicacies: lilac jelly to engender humility, for instance, or rose geranium wine to call up fond memories. Garden Spells reveals what happens when Sydney returns to Bascom with her young daughter, turning Claire's routine existence upside down. With Sydney's homecoming, the magic that the quiet caterer has measured into recipes to shape the thoughts and moods of others begins to influence Claire's own emotions in terrifying and delightful ways.

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. With the help of their elderly cousin Evanelle, endowed with her own uncanny skills, the Waverley women redeem the past, embrace the present, and take a joyful leap into the future

My Review:

3/5 Stars

This is a really adorable story. One if you enjoy Practical Magic you’ll definitely enjoy this story . It wasn’t anything unfamiliar or dosed heavily in magic. It was as comfy and familiar as a favorite sweatshirt that has those stains on it or that whole in the sleeve. ( I'm hoping I'm not the only one with a sweatshirt like that. I could have said chocolate or cookies)

One has a flair for garden herbs and adding spices to her baked good to make things go the way you want them to or to really screw you up. But is it Claire or the garden that is magical? Claire keeps to herself and likes everything predictable and the same. One day her wayward sister comes back into town with a kid in tow. Sydney didn’t exactly embrace her heritage and she was out of Bascom as soon as she could get out. Now escaping from an abusive husband she finds herself back into the small town were here family peculiarities haven’t gone unnoticed. Its nice to read and see if Sydney and Claire ever mend their relationship and if Sydney ever accepts who she is and her magic.

I LOVED Evanelle. I think it was Claire and Sydneys elderly cousin. She has a gift of having to give specific things to people which always has a purpose for those people. Even if its some random off the wall object that they can’t see what they’d use it for at that moment they seem to need it at some point.

The apple tree itself was an interesting character. It would throw apples to get people attention and it didn’t like certain people. I can’t help thinking that would be cool to have an apple tree like that. Even if it didn’t like me.

In short..Although predictable this book seemed to be what I wanted to read at the moment. It was light quick and sweet. I finished it as soon as I picked it up. Something for those days where I just want something light to read, something that just makes me smile. Nothing deep no action just comfort, some humor, a little drama and light magic