While it’s still September, for many of us Halloween can’t be here soon enough and to
that end, Practical Magic 2 opened up in theaters last week to a pretty respectable box office tally despite mixed reviews from critics. From the reception online, it seems as if a lot of the fans of the original Alice Hoffman adaptation from 1998 really enjoyed it and since that’s who this movie was clearly meant for, I say “Well, why not?”
I recently saw the Devil Wears Prada sequel on streaming and yeah, it was okay but also directly aimed at those who fondly remember the original film (at least PM2 used one of Hoffman’s follow-up books for their script unlike the DWP movie).
If you didn’t see the first movie, a lot of the references to it in the DWP sequel wouldn’t register with a newcomer at all. Might be the same with this sequel, might not, l can’t say. I had fun, though and that’s a necessity for your emotional health these days.
So I hope that the PM fans had a good time here and if you’re not in a hurry to see this movie just yet(going to wait for cable myself), you can kick off your spooky season reading with a witch themed read.
I found at least three books on my TBR that could scratch that literary itch quite nicely.
The most current is Meg Shaffer’s The Book Witch, where our magical heroine, Rainy March, uses her powers to protect fictional characters from being attacked by censorious outside forces.
When Rainy’s grandfather goes missing on one of his bookish missions, she teams up with one of her favorite book detectives known as the Duke of Chicago in order to rescue him. Unfortunately, Rainy also has the challenge of not getting too attached to the Duke, despite their chemistry growing between jaunts into other books.
Shaffer is very enchanting when it comes to weaving fresh storytelling cloth into familiar page turning tapestries and this novel promises to be the best sort of magical journey of the mind indeed:
For something a little more sinister, I do have The Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn on hand.
Piers Corbin found out at an early age that she had an affinity for poison magic and over the years, worked to keep it under control.
However, in order to escape a deteriorating marriage, she used those skills to fake her own demise and fled to the small town of Balsam to start a new life with her Aunt Myrtle.
There, Piers learned that she’s the latest in a long line of bane witches whose ability to make poison a weapon against men who practice evil on a regular basis.
While restarting her life(and possibly a new love), the presence of a serial killer in the area means that Piers may have to be a death dealer in a way that could also be the end of her new existence in Balsam.
I have been saving this book up for the right occasion and it may be time for this scary story suppertime to begin:
However, if I’m in the mood for a more mellow read, then Sydney J. Shields’ The Honey Witch ought to be a sweet treat there.
As the title enchantress, Marigold protects the island of Inniafree with her bee charmer abilities from any and all threats yet the biggest danger can come from her heart.
According to lore, if a Honey Witch falls in love, she loses her powers and with the menace of the Ash Witch lurking about, Marigold doesn’t want to risk her new home.
However, when the friend of a friend visits Innisfree, she feels the urge to tamp down her emotions or her magic will evaporate, leaving Marigold vulnerable in more ways than one. Yet, it might be worth taking that chance…
This does sound charmingly cozy with a good dollop of romance on top of a storytelling sundae that suits this season just fine:
Whichever witchy read you choose from these or many other delightfully spellbinding options you find on the shelves, be sure to select your preferred fictional flavor and enjoy it as much as possible.
As for me, I’m not sure of which one to choose and as for the right movie, there is a certain long awaited sequel that I’ve been meaning to get to, one way or another, and before the end of October, I will pop some corn for that sisterly silly showcase, no doubt about that!:
I hope you all had a nice Labor Day lengthy weekend with plenty to read. Luckily, my September box from Book of the Month Club arrived just in time and one of those titles is on my Currently Reading pile as we speak(more on that one in a moment).
First, however, I must admit that I had put my account on a two month pause (yep, the economy) but I had to break that hold early-it worked out, budget wise-because one of the Main Selections was a must have for me.
Rachel Harrison‘s Kiss Slay,Replay is subtitled “a Time Loop novel” but this is more Happy Death Day than Groundhog’s Day here!
Willa Sullivan is less than thrilled to begin with to be attending her friend’s wedding due to the fact that her most recent exe is invited as well; worse, he brought a plus-one with him.
As it turns out, that’s actually not the worst because this particular wedding is being held at the site of a former summer camp and judging by the masked maniac who crashes the party, it’s easy to figure out why they got such a good deal on the location!
Willa, however, wakes up the next day and finds herself reliving the entire wedding over and over and over…you get the gruesome point.
Can she figure out a way to end this lethal love train of terror (and maybe find a new boyfriend to boot )or is her eternal destiny to be a blood soaked guest and never the blissful bride?
I do adore this concept and ever since I read Play Nice, have looked forward to more from Harrison and her marvelous mix of horror, humor and heartfelt drama:
I also picked up my second Centennial edition , the 1974 John Le Carre modern classic Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
This Cold War story introduces us to George Smiley, a former ringleader of spies who is brought out from retirement in order to capture a Russian mole.
The list of suspects include many assumed friends and potential foes and perhaps a certain someone very close to his heart at one time. Will he be able to find this hidden threat or are his best hunting days over and done?
The last time I read a Le Carre book was decades ago(The Little Drummer Girl, due in part to the 1984 movie adaptation)but I do recall enjoying that one and
the state of affairs these days, exploring a good old school version of spy fare might be an intriguing diversion.
Plus, it’s a good excuse to check out the BBC miniseries adaptation from 1969, with the late great Alec Guinness as Smiley. The Centennial edition is nicely put together and before this 100 year anniversary of BOTM is up, I’m hoping to get at least one or two more, we shall see:
As for my current read among this BOTM batch, I went with an August selection in the romantasy category.
The Poison Daughter by Sheila Masterson is set between two points of civilization surrounded by a vast forest of vampiric attackers known as The Drained.
In the city of Lunamede, Harlow is the youngest daughter of a magical family that has ruthlessly dominated the social and political landscape for generations. As her personal form of protest, she uses her deadly set of inherited powers as the “Poison Vixen”, ridding the city of evil men.
Upon hearing that her parents are once again forcing her to enter a politically motivated marriage, Harlow goes out into the night, after what she believes may be her last target. Unfortunately he happens to be immune from her poisonous kiss.
Even more troubling, the man in question is her new intended husband, Henry, who is also marrying her for his family’s purposes and to spy upon his in-laws , not to mention learn more about the rebellion brewing in Lunamede against the magical ruling classes.
Being attracted to each other is also annoying but when faced with a mutual threat, the only choice for survival is perhaps to trust each other for the good of them all.
I’m over a hundred pages in(it’s a good chunky read) so far, this is a great fantasy drama. The vibes between Harlow and Henry are solidly sizzling with some good banter and the tang of intrigue hovering over the secrets and lies yet to be discovered is page turning tasty!
With the hectic nature of this week, spending some quality time with this tantalizing tome(plus a current library loan) is rather refreshing, in a charmingly twisted sort of way. Plus, hard to resist a lady with a poison kiss:
Well, we all know what the end of this week is and no matter how you honor the day, do try to take good emotional care of yourself and those around you.
As for me, I am looking forward to feeling the start of the fall season and longing for sweater weather to begin. When it comes to the four seasons, I am definitely an Autumn, the perfect time to catch up on my reading before the end of the year, if you ask me:
Hi, folks and happy day one of September to you! Not only has the fall season started(unofficially, I suppose) but the end of Seasons of Reading’s High Summer Readathon has arrived as well.
My goal was to read at least three books with the word “summer” in the title and one of them was a new to me author, Carley Fortune.
Well, I did read a Carley Fortune novel yet instead of One Golden Summer, I wound up with Every Summer After instead. Since OGS does tie into that book, it made sense for me to tackle it first upon spotting it at my local library.
Our leading lady is Persephone “Percy” Fraser, whose family has been spending their summers in Barry’s Bay, a small Canadian tourist town, and over the years, has been best friends with Sam Florek, sharing a love of nature, horror movies and ambitions for a future together.
It’s been years since the two of them got together but when Percy gets a call from Sam’s brother Charlie about the death of their mother, she instantly knows that respects and so much more need to paid here.
I won’t say more than that regarding the plot ; what really strengthens the story is the narrative hook of the characters and the indelible portrait of Barry’s Bay that the author brings to life on page.
You feel so connected to these fictional people that you want to talk back to them(much like a good horror movie when you shout out warnings to the screen!) and encourage them to avoid certain situations. Then again, we wouldn’t have much of a book if everyone was a Cautious Cathy, now would we?
I do allow myself to switch out a book if necessary during these challenges and in this case, it was a pretty good call. Now I know that I like Carley Fortune and still have another book on hand (which happens to focus on Charlie, so there’s more nuance for me on that front) for another time.
As it happens, this particular book was turned into an adaptation for a certain streaming service with a title change(Every Year After) and from what I understand, a major plot point change as well. I don’t intend to watch the show but if it gets that audience more interested in reading, then those alterations will be well worth it:
As for the books I intended to read originally here, Ali Hazelwood’s Problematic Summer Romance is similar to Every Summer After in that it is connected to another book by the same author.
In this circumstance, I did read the earlier title(Not in Love) where the main characters in this novel were just supporting players. This time around, Maya is traveling to a remote island in Italy for her brother‘a destination wedding , an event that comes with some unexpected setbacks, and while she’s happy to be there, the biggest issue for her is dealing with Conor.
Conor is her brother’s best friend and business partner, plus much older than Maya(she’s twenty three, he is thirty eight). Out of all those potential problems, it’s the age difference that holds Conor back from pursuing a relationship with Maya. Can this time together get them to look past that or will this end things once and for all?
I do enjoy Hazelwood‘s takes on romance and appreciate the dynamic of Conor not wanting to use his status as an older man to dominate a younger potential romantic partner. However, some of those arguments about that issue between those two went on for a bit too long there.
While I did get some Jane Austen’s Emma vibes from the book, even Mr. Knightley and Miss Woodhouse knew when to call a truce! All in all, I would say that PSR is good entertainment, particularly if you’ve read Not in Love first:
And finally, I got to experience These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean.
The Storms of the title are a family whose wealthy patriarch Franklin has recently passed away. His daughter Alice has been estranged from them for several years but nonetheless, comes home to their New England island retreat to pat her last respects. Unfortunately, her father’s will holds a few (not totally unexpected)surprises for her and the remainder of the family.
Enforcing those final requests is Jack, who Alice happened to meet on the train coming in and wound up having what she thought would be a one night stand. What’s more annoying is that while Jack certainly knew who she was, Alice had no idea who he was or what role he was about to play this particular week.
Alice and her siblings are asked to jump through some hoops in order to gain their inheritance, with Alice’s only task is to stay the full week of mourning. Since her mother and most of her family are as emotionally toxic as any nuclear waste disposal, her urge to leave is strong but if even one of them refuses to take part, then all of them will lose out on the money.
The story stays mainly with Alice but the viewpoint does get shifted to her other family members at times such as her obnoxious brother Sam(whose wife Sila is even worse) and older sister Greta, who is being made to end a secret relationship with a longtime staff member. That helps to round out the overall story and gives more depth to their characters.
MacLean is another new to me writer that I would love to read more from and I’m glad that I listened to some good word of mouth about this book. It’s a great read for any time of year, if you ask me.
While this novel will naturally bring comparisons to shows like Succession, I can see a little Jane Austen in this engaging mix especially when it comes to dysfunctional family relationships with the worst fear being to economize or as the Eliots of Persuasion would shudder to say “Retrench?!”:
Thank you to Michelle Miller at Seasons of Reading for another wonderful reading event and I’m already making plans for FrightFall later this season!
In the meanwhile, I hope that all of you had a good end of summer despite the daily turmoil being shoved in our faces these days . One of the toughest hits that we’ve collectively shared is the passing of Miss Dolly Parton, an icon in so many wonderful ways.
As a reader, it’s been amazing to see her Imagination Library, a program that sends free books to young children, take off like it has. From a project meant to help kids from her own home town(in honor of her father) at first, it has become an international organization that jumpstarts the love of reading for people both in this nation and abroad.
Despite federal budget cuts, the Imagination Library is still bound and determined to keep going and judging by the overwhelming donations since Dolly’s passing, that mission will continue indeed.
This is one of the reasons that people around the world have taken the departure of Dolly Parton to heart so strongly; her unfailing kindness to others. Some might sneer at the attention given to her life and legend but those cynical beings fail to comprehend the overflowing goodness that she gave to all of us without hesitation.
There are the many acts of charity that she made(both known and unknown) and advocacy for folks oppressed by so-called “polite society “, not to mention a good sense of humor about herself, plus her incredible musical talents and other pop culture appearances. We were blessed to have Dolly among us and hopefully, her legacy will be a path for others to follow.
So, thank you, Miss Parton for sharing your bounty with us and when we hear one of your songs or watch one of your movies or see a child enjoy a picture book for the first time, we will always think of you as the best that humanity has , and hopefully will continue, to offer:
