First frost - Sarah Addison Allen

It's October in Bascom, North Carolina, and autumn will not go quietly. As temperatures drop and leaves begin to turn, the Waverley women are made restless by the whims of their mischievous apple tree... and all the magic that swirls around it. But this year, first frost has much more in store.

Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley's Candies. Though her handcrafted confections-rose to recall lost love, lavender to promote happiness and lemon verbena to soothe throats and minds-are singularly effective, the business of selling them is costing her the everyday joys of her family, and her belief in her own precious gifts.

Sydney Waverley, too, is losing her balance. With each passing day she longs more for a baby- a namesake for her wonderful Henry. Yet the longer she tries, the more her desire becomes an unquenchable thirst, stealing the pleasure out of the life she already has.

Sydney's daughter, Bay, has lost her heart to the boy she knows it belongs to...if only he could see it, too. But how can he, when he is so far outside her grasp that he appears to her as little more than a puff of smoke?

When a mysterious stranger shows up and challenges the very heart of their family, each of them must make choices they have never confronted before. And through it all, the Waverley sisters must search for a way to hold their family together through their troublesome season of change, waiting for that extraordinary event that is First Frost.

My thoughts:

To be honest I have a dreadful memory (not that it matters, this works perfectly as a standalone). But I did read the first book 4 years ago, so that does explains it. I can not remember Clare's man, but I did remember after a while Sydney's Henry, well sort of, I had heard of him. I more remembered the general feeling of thing. The apple tree, the magic, them being on the outside of everyone else.

10 years have passed. Bay is a teenager, she has the magic to know where things belong.

Clare makes candy now, but is unhappy cos all she does is candy, and her heart is not in it. Even if the magic is.

Sydney is still cutting hair and making everyone's day with that magic, but she wants a baby, and is unhappy too.

First frost is coming and that is dangerous for the Waverly's. There is a stranger in town. Clare has a decision to make. Bay is in love. And Sydney must come to terms with her wish.

But it all works out perfectly. Magic is in the air, just, with this book I know the magic is there, totally, they totally have magic and that apple tree is totally magical.

Conclusion:
A sweet book.

Cover

nice

Paperback, 320 pages
Published January 5th 2016 by St. Martin's Griffin (first published January 20th 2015)
Waverley Family #2
Magical realism
Own

Lost Lake - Sarah Addison Allen

It happens one morning - Kate finally wakes up from the slumber she's been in since her husband's death a year ago. Feeling a fresh sense of desire to take control of her and her young daughter's life, she decides to visit Suley, Georgia - home to Lost Lake. It's where Kate spent one of the happiest summers of her life as a child. She's not sure what she expects to find there, but it's not a rundown place full of ghosts and other curious oddities. Kate's Aunt Eby, Lost Lake's owner, wants to sell the old place and move on. Lost Lake's magic is gone. As Kate discovers that time has a way of standing still at Lost Lake, can she bring the cottages - as well as her heart and the hearts of all the guests - back to life? Because sometimes lost loves aren't really lost. They're just waiting for you to find them again. 

My thoughts:

You know these words by now; It was good BUT it was not as good as previous books. It did not have that comfort feeling, that awww magical realism feeling. It felt rather bland to be honest. It was a good fiction book, but it was not a good magical realism book.

So yes that was the main issues. What magical realism? A crocodile? No. I want the magical realism to be felt, to really feel it and think yes, there is magic in the south. Here I never felt that. There was no real magic in this book.

But that does not make it a bad book. She is still a great author, and wrote a good fiction book. Just not a great magical realism book.

The story is about Eby who owns Lost lake, but the place is dying. No new guests are coming. She wants to sell and then her niece Kate turns up. Kate who will learn to love again and her daughter who will find a home to love. And Eby will find peace again. It's also the story of 2 guests, and the cook. Everyone finding what they need.

Conclusion:

But yes, disappointing that the Allen feeling was not there. Though, still good.

Cover

eh

Paperback, 296 pages
Published February 13th 2014 by Hodder & Stoughton
Fiction
Own

Garden Spells - Sarah Addison Allen

Welcome to Bascom, North Carolina, where it seems that everyone has a story to tell about the Waverley women. The house that's been in the family for generations, the walled garden that mysteriously blooms year round, the rumours of dangerous loves and tragic passions. Every Waverley woman is somehow touched by magic.

Claire has always clung to the Waverleys' roots, tending the enchanted soil in the family garden from which she makes her sought-after delicacies - famed and feared for their curious effects. 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 . . .

Claire's carefully tended life is about to run gloriously out of control.

My thoughts:

I love her books, what more is there to say? The magical realism in them is just wonderful. I believe it, I want to visit and experience that magic.

In this small town we have the Waverley's who have a magical garden and apple tree. But they are not the only ones. There is the family whose men always marry older women, and the family whose women always marry well and who knows how to use sex. But none are like the Waverleys.

Claire loves her garden, she mixes flower with food and suddenly you feel happy, nostalgic etc. But she is also stuck in her ways and afraid to get close because people leave.

Sydney her sister comes back with a daughter. Sydney left because she wanted to be normal, but does she have "magic" of her own? She is running from her own problems but as this is an Allen book everyone will get what they need. 

Magical realism is just awesome. It's done so well that you do not know what to believe. No one is holding a wand, is's just life, maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's everything.

Conclusion:

A lovely story that I read slowly to savor everything.

cover

ok

Paperback, 320 pages
Published April 29th 2008 by Bantam Discovery
Magical realism / fiction
Own

The Peach Keeper - Sarah Addison Allen

It’s the dubious distinction of thirty-year-old Willa Jackson to hail from a fine old Southern family of means that met with financial ruin generations ago. The Blue Ridge Madam—built by Willa’s great-great-grandfather and once the finest home in Walls of Water, North Carolina—has stood for years as a monument to misfortune and scandal. Willa has lately learned that an old classmate—socialite Paxton Osgood—has restored the house to its former glory, with plans to turn it into a top-flight inn. But when a skeleton is found buried beneath the property’s lone peach tree, long-kept secrets come to light, accompanied by a spate of strange occurrences throughout the town. Thrust together in an unlikely friendship, united by a full-blooded mystery, Willa and Paxton must confront the passions and betrayals that once bound their families—and uncover the truths that have transcended time to touch the hearts of the living.

My thoughts:

Nothing like a Addison Allen book to make you believe in books again (I had two very bad DNFs before this one). 

I am sure I could go on and on. But I would honestly just want to say that you really should read her books. The magical realism in them is simply wonderful. It's so real, yet so magical. It's called magical realism for a reason after all.

Here we have a hidden secret under a peach tree. It's about Willa, who never really lived, and Paxton, who wants to spread her wings too. They find each other, they find secrets and they both find love too. And sprinkled all over it there is magic as they get close to the mystery.

Conclusion:

I recommend her books to everyone. I do no have much more to say, this is one of those books that do not need a lot of words spoken about it. Just read it.

Cover

Nice

Paperback, US, 304 pages
Published January 10th 2012 by Bantam (first published March 22nd 2011)
Magical realism, Fiction
For review

Review: The Girl who chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen

Emily Benedict has come to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew, she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor, Julia Winterson, bakes hope in the form of cakes, not only wishing to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth but also dreaming of rekindling the love she fears might be lost forever. Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily’s backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in.

My thoughts:

 I have only read one book by her before but it was lovely, and this one was just as lovely. I could just say "it was wonderful, everyone should read it" and leave it at that. But I will try to say more.

The magical realism makes this book and it feels so real. Yes I do believe that the things happen could happen. In a Southern small town, with quirks of its own.

The book is about two people, Emily who comes to live with her grandfather and tries to solve the mystery why her mother left. She finds friendship, not so nice people and magic in this town. And herself.

The other main character is Julia, Emily's neighbor. She bakes with the windows open, why, well you will find out. Her story is sad, but there is hope and she becomes friends with Emily. Two different people in age and situation.

There is also a dash of romance, and that is never wrong.

Conclusion:

What more can I say? Allen knows how to write, I got sucked into the story and did not want to leave. A wonderful tale.

Cover:

Meh

Genre: Magical realism / fiction
Pages: 261
Published: 2011 by Hodder and Stoughton
Source: Own

Review: The Sugar Queen - Sarah Addison Allen

Josey Cirrini is sure of three things: winter is her favorite season, she’s a sorry excuse for a Southern belle, and sweets are best eaten in the privacy of her closet. For while Josey has settled into an uneventful life in her mother’s house, her one consolation is the stockpile of sugary treats and paperback romances she escapes to each night…. Until she finds her closet harboring Della Lee Baker, a local waitress who is one part nemesis—and two parts fairy godmother. With Della Lee’s tough love, Josey’s narrow existence quickly expands. She even bonds with Chloe Finley, a young woman who is hounded by books that inexplicably appear when she needs them—and who has a close connection to Josey’s longtime crush. Soon Josey is living in a world where the color red has startling powers, and passion can make eggs fry in their cartons. And that’s just for starters.

Brimming with warmth, wit, and a sprinkling of magic, here is a spellbinding tale of friendship, love—and the enchanting possibilities of every new day.

Genre: Fiction/Magical realism, Pages: 294, Published: 2009, Publisher: Bantam, Source: My own

My thoughts:

I had heard good things about her books, and I do like magical realism so I thought why not. And now, now I think, why not sooner!?

This was a wonderful light book, I could not put it down. It had everything it should have, a bit of magic that seemed so real. Books that follow someone around. Light and warmth and a bit of a fairytale over it all. Josey is a bit like Rapunzel, she is stuck in her house, guarded by her mother. But she lets her hair down and starts to live.

I liked Josey, she tries her best with her mother. But they are not happy together. Instead Josey hoards candy and romance novels. She has no life. Until a fairygodmother, in the form of a woman on the run from a man, shows up in her closet. Della gives her the push she needs and it was a joy to see Josey try new things and get away from the darkness that is her mother.

She also make a new friend, make that only friend, Chloe. Another woman with man trouble, and of course, a strange habit of collecting books that just shows up. Something I loved because I am a booklover, and to have books just show up? Yes please. And these two women are good for each other. A growing friendship is on the way.

Of course we have a sprinkle of romance too which again warms my heart. This princess needs that.

In the end it was just perfect, just like I want my magical realism fiction to be. It was also a different sort of Southern book, since there is a ski resort on the mountains, and that gave it another sort of flavor.

Conclusion:
Yes I want more by this author and I also recommend this book.

Cover:
I do not like it