Sad that it was just ok.

I love the movie,so was excited to read the book. For the 1st time ever I prefer the movie to the book.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Magical !

I read this about 20yrs ago & as a huge fan of the movie always meant to read it again. Was so happy finally available on audible. Laurence Bouvard does a beautiful job as narrator, she is perfect for this story. Alice Hoffman creates such a beautiful world you want to be a part of. For the Owens women witchcraft is just something they do, but also something they think & breathe with out intention. Like The Rules of Magic the story mostly focuses on the characters and how they deal with tragedy and trying to find love without any big climaxes. The first half seems to focus on Sally rebuilding her life with her girls and then shift focus's to Gillian trying to rebuild her life after losing her boyfriend, also what Kylie & Antonia Sally's daughters have to deal with growing up being different from other girls. Moves a long at a good pace. A great feel good read.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Not as good as the prequels

After the 2 prequels, I was disappointed with this book. There were huge sections of the book where nothing really happens & it was quite boring with lots of unnecessary personality analysis. Almost gave up on it half way through as it was so frustrating waiting for the story to progress. There were also some discrepancies in details also covered in the prequels. All in all, I wouldn't bother with this one.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

A deeper dive than the movie

I loved the movie Practical Magic, but the book is on a whole other level. Alice Hoffman really dives deep into the characters' lives and their magical world and over a much longertimespan. It's like stepping into a fairy tale, but with a lot more heart and soul. The way she describes everything is so vivid, you can almost feel the magic in the air.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Great Hoffman Classic

Great reading of a classic book. The narrator made me smile with her character voices and her delivery of the story made me feel as though i was inside the aunts house the whole time.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Enjoyable

An enjoyable easy going story. Not as good as the others in the series as this was the first published and the author's writing has certainly improved over time, hence why the other books are better. My only other criticism is that the storyline in this book has some inconsistencies with the other books. I also recommend starting with "Magic Lessons" or "The Rules of Magic".

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Awful and not what I expected

I realise books rarely resemble the movie but this is so far removed it is a completely different story and a terrible one. The other two books are wonderful and full of warmth and family and relationships as you would expect them to be in a family like the Owens. Although the first book written it just doesn't belong with the other two. I think the author has grown as a person and a writer since penning this book and would write it completely differently if she was to re do it today.
Did not enjoy at all, only got to the end because i fell asleep while it was playing.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

The worse of the lot

I found this was the worse book out of them all. It hardly touched base about the sisters using or knowing magic. The narrator was awful and they didn’t really emphasise the curse like all the other books

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Skipping words!

The story is great. The performance is fine but for some reason every twenty seconds or so it skips two to three words. Which pulled me out of the story while I worked out what was missed in case it affected the meaning. It completely ruined the experience. I tried deleting and downloading again but no joy.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

It’s not like the movie

This book is written by a teenager. Every character is acting like a 16-year-old regardless of their actual age. I wanted to listen to this book because I loved the movie, maybe learning more about how their magic works or any additional info that the movie missed but the only thing that the movie writers rightfully cut out is the hours on end whinging and witching about their life and each other. I kid you not. Even when action means to happen (aka getting rid of the bad guy), the writer goes on a tantrum again about a random life happening or one of the characters' annoying personality traits. LIKE WHAT. If I could I would give zero stars. This is a bad book. Great narration though which is a shame.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!