cwerber's review against another edition
Oh, no. I cannot get over the main character's name. I tried. I really really tried. But it pulled me out so fast that I gave myself a headache. I'm sorry.
mels_reading_log's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A great story of embracing generational gifts and working through the traumas of the past so they won’t repeat with the next generation. There are also magical cookies and possessions. I love a small town witchy book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Confinement
waybeyondblue's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
atgerstner's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
This book was horrible. Flair is an absolute drag and an idiot. Her daughter was a brat. It’s 100% NOT a romance, not a cozy small town witch vibe, not giving practical magic. It was a whiny woman who hated herself and forced everyone to hate themselves too. It does not get better in the second half.
aurigae's review
4.0
In the midst of a divorce, baker and onetime tarot reader Flair has returned to her sometimes-hometown of Rattleboro to turn her grandmother’s magical tea shop into a non-magical bakery. Flair has decided to leave her family’s witchy past behind and to raise her daughter in a stable home. But as Halloween approaches and Flair is drawn into the town’s legendary festivities, she discovers that the secret of the past threaten her family’s future, and confronting her magical heritage is the only way to protect her daughter.
Playing the Witch Card has a full deck of themes and plot elements, including multiple generations of mother-daughter relationships, romances old and new, and the balance between safety and meaning. And yet most of the book’s first half is devoted to vague background on Flair’s past and fall / Halloween vibes.
The action picks up in the book’s second half, developing into a suspenseful battle between mothers and daughters; present and past. I found myself on the edge of my seat toward the end of these much tighter and more engrossing chapters, But I would have found the overall effect far more compelling and memorable if the first half had drawn me more deeply into Flair’s story - both the magical and non-magical sides.
[I received a complimentary ARC from NetGalley. Opinions are my own.]
Playing the Witch Card has a full deck of themes and plot elements, including multiple generations of mother-daughter relationships, romances old and new, and the balance between safety and meaning. And yet most of the book’s first half is devoted to vague background on Flair’s past and fall / Halloween vibes.
The action picks up in the book’s second half, developing into a suspenseful battle between mothers and daughters; present and past. I found myself on the edge of my seat toward the end of these much tighter and more engrossing chapters, But I would have found the overall effect far more compelling and memorable if the first half had drawn me more deeply into Flair’s story - both the magical and non-magical sides.
[I received a complimentary ARC from NetGalley. Opinions are my own.]
ashleysreadingroom's review against another edition
5.0
The book is described as Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic, two of my very favorite things and that just absolutely hits the nail on the head.
Flair Hardwicke moves back to the town she grew up in when her grandmother passes and inherits her grandmother's home and bakery. Flair has magic in her blood but she fears it so rejected it at every chance she got and kept this secret from her own daughter. Their family's magic says to stem from one specific deck of tarot cards that Flair had kept hidden and as much as she wanted to could not find it in her to destroy them.
Flair is asked to provide a desert for a Halloween trail so one night she is decorating cookies to bring to a committee of sorts to share what she will provide as the desert she finds that had somehow decorated the cookies to look just like the tarot cards she had hidden.
Not long after her mom shows up to her home in the middle of the night with Flair's soon-to-be ex husband in the trunk of a car under a spell of control. (very Practical Magic, we love this) The story is so riveting and I finished it in a day. It was one of those cannot put down books. The characters are all unique and we experience love, found family, re-connections. It has some darkness in it, but it was still a beautiful tale.
I was given an arc copy for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Flair Hardwicke moves back to the town she grew up in when her grandmother passes and inherits her grandmother's home and bakery. Flair has magic in her blood but she fears it so rejected it at every chance she got and kept this secret from her own daughter. Their family's magic says to stem from one specific deck of tarot cards that Flair had kept hidden and as much as she wanted to could not find it in her to destroy them.
Flair is asked to provide a desert for a Halloween trail so one night she is decorating cookies to bring to a committee of sorts to share what she will provide as the desert she finds that had somehow decorated the cookies to look just like the tarot cards she had hidden.
Not long after her mom shows up to her home in the middle of the night with Flair's soon-to-be ex husband in the trunk of a car under a spell of control. (very Practical Magic, we love this) The story is so riveting and I finished it in a day. It was one of those cannot put down books. The characters are all unique and we experience love, found family, re-connections. It has some darkness in it, but it was still a beautiful tale.
I was given an arc copy for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
bookishpsychologist's review
2.0
I was looking forward to a cute and festive Halloween read and was drawn to the promise of Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic. Unfortunately, the plot and dialogue were boring and the characters were superficial. I did not care about the romance aspect and was only briefly entertained at the very end when the pace picked up and there were a few plot twists. Overall, this book just really missed the mark for me.
rants_n_reads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0