Book Review: The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

Book: 164

Rating: 5/5

Do as you will, but harm no one.

What you give will be returned to you threefold.

Fall in love whenever you can.

These are the rules of Magic.

The Rules of Magic was everything I wanted Practical Magic to be: so much magic! Witches discovering their powers! Curses! Potions! I loved it.

Practical Magic's prequel, Rules of Magic, is a coming of age story following Franny, Jet, and Vincent Owens as they learn about their family's history of witchcraft and discover their own powers (and curses) for themselves. Hoffman's writing is stunning: her writing is so vivid and her characters are so real. I read this book slower than I usually do (I was in such a slump in October, through no fault of any book), and I really enjoyed spending more time than I usually would with these characters and this story (because I could NOT stop thinking about them when I wasn't reading the book).

I really just truly loved this book. It's a great October read, and I felt like I was in New England surrounded by beautiful fall foliage when reading it. Hands down, my favourite book of October! I love seasonal reading and this is a perfect fall read. While Rules of Magic is a prequel to Practical Magic, in my opinion it can be read as a standalone.