Of course there will be conflicts with her old school friends (who never really were her friends, and I felt the sub-plot was a bit forced, and kind of unnecessary). From a bright new author in fiction, Garden Spells is a tale about how the strength of family ties can be as inexplicable as magic itself. She didn't tell anyone, not a soul, for fear of someone taking her happiness away, but from that day on she would follow her grandmother out into the garden every morning, studying her, wanting to be like her, wanting to do all the things a true Waverley did to prove that, even though she wasn't born here, she was a Waverley too. Garden Spells is a rare and mesmerizing novel, brimming with light and fierce joy and the sharp shadows that must accompany such a tale. if you do, another, ah, girl thing but I’ll admit: acquagrill did make terribly good chocalate martinis.

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.

Two mysteriously gifted sisters deal with abandonment by their mother in very different ways in this novel by Allen (The Girl Who Chased the Moon; The Sugar Queen): Sydney runs far away to find adventure while Claire sticks close to home, unwilling to open up to the world around her.

The garden was quiet and damp, the temperamental apple tree at the back of the lot shivering slightly as if dreaming.

The sisters are flawed in different ways, the magic they each own is subtle and yet powerful, and the conclusion fits perfectly with what the author set up. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. For nearly a decade, 34-year-old Claire Waverley, at peace with her family inheritance, has lived in the house alone, embracing the spirit of the grandmother who raised her, ruing her mother's unfortunate destiny and seemingly unconcerned about the fate of her rebellious sister, Sydney, who freed herself long ago from their small town's constraints. That left Claire, who craved stability and a constant after starting her life on the move and there she remains, living in her grandmother’s house after her death. The two very different sisters have to forge a relationship for the first real time in their lives and both of them will discover that family loyalty is a very strong thing.

Welcome to Bascom,North Carolina, where it seems that everyone has a story to tell about the Waverley women.The only person she's close to is an elderly relative named Evanelle, who has the gift of giving people exactly what they need before they need it. The non romantic relationships are much more interesting and endearing and have more authenticity and complexity. If her clients want their guests to feel a certain way, Claire knows just what to bake so that they do. Claire has an apple tree in her garden with a special power; anyone who eats an apple from it sees what the biggest event in their life will be.

Claire knows she can’t get too attached – not to her sister even though she feels as though she drove Sydney away all those years ago, not to her charming niece and definitely not to the man next door. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.This book was a light and enjoyable read, the literary equivalent of a house salad with a side serving of Ranch dressing. When Claire explains to Tyler what must have happened, he tells her that he ate an apple and didn't run off screaming into the night. GARDEN SPELLS has a harvest of rich characters, a plot that will have you checking what you eat, and a heart that is overflowing with the tangled joys and sorrows of love and life. Tyler comes to pick Sydney up and Claire alters the food with flowers from her garden that cause the partygoers to regret their treatment of Sydney. This is one of those novels that enchant me from its first sentence, leaving me in a daze where I can hardly do anything else but read the story and think about it when I’m not.