The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic

By Breanne Randall

Book Overview

Instant New York Times Bestseller
USA Today Bestseller

For fans of Practical Magic and Gilmore Girls, The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic is a debut novel that explores the shields we build around our hearts to retain our own magic.

Sadie Revelare has always believed that the curse of four heartbreaks that accompanies her magic would be worth the price. But when her grandmother is diagnosed with cancer with only weeks to live, and her first heartbreak, Jake McNealy, returns to town after a decade, her carefully structured life begins to unravel.

With the news of their grandmother's impending death, Sadie's estranged twin brother Seth returns to town, bringing with him deeply buried family secrets that threaten to tear Sadie's world apart. Their grandmother has been the backbone of the family for generations, and with her death, Sadie isn't sure she'll have the strength to keep the family, and her magic, together.

As feelings for Jake begin to rekindle, and her grandmother growing sicker by the day, Sadie faces the last of her heartbreaks, and she has to decide: is love more important than magic?

Readers who love the magic of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake and the sense of community found in The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches will enjoy this warm, witchy novel.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1639105735
• ISBN13: 9781639105731
• Release Date: September 2023
• Publisher: Alcove Press
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Not what I was promised

This was sold to me as Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic. What I got was a very unlikable main character (okay, so I guess it was the worst part of Rory) and some Biblical theology masquerading as "rules of magic." When I say the main character was unlikeable, I mean she stole the love interest's dog. There's victim blaming, mishandling of sui**d, terrible similes, and a lot more typos than you would expect in a published book. The "paranormal" elements, if you can even call them that, could have been deleted without affecting the story one bit. This one needed a new editor. Probably a new writer, too. And a different marketing team. Big miss. Yuck. I feel very confident this one was written for the Christian bookstores but couldn't get picked up until someone had the idea to sprinkle some references to magic in it and market it better, and by better, I mean completely lie to trick people into buying it.

Thoroughly enjoyable!

As someone who loves Practical Magic, love the little world Breanne has created. The accurate metaphysical correspondences were refreshing!! At first I felt it was a little heavy on the magical references but it's been 2 months since I finished it and I find myself wishing there was more. Highly recommend for magical folks who can appreciate a good story! (kitchen witches - I'm looking at you!)