I had heard good things about Magic for Marigold. LMM fans praised it to me, so when I picked it up off of the shelf, I had high hopes that I would enjoy reading it. I found that I was rather disappointed as a result of the high expectations set.

Marigold was cute as a little girl and I found myself genuinely enjoying the story while Old Grandmother was still alive. She was a fascinating character (as well all of the adult characters really were), and when Marigold was around her, it was a more interesting situation than after the character died. Marigold, through the whole thing, seemed like more of a vehicle for showing more interesting and varied characters, while she herself paled in comparison to the others.

I came to the conclusion that, had I read this when I was about thirteen, I probably would have enjoyed the story much more than I did reading it recently. Marigold simply wasn’t interesting to me. I actually found her tiresome and once I got to the last four chapters or so, I admit that I skimmed them. I couldn’t stand to continue reading about this little girl character who just couldn’t seem to worm her way into my heart. For me, if the main character is insufferable, frequently I can’t find it within myself to like (or sometimes even finish) the story.

If I had to quantify this one, I’d say it’s the least appealing and most disappointing of LMM’s novels for me. ( )

http://www.lonelymountain.net/books/j... ( )

An interesting novel about Marigold, the youngest in an intriguing family on Prince Edward Island. This is not as good as Anne books, or even the Story Girl, but still good. ( )