In small towns, labels stick. Especially in small southern towns. No one knows this better than Clarie Waverly - caterer and gardener extraordinaire. Her family is know for its 'magic' (everyone has some sort of talent) and for their mysterious apple tree known to encourage people to eat its fruit. Claire's life is orderly and full when a new neighbor, Tyler, and later her estranged sister, Sydney, and daughter come into her life. Claire and Sydney struggle to find acceptance with the women they have become and try to repair a damaged relationship based on misconceptions. Oh! and there's a couple of good love stories -- the descriptions of Claire and Tyler's interactions are perfect! Magic, good cooking and a happy ending. This book had me turning the pages and excited to read more. ( )

Opening Sentence: ‘…Every smiley moon, without fail, Claire dreamed of her childhood…’

This is the story of 2 sisters, Claire and Sydney, who each find a different way to cope with being deserted as children by a mother who lived on the wild side of life. Each has inherited the magic that the women of their family is renowned for. Claire creates her magic with her cooking, blending herbs to influence the actions of others, but stays close to the family home that she inherits. Sydney, the younger sister, follows the mother she never knew through a series of abusive men in different parts of the USA. Finally she can take no more – and escapes home to Claire – bringing a daughter, Bay, with her.

Sydney thinks she has no magical talent – but soon it manifests itself as the Waverley family home weaves its own magic over the two women. Sydney’s magical ability is to style and cut hair with a magic that spells her customers into feeling self confident and flirty. Their elderly aunt, Evanelle, gives strange gifts to people that they don’t know they need until something happens later.

The magical story is set a completely believable small-town world. The magic is present, but subtle, no wand waving here. In the town are real characters, all struggling with their own problems. The women have to discover each other, find love, and overcome their fears before a great danger arrives to be overcome.

There is one more special character that needs to be mentioned – the apple tree. Which is as much of a part of the family as Claire, Sydney and Bay. ( )

I'm a relatively demanding reader. I read for pleasure, but I don't read trash for fun, because the things that make a novel trashy, like bad writing and glaring plot holes, also prevent me from enjoying whatever's supposed to be fun about it. And when I give a book my time and effort, I expect more than entertainment - I want beautiful writing, interesting ideas, the author's insights, intriguing character studies. Something to think about. Admittedly though, the pleasures of these things often require some work, and sometimes I just want something light, simple, enjoyable. But I find it hard to find books like that because fun, easy reading so often implies a loss in quality. Which is why I was so glad to have read Garden Spells.

It's like hot buttered toast or macaroni cheese - nothing fancy, just a simple pleasure that offers all the indulgence you wanted. And like comfort food, it plays so well to your senses and emotions. The delicious descriptions of Claire's unusual cooking made me long to be in her kitchen, while an ideal balance of drama and triumph, good things and bad kept me very happily entertained without getting too soppy or too tragic. This is exactly what chick lit should be - fun, comforting and indulgent, without compromising on quality or drowning in melodrama. We need more books like this one - it's where your love of reading lives. ( )

Simple, magical, and southern-fried with truly likeable and unique characters. ( )

This year I participated in my first book swap, and this is the book I ended up with. It was probably the most "stolen" book throughout the swap, and the real reason that I stole it was to get another chance to pick the book I wanted. However the game ended unexpectedly when someone opened the last book and I got to keep Garden Spells. I am so glad it turned out like that or I would have never read this book!

In Bascom, North Carolina, every family has its own characteristics. The Waverley family is bestowed with magical abilities, and this makes them a peculiar bunch to the rest of the town. Whilst Claire has accepted this and is using it to her advantage, her sister Sydney has not and she has always tried to detach herself from her family. When things turn bad for Sydney however, the only safe place she and her daughter Bay can return to is back home in Bascom. Once back, Sydney and Claire have to learn to accept each other to be able to live together again, the two sisters have to confront their past in order to work out their differences.

The Waverley's are such a fun family with their special abilities, especially Evanelle who gives people things which they don't know what to do with, but will eventually need. This book has such a homely feeling, it made me want to be part of the Waverley family. I loved the quirky characters, including the magical tree in the Waverley's garden who also happens to have its own magical ability. This made for a delightful read, and although the ending was slightly predictable, it was still very enjoyable. I kept thinking about this book even after I finished it and it has become one of my all time favorite books.

I never expected to love this book so much, but it came in a perfect time when I really needed a feel good story, enhanced by magic and a little bit of romance. I now really want to read more from Sarah Addison Allen, and can't wait to get my hands on The Sugar Queen by her. ( )

Claire Waverley uses her unique knowledge of herbs and plants to cook extraordinary meals for her customers. She's turned her otherness into something positive in the small community. She likes her routines, the familiar world she's created in her grandmother's house. When her estranged sister returns to town and a steamy art teacher moves in next door, Claire's world is turned upside down.

This novel's style reminded me of Chocolat by Joanne Harris or even Barbara Kingsolver's Pigs in Heaven. I don't need a suspensful plot to hook me. I need quality characters, and Garden Spells had them. This group of individuals I'd love to revisit some day in other book about Bascom. ( )

Dreamy, romantic, magical, this book delivers the story beautifully. You feel the rich, humid air that hangs around the tree, the story encapsulates you and draws you in, like an afternoon nap. Love this book. ( )

I finished it in less than a day. Cover to cover. I had a great time reading it. I laughed a little and even cried once, just for a bit. It was a refreshing read, despite my early comparisons with the film Practical Magic (Gee, now I’m really in the mood to watch that again!). The story was well-paced, all of the characters were interesting, even the ones whom you don’t quite like (and even they had a few redeeming qualities in the end). I loved how everyone seemed to grow and change, even the secondary characters.http://iheartpaperbacks.wordpress.com/ ( )

I thorougly enjoyed this story. The characters were very well drawn and the voices of the characters were believable, within the context of the story. It reminded me of Practical Magic, by Alice Hoffman, in some ways, but not in a distracting manner. ( )

I was enchanted by Garden Spells. Totally enchanted. I didn't want the story to stop. While not exactly high literature, the story was well told and left me turning the pages, eager to see what happened next.

The story is about Clair and her sister, Sydney, two girls who grew up being "different" in a town full of eccentricity. They live in their grandmother's beautiful old home with a mysterious garden, the focus of much talk in the town. It's said that eating an apple from the apple tree in the garden will give you dreams that are sometimes wonderful, sometimes frightening. The two sisters find themselves living together in the house after a number of years have passed, and each of them grows in new and unexpected ways.

It's a fantasy, a romance and a wonderful story. I'll definitely buy her next book. ( )

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This book has the same feel as Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. The story follows the same pattern but at the same time it is very different. Very enjoyable and keeps you wanting to read. It has realtionships between couples, sisters & friends...magic, imagination, etc. I loved it! ( )

Garden Spells
by Sarah Addison Allen

Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Bantam Discovery (April 29, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0553590324
ISBN-13: 978-0553590326
The Waverly's of Bascom, North Carolina, have a reputation for being a bit eccentric. In addition to their beauty, the women of the clan have uncanny abilities. Some embrace their gifts, but others, like Sydney, run as far as they can. Like her mother before her, Sydney escaped to New York and a life away from the small town that has defined the family for years. Her sister Claire, however, has remained in the family home, and has embraced her destiny, creating a successful catering business with otherworldly charms. While everyone comes to her for the perfect romantic dish, her own love life is paltry at best. Her quiet life suits her perfectly, however, and she believes she is content until her long-lost sister returns to the nest with her young daughter, Bay. Suddenly, everything is changing as Sydney searches for footing in her old home and Claire learns to live outside of herself. But the past is never far behind and the girls must come together to protect their fragile family from a bigger threat than either of them has ever known.

I really do not know where to begin. Bascom is a quaint and familiar small southern town filled with the usual suspects. What makes everything about this book special is the Waverlys. Oh how I would love to be a Waverly. Amid their stunning gardens, cozy home-place, and magnificent trees, each member of the family is a vision of womanhood explored. Shy yet sensual, Claire is the quintessential girl-next-door while Sydney is more carefree and modern and not just a little bit spicy. Claire's relationship to nature is so beautifully written that even a city girl will melt with the desire to start a garden. Bay is precocious and unnaturally worldly while serving as a bridge between the two sisters. Equal parts Like Water For Chocolate and Practical Magic, Garden Spells is pure literary confection. ( )

This was a fun read--very quick and somewhat in the style of a romance novel. But a romance novel with magical flowers and an apple tree! It could have been more well-written, but it was a fun and easy way to pass an evening. ( )

The Waverley family of Bascome, North Carolina have a reputation for being sort of gifted...magical...special. This story is about two Waverley sisters, Claire and Sydney. Claire is the older, tamer sister who's talent lies in the kitchen and the garden. The Waverley's garden is known for it's magical quailities which are passed on in the food Claire makes. Everything she cooks has something from the garden: rose petals, pansies, nasturtiums. And Claire knows which flowers aid in keeping secrets, bringing forth memories, and such. And never...never eat from the apple tree. The whole town knows that one. But Claire hasn't seen her sister in years, not since Syndey ran off after high school. Now Syndey has come home with her young daughter Bay and they are running away from something.

Sounds sort of similar to Practical Magic, right? But I just love the characters. Bay is so adorable. Aunt Evanelle is a kooky old lady who just has a feeling when she needs to give someone something they need (and they WILL need it). So she might randomly give someone a melon peeler, or a shirt two sizes to big, or whatever. And I LOVE the cooking in it...at the end of the book the author lists the different types of flowers and what they are good for. It made me want to live in North Carolina.

It was the perfect book for curling up in bed to read while getting over the flu. ( )

"Garden Spells" by, Sarah Addison Allen.What a great book very well written and a fun story that shows there's no place like home.It does have some fantasy aspects to it but even if you don't like fantasy you will enjoy this book,because the core of the book is the relationship between two sisters who find their way back to each other and become better friends than they ever were as young girls.It has delightful characters my favorite being cousin Evanelle and Sydney's daughter Bay. Would definitely recommend this book ( )

Enjoyed this author's story. I love flowers and gardening so this was a great read. ( )

A story about sister's reconnecting. It's about falling in love and loving who you are. A little magic never hurt anyone either. ( )

Predictable story of sibling reconciliation with a "magical" premise that held some interest for garden lovers but overall just didn't deliver on its potential. ( )

Quirky writing style, insightful and light at the same time, and lovable characters. ( )

In the small town of Bascom, North Carolina, the Waverley's are known as an odd family. Claire has spent her whole life trying to fit in and has finally created a successful catering business that specializes in edible flowers. Her fear of being deserted has been overcome by not letting anyone into her heart. But now Sydney has returned home. Sydney is the younger sister that couldn't wait to follow in her mother's footsteps and get out of Bascom and the legacy of her weird family with its mysterious abilities. But Sydney brings a threat with her that may tear the family apart.

There are certain types of chick lit. that I detest and there are some that I enjoy. Garden Spells fits into the latter category. I liked the story of the two sisters and the renewing of their relationship. I was charmed by the magical realism. Just imagine, apple trees that tell the future, flower petals that give insight, a house that reacts to the emotions of its inhabitants. The characters were fun even if they were two dimensional. Evanelle was my favorite with her irresistible need to give people quirky things that will become useful to them in the near future. This is just the kind of chick lit. that I like to escape into after a series of heavy reading.

Okay, so it's not very realistic. It wasn't meant to be. And it was predictable. I didn't mind that at all. What I did mind was the ending. I was so disappointed at the stupidity of the ending. This was a case of the ending ruining the whole book for me. ( )

“Generations of Waverleys had tended this garden. Their history was in the soil, but so was their future. Something was about to happen, something the garden wasn’t ready to tell her yet. She would have to keep a sharp eye out.”

Claire Waverley surmises that her life is about to change, and she is correct. Her sister Sydney is about to return to town. Regardless of how hard they have or have not tried, the Waverley women-who in the time span of this story consist of Claire, Sydney, Bay, and Evanelle–have not escaped their heritage as Waverleys. In small town Bascom, North Carolina, the Waverley family has always been viewed with suspicion for their odd prescience and for the mystical garden with the equally foresighted apple tree growing in it.

Each infamous Waverley woman has coped with public suspicion in her own way—Claire through closing herself off from others, Sydney through leaving, Bay through ignorance of anything amiss, and Evanelle by embracing it. As Garden Spells opens, many years have passed since Sydney’s flight from Bascom. At Sydney’s return to Bascom (with her five-year-old daughter Bay in tow) following her flight from an abusive husband, the Waverley women slowly begin to rebuild their relationships with each other and with the outside world.

It takes prodding from Evanelle, the eldest remaining Waverley, and from Bay, the youngest to help the two sisters Claire and Sydney to let go of their past hurts and their fear of public scrutiny and to embrace their special skills. Claire’s skills run to cooking and creating dishes that have powerful affects on people’s emotions and lives. Sydney’s gift is cutting hair.

Claire exerts careful controls over every aspect of her life, her love-life included. She’s afraid of letting herself love. She reasons that in loving she opens herself up to the possibility of getting hurt if those she loves end up leaving (like her mother and then her sister did). As Sydney says, “She just doesn’t like when she can’t control things. Some people don’t know how to fall in love, like not knowing how to swim. They panic first when they jump in. Then they figure it out.” Both Claire and Sydney spend the book figuring it out with the help of family, friends, neighbors, and other miscellaneous Bascom denizens (including, in Claire’s case, one particularly handsome and persistent neighbor).

The apple tree’s life force makes the herbs around it more potent. Also, consuming its apples has unprecedented effects on what one is able to see, bringing some knowledge to light that before eating the fruit had not been apparent (in other words, the apple tree in the Waverley’s garden has some parallels to the age-old tree in another garden in Eden). Together, Claire and Sydney learn to appreciate the garden’s magic and their own skills, and they discover anew how much they love and need each other.

And that’s pretty much Garden Spells in an apple seed (as opposed to a nutshell). I figured it was about time I reviewed this one since I picked up the ARC at ALA 2007 Annual and since Sarah Addison Allen just released a new book The Sugar Queen.

Other books involving cooking and magic and/or sisters and magic include The Wishing Box by Dashka Slater, Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. For more relating to family myth/history, estrangement, and (more and less successful attempts at) reconciliation, try The Aguero Sisters by Christina Garcia, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, or The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. ( )

I read the book Sugar Queen before I read Garden Spells. I really enjoyed Sugar Queen, but was mildly disappointed by this book. It reminded me of an old movie Practical Magic. Every member of the family has a certain gift that makes them strange in the eyes of the community. The book however ties up loose ends too neatly. It could have been a good dark read but it's a light book. I really recommend the author's second book before this one. ( )

A light-hearted, magical, feel-good book. I didn't feel it was spectacular, but it was enjoyable, & really made me want to live in the Waverley house & gardens. It seemed like such a pleasant & soothing place to be. I thought the ending was maybe a little too cheesy, but oh well. I do have Allen's "The Sugar Queen" on Mt. TBR, so it'll be nice to revisit her writing style once again in the hopefully not-so-distant future. ( )

I really thought I would enjoy this book, I had wanted to read it for a long time, Magic and food, gardens, romance......although for some reason I could not get into this book, I felt as though I was watching Practical Magic the movie, the story is almost the same, and very predictable.And the character are rather annoying.......It is a shame I did not enjoy the book as I like the sound of her next book Sugar Queen, but i am not sure wether I will give it a go after this....... ( )