I put off reading this book for a long time because I figured it had to be one of those emotionally manipulative tear jerkers, but the lure of a book with magic and the recommendation of a trusted book-twin had me cracking it open.
Just a lovely, brilliant book that grabbed me from the first page. Each character came to life vividly and I just didn’t want to stop reading about any of them. I genuinely enjoyed that the author did not take us down the clichéd path with Sydney or with Fred – in a book all about magic (or mostly about magic), the author chose to take the more realistic path. The book’s climax is predictable, given the plot points, but thank you Ms. Addison Allen for not drawing it out and making it any more melodramatic than it needed to be. It was just right – and deliciously ironic.
My only complaint: I truly feel that poor old apple tree is just horribly mis-understood.