Playing the Witch Card

Playing the Witch Card

Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic in the latest novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Chicken Sisters, the story of one woman’s Halloween homecoming to the town where she swore off magic, and where she must reclaim it in order to create the life she desires and protect everyone she loves from an unexpected threat. She gave up on magic. But magic didn't give up on her. Two exes. One misbehaving mother. Surprising magic. The perfect recipe for Halloween chaos. Flair Hardwicke knows the deal: Magic is real, love isn’t, and relying on either ends in disaster. She’s seen the havoc romance and witchcraft wreaked on her mother’s life, and Flair swore off all of it long ago, after the boy she thought was her destiny ditched her. But then her strictly no-magic life falls apart, and Flair inherits her grandmother’s home and bakery in Rattleboro, Kansas. When the cookies Flair decorates as Tarot cards unleash the magic of the family deck she stole as a child, luring Flair’s mother to town, tempting Flair’s magic-obsessed daughter, ensnaring Flair’s ex in a curse she can’t break, and bringing Flair’s first love back to town, Flair has to accept that while she may have given up on magic, it refuses to give up on her. As Flair’s attempts to control the Tarot cards play into the hands of a powerful witch, Flair must find a way to accept her magical heritage in order to save those she loves from a danger she’d never anticipated. Part Gilmore Girls, part Practical Magic, this romp of a tale is KJ Dell’Antonia at her very best.
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Reviews

Photo of Nicola Sarah Brooks
Nicola Sarah Brooks@nikkisbooknook
4 stars
Sep 6, 2023

Flair finally decided enough was enough. Her hubby has cheated on her for the last time. Now is the perfect time to move back to the town that she loved as a child. Her daughter is not quite so keen on the idea - but how can she give her mother support when Flair is hiding the reason they are moving from her!

A house, a bakery and reconnecting with her bestie should be settling for Flair. But her frenemy is back to bullying her and the boy she once loved is now all grown up and back in town. And as the brother of said frenemy, Jude is doubly in the dog house.

This was a bit of a slow starter for me. There was a lot of establishing back story, Flair's reluctance to use the Tarot, her disaster area of a mother and the teenage trials of her daughter. But once the actual story got going I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed learning more about tarot, how cards are interpreted, etc. I would have enjoyed learning more about her bestie and some of the other secondary characters. I thought the hubby got away rather lightly in the comeuppance department!

Very much more about witchy vibes, family strife and magical problems. The romance I felt was most definitely secondary to those storylines.

Photo of Molly Sanderson
Molly Sanderson @ms22
2.5 stars
Jun 16, 2024