The Rules of Magic- Book Rec.

Life is a mystery, and it should be so, for the sorrow that accompanies being human and the choices one will have to make are a burden, too heavy for most to know before their time comes.

This book made me feel so many things, mainly sorrow. How can such a good story about light magic and love still tear out your heart? This book did exactly that. I grew up on good movies and one of those movies was Practical Magic with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock. To this day I watch it every Halloween... and sometimes in the months before and after as well :) I didn't actually know it was based on a book until later in life and then finding out there was a prequel about the Aunts?! In the 60s?! As teenagers?! In New York?! YES PLEASE! I had no idea the adventure that was in store for me.

The best witchy stories are the ones with generational magic. It makes it feel earthy and humble and I love that it focuses on family ties, good and bad. Families passing down family secrets and sorrows and new sets of rules to break from generation to generation. A long lineage of women who have either accepted their lineage and love or denied it and ended with the same fate either way. One of the main messages I got from this book was to live life to the fullest and appreciate the family you have while you still have them. My favourite thing about the familial magic in this book was how it tied the vastly different Owens siblings closer together. 

This story takes place in the 60s, a time ful of changes yet still so restricted and prejudiced. There's disdain between classes of wealth, hate between beliefs, and the age old culture of hate against the LGBT community. The Owens siblings are looked down on by all that surround them. They are upper middle class but not "good enough" for their upper class peers in high society. They are disliked by the small town Massechusettes community for being strange and unusual yet they can't seem to help but rubberneck on the Owens' out of curiousity and fascination. Jet is scorned by the family of the man she loves because they are religious and judge her for her ancestors dark past. Vincent has to hide his sexuality to avoid being attacked or, worse yet, being committed to a mental institute for his "abnormality". Yet through all the hate that is thrown their way, they power through and find it in themselves to forgive and forge on with life.

Love is the main theme weaved throughout this story, closely paired with death and sorrow. If you've seen/read Practical Magic you know that anyone who loves an Owens witch is ruined. All Owens' spend so much time dwelling on and running from "the curse" yet they eventually come to realize that death visits everyone eventually and anyone who falls in love is ruined together. Better a short life full of love than a long one full of loneliness. Even Maria Owens, their ancestor, the originator of the curse, scorned by love, wrote this at the end of her life:

Do as you will, but harm no one.

What you give will be returned to you threefold.

Fall in love whenever you can

That last line being a common realization of Owens' that realize they were wrong about love.

Did I like this book? I think it's one I might have to revisit often enough to learn it by heart. I laughed, I cried.... I mostly cried. I sat in a coffee shop for a total of 15 minutes reading it before realizing I could not read this in front of people without looked seconds shy of a meltdown! It was like Chicken Soup for the Soul, allowing for a good healthy purge of emotions. I'd recommend it a thousand times over. I'm only leaving off the 5th star because I'm slightly bitter at this book for hurting my delicate emotions