Review – Woodsmoke Women’s Books of Spells by Rachel Greenlaw (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Magical Realism/Contemporary Fiction
Length: 314 pages
Publisher:‎ Avon
Release Date: October 22, 2024
ASIN: B0CTGB9FVR
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed ebook from Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

“Carrie Morgan ran from Woodsmoke ten years ago, and the decision has haunted her ever since. Spending a decade painting and drifting around Europe, she tries to forget her family’s legacy and the friends she left behind. But the Morgan women have always been able to harness the power of the mountains surrounding the town, and their spells—and curses—are sewn into the soil. The mountains, they say, never forget.

Sure enough, when Carrie’s grandmother dies and leaves behind her dilapidated cottage, she returns to renovate—certain she will only be there for one winter. She meets Matthieu as the temperature dips, a newcomer who offers to help refurbish the cottage. Before long, and despite warnings from her great-aunt Cora of the old stories, Carrie finds herself falling for the charming stranger. But when the frost thaws in spring, Matthieu goes missing.

Carrie is convinced he’s real, and he’s in danger. As she fights her way across the mountains to find him, she must confront all the reasons why she left Woodsmoke and decide whether the place she’s spent the last decade running from is the home she’s been searching for.”

Series Info/Source: This is stand alone book. I borrowed this on ebook through the library.

Thoughts: This was a decent book about a woman coming home to her birth town Woodsmoke, which has some magic because of the mountains there. It was engaging and I enjoyed the story, though I found some of the “magic” a bit confusing. It was hard to tell if this was magical realism, actual magic, or just all in everyone’s heads.

Carrie left Woodsmoke because she felt trapped and stifled there. Now her grandmother has passed and left her both a house and a shop. Carrie’s decided to renovate the house to sell and maybe sell the shop as well. She plans to spend the winter doing the renovation. However, Carrie left a lot of hurt feelings and loose ends in Woodsmoke and her return creates quite a stir in the town. Carrie meets a man named Matthieu up on the mountain near her house, and he offers to help with the renovations. Carrie’s aunt is suspicious of the man and continues to consult her magical book on him; Carrie’s aunt is convinced that he’s not real but something from the mountain.

I liked the winter mountain setting in this book; it was strangely cozy and magical all at once. I enjoyed Carrie and her best friend, but I didn’t really enjoy Carrie’s aunt…she just seemed too strangely focused on her “magical” book. The story bounces between the three POVs: Carrie, her best friend, and her aunt. It was a bit distracting to have the constant switching going on.

The “magic” in this book is more magical realism than flat-out magic and at times you really wonder if there is any magic at all or just things people have convinced themselves are magic. There is a whole thing about Carrie and the line of women in her family being able to ask the mountain for favors but it coming with a cost. This was a bit confusing, and supposedly there is a curse too? I never quite understood the curse parts. The plot felt thin to me and not well thought out.

This was a quick and cozy read with atmospheric descriptions. There is a bit of romance and a lot about family/friends and small town living. It was fine.

My Summary (3/5): Overall this was an okay read. I liked the setting and the cozy vibes to it. The characters come across as a bit plain and weren’t that engaging. The plot is also pretty thin. I found the supposed magical elements a bit confusing, and by the end wasn’t really sure what to think. I guess it ends well enough. This was fairly forgettable to me; I didn’t hate it but I didn’t love it either.