“Rules of Magic:
Do as you will, but harm no one.
What you give will be returned to you threefold.
Fall in love whenever you can.”

Sometimes you pick up a book that is as comforting as a warm sweater and a soft blanket on a dark fall evening. I enjoyed every moment I spent with Franny, Jett and Vincent Owens. I felt like I knew them. They felt real. I enjoy how Alice Hoffman mixes history, magic and mysticism to create really, really good story telling. Her characters leap of the page as if they are real,, breathing, talking and thinking people.  I have yet to find one of her books that I did not fully enjoy.

“Blue must be worn for protection. Moonstones were useful in connecting with the living, topaz to contact the dead. Copper, sacred to Venus, will call a man to you, and black tourmaline will eliminate jealousy. When it came to love, you must always be careful. If you dropped something belonging to the man you loved into a candle flame, then added pine needles and marigold flowers, he would arrive on your doorstep by morning, so you would do well to be certain you wanted him there. The most basic and reliable love potion was made from anise, rosemary, honey, and cloves boiled for nine hours on the back burner of the old stove. It had always cost $9.99 and was therefore called Love Potion Number Nine, which worked best on the ninth hour of the ninth day of the ninth month.”

The stories we tell ourselves are amazing. We believe our ridiculous stories not matter how much evidence we receive that the stories are not true. The Owens women are not the only ones who have convinced themselves that they are unworthy of love. An entire myth was created that if an Owen’s loved, it would end in disaster. Here is the truth: you are enough, you are loveable and vulnerability brings both great love and great heartbreak. Each person must decide if it is most painful to love and loose person/pet/perfect or to box yourself off and never love.

“Anything whole can be broken,” Isabelle told her. “And anything broken can be put back together again. That is the meaning of Abracadabra. I create what I speak.”