Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

January 19, 2024 2:12 PM

Welcome to Bascom, North Carolina, where it seems that everyone has a story to tell about the Waverley women. The house that's been in the family for generations, the walled garden that mysteriously blooms year round, the rumours of dangerous loves and tragic passions. Every Waverley woman is somehow touched by magic.

Claire has always clung to the Waverleys' roots, tending the enchanted soil in the family garden from which she makes her sought-after delicacies - famed and feared for their curious effects. She has everything she thinks she needs - until one day she waked to find a stranger has moved in next door and a vine of ivy has crept into her garden . . .
Claire's carefully tended life is about to run gloriously out of control.

posted by Literaryhero (6 comments total)

I read this because I liked Other Birds. Similarly this one is about friends and family reconnecting with a light backdrop of magic that no one seems to question.

Also similarly, the author seems to enjoy writing uhhh weirdly about sex, and also including some frankly disturbing and unnecessary scenes depicting sexual assault. This book had a lot more weird sex in it, which I couldn't tell if it was just not for me or if the author was trying to say something about how the power of friendship (tm) is stronger than a seductive woman. The whole thing came off just weird to me. But still the book was very readable and I will try the follow up to see what happens next.
posted by Literaryhero at 2:19 PM on January 19

I read this years ago, and my impression was that it was pleasant and a little chocolate-box-y, I don't remember the weird sex parts at all! Now I'm curious to revisit...
posted by exceptinsects at 11:07 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]

I don't remember the weird sex parts at all!

The rival family (can't remember the name offhand and too lazy to look it up) is like "they are powerful and successful because the women are good at sex and everyone knows it, so they always marry well", and like...ok? But also Sydney Waverly being sexually abused by her previous partner is like overly graphic and (to me) really disturbing and not necessary to the story really.

Also, I am reading the sequel now, and sure enough about 30 pages in there is some seemingly unnecessary reference to sexual assault. I guess the author has her style.
posted by Literaryhero at 6:02 PM on January 23

But also, it is weird because the books are generally 'pleasant and chocolate-box-y', as you say, which is why I am reading them since I like pleasant and chocolate boxy. :))
posted by Literaryhero at 6:03 PM on January 23

Ok, the sequel is 'First Frost', but I refuse to make a post about it bc of the weird sex shit and just how regressive weird ass stuff just randomly peppers the text. In one part, Sydney is taking care of a younger lady who needs help by giving her a job at the salon. Ok that's nice, but then the book says that Sydney is jealous of her because older women are always jealous of younger women. Well, that's not something I totally agree with, but ok, I get it. But then she goes on and says "she is jealous because she is too old to have a baby and no woman is complete without a baby." All right, you know what? Fuck this. Admittedly, I did finish it, but wow, I am not reading any more of her books.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:54 AM on February 1

That is messed up, I agree. I've read The Girl Who Chased the Moon and the Sugar Queen, and I do not remember any regressive shit like that.
posted by soelo at 4:32 PM on February 5