" 'Absolutely not. No glitter,' Hal said. He looked accusatorially at Annie. 'If your magic is anything to go by, that damn stuff will get absolutely everywhere and I'll never see the end of it. I've already noticed yours, hanging everywhere around the place.'
'You don't like it?' Annie said, genuinely baffled. As a firm believer in extra sparkle at all times, she had tinkered with her own magic to ensure the glitter lingered a little longer than the average. "
I love reading witchy novels but sometimes those with a slant of history can be a little dark, even a touch depressing. So I was delighted when Pan Macmillan sent me an ARC of this book back in the autumn. Uncharmed is a cosy, witchy fantasy with a hint of romance and magic galore. In this world, witchcraft is hidden but not forbidden and there is no mention of the historical witch hunts of the past. It's a very light hearted and immensely fun read.
I hadn't read this author before so her work is a new discovery to me and I have to say that I loved Uncharmed right from the opening lines of the very first page. It tells the story of Andromeda Wildwood, or Annie, who runs a beautiful bakery in London, whipping up enchanted pastries and cakes for her unsuspecting customers. She lives in a self-designed world of pure femininity, where everything is pink and pretty, including her bakery and the cakes she creates. Imagine if the Charmed Ones ran a magical branch of Peggy Porschen - that's the vibe of this book. It has echoes of the Joanne Harris novel Chocolat but with way more magic involved.
I really liked the characters in this novel. Annie is a lot like Elle Woods from the Legally Blonde films and I kept picturing Reese Witherspoon in my mind as I was reading. However, Annie takes perfectionism to a whole new magical level, making Mary Poppins seem like an underachiever! Everything in her life is spot-on and flawless, but as her perfectionism is a trauma response to the loss of her parents, she has a deep seated feeling of being unworthy and not good enough and so she has fallen into the classic trap of becoming a people pleaser. She takes on far too much, running her bakery, offering emotional support to her customers, helping out with her coven and going on blind dates she doesn't want, all because she's too afraid to say no to anyone. She doesn't want to disappoint people.
So when her coven leader asks her to take on the training of an unschooled teenage witch who has recently come into her powers, Annie feels compelled to say yes, even though she has little time to spare. And that's where all the trouble begins, for young Maeve is in no mood to be trained, least of all by a version of Pink-Witch-Barbie and her wooden spoon! She wants to learn from her own instincts and her love of books, not from a mentor in perfection. Annie has her work cut out and following a particularly disastrous false start, she and Maeve are sent away to a ramshackle cottage in the woods, lost in the middle of nowhere, where the magic lessons can do no further harm. Cue magical house-makeover montage - fabulous! Very Nicole Kidman in Bewitched.
This is a novel that explores the true meaning of family, of home, of love and what it means to be a good friend - with a clear depiction of false friendships too by way of comparison. The romance is light and slow burning, there is a hilarious bad day when the magic has lapsed, plus some epic magical battle scenes. In short, it has everything you could wish for from a cosy, witchy fantasy novel.
Uncharmed is a lovely stand-alone story. The vanilla fragranced magic shimmers across the page in a stream of pink glitter and its just so visual in its descriptive passages that it would make a wonderful movie. There is tons of magic in this one - rival covens, some adorable familiars and a few comical mistakes. There were parts of the book that made me laugh out loud, especially the meet-cute with Hal and the bickering relationship that develops between Annie and Maeve. With echoes of Disney's Fantasia and the classic fairytale Snow White, its easy to see where the author found her inspiration, yet she has somehow managed to transform these echoes into something that is entirely her own and altogether charming. It's a fairytale as much as a witchy novel and it will make your mouth water for Annie's deliciously enchanted pastries.
If, like me, you believe that everything can be improved with a little bit of shimmer, and if you are a pink witch with a sweet tooth, then you will love this sparkling, brilliant book. But make sure you have a few sweet treats on hand because you will crave a sugar-rush as you read this delightful confection of a novel. Enjoy!
Serene Blessings
Marie x
AD: This novel was sent to me by the publisher Pan Macmillan for the purposes of review. It is available now in hardcover, digital and audio formats.
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