Author: Alice Hoffman
Genre: Magical realism / fantasy
Pages: 416
Publication date: 2017
This is the second book I’ve read by Alice Hoffman. It’s part of the Practical Magic series — which includes Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic, and Magic Lessons.
Honestly, I don’t even know what made me pick up the second book in this trilogy, since I didn’t enjoy the first one enough to write about it. I barely remembered any details from it. I found the second book a little more engaging, though it still took me over a month to finish.
I have a personal rule: I don’t start a new book until I’ve finished the one I’m reading. So I had to push myself to get through this one. I quickly realized it’s not really a book for a 33- or 34-year-old woman who’s read a lot of classics and is looking for something deeper and more meaningful. This book feels aimed more at teenagers — maybe 18- or 19-year-olds — who are drawn to stories about magic, love, and tragedy, because that’s really what this book is about.
The Rules of Magic Summary with Spoilers
There is a lot happening in The Rules of Magic, so I had to write things down just to keep track of it all. The story once again begins with Maria Owens, the matriarch who started the Owens family line. No one ever knew who her husband was, but she was a well-known witch — at least that’s how I understood it.
In this book, we meet James and Suzanne Owens. Despite the family curse — that any man who falls in love with an Owens woman is doomed to die — they were married and had three children: Frances, who could talk to birds, Bridget, who could read thoughts, and Vincent, such a charming boy that even the nurse at the hospital wanted to steal him.
The first part of the book focuses on the three siblings’ childhood — how they went to school, made friends, and started discovering their gifts. Frances, with her gift of speaking to birds, became close friends with Haylin Walker, whose father was a doctor. Haylin fell in love with Frances, though she seemed not to notice his feelings. Their friendship eventually broke after an incident at the lake: Haylin nearly drowned, but Frances didn’t save him because, according to the family spell, she could not sink into the water.
Every summer, the siblings’ cousin April visited them. During one of those summers, April began a secret relationship with Vincent when he was only 14, and they even shared passionate nights together. Bridget, on the other hand, met Levi Willard at the funeral of a boy who had died while following her and Frances. Despite knowing the family curse meant any man they loved might meet a tragic fate, Bridget and Levi fell deeply in love and continued to meet in secret.
One night, when Bridget (Jed) returned late after secretly meeting Levi, their parents discovered what was happening and became furious. Not long after, Bridget and Levi met again, and this time their parents tried to stop them — terrified that the family curse would take Levi’s life. Before that night, Bridget had confronted her mother, Suzanne, asking why she and James had been able to love each other without tragedy. Suzanne revealed the truth: she had never truly loved James, and that was the reason the curse hadn’t touched them.
But Bridget didn’t listen. She continued to see Levi, and during one of their secret meetings, her parents followed them in a taxi. In a heartbreaking twist, the taxi struck Levi, killing him, and both of Bridget’s parents died in the crash as well. After this tragedy, Bridget lost her ability to read minds — her gift was gone.
The siblings later discovered that Levi’s father, Willard, was actually a distant relative of Maria Owens’ husband, which explained why Willard had been so opposed to Levi and Bridget’s relationship — he had known about the curse all along.
Now left without parents, the siblings had to make a life for themselves. They eventually opened a small shop where they sold soap, herbs, and charms. Bridget, still grieving, began spending time at a hotel where she met Raphael, an employee there, and the two became close friends. Meanwhile, Vincent, who had been with many women, finally revealed his true feelings — he was in love with William Grant, a history teacher.
Time passed, and Haylin was taken to the hospital with appendicitis. When Bridget visited him there, she was shocked to learn that Haylin was engaged to be married.
Haylin’s marriage didn’t last long, and he eventually divorced. In 1969, during the Vietnam War, when young men were being drafted, Vincent knew that if he went to the front lines, he would not survive. At first, they asked Haylin — who was a doctor — to diagnose Vincent with an illness that would prevent him from being sent to war. But the deception was quickly discovered, and Vincent was committed to a psychiatric hospital.
With Haylin’s help, Vincent escaped and spent some time wandering the world. In Paris, he met Madame Duran, a friend of his mother’s, who helped him fake his death so he could no longer be pursued and live freely with William.
Meanwhile, Raphael married but soon realized how unhappy he was and divorced. He and Jet (Bridget) met from time to time, but Jet never agreed to marry him. Frances eventually learned that Haylin had been injured in the war and had lost a leg. She found him, cared for him, and years later — when Haylin was diagnosed with cancer — the two finally married. Sadly, he died not long afterward.
Vincent lived the rest of his life incognito. His daughters, Sally and Gillian, grew into beautiful children. Their mother, Regina — who had once been in love with Vincent — eventually found happiness with another man, Daniel. But tragedy struck when Regina and Daniel went away on holiday: their hotel was hit by lightning, caught fire, and they were killed. Sally and Gillian were then taken in by their grandmothers, Frances and Jet, who raised them.
My Review
Honestly, this book felt very similar to the first one — it’s all about love, forbidden love, the family curse, men dying, and the women having to start over again. Maybe one day I’ll go back and write about the first book too, just to compare. But this one followed the same pattern: the author describes the family curse, the characters try to resist it, then slowly accept it, avoid the people they love for their safety — and yet, in the end, they come together anyway and someone dies.
To me, it all felt a bit childish. I remember being a teenager when Twilight was popular, and even that felt more engaging because you were genuinely waiting for the couple to overcome obstacles and be together. Here, it felt more like a biography of three characters — two sisters and a brother — rather than a story with a strong emotional build-up.
I honestly don’t feel there was much to learn from this book. I don’t mean to offend anyone who enjoyed it — I know it has many positive reviews — but I suspect a lot of them are from readers younger than me. For me, finishing this book felt like a bit of a chore. I would give it a two out of ten.
There wasn’t much “magic” either. You barely understand what magic even means in this world — one character can read thoughts, but it’s never explored deeply. Another is “cursed” to be beautiful, but there’s no explanation of why that matters or what it really means. Many details felt disconnected, and I often felt the author might have taken breaks while writing and lost track of her own threads. I personally prefer books that feel more cohesive and that teach you something by the end, and this one just didn’t do that for me.
