Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things

book notes

title: Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things
author: Breanne Randall
series: Sisters of Light and Shadow #1
published: 3.4.2025
publisher: Dell
Source: library
genre(s): fantasy, romance
pages: 353
format: eBook
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | BookBub | BookHype | StoryGraph | Goodreads
rating: | series rating:

the blurb

A young witch cursed with sacrificing memories to cast spells must decide how much she’s willing to lose to save her town in this thrilling tale of magic, love, and self-discovery—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic.
In the small town of Gold Springs, Calliope Petridi and her two sisters carefully guard the secret of their magic and the price they must pay to practice memories. The more powerful the magic, the greater the memory required.
Luckily, all Calliope wants to do is forget. Forget the mother who left them without a trace. Forget the cracks in her relationships with her judgmental oldest sister, Thalia, and her distant middle sister, Eurydice. Forget about the very cost of her magic. And most of all, forget the way the love of her life shattered her heart two years ago.
But when an ancient evil awakens in their town, the fragile thread that holds the sisters together breaks. As their magic slowly begins to fade, Calliope accidentally binds herself to an annoyingly handsome leader of a rival coven infamous for their ruthless pursuit of power.
Battling a sizzling chemistry to a man she can't trust, Calliope needs to confront her sisters and the painful memories of her past, dark family secrets, and ancient magic in order to keep the town and all she loves safe. But will she have anything left of herself?

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a few notes

POV: 3rd person
setting: California
keywords/phrases: magic, family, secrets, prejudice, curses
tropes: ancient secret, hero’s journey, mentor, high stakes, unlikely allies, forced proximity, forbidden love, enemies to lovers
spice: 5/5🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
language: 3/5🤬🤬🤬

mood reading: in the mood for steamy romance with a deep plot and a great world-building.
bonus points: Grim, recipes, LGBTQIA+ characters

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my review

I wanted to love this book, with witches and magic at its core. But I just didn’t. The pacing was all over the place for me. At times, it raced over important plot points with nary a breath to deepen the moment. Then it was weirdly slow, fixated on things that seemed insignificant. It was a bit of a whiplash situation.

And then the spicy scenes. They didn’t seem terribly organic to the story. They felt forced, almost as if they were just bullet points on a list of things to get to within the story. And it was oddly timed, in my opinion. The world is ending, and everything needed to be done in a hurry, but there was plenty of time to just go at it. It didn’t feel natural. Because of that, it made it difficult to take their romance as real and not just a side effect of what was happening. In and of themselves, the scenes were well written; they just felt out of place with the larger story.

I don’t think it helped that, for me, Calliope read more as a teenager than a grown woman. I just found her reactions to things very juvenile.

One positive thing… I loved the magic system. The idea of sacrificing memories as payment for magic is something I’ve not read before.

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Rating Report
the story
the characters
the writing
the pacing
Overall:

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2025 Linz the Bookworm & Logophile Reading Challenge