Friday Book Report: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Sarah Addison Allen’s novel, Garden Spells is about two sister’s that are polar opposites finding a way to come together and compromising after years and years of regret and disappointment.  Published in 2007 by Random House, this book is at times enchanting and endearing.

The Waverley’s of Bascom, North Carolina have always been a peculiar family.  Generations and generations of Waverley’s have been endowed with amazing gifts that have made them all outsiders in the small town.  Their garden even has a reputation, with a fruit-flinging apple tree and the special powers of the edible flowers.  The Waverley’s history and their futures are in this soil, and no matter how far away from the garden, every Waverley knows it.

Claire Waverley has become a successful caterer, tending the garden and using the powerful plants in her recipes.  Abandoned by her mother when she was just a girl, Claire has lived in the old house ever since and has no desire to ever leave.  Her life is built around routine and consistency.  But a charming and handsome new neighbor moves in, and when her baby sister comes home after being gone for ten years, the routine that Claire has worked so hard to maintain suddenly turns upside down.

Sydney has spent ten years of her life running away from the Waverley name.  Following in her mother’s footsteps, Sydney traveled all over the country and did things that she never should have done.  But when she finally gathers the courage to leave her abusive boyfriend; Sydney takes her daughter Bay, and returns to the only place where she’s ever felt safe.  Now she has to learn that being a Waverley was never a bad thing, and to embrace the gifts that have been bestowed upon her.

This book is charming, and it’s a fun read if you want to escape for a while.  I enjoyed the storyline of the two sister’s finally coming back together and learning to give and take to peacefully exist together.  There’s definitely a lot of potential for this book, but for me it just fell short of living up to its expectations.

For one, it’s way too short.  On my Nook, this book is only about 175 pages, and that is definitely not enough to write about all that was supposed to be going on in this book.  There are way too many characters for a 175 page book.  I felt like I was missing out on a lot of character development.  I really wanted to learn more about Sydney and Claire and about their relationship with one another as well as their relationship with Henry and Tyler.  Instead we get sections about Fred and James who aren’t really vital to the overall storyline of this book.  Or we have to hear about John Hunter and Emma regardless that their role in this book is minimal at best.  Those characters shouldn’t have had the big roles that they did, and in a sense they diminished the Sydney and Claire dynamic.  It never felt like this book progressed, or if it did there was no real complexity or explanation for that progression. 

I wanted to get to know all the characters in this book, but since it was so short I barely felt like I knew who Claire or Sydney was.  I think the character that was explained the best, with the most depth and charm was the anthropomorphic apple tree.  There was something fascinating and endearing about an apple tree with human characteristics that threw prophetic apples at people. 

I give this book a C+ because there just wasn’t enough progression or depth for me to really get into the flow.  There are a few adult situations and some choice words thrown in; I’d say this is a PG-13 book.  The characters are loveable yet unmemorable, there’s a small conflict that takes up about two pages to explain it away, and the love stories are summarized at best.  I know I get on a lot of authors for being too descriptive, but in this case Allen was too concise in her storytelling.  She needed to really delve into the character’s thoughts and feelings and give us some narrative about whom they are and why they are instead of condensing their lives.  This book almost felt like an abridged version, it was that short.

The story is good, the characters are fun and it’s a delightful read if you take it for what it is.  It’s escapism without a real meaning, and you won’t get much more out of this book.   I don’t know if I can highly recommend this book, but if you want something fun and light-hearted with a colorful twist on magic and escapism, this might a book for you.