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Flair Hardwicke has returned to the town where her mother and several generations of their mothers grew up. Rattleboro, Kansas, was founded by a small group of witches, and Flair is a descendant of one of them. But she swore off magic as a teen, when she saw all the havoc it had wreaked in her life. She’s finally left her cheating husband for good, and the one place she had to go was Rattleboro, because her grandmother had left Flair her house and tea shop the year before. But that doesn’t mean Flair intends to carry on any magic traditions or take up the tarot cards that she had a particular affinity for. Nope. She’s living a normal life and raising her teen daughter without a knowledge of magic.
Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to avoid magic in Rattleboro, with its origins — and because it’s known for its big Halloween celebrations. Every year, residents of the town create a haunted trail with numerous scary stops along the way. People from all over flock to Rattleboro. Flair isn’t interested in participating in the trail, or having her daughter involved. She just wants to run her bakery and live a normal life.
But a few things get in her way: she makes cookies that mysteriously end up being decorated like her family’s tarot cards. Her quirky, unreliable mom comes to town with Flair’s ex in tow — who is under a strong curse that they need to break ASAP. And the boy she thought was the one years ago (but who ditched her, before she fled Rattleboro for what she thought was for good) is back in town.
All of it leads up to one heck of a crazy and scary Halloween night where everything important to Flair is at stake. She is going to have to face her magical heritage and accept all of who she is.
I read Playing the Witch Card because it’s the newest from the author of The Chicken Sisters, a Reese’s book club pick, which I’m still waiting to get a copy of as I write this. I enjoy books about magic on occasion, but I didn’t love this one. I felt like it had a lot of tropes, and I just was so frustrated with the main character. Time and time again she kept making bad decisions. It’s part of the story, I know, but I got tired of it. It’s a nicely written book and would likely be fantastic for readers who love Halloween and magic, but it just wasn’t for me. It’s clean reading, though.
Rated: Mild. Profanity includes about 6 instances of moderate profanity and a few uses of mild language. Sexual content includes some kissing scenes and one that moves toward more than kissing but stops. Violence includes a stabbing.
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