Review: First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen

Series: Waverley Family #2

Published: January 20th, 2015

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

304 pages (eARC)

Genre: Contemporary women’s fiction/magical realism

Acquired this book: From the publisher NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Warning: May contain spoilers

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Read my review of Garden Spells (Waverley Family #1)

 It's October in Bascom, North Carolina, and autumn will not go quietly. As temperatures drop and leaves begin to turn, the Waverley women are made restless by the whims of their mischievous apple tree... and all the magic that swirls around it. But this year, first frost has much more in store.

Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley’s Candies. Though her handcrafted confections—rose to recall lost love, lavender to promote happiness and lemon verbena to soothe throats and minds—are singularly effective, the business of selling them is costing her the everyday joys of her family, and her belief in her own precious gifts.

Sydney Waverley, too, is losing her balance. With each passing day she longs more for a baby— a namesake for her wonderful Henry. Yet the longer she tries, the more her desire becomes an unquenchable thirst, stealing the pleasure out of the life she already has.

Sydney’s daughter, Bay, has lost her heart to the boy she knows it belongs to…if only he could see it, too. But how can he, when he is so far outside her grasp that he appears to her as little more than a puff of smoke?

When a mysterious stranger shows up and challenges the very heart of their family, each of them must make choices they have never confronted before. And through it all, the Waverley sisters must search for a way to hold their family together through their troublesome season of change, waiting for that extraordinary event that is First Frost.

Sarah Addison Allen’s Garden Spells is one of my favourite books, so I was excited when I found out First Frost was a continuation of the Waverleys story. While First Frost can be read as a standalone, I recommend reading Garden Spells first. Not only is Garden Spells an incredible book, but it will also help the reader understand more about the Waverleys and how they got where they are.

I loved the Waverley women in Garden Spells, so it was nice catching up with Claire, Sydney, Bay, and Evanelle a decade later. Claire and Sydney have flourished in the last decade. They’re both happily married with successful businesses, and they’ve become a strong unit - the kind of close sisters they weren’t while growing up. Bay has grown into a smart teenager who embraces her Waverley magic, and the fact that she’s different. Each of the characters has something they’re dealing with, something keeping them from true happiness.

Like with Garden Spells, First Frost moved from character to character, giving each Waverley woman the spotlight in turn, and also featuring a few side characters. Even though the book went back and forth between characters, I was surprised that the majority of the story seemed to be about Bay. As women’s fiction, I wasn’t expecting a good chunk of the story to be about a teenage girl. I love young adult fiction, though, so despite my surprise, I enjoyed it, especially since I thought Bay’s part of the story was the most compelling. I enjoyed the overall messages about belonging, acceptance, family, friendship, and love.

While a good book, I didn’t enjoy First Frost as much as I did Garden Spells. I was completely enchanted by Garden Spells, engrossed every second of the story, and bewitched by the magic the Waverleys possessed. Even though returning to Bascom felt like coming home in a way, and even though I still loved these characters, I felt their stories weren’t really enough to warrant a sequel. The main conflict seemed out of place and anticlimactic, and the entire story lacked that engrossing, enchanting feeling that Garden Spells had. Allen’s writing is still lovely, and the story did have moments that captivated my heart and imagination, but it was lacking in many ways. I’d recommend First Frost for fans of Allen’s books, especially those who have read Garden Spells and are curious what happened to the Waverleys. However, if you haven’t read any of Allen’s previous books, I wouldn’t suggest starting with this one. 

3.75 stars

 

"Was it really that simple? Choosing a life? Maybe you don’t have to be led into the future. Maybe you can pick your own path. Maybe you don’t fall in love. Maybe you jump. Maybe, just maybe, it’s all a choice."

~94% of ARC of First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen

 

   

Have you read First Frost? What did you think? If you haven't read it, do you plan to? Have you read any of Sarah's other books? What are some of your favourite magical realism books? Let's talk here or on Twitter!

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Review: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Series: Waverley Family #1

Published: January 1st, 2007

Publisher: Bantam

286 pages (hardcover)

Genre: Contemporary women’s fiction/magical realism

Acquired this book: From the library

Warning: May contain spoilers

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The women of the Waverley family -- whether they like it or not -- are heirs to an unusual legacy, one that grows in a fenced plot behind their Queen Anne home on Pendland Street in Bascom, North Carolina. There, an apple tree bearing fruit of magical properties looms over a garden filled with herbs and edible flowers that possess the power to affect in curious ways anyone who eats them.

For nearly a decade, 34-year-old Claire Waverley, at peace with her family inheritance, has lived in the house alone, embracing the spirit of the grandmother who raised her, ruing her mother's unfortunate destiny and seemingly unconcerned about the fate of her rebellious sister, Sydney, who freed herself long ago from their small town's constraints. Using her grandmother's mystical culinary traditions, Claire has built a successful catering business -- and a carefully controlled, utterly predictable life -- upon the family's peculiar gift for making life-altering delicacies: lilac jelly to engender humility, for instance, or rose geranium wine to call up fond memories. Garden Spells reveals what happens when Sydney returns to Bascom with her young daughter, turning Claire's routine existence upside down. With Sydney's homecoming, the magic that the quiet caterer has measured into recipes to shape the thoughts and moods of others begins to influence Claire's own emotions in terrifying and delightful ways.

As the sisters reconnect and learn to support one another, each finds romance where she least expects it, while Sydney's child, Bay, discovers both the safe home she has longed for and her own surprising gifts. With the help of their elderly cousin Evanelle, endowed with her own uncanny skills, the Waverley women redeem the past, embrace the present, and take a joyful leap into the future.

 

I don’t often re-read books, especially ones I read before I started book blogging. Since I started the blog, my tastes have changed so much, plus I’ve become a much more critical reader. I’m always afraid books I loved a few years ago won’t hold up in my mind and it’ll taint the way I once felt about them.

When I heard Sarah Addison Allen had written a sequel to Garden Spells, a book I read and loved several years ago, I was excited. I remembered Garden Spells fondly, and decided to reread it before First Frost came out, despite my fear of it not holding up. I loved this book as much now as I did when I first read it. Beautifully written, romantic, bittersweet, and full of magic and whimsy, Garden Spells remains one of my favourite books.

Everyone in Bascom, North Carolina, knows there’s something strange about the Waverleys. They’re drawn to them as much as they’re repelled. Each Waverley has her own kind of magic, although most people don’t see it as magic, they see it as something peculiar. Claire has a special way with food; Sydney has a gift with hair; Evanelle has to give people things they’ll need, even though she doesn’t know why they’ll need them; and Bay instinctively knows where things (and people) belong. I love how the characters stories were woven together, and how we even got glimpses into other side characters’ lives when they were affected by the Waverley women.

Magical realism is still something that fascinates me. Garden Spells is contemporary - set in our world with real people going through real things - but there are these bits of magic woven throughout. And what’s amazing about that magic is that it’s done in a way that’s completely believable. I think it helps if you have an active imagination and an open mind, but I never questioned Claire’s gifts or Sydney’s or Bay’s or Evanelle’s. Sarah Addison Allen has a magic of her own with her ability to write things that are fantastical but also believable.

This book explores love in its many forms. It shows the gritty, painful side of family, but also the unbreakable bonds that come from truly understanding yourself and your kin. You get to see the triumphs and failures people experience, the difficult parts of life, as well as the good parts. Garden Spells is the perfect book if you’re looking for an escape from reality. This enchanting and unique book draws you in, tugs on your heartstrings, and makes you believe in magic. 

   

Have you read Garden Spells? What did you think? If you haven't read it, do you plan to? Have you read any of Sarah's other books? What are some of your favourite magical realism books? Let's talk here or on Twitter!

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