The Hocus Pocus Magic Shop by Abigail Drake

The Hocus Pocus Magic Shop

by Abigail Drake 

Paperback, 476 pages

Published April 24th 2019 by Independently Published

Goodreads synopsis:

When chemist Grace O'Leary finds a book of magic spells hidden in her Aunt Lucy's run-down magic shop, the scientist in her itches to try them out. She mixes up a batch of love potions as a joke, and has to face the consequences when they actually seem to work.Her dream of becoming a professor is in peril, and time is running out to finish research for her dissertation. She can't handle any more distractions, but the magic shop is on the verge of closing, her aunt has become forgetful and confused, and a handsome reporter named Dario Fontana keeps sniffing around for a story. The last thing she needs is for him to find out about the love potions and expose her as fraud, but she begins to trust him, and the sizzling chemistry between them is soon too powerful to deny. With her personal and professional life in chaos, and her budding relationship with Dario in jeopardy, Grace is faced with a difficult choice. Fixing what is broken means going against every logical bone in her body. Can Grace learn to silence her scientific brain long enough to accept the truth about magic...and also about herself?

***

5 Stars

I have to say that Abigail Drake has my number. I have read two of her books in the last month and gave them both 5 stars.

This book is about a chemistry teaching assistant at a college. She gets forced out of the university by her mentor when he is brought evidence she gave a grading key to a student. Of course, she didn’t do this. Then when she gets home to talk to her boyfriend, another TA in the chem dept., he doesn’t give her the time of day and walks out on her without a backward glance.

I can imagine that crushing feeling. And Drake does an excellent job of portraying this betrayal. No one stood up for her. She went from being the chemistry TA student on the rise to a piranha.

She leaves campus with her tale between her legs and goes to tend to her Aunt Lucy who fell down the stairs at her business, the Hocus Pocus Magic Shop.

This is a story about love, trust, family and of course, magic. Grace learns how important these things are to her in this book. I don’t want to give too much away but I was as conflicted by reading it as Grace was living it. I was right with her the entire way. I had no clue who could be doing all these horrible things to Grace and the community on the south side.

The entire book intrigued me. I almost wish this were a series so I could visit this cast again. They are certainly worth writing another book for. I can see this as a tv series or at least a tv movie standalone show.

This book is perfect for both adults and  teen readers. I was hooked from page one when Grace got kicked out of the university through no fault of her own. It could have been any of us in a similar situation and Drake does a great job of making us see the fragility and unknown personal power in all of us.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.