A delightful new urban fantasy about a kitchen witch and her magical familyDaphne “Daffy” Rose Wallace Deschants has an ideal suburban life—three wonderful and talented children; a coffee shop and bakery, owned and run with her best friend; a nearly perfect husband, Gabriel, or “G” to his friends and family. Life could hardly be better.But G’s perfection hides dangerous secrets. When Daffy … secrets. When Daffy uncovers evidence of his infidelity, her perfect life seems to be in ruins. On their wedding anniversary, Daffy prepares to confront him, only to be stopped in her tracks when he foils a mugging attempt using wizard-level magic.
Suddenly, Daphne is part of a world she never imagined–where her husband is not a traveling troubleshooter for a software company, but the sheriff of the International Guild of Wizards, and her brilliant children are also budding magicians. Even she herself is not just a great baker and barista—she’s actually a kitchen witch. And her discovery of her powers is only just beginnning.
But even the midst of her chaotic new life, another problem is brewing. G’s ex-wife, a dangerous witch, has escaped from her magical prison. Revenge-bent and blind, she needs the eyes of her son to restore her sight—the son Daffy has raised as her own since he was a year old. Now Daphne must find a way to harness her new powers and protect her family—or risk losing everything she holds dear.
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A Spoonful of Magic by Irene Radford is set in Eugene, Oregon. Daphne “Daffy” Deschants has been married to Gabriel “G” Deschants for thirteen years and they have three children. She thought they had a great relationship until she receives photos of him in bed with another woman. Daffy is ready to confront him about his infidelity, when they are mugged. G handles the robbers with magic and Daffy learns that her husband is a wizard. Daffy is shocked to learn that G is the sheriff for Guild of Master Wizards and her children may also have magical gifts. Daffy makes G move out of the house and then chaos ensues when her children’s magic starts bursting forth—Daffy quickly discovers that they are not the only ones in the house with talents. To make things even more chaotic, G’s ex-wife—D’Accore (that Daffy thought was dead) has escaped from prison and is seeking Jason’s (her biological son that Daffy adopted) eyes for her own blinded ones. The family will need to band together utilizing their magical gifts to defeat this menacing foe.
A Spoonful of Magic was not what I expected. At times it felt like a young adult story. If the author had left out the parts about sex and infidelity, it would have fit into that genre nicely. The book really did not need this element. A Spoonful of Magic has one crazy antic after another (mostly involving the children who run amok after discovering their powers—all of them at the same time). I found many details repeated throughout the book. I never felt the suspense in the story with D’Accore coming after the family. It missed the mark. The book was too long and lacked a nice snappy pace. I ended up skimming through the dull sections to get to the end of the book. I was not taken with the main characters especially G. He uses people to achieve his goals for work and home. The characters lacked depth and development. They all felt flat. There were also contradictions. Children upset with their father cheating on their mother, and then they soon forgive him. G lied about many things over the years, but he felt it was justifiable. I did like the part about how wizard’s pick their wands. I found it an interesting tidbit. A Spoonful of Magic felt more like a rough draft than a finished manuscript.
This is my first experience with Irene Radford. Sadly I’m disappointed in what I read. A Spoonful of Magic turned out to be depressing and a major headache .
I picked this one up; because I found the cover to be beautiful and the blurb to be intriguing. Even though the blurb mention’s that Daffy’s hubby G has been unfaithful I was hoping it was a misunderstanding and not true, especially since G’s a Sheriff for the International Guild of Wizard’s. Sadly it didn’t turn out that way.
G is a cheater. As soon as it was true and came to light I should have DNF’d this book, but nope I kept going. I new I should have stoped, but their was something that compiled me to finish. Maybe I was hoping for a turn around, I just don’t know.
Cheater’s are a no no for me. That scenario is one I don’t like to read about, one that bothers me greatly. Their is no excuses for cheating. Non. So why does he cheat on his wife? Well it’s his magic. When he uses a lot of magic he ends up having to much pent up energy and the only way to get ride of it is to have sex. Since he’s out being sheriff of his territory and never home or near his wife, he sleeps with other women (one night stands). This set up for the magic is wrong. What was even more unfortunate is that G, Daffy’s X-Hubby had no remorse about what he did to his wife, doesn’t change his way, and continues to lie, cheat, and manipulate throughout the story.
As for G and Daffy I never felt the love from G, but Daffy she loved him. G picked Daffy up to be a mom to his son and used his wife as a nanny. It was sad how G treated his wife, whom you can clearly see loved him deeply. He kept secrets lots of them, doesn’t talk to his wife now and then, nor does he tell her the truth, and when he does it’s not the whole story. As for Daffy she has magical powers, but they have been layton until now. She also doesn’t have the sexual urge like her X until they do a major power spell, but even then she doesn’t give in and finds other ways to work off the excess energy.
To wrap things up A Spoonful of Magic showed some promise with the plot that was fascinating at times, the lesser characters where appealing, but ultimately the unorthodox morality Radford created in her magical world was just to hard for me to consume.
*Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy provided by Berkley Publishing via NetGalley with the sole purpose of an honest review. All thoughts, comments and ratings are my own.