Tuesday, August 18, 2015

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen

The summer days are dwindling and the Waverley sisters are eagerly awaiting the arrival of First Frost. It is another enchanting, captivating book sprinkled with mystical fantasy and playful magic.



It's been five years since we last met the Waverley sisters in Garden Spells. Bay is now a teenager, crafting her special talent of knowing where people belong; Claire is capitalizing off her supreme candy-making skills; Sydney is running a successful salon. But things are slowly moving off-kilter. The salon is robbed, Bay is humiliated, Claire is losing her focus.

The Waverley sisters have small, mystical talents that are just a little above normal. Sydney can give the most beautiful haircuts that will land a client a job; Claire's candies can provide insight and support; Bay can tell others where someone, or something, belongs. This quirky crew inhabits their small North Carolina town that is full of as much charm as each of its residents.

But as the hots days of summer melt into the cool nights of autumn, a different sort of breeze blows through town. Hints of smokey aromas, glimpses of a tattered coat: a vagabond named the Great Banditi.

An old, tattered stranger has made his way into this small community. The Great Banditi makes his living off of a different sort of magic: blackmail and black magic. And he is out for his next financial endeavor. But what does he have on Claire? Can the magic of this town settle on the shoulders of the Banditi like the sweet, dew first frost settles on the apple tree?




Once again, Sarah Addison Allen writes a captivating story that releases you from reality and encompasses you in its magical grasp. You leave the story fully satisfied and happy, content with the beautifully strung together words that carry you from page to page.