Love!: The Best Kind of Magic by Crystal Cestari

Working at a bookstore has its sad moments. That may sound like a strange thing to say, but it’s true. Going through the shelves and picking out all the books that are due to be returned is one of them. I always get sad when books we only have a few copies of have to get sent back. True, often publishers send them to other locations where they’ll hopefully sell better, but it’s a shame that our store wasn’t the one to sell it. Plus I don’t actually know if the book will eventually sell, which means no numbers for the author. Boo. On the upside, it means I end up seeing books I may not have found otherwise. Especially since my hours are far less than what they used to be at the store (sadly, being a bookstore merchandise manager doesn’t pay much). So when I pulled The Best Kind of Magic off the shelf I was immediately drawn in by the title and the charming cover. Look, I’m a sucker for magic and carnivals, and if you put the two together I’m going to read it. The book blurb finished me off, and as much as I wanted to buy it, I literally have no room left (so maybe later after I move and buy another bookshelf?), so off to the library I went.

The Best Kind of Magic (2017)
Written by: Crystal Cestari
Genre: YA Romance
Pages: 335 (Hardcover)
Series: Windy City Magic
Publisher: Disney Hyperion

The Premise:

Amber Sand is not a witch. The Sand family Wicca gene somehow leapfrogged over her. But she did get one highly specific magical talent: she can see true love. As a matchmaker, Amber’s pretty far down the sorcery food chain (even birthday party magicians rank higher), but after five seconds of eye contact, she can envision anyone’s soul mate.

Amber works at her mother’s magic shop — Windy City Magic — in downtown Chicago, and she’s confident she’s seen every kind of happy ending there is: except for one — her own. (The Fates are tricky jerks that way.) So when Charlie Blitzman, the mayor’s son and most-desired boy in school, comes to her for help finding his father’s missing girlfriend, she’s distressed to find herself falling for him. Because while she can’t see her own match, she can see his — and it’s not Amber. How can she, an honest peddler of true love, pursue a boy she knows full well isn’t her match?

The Best Kind of Magic is set in urban Chicago and will appeal to readers who long for magic in the real world. With a sharp-witted and sassy heroine, a quirky cast of mystical beings, and a heady dose of adventure, this novel will have you laughing out loud and questioning your belief in happy endings.

No spoilers

Discussion: I liked Amber. I mean, I really liked Amber. She was so much fun and didn’t take anyone’s crap, sassed her bullies back, and stood up for herself despite everything going against her. The story is told in a first person present tense POV, but it works perfectly for this book. Amber has long since made peace with her matchmaking ability, even though it seems like no one else thinks it’s up to par — including her mom. For a while I was worried she and her mom wouldn’t hash it out — and they absolutely needed to do so — but luckily that part resolved itself.

Charlie, the love interest, is a very endearing guy. He dresses well, is obviously one of the hot boys in school, but knows fake girls when he sees them (namely Amber’s nemesis, Ivy), and wishes dragons were real. Since he’s a regular guy, he’s thrown for a bit of a loop when he finds out everything from witches to vampires are real, but manages to hold himself together well. The attraction between him and Amber is pretty sparky and you can’t help but smirk knowing that at some point Amber’s going to crack because honestly for Charlie, who wouldn’t?

Crystal Cestari’s writing style and descriptions are a lot of fun. I admit to giggling at several things, and I think one of my favorite descriptions was when Amber was in Charlie’s house looking at pictures on the mantle. Rather than just mentioning the typical stuff like baby pictures or pictures with mom and dad, there was “stuck-in-a-pile-of-Legos Charlie.” For some reason that just tickled me pink. Things like that are peppered throughout the book and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

The main thread of the story is more adjacent to the romance between Amber and Charlie which felt slightly (but only slightly) weird given that the problem was Charlie’s missing soon-to-be-stepmother. His dad is a wreck worrying about her, but there’s never a real sense of urgency despite the fact that the woman has straight up vanished. I guess urgency wasn’t necessarily required, but that it felt like such a backseat element to everything else is what gave it that weird-ish vibe. I might have also been influenced due to where I originally pulled the book from. It was in the general YA lit section, though clearly the romance was the focal point of this book, thus it should have been shelved there instead.

The only annoying part — and unfortunately it reflects upon today’s school systems — was the lack of discipline against Amber’s very obvious (as in, being a total bitch to Amber in front of teachers obvious) bully, Ivy. Maybe a part of that is due to Ivy’s own power, but it still pissed me off that she’s pulling this crap and never gets in trouble. The school guidance counselor even outright states that he knows Amber is a target of bullying and Ivy is an issue. But nah, we’re not gonna do anything about it. Coolsies. I kept hoping Ivy’s powers would fail her in the middle of something important, at which point I would yell, “OH-HO! What now bitch?” and look like a weirdo in the lunchroom or wake my dog up, depending upon where I was reading. Sadly, this did not happen.

When the book was over, there were still some threads I wanted answers to. I wanted to know what the story was between Amber’s mom and a new witch that appeared in her coven. I want a second book that details nothing but the love story between Amber’s best friend, Amani, and her match given how much of an interesting start they had. And even though the ending made me grudgingly accept this is the way things are, I still want to know if Amber will get to stay with Charlie or if it’s all for naught. Because I wholly understand her in that seeing the girl of your man’s dreams continuously popping up whenever you’re together would get really old and depressing really fast. 

In Conclusion: I love books with magic and paranormal goodies, and I want more of this universe to play in. It’s the sort of book you read and enjoy and want other people to read and enjoy as well. It’s fluffy goodness like cotton candy, and I adore cotton candy. The best part is that when looking up Crystal Cestari’s information for this review, I discovered that she has a second book already out! Will it have any of Amani’s story in there? Will Ivy stop being such a bitch? Who knows — but I’ve already ordered it from the library so I’ll be back once The Sweetest Kind of Fate is in my possession!