Book 44: A Girl's Guide to Witchcraft

NUMBER: 44
TITLE: A Girl's Guide to Witchcraft
AUTHOR: Mindy Klasky
STARTED: August 6, 2007
FINISHED: August 9, 2007
PAGES: 426
GENRE: Chick Lit

FIRST SENTENCE: They don't teach witchcraft in library school.

SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] For good-girl Jane Madison, neither has a shot in hell of coming true -- until the day she finds a hidden room...

Now she's done a bit of experimenting and found a spell that makes her irresistible to men -- even those who have previously ignored her. And another that turns a cat into her witch's familiar (a snarky, critical, self-absorbed man -- pretty much a typical male). Though her impulsive acts of magic have brought a warder (sexy, grouchy, elusive and determined to stop her from using magic) down on her, Jane's not willing to let go of this fantastic new life.

Though she wonders about having things that aren't "real," she's having too much fun to stop. After all, no one ever said being a witch was easy.

REASON FOR READING: Rose told me I would like it because it was about a librarian in D.C. Hmmm, I wonder why she thought I would like it?

THOUGHTS: I should never have written that paper on romance novels (Note: I will probably discuss said paper in a later post). Now, every book I read in the romance and chick lit genres has to meet my increased standards. A Girl's Guide to Witchcraft, at first, failed to meet my new needs, but, by the end, I was having too much fun to actually care.

Klasky makes some fundamental mistakes at the beginning of her book. The whole introduction of Jane and her "conundrum" are far too contrived. The author has forced the story to fit her plot needs instead of allowing it to flow and change for itself. Klasky also falls into the deadly pit of info-dumping and creating glaringly obvious plot points. Once the story is set-up, however, it begins to become a much more fluid read. The writing is less forced and, therefore, so is the plot itself. The further into the book I got, the less I could tell that Klasky was writing a story. The book began to speak for itself.

Another issue I had with the writing and plot was how "dated" and "placed" Klasky makes her story. The book is about a modern librarian in D.C., which is all well and good, but Klasky goes almost too far in trying to create her story location. The book relies far to much on actual names of places in Georgetown without giving further description. If I was not a current resident in D.C., I would find this aspect of the writing to be incredibly confusing to the point of ruining the book. Klasky also mentions many modern brand names and products. Instead of adding to the environment of the story, it felt like product placement. Klasky's story is best when the writing is her own imagination. Otherwise, it feels like Klasky is trying to impress her readers with her knowledge of the D.C. area and pop culture.

As for the characters and story itself, they were rather enjoyable. While Jane shows instances of being the whiny, female lead found in most chick lits these days, that is not the whole of her character. Jane actually has substance. She does not spend her days moping and venting, she sees her problems and tackles them whether the issue is library funding or her new found magical powers. Jane also has relatively realistic reactions to the events in her life. When a certain someone shows up after a lengthy absence, her anger and mistrust is entirely believable.

The secondary characters are written roundly enough to flesh out the story, but still have some room to grow beyond the stereotypes. And part of me wonders if Klasky left things mysterious and vague to have more plotlines in the next book.

I'm intrigued enough to want to read the next book...

MISCELLANEOUS: I want a mojito now. With a little umbrella!

RATING: 6/10 [Good]