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The Magic of a Good Book

Magical themed books with romantic elements perfect for the reader desiring a little warmth this winter season.

The Donovan Legacy

The Donovan Legacy is a series of novels written by Norah Roberts that focus on a magical Irish family. Each novel is designated for a family member’s search for the truth about themselves and their magic while dealing with barriers that stop them from falling in love. These novels deal with overcoming secrets and embracing love and who one is. These novels appeal to readers as the world these characters live in are ordinary and simple, their jobs are familiar, and their struggles relatable but the magical elements add distinction from generic romance novels. The Donovan Legacy books feature many female fully realized characters and contains intense and steamy love scenes to captivate those looking for passion in their magical novels. There are also continued elements of Irish folklore and Gaelic language for those more interested in the fantasy elements within a story.

 The All Souls Trilogy

The All Souls Trilogy is a series of novels written by Deborah Harkness. This series contains a strong and intelligent female lead character who is both a historian and a witch. The material focuses on elements of adventure, magic and romance. The trilogy follows the main female character as she discovers an ancient magical text within the library she frequents. Finding this magical text leads her on an adventure full of mystical characters, time jumping and a romance with a dark and handsome vampire. This novel appeals to many readers as it has the pace of an adventure, the details of a fantasy and the love story of a romance novel. The magical realism displayed comes from the setting of our world as it is now; the characters living lives more academically inclined than the average person making for a more intelligent and interesting read.

  The Night Circus

The Night Circus is a pure esthetic masterpiece written by Erin Morgenstern. This novel contains very poetic, descriptive writing of a magical circus known as the “Circus of Dreams”. This novel chronicles the story of two rivaling magicians within a unique circus. There are romantic elements and as can be expected the rivaling magicians fall in love. The novel follows the progress of their magical skill from youth to adulthood and provides fantastical visual descriptions of the tricks they create. This novel will appeal to readers of fantasy that desire detailed passages that create iconic imagery and to those looking for high-brow magical elements. The Night Circus is a pure fantasy that blends magical realism with the esthetic glamour of a historic setting. The romantic elements grow as the novel progresses becoming the main element by the end of the story providing spotlights on both drama and spotlight to appeal to multiple readers.

 The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is one of the many fantasy novels written by famous author Neil Gaiman. In this story we are reminded of the magic of childhood and everything we miss as we grow into adults. This novel is a classic story of good VS evil and feels like a modern fairy tale. This fantasy novel focuses on a child experiencing unnatural things in his daily life and begins feeling a looming danger. As the story progresses, magical elements grow and the reader is introduced to a family of female witches who live close by. These witches provide magical guidance, protection and wisdom to both the reader and the main character, giving readers a depth of interest hard to create in a shorter novel. Adventure and danger are present and escalate as the story continues, quickening it’s pace, essential for fantasy readers. The romantic elements focus more-so on love of the imagination and whimsy of being a child, as well as the remembrance of ones’ first crush, as the main character falls for a young witch. Overall the major appeal of The Ocean at the End of the Lane is that it provides the reader with nostalgia, using magic to help us re-imagine our own childhood experiences.  

 The Magicians 

The Magicians is a fantasy trilogy by Lev Grossman that reads as The Chronicles of Narnia for adults. This novel contains large themes of love, magic, sex and taboos. This novel focuses on an average teen with mental illness who discovers they are not sick but rather a magician with powers when they are invited into a magical school akin to Hogwarts. The novel follows generic magical school themes but with a very adult spin. There are love-triangles, drunken escapades and drug use as well as sensitive adult themes. The appeal of these novels is the use of magical realism providing the reader with the thought that this could happen to them. The use of both relationship drama and adventure provide the reader with the quest and suspense they desire with juicy bits in between to keep the reader invested. There is a world building akin to fantasy stories like the noted The Chronicles of Narnia as the story revolves around both our human society and an “imaginary” fantasy world complete with talking animals, kings and evil witches. Love in these novels is tested through both emotional and magical roadblocks and is an ever-present theme within each. These novels are increasingly popular with the creation of the television show The Magicians which has strengthened their appeal.

 The Magpie Lord

This list would not be complete without a novel that is diverse and can reach multiple communities. The Magpie Lord by K.J Charles is a fantasy novel that provides LGBTQ+ readers with a homosexual romance as a large element of the story. The Magpie Lord is about a cursed lord who must entrust a magician to aide him in protection from dark foes. This novel is appealing to readers because it has the tradition good VS evil plot line in a romantic Victorian setting. Elements of suspense captivate readers as the main characters uncover clues and fight off the villains. The characters within the novel are interesting and well-developed, avoiding stereotypes in physical attractiveness and personal attributes which will allow readers to relate to characters more authentically. The lord within the novel is a strong confident gay man which will also provide readers with a sense of comfort and confidence within themselves as they identity with him. This novel will appeal to readers who enjoy historical fiction as the novel is set in a historic Gothic London, with strong descriptions and imagery. The pace of The Magpie Lord is fast and enticing as the story is filled with adventure and will have any reader struggling to put it down.