Book Review: That Touch of Magic

Author: Lucy March

Publication Date: January 28, 2014

Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks

Series: Nodaway Falls # 2

Stacy Easter has seen better days. Being a librarian is a labor of love—if only paying her bills were half as much fun. What’s a single, bookish beauty in sleepy Nodaway Falls, New York, supposed to do?

To make ends meet, Stacy decides to develop her special…powers. Everyone can use a touch of magic now and then, right? Soon she’s got clients lining up to receive her signature potions—until a few of them go awry. Meanwhile, her own life has just taken a storybook turn: Leo North, the official One Who Got Away, is back in town. 

Stacy’s best friends, Peach and Liv, are more concerned about the state of her heart than the side effects of a few rogue magic spells. But someone with dark intentions is crossing magical wires all over Nodaway Falls, and those closest to Stacy are at risk. Can Stacy conjure up a way out of this mess with her life—and maybe even her love life—intact?

Magic’s kind of high-maintenance.

Remain calm. Breathe twice. I always found this part stupid.

His lips met mine and I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck, my last bit of resistance overpowered by my need for him. It was zero to sixty in a white heat; his arms went tight and hard around my waist, and my hands went to his shoulders, down his arms, as if I were drinking him in through touch. He felt like happiness and hope, the first day you smell a new season on the air, that first exhilarating plunge on a roller coaster.

After she loses her job as a local librarian, Stacy puts together a little entrepreneurship: she starts selling potions in order to pay her bills. Of course, she has no training when it comes to “practical” magic, so when her spells start producing strange side effects she begins to question her abilities. And to make matters worse, her ex-boyfriends pops back into town and refuses to leave, claiming he just must have another chance with her. Before she knows it, it’s not only her magic that is out of hand, but her love life too.

I want to meet Lucy March! So much good is packed into this little mass market paperback book. The first book in this series came out so long ago that I had to do a quick skim to refresh my mind, but I was quickly reminded how amazing her writing really is when I opened this one. This story is so refined and you can easily see how much of a perfectionist Lucy March really is; maybe this is why readers had to wait so long to get the next addition to this series. This book was well worth the wait!

Stacy is a highly enjoyable character, even though she does have her flaws. The magical touch that Stacy brings to the story is the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae. I am always hanging on her every word and action because she is just truly phenomenal as a heroine. If you have not treated yourself to a good book lately, this would be exactly the place I would start!

***A copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at St. Martin’s Paperbacks in exchange for my honest review***