The Best Kind of Magic by Crystal Cestari

Pages: 328

Intended Audience: Teens

Genre: Supernatural / Mystery

Notes for Parents: Contains some language and mature scenes.

The Back Cover

Amber Sand wants you to know she is not a witch. The Sand family magic gene somehow leapfrogged over her. But she did get one highly specific bewitching 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 the 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 meant for her?

What the cover doesn’t tell you:

This is the first book in a series. The sequel is called The Sweetest Kind of Fate.

What’s good?

Amber is a matchmaker. She can look into someone’s eyes and see that person’s true love. Charlie is the mayor’s son and he needs Amber’s help solving the mystery of his dad’s missing girlfriend. Together they navigate back alley magic and mysterious creatures to get to the truth. The plot is good and has several easy-to-follow subplots. The pace is steady. Characters are well-drawn and have believable relationships. It’s great that adults have important roles in the story. Themes include family, friendship, love, and fate. It has a great ending.

Best Part: Amber’s friend, Amani.

What isn’t good?

The pace was a bit slow at the beginning but picked up and stayed steady after that. The writing feels a little juvenile. It was odd that there was no real world-building; everyone just seemed to accept that magic was real. Even though Charlie didn’t know about magic, he doesn’t seem at all phased by the revelations.

Worst part: There’s a disturbing scene on page 206 where Charlie is basically sexually assaulted by Ivy.

Recommendation ☺☺☺☺☻ (3.5/5)

Despite the fact that the writing style feels a little juvenile, the mysteries kept me reading – What happened to Cassandra? Why the change to the coven? Who is Amani’s match and why won’t she use her abilities? I read the first two chapters of the next book that were featured in the back and would have continued reading if I would have had the book on hand. It was a fun read. Recommended.

Cestari, Crystal. The Best Kind of Magic. Los Angeles: Hyperion, 2017.