Serena’s Review: “A Curious Kind of Magic”

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Book: “A Curious Kind of Magic” by Mara Rutherford

Publishing Info: Wednesday Books, October 2025

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Everyone in Ardmuir knows that Willow Stokes is a charlatan, including Willow herself. Her father’s shoppe hasn’t sold anything magical in decades, and it’s only hanging on by the skin of the fake dragon’s teeth Willow sells as charms, along with “enchanted” ostrich eggs, taxidermied chimeras, and talismans made of fools’ gold.

Until outlander Brianna Hargrave appears and turns Willow’s fakes into exactly what they’re purported to be. But try as Willow might to enlist Bri’s help, she wants nothing to do with Willow and her curiosities.

Because Brianna is harboring a secret of her own: everything she touches turns to magic, and the consequences have chased her all the way to Ardmuir. All she wants to do is find a particular missing grimoire, which contains a spell that can finally put an end to her curse.

Desperate to keep her father’s shoppe, Willow proposes a bargain that could save them both. Together with the frustratingly handsome printer’s assistant, the girls will uncover a plot that goes far deeper than either could have imagined. But when Willow is forced to participate in an ambitious collector’s quest for the rarest magical object in the world-a quest that risks almost-certain death-she learns that not all treasure is for sale, and that true magic is closer than she ever could have imagined.

Review: This is one of those books where I closed the page and my only thought was, “Well, what’s next?” Everything about this one was almost aggressively just okay. Nothing was bad enough that I wanted to get out my laptop right away and start a rant. But nothing was good enough either that I wanted to think much more about the entire experience.

Part of this comes down to the fact that nothing really stands out in this book. It’s set in some nondescript “historical” time period and setting. The magical elements are just your typical fairytale sort of thing where certain people have access to magic and others don’t. And the characters are all fairly familiar archetypes, from the prickly leading lady to the cinnamon roll romantic interest.

None of this is particularly helped by the slow pacing of the story. I’ve struggled with this aspect of Mara Rutherford’s writing in the past, and it was the same situation here. These YA books aren’t particularly long, but given the actual plot and content of the book, like her others, this one felt as if it could be 50 pages shorter at least. Some of this can be explained away by the cozy subgenre, a particular subset of genres that often rely on slower pacing and day-in-the-life motifs. But even within this category, I think this one felt particularly uneven in its pacing and plotting. However, cozy fantasy is often a struggle for me, so bigger fans of the genre may be less bothered by this aspect of the book.

I also struggled with the characters. The main character is written to be prickly and standoffish, but more often than not, this translated into me simply disliking her much of the time. Much of the spare 50–75 pages worth of content in this book is taken up by Willow’s poor decision-making and insistence on keeping everything and everyone at arm’s length. Bri, perhaps, was a bit better, but again, I never felt like I had enough to really grasp onto her as a unique and interesting character. And Finlay, for his part, was a sweet character, but too often this sweetness took a turn towards bland and left me feeling distinctly underwhelmed.

Perhaps “underwhelmed” is the best description for my feelings for this book. I’ve enjoyed Mara Rutherford’s books in the past, but I think that some of her particular writing foibles (slower and sometimes uneven pacing) were not benefitted by the cozy subgenre. Her previous books had darker themes and elements which I think elevated some of the weaker portions (characterization and pacing). Whereas here, with less plot to speak of, these flaws rose more to the forefront. However, I will say that this may appeal more to general fans of YA cozy fantasy, so if you’re a fan of that subgenre or a big Rutherford fan, this one may still be worth checking out!

Rating 7: Just okay. There was nothing bad about this read, but nothing will really stick with me either, unfortunately.

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Curious Kind of Magic” can be found on these Goodreads lists: YA Cozy Fantasy and Cozy and Cold Weather Reads (YA and Children’s).