A review by maggiestraveledbookshelf
A Little Magic by Lindsey Lanza

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

๐Ÿ“– A Little Magic
โœ๐Ÿป Lindsey Lanza
โ˜‘๏ธ Contemporary Romance
โญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธโญ๏ธ๐Ÿ’ซ | 4.5
๐ŸŒถ๏ธ๐ŸŒถ๏ธ

This was SO sweet!! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Overview:
โ€ขChildhood Friends to Lovers
โ€ขBrotherโ€™s Best Friend
โ€ขSecond Chance Romance 
โ€ขDual Timeline + POV
โ€ขChronic Illness
โ€ขChristmastime/Hanukkah
โ€ขSnowed In

๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฉ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ, ๐—˜๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฒ ๐—ž๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ถ๐—ปโ€™๐˜€ ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐˜‚๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฑ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ผ ๐—™๐—ผ๐˜….

I donโ€™t always love friends-to-lovers, but Ellie and Theoโ€™s love story is filled with SO much heart. Their relationship development from childhood acquaintances to more felt natural, filled with tender moments and holiday traditions.

๐™๐™๐™š ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ง๐™ข, ๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ค๐™—๐™–๐™—๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™›๐™ง๐™ค๐™ข ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™š ๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™˜๐™ ๐™š๐™ฉ...
โ€œ๐™„๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ขโ€™๐™จ ๐™–๐™˜๐™ฉ๐™ช๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™ฎ. ๐™Ž๐™๐™š ๐™–๐™ก๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™จ ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™˜๐™ ๐™š๐™ฉ, ๐™จ๐™–๐™ž๐™™ ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™๐™š๐™ก๐™ฅ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ญ๐™ž๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฎ. ๐™„ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™ ๐™๐™š๐™ก๐™ฅ ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ค.โ€

My favorite part of this story was Lanzaโ€™s depiction of chronic illness (in this case: lupus) and how it deeply affected every member of the family. The complicated dynamics made the narrative so compelling and relatable. 

Plus, this included the FMCโ€™s therapy sessions, which were so honest and real. So often we want therapy to be a Quick Fix, where our therapist just explain all of lifeโ€™s answers - and very unfortunately, it doesnโ€™t quite work like that. 

โ€œ๐™„ ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ข๐™š ๐™„โ€™๐™ซ๐™š ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ž๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™š๐™™ ๐™œ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™๐™ค๐™ข๐™š ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ญ๐™ž๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™œ๐™š๐™ฉ๐™จ ๐™จ๐™ค ๐™—๐™–๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™„ ๐™›๐™ก๐™–๐™ง๐™š. ๐™ƒ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™–๐™ข ๐™„ ๐™จ๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™จ๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™›๐™ž๐™ญ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ.โ€
โ€œ๐™๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™  ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™จ ๐™– ๐™›๐™ž๐™ญ. ๐™‰๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™—๐™ง๐™ค๐™ ๐™š๐™ฃ. ๐˜ผ๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™—๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™›๐™ค๐™ง ๐™€๐™ก๐™ก๐™ž๐™š. ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™—๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™–๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฎ. ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™ฎ๐™—๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™›๐™ง๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™จ๐™š ๐™›๐™š๐™š๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™จ.โ€
โ€œ๐˜ฝ๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ง๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง?โ€

Furthermore, I will always adore stories where loss and grief are depicted so beautifully. In this case, we get to see how grief changes shape over time, cementing old memories and filling up unexpected moments. 

โ€œ๐™„๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™ ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™˜๐™ง๐™ช๐™จ๐™๐™š๐™™ ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™™๐™–๐™™ ๐™ž๐™› ๐™„ ๐™™๐™ž๐™™๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™œ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™œ๐™š. ๐™„ ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ก๐™š๐™ฉ ๐™๐™ž๐™ข ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™ฃ.โ€ โ€œ๐™Š๐™.โ€ ๐™„ ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™จ ๐™Ÿ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™›๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™™ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™š๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฆ๐™ช๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™œ๐™๐™ฉ. ๐˜ฝ๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™„ ๐™™๐™ž๐™™๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™๐™ค๐™ฌ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™ฅ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™™. ๐™„ ๐™๐™–๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ช๐™ง๐™œ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ค๐™›๐™›๐™š๐™ง ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™๐™š๐™ก๐™ฅ, ๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™š๐™ซ๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ค๐™  ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ ๐™š?

This book wasnโ€™t filled with eloquent speeches or perfectly crafted scenes - it overflowed with raw, candid moments that felt like real life. And I loved it. 

I highly recommend this book, especially around the holiday season. If you enjoyed The Ex Vows or Love And Other Words, definitely pick this one up! 

โœจ Available via Kindle Unlimited โœจ