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Lilou: The Shadyside Chronicles, #2
After choosing accounting over witchcraft, Lilou leads a seemingly normal life. She is a wife, a mother, works full time at a prestigious firm, trying to break the glass ceiling. Only the occult is all around her. During a moment of crisis, Lilou meets a domovoy, a hobgoblin who lives in her home and claims to protect her from harm. The encounter with the creature changes the trajectory of Lilou's life and makes her reconsider her choices.
226 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 7, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 11, 2025
Heartbreak leads Lilou to come to terms with her past and finally commit to her true self. Can she finally realize her potential, or will she continue to fight her heritage?
July 13, 2024
Practical Magic 20yrs later. Kinda. Towards the end of the book anyway when Lilou and her Grand-mere get together. It’s low adult fantasy with marital problems with a little magic on the side. There aren’t enough fantasy books with a middle-aged heroine, so this was a delightful find.
I read book 2 without reading book 1 and it works, it can totally be read as a standalone - the backstory of Lilou’s youth and choices is well explained here.
42yo Lilou aka Linda is an accountant who keeps being passed over for promotion and is married to a local cop Gary with 2 teen kids. Kids don’t feature much in the book. Her husband is a passive-aggressive emotional blackmailer and Lilou has learnt to be accommodating. When she chatches him cheating on her, she meets her domovoy (brownie) who does her the honour of being seen, remembers she made a love spell at age 15 to marry Gary despite her granny telling her not to do it; and then she goes to France to see her Grand-Mére to start a journey of making her life over.
Talk about careful what you wish for. 15yo’s Lilou’s obsession with a guy landed her where she was at age 42, with the dude not considering he was cheating since “it’s with an ex”. That dream conversation when she squeezed the truth out of him was an eye-opener. I understood Lilou’s anger, I do, but her refusal to accept the consequences of her own actions for most of the book made me so mad. I loved the scene where she took what was hers back at Pere Lachaise cemetery with Aline, her cousin. It was fascinating that Lilou had suffered at the hands of not one but two manipulators - her hubby the emotional blackmailer narcissist and Aline, the gaslighter. I also loved the no-nonsense brownie and his help - the construction difficulties around the kitchen island were hilarious. Dreamwalking in this book was fab - as means of getting messages and communication and replaying things. Loved how much attention Lilou started getting after the makeover, but Thierry was a bit too Parisian for me. Granny’s witchy instructions were well-measured, but I kept thinking - everyone is making Lilou do things, even this old witch, they are forcing her down one path which she’s not sure she wants to go down, can she really turn her life around or will she keep doing what everyone expect her to do. So sad. I hope Lilou stands up for herself like she did in the cemetery in the next book. Also, the author's take on white and black magic was fascinating - how the granny giving options and outlining consequences, but letting people make their own decisions was white magic and how one and only answer in a card reading that makes the person go down one path is black magic. By that logic, most coaches are white magic users and consultants (who tell you how to resolve a problem) are...not.
The author’s love for and knowledge of Paris shines through the book and I loved being reminded of the places I’ve seen myself.
TW: those who have had negative experiences with mental abuse and manipulation in particular or are survivors of marriages dissolved after cheating might not enjoy this book.
Recommended for lovers of slow-building, low fantasy, cosy witch mystery with references to Russian mythology and for journeys of self-re-discovery after 40s.
I read book 2 without reading book 1 and it works, it can totally be read as a standalone - the backstory of Lilou’s youth and choices is well explained here.
42yo Lilou aka Linda is an accountant who keeps being passed over for promotion and is married to a local cop Gary with 2 teen kids. Kids don’t feature much in the book. Her husband is a passive-aggressive emotional blackmailer and Lilou has learnt to be accommodating. When she chatches him cheating on her, she meets her domovoy (brownie) who does her the honour of being seen, remembers she made a love spell at age 15 to marry Gary despite her granny telling her not to do it; and then she goes to France to see her Grand-Mére to start a journey of making her life over.
Talk about careful what you wish for. 15yo’s Lilou’s obsession with a guy landed her where she was at age 42, with the dude not considering he was cheating since “it’s with an ex”. That dream conversation when she squeezed the truth out of him was an eye-opener. I understood Lilou’s anger, I do, but her refusal to accept the consequences of her own actions for most of the book made me so mad. I loved the scene where she took what was hers back at Pere Lachaise cemetery with Aline, her cousin. It was fascinating that Lilou had suffered at the hands of not one but two manipulators - her hubby the emotional blackmailer narcissist and Aline, the gaslighter. I also loved the no-nonsense brownie and his help - the construction difficulties around the kitchen island were hilarious. Dreamwalking in this book was fab - as means of getting messages and communication and replaying things. Loved how much attention Lilou started getting after the makeover, but Thierry was a bit too Parisian for me. Granny’s witchy instructions were well-measured, but I kept thinking - everyone is making Lilou do things, even this old witch, they are forcing her down one path which she’s not sure she wants to go down, can she really turn her life around or will she keep doing what everyone expect her to do. So sad. I hope Lilou stands up for herself like she did in the cemetery in the next book. Also, the author's take on white and black magic was fascinating - how the granny giving options and outlining consequences, but letting people make their own decisions was white magic and how one and only answer in a card reading that makes the person go down one path is black magic. By that logic, most coaches are white magic users and consultants (who tell you how to resolve a problem) are...not.
The author’s love for and knowledge of Paris shines through the book and I loved being reminded of the places I’ve seen myself.
TW: those who have had negative experiences with mental abuse and manipulation in particular or are survivors of marriages dissolved after cheating might not enjoy this book.
Recommended for lovers of slow-building, low fantasy, cosy witch mystery with references to Russian mythology and for journeys of self-re-discovery after 40s.
July 7, 2024
Lilou: The Shadyside Chronicles, book two by Alexandra Pugachevsky is the second book in this series. This is the first book I’m reading by this author and I really enjoyed it. You say the word witch or magic I’m immediately in! But what really caught my eye was this line I’m the book blurb, “If you try to ignore it for too long, magic might just catch up with you.” I just had to know more. This was a quick and easy read, I finished it in a matter of hours. I believe it was about 225 pages. I really liked the detail going into Lilou facing the reality of making choices. Of coming to terms with becoming who you were meant to be versus who you want to be. I thought this was a well written book with a great character development. But my favorite aspect of all this is how everything was described, I felt like I could imagine everything I was reading. This is the second book but I was able to read and understand everything without reading the first one. That being said; to get the full experience I’m planning on going to read the first one so I can really immerse myself in the flow of this series. This is a well done book and I’m looking forward to the next one. Would definitely recommend, two thumbs up.
Final review:
4 out of 5 stars
Final review:
4 out of 5 stars
July 14, 2024
This was a quick easy read about an older FMC finding and accepting her self-worth as well as her witch ancestry.
WHAT IT IS ABOUT:
Lilou is 42 years old, the first women working as an accountant at a large firm in the early 1990s, has two beautiful boys, and a husband...she seems to have a great life, but her husband is a self-centered jerk who blames Lilou for all of his own problems and insecurities...unfortunately Lilou herself believes she’s the problem as well. After her husband’s betrayal Lilou thinks she is loosing her mind when she sees and talks to a little man who lives in her house. Lilou’s sister encourages her to take a break so Lilou goes to France to visit her grandma. While in France Lilou not only finds her self-worth but also her claim to her magic as a witch.
WHAT I THINK:
This was a quick, interesting witchy read. For a lot of the book I was yelling at Lilou in my head to stop being so self-deprecating! Thank god she did find her strength and self-worth in the end. I really appreciated an older FMC, married and with kids! I also really liked the little domovoy and folklore that was included - I wanted more of it! The book ended rather abruptly, but that kinda makes me want to read the next one...
WHAT IT IS ABOUT:
Lilou is 42 years old, the first women working as an accountant at a large firm in the early 1990s, has two beautiful boys, and a husband...she seems to have a great life, but her husband is a self-centered jerk who blames Lilou for all of his own problems and insecurities...unfortunately Lilou herself believes she’s the problem as well. After her husband’s betrayal Lilou thinks she is loosing her mind when she sees and talks to a little man who lives in her house. Lilou’s sister encourages her to take a break so Lilou goes to France to visit her grandma. While in France Lilou not only finds her self-worth but also her claim to her magic as a witch.
WHAT I THINK:
This was a quick, interesting witchy read. For a lot of the book I was yelling at Lilou in my head to stop being so self-deprecating! Thank god she did find her strength and self-worth in the end. I really appreciated an older FMC, married and with kids! I also really liked the little domovoy and folklore that was included - I wanted more of it! The book ended rather abruptly, but that kinda makes me want to read the next one...
July 1, 2024
This book is the second in the Shadyside series. In this book we follow Lilou as she has to embrace the reality of her past choices. This book has a lot going on all the time and is very fast paced. Lilou has a lot to realize and atone for and with the help of grandmére she may just become the person she needs to be. Without spoiling anything I love the growth we see and can’t wait to see where life takes Lilou in the next book.
Did Not Finish
July 8, 2024No rating since I DNF'ed this book. I tried to continue reading it but it just came to a point where I didn't look forward to picking up my e-reader at all. Other readers might enjoy it more, so don't let this review stop you from picking the book up, but it just wasn't it for me, personally.
July 3, 2024
Quick and easy read. After chatting her husband cheating, Lilou goes to France to find herself. There she must accept that she's a witch and that her marriage is over.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews