Petty Magic: Being the Memoirs and Confessions of Miss Evelyn Harbinger, Temptress and Troublemaker

by Camille DeAngelis

Evelyn Harbinger sees nothing wrong with a one-night stand. At 149 years old, Eve may look like she bakes oatmeal cookies in the afternoon and dozes in her rocking chair in the evening, but once the gray hair and wrinkles are traded for jet-black tresses and porcelain skin, she can still turn heads as the beautiful girl she once was. Can’t fault a girl for having a little fun, can you?
 
This is all fine and well until Eve meets Justin, who reminds her so much of a former lover that one night is no longer enough. Eve’s coven has always turned a blind eye to her nighttime mischief, but this time they think she’s gone too far—and they certainly don’t hesitate to tell her so. Dodging the warnings of family and friends, Eve must also defend her sister, Helena, when another beldame accuses Helena of killing her own husband sixty years before.
 
As the evidence against Helena begins to pile up, Eve distracts herself by spending more and more nights—and days—romancing Justin as her former self.  There are so many peculiar ways in which Justin is like Jonah, her partner behind enemy lines in World War II and the one true love of her life.  Experts in espionage, Jonah and Eve advanced the allied cause at great personal sacrifice.  Now Eve suspects that her Jonah has returned to her, and despite the disapproval of her coven and the knowledge that love with a mortal man can only end in sorrow, she can’t give him up.  But can she prove it’s really him?
 
In this captivating tale of adventure and timeless romance, novelist Camille DeAngelis blends World War II heroics with witchcraft and wit, conjuring a fabulously rich world where beldames and mortal men dare to fall in love.

Genres: Fantasy, Witches, Fiction, Romance, Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Magic

336 pages, Hardcover

First published September 29, 2010

About the author

I'm the author of three fantasy novels for adults—Immaculate Heart, Mary Modern, and Petty Magic. My young adult novel, Bones & All, won an Alex Award from YALSA and the American Library Association in 2016 (thank you, librarians!!) This little teen-cannibal road trip novel has been adapted into a film directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, and a bunch more stunningly talented actors. David Kajganich wrote the script, and I often say (0% kidding) that if I could go back in time I'd novelize the screenplay and put both our names on the cover. (Well, his name *is* on the cover of the spiffy new movie tie-in edition, but you know what I mean.)

Anywho, back to the bio! My favorite of my novels is my middle-grade debut, The Boy From Tomorrow. I've also written two books of practical philosophy: Life Without Envy: Ego Management for Creative People and A Bright Clean Mind: Veganism for Creative Transformation. I also researched and wrote the first, second, and third editions of Moon Ireland.

I love reading and writing about the supernatural: my second children's novel (forthcoming!) is a ghost story, as is my first published short story, "The Coroner's Bride," now available from iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Amazon. "The Coroner's Bride" originally appeared in Exotic Gothic 5, edited by Danel Olson.

CURRENT PROJECT: a retro-futurist screwball comedy. For updates, you can sign up for my (not too frequent) newsletter: http://bit.ly/cometparty

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email me instead of using Goodreads messaging—I'm not on here often enough to give you a prompt reply! Thanks for understanding.**

Reviews

[Mir]

I'm not rating this book because I can't say that I gave it a fair show. I realized after I got it that it was written by someone whose other book didn't work for me at all. Although I read the first 30 pages I was already predisposed to not like it. Thematically and narratively, this story was less interesting to me than DeAngelis' Mary Modern, but on the other hand it didn't present as major obstacles (plot predicated on main character making a decision that is absolutely insane, science that makes no scientific sense) either. I certainly could have gotten through this book had I been, say, traveling and short on books, or in the mood for a really frivolous story about witches getting laid. But as it is -- back to the library.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored everything about this book and read it lightning fast. All I wanted to do was find a way to jump into those pages and live in the world DeAngelis created. Not only is Petty Magic beautifully written but it had an old fashioned kind of feel that reminded me of fairy tales I used to read as a child with a slightly darker, more adult edge. "Enchanting" is probably the best word to describe it.

I definitely can't wait to read it again because it was just one of those stories where you need to do a double-take to make sure you didn't miss any of those great, juicy details!

Highly, HIGHLY recommended.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Please note: I read this in December 2010 from a copy received from Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.

My Synopsis: An extraordinarily appealing book, "Petty Magic" jumps between the present (where Evelyn is 149 and, having fallen in love with the young Justin is going through some crazy stunts to try to keep him from seeing the "real" her while maintaining her youthful disguise as long as possible) and the past - especially during World War II, where she worked with OSE as a spy and where she met her first great love, Jonah - of whom she believes Justin is a reincarnation.

There are other elements to the story, including inter-coven rivalries and accusations. Understand that these women are not witches and that they sneer at the term - it is used by "dabblers" and "frooty-toots," as they call normals who engage in New Age escapades. They are called beldames and their power is very real.

My Review: Written in a style that is warm, wry and often laugh-out-loud funny, I really can't recommend this book enough for anyone who enjoys reading a good book. I don't even know how to typify this one - it has elements of romance, obviously, but they don't overwhelm. It is magical reality, aspects of fantasy, women's fiction, action/adventure ... there is just a lot to love in this little book. Definitely pick it up and give it a read - you won't regret it!! You will only regret (like I did) that you didn't get it sooner.

[Mauoijenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a witch has it's perks. Being able to change into a younger you at a drop of the hat is just one of them. But, how about when you find out your old love (boyfriend) is reincarnated and is out there. Well... she finds him and doesn't want to let go. Even though she is a "one-night stand" only kind of witch. I found this book to be funny in some parts, boring in some others (minor flaw) and a really fast read for over 200 pages.

[#ReadAllTheBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unless you are looking for a tale along the lines of Practical Magic or Witches of Eastwick (the books, not the movies) many readers might be disappointed that this book doesn’t feature witches similar to the current fashion that is so popular. But those who are willing to give it a try will be pleasantly surprised by this book.

Evelyn comes from a long line of witches. Not the type that you read about in storybooks or see in the displays at Halloween- but real witches, the type that live exceedingly long lives & practice their arts in secret. They choose to use their magic for either benign or good, something Evelyn knows all too well about. After all, didn’t she (along with several other magical beings) use her magic during World War II to fight against Hitler? It’s during WWII that Evelyn meets the dashing Jonah, the love of her life & it’s during this same war that she lost him. Years later Evelyn is an old woman who uses her magic to give herself the semblance of her lost youth when she discovers Justin, a man who resembles her dead lover in both personality & appearance. Is this really her dead love resurrected? Also, when someone challenges a member of Evelyn’s family with murder, can she help prove their innocence?

I’ll admit that this book took me a while to get into. The beginning is so slow that I almost gave up, if not for my rule that I should try to finish any books I receive for review. It’s not that the beginning was terrible or that the characters were unsympathetic, it’s just that the beginning is very, very slow in developing. Once it got past that bump though, the pacing of the book improved & I found that I really got more involved in this book, especially once the charges of murder were leveled. While I’ll admit that I prefer my urban fantasy witches, this was a nice change of pace & I found myself rather liking Evelyn Harbinger.

It’s just that this slow beginning was such a chore to slog through that I can’t help but feel that it will put off a lot of readers. Not because of the lack of flash but because it’s just that slow plot-wise. I really do hope that many of those readers will give it another try & keep trucking through the book because it really does pick up later & is pretty good overall.

This is a good read, but it will probably only appeal to some audiences.

(ARC provided through amazon vine)

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Added simply for the title. :-)


This lagged a bit in the middle, and I think my interest waned because there was too much detail, but overall it's an unusually well considered paranormal novel. It starts, misleadingly, with the narrator using her powers to seduce unsuspecting men (as you do). But it soon becomes more serious, and I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to say this is history, particularly WWII history from the perspective of a witch who worked for the SOE. There are important strands about family and romantic relationships, too, and perhaps my attention shifted a bit because De Angelis didn't quite make up her mind which was the main storyline. (But then, perhaps that's how memoirs can be.)

I can't quite say if this is historical fiction or romantic fiction or a spy thriller or a clever, whimsical fantasy. But I think De Angelus is worth watching.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastically magical tale! The characters were solid and relatable and the plot was engaging and romantic. Light enough for book clubs yet deep enough for good discussion, the author did a wonderful job of organizing the life of a 150-year-old woman without confusion or hokey plot devices. I absolutely adored this story and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a romantic journey across time.

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title states, this book is written as a memoir and as such there isn't too much of a story through it. There are two threads running through, life in the present, and memories of Evelyn's past in Germany. There she was helping the efforts against the Nazis, using her magic to great advantage. I found the book was a bit too full of unnecessary descriptions and Eve was quite a condescending character at times though I liked her most of the time.
The narrator had a great voice for Eve as a main character and also for the many different characters and accents, though some of the foreign names were emphasized a bit strongly.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book needed another pass by the editor. There were sentences that didn't quite make sense, details that were difficult to follow, lots of places where the American characters lapsed into Irish colloquialisms. I'm still not really sure how some of the main story lines resolved. What happened to the protagonist's father? What happened between her parents--and where did her mother go? It was as if the author had 2000 cool ideas and tried to squeeze them all into 320 pages. And as if those 320 pages were written under a very, very tight deadline. I wouldn't recommend this one. Try Mary Modern instead.

[Lezidezi Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was entirely opposite of what I expected it to be. I assumed it would be somewhat childish and well petty by the title, but turned out to be a recount of historical fiction and how this particular witch found love and helped in WW2. There is much more to it of course and though I would have liked a little more at the end, I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed the book. Of course their are fantastical ideas of traveling through toilets and what not, but that just adds to the fun of it.

[Mindy Conde · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started reading Camille DeAngelis' Petty Magic nearly a month ago and it has taken me that long to sludge through it. I kept thinking that I was only just starting the book because I didn't yet feel invested in the characters or the plot, only to find that I was actually a good portion in. That was rather depressing because this seemed completely up my ally: the memoirs of a humorous and seductive witch, telling her history and revealing the great romance of her life. It seemed like something I'd love, but it just didn't grab me. The main character, Eve, is interesting, but not terribly likable, or unlikable for that matter. She's just there as a means to tell the story. It was all very linear and at times felt like a laundry list of events. Not exactly riveting.

It had such a good premise and I loved little bits along the way, but overall I felt that it lacked any kind of pacing. I had no incentive to keep reading - no sense of urgency, suspense, romance, or anything that kept me at the edge of my seat. Not that every book needs this, but if it doesn't have it, it generally makes up for it with fantastic writing or some other interesting structural element, etc., that makes me appreciate the work. This though, was just decent writing, nothing so extraordinary that made up for the general lack of excitement.

As far as plot goes, we hear a lot about Eve transforming into her younger self to get men, which is justified over and over again to the point where I just wanted the author to move on. We also gets snippets of her family history as well as the love story that reemerges as an echo with a new man she finds. Once the new man comes into play we get more flashbacks to reveal his importance and I enjoyed those moments of historical anecdotes. However, it still didn't work for me. It was too much like, "This happened, and I remember this happening. And then she did this, and I responded like this." It was all just a list of events. It needed more humor or drama, just something to keep me interested and be appealing. Definitely not in my list of things to recommend or authors to revisit. I'm honestly surprised it got such good reviews on here, I guess others saw something I didn't.

[Meg Elison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clever, but unoriginal.

Author DeAngelis clearly got a great deal out of her time in Ireland. The use of dialect in this is creative and engaging, the character is easy to hear. The voice, however, is muddled when we depart from anything but Eve's direct discourse.

The description of this book from every outlet describes it as a "timeless romance," which is a nice way of saying that it offers nothing new. PETTY MAGIC offers us the lovelorn and doomed witches of PRACTICAL MAGIC, with the jealousy and sexuality of WITCHES OF EASTWICK who travel by a method called "loo flue," that is so succinctly stolen from J.K. Rowling I'm surprised her lawyers haven't come knocking yet.

Weaving in and out of a romance, the author tries to sell us war and action and falls short on both. She succeeds at wordplay and clever dialogue: shitty coffee is "Merdewell House" or "Maxwell Faust," since you'd sell your soul for something better. Neat little historical details are thrown in from the trial of Alice Kyteler to the Battle of Britain, but it fails to come together. I was left with the impression of a clever writer who had no story to tell and so cobbled together pieces of others and dreamed them seamless and whole.

This has moments. The marionettes are a subtle and creepy touch and struck me as fairly original. The last showdown between Eve and the other woman is tightly written, tense, and has earned its emotional punch. However, these moments are diluted by too much exposition and snark and not enough story. Unless you've read all the good books about witches already, you can do better. Try Joanne Harris.

On a personal note, I must say something to authors of supernatural fiction. If you choose to write about pretend witches, be careful with what brush you choose to paint the real ones. Condescending to or mocking neo-pagans will not go unnoticed. We are a vocal, very web-savvy minority. We read a great deal and we love books about witches. We're real tired of being sidelined as kooks so that your witches can look more "real" by putting us down. If you can't do it right, leave us out of it.

[Annmarie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was sort of like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society meets witches and supernatural elements (without the epistolary style). I really enjoyed it & thought it was well done and humorous, with great historical and supernatural elements.

Modern day New York witch Eve Harbinger (that's just the kind of name witches have) is in the middle of her second century, but when she wants to go out weekends to have a good time and take home a handsome and/or charming fellow, she uses a little magical "oomph" to drop 120 years or so. What's the harm? She just needs to split during the night before the oomph wears out. Witches, you see, live among us in secret warrens but hide their magical ways - and they aren't wicked. Their covens keep them honest. When Eve encounters a new young shopkeeper who she thinks is her WWII era lover Jonah, reincarnated, she falls head over heels for him - but since they are 125 years or so apart in age, her fellow beldames do not approve. And then one of the coven accuses Eve's older sister of a decades-old crime. The Harbinger women are determined to clear her name, but is she actually innocent? We get two storylines in this book, as the story of Eve and Jonah's wartime spy activities for the allies alternates with the modern day romance and the attempt to get to the bottom of the accusation.

[Avril · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eve Harbinger is a 149 year-old beldame. She borrows magic from her sister Morven to disguise herself as a young, beautiful temptress. She recharges/rejuvenates at her other sister Helena's B & B in Blackabbey, NJ in her "elephant hide of a body" by sipping whisky gingers, eating ambrosia cake and playing Neverending Hobscobble with her nieces. But, there was a time when she didn't have to glamor her looks.... a time when she was a spy for the Allied Forces during WWII... a time when she fell head over heels in love with a Resistance officer who died far too young. More recently, while on a visit to her favorite antique shop Fawkes & Ibis, she comes across a very special curiosity. There she sees a young man who strongly resembles her old lover. What's the connection between the two men? Does she have a second chance at love? Recommended for fans of Charlotte Gray, Vianne Rocher and Harry Potter. Also recommended to those in search of a chatty, witty heroine who's wiser and older than the usual protagonists we encounter in fiction.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Evelyn Harbinger is a 149 year old witch and still wants to be the young girl she was once. A little glimmer, a little glamour and she is transformed into a young girl who turns heads wherever she goes. No harm in having a little fun is there? That is until she falls in love with Justin, who is so much like her lost love Jonah that she believes he has come back to her.

This alone would make a charming story. However Ms. DeAngelis throws in some WWII background and a 60 year old murder mystery and soon the story becomes as cluttered and difficult to manuever through as the Curiosity Shop where Justin works. By the second half of this book I found myself skimming through whole sections to get back to the parts I found interesting. Not my favourite way to finish a book.

[Megan Millard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found this book incredibly difficult to digest. Not sure if it was the author's style or the voice of the lead character, but it just got under my skin and felt like I never really connected with the character. She uses an odd mix of extremely rarely used vocabulary combined with colloquialisms and slang from the 40's that just made it so hard to get through certain sections. I almost put the book down after the first 50 pages because I disliked it so much. Mind you, I've only quit maybe three books my entire life. I struggled through it, but ultimately, was not a fan overall. The ending seemed a bit pat and there was not a lot of real character growth. All in all rather disappointing.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fun! Nothing too deep, just a fun supernatural love story with some WWII history thrown in. I really liked Eve, the main character . . . she was spunky and fun to hang out with (in a literary sense). I also liked the "beldame" world of witches the author created, seems like you could mine that field for a few more books (I hope so, at least). This would be a good travel book, something to take with you on the plane to read that's not going to take up too much mental space to process.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I really liked the main character and some of the writing styling, a vast amount of time was wasted explaining the setting and the history of this particular world without moving the plot along. I thought the idea of living long enough to meet your soulmate in a reincarnated form to be a very interesting concept but the author tried to spin too many webs within the main story - jumping back and forth in history, adding a cold-case murder accusation in for fun, intra-coven politics, personal family tragedies - to develop any one in particular.

[Norma · Rating 5 out of 5]

( Format : audiobook )
" Do you believe in reincarnation?"
Before running this review, a confession. This reader is not usually fond of books which, at their heart, revolve around witches or romance. This book does both. So why the accolade? In part, the totally unexpected approach to those practitioners of spells, and the excellent storytelling, but also the wonderful performance of the narrator, Kelley Hazen.

Ms.Hazen has a voice of musical honey, deeply delicious to the ear, well articulated and intoned. It would be a pleasure to hear her simply read a telephone book. But this story is far from that and she uses her skill as narrator to breath life into all of the characters, both male and (mostly) female with distinctively individual voices as well as becoming the beldame story teller.

Written in the first person, the central character, Evelyn, admits the reader to her lifestyle and the society of her large association of family and friends. Her witches are not eternal but they can expect a far longer life than most mere mortals and at the start of her confessions, she is almost one hundred and fifty, no longer the attractive young thing she used to be but still able to appear to be so for a limited time. Before her energies fade and she returns to her more elderly appearance. This way she can still enjoy one-nightly daliances with attractive, much younger men. And does - but just the one night each time...

Until the nephew of the elderly (only human) local antique dealer arrives to take over the shop. He reminds her so much of her one true love so many decades before and the story then takes the reader through alternating accounts of her life before and during World War II and her time with Jonah, and the present day growing, but doomed, romance with Justin. And throughout those present day reflections, there are delightful peeks into the great family assembly for Christmas, internal dispute, and tips on travelling more quickly and in privacy than most of us would ever encounter.

Yes, this is witches as different from the usual spell casters as is likely to be found. Instead , the book is a concoction of old fashioned glamour, close relationships, lost love and youth - and often hilariously funny. It is paced quite slowly for the reader to enjoy every delicious morsel My deepest thanks to the rights holder who, at my request, freely gifted me a complimentary copy of Petty Magic, via Storyteller. It was a joy and a delight, a perfect pairing of author and narrator. Highly recommended, even if romance and witches are not your usual genres.

[Lidia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my review of the audio version as posted on Audible:

The story grows on you as you go on listening...
To clarify things, it's 3.5 stars for the story, really.

Well, I finished the book two days ago but I needed time to finally decide on my rating. This is a kind of story that grows on you as you continue listening. For me it started really slow, and I couldn't grasp where it was going to go, to the point of almost losing interest in the book completely. The title mentions "memoirs and confessions" but the narration seemed to jump from one idea to another and the plotline went in so many directions at once that it seemed to me as if the author couldn't decide whether she's going to write a romance, a paranormal cozy mystery, or maybe a family saga... But then, when Eve meets Justin, and when she starts to go back in her memoirs to her experiences during WWII, the story gets definitely more concise, logical and intriguing. Evelyn herself is a complicated character - I didn't really like her at first, she seemed a little too boastful, arrogant, rebelious... but then we learn about her experiences as a spy, her love for Jonah, what happened to them - and I got to like her much more, understanding finally why she is the way she is:) The other characters in Eve's coven are equally interesting and 3-dimensional, with a lot of secrets, angsts that boil through decades and loyalties that are challenged in the most unexpected ways... All that makes for a story that will keep you listening on even if you don't really expect it when you start the book.

There's one thing that confused me a little while listening - the story jumps back and forth in time with no warning whatsoever, and while it's ok on a written page, it confused me every time it happened when listening; in one sentence Eve is with Justin in present times, in the next paragraph she's with Jonah in the 1940s Europe...

The narration by Ms Hazen is wonderful, as usual. She adds emotions and depth to the story, and Eve in her interpretation is a real, living and breathing, human being.

DISCLAIMER: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the narrator and found it very entertaining. A very interesting and intriguing book. The main character is 149 years old, she's used magic to be a nurse, and a spy in both World Wars. She recounts her life after she meets a young man that looks like the love of her life. The tales of her past and the conflicts in her present life, keeps you listening and enjoying narrative. I was so involved in the story, I was shocked when it ended.

[Claire Hsieh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely book. Has all the classic YA tropes, spunky female protagonist, slow-burn romance, and secret identities. The only twist, our main character is well past her twenties. This book reminds me of Old Man's War by John Scazi. And while the authors themselves are nowhere near their character's ages, they've somehow imbued their characters with the wealth of experience and the dry humor that old age usually brings.
Also the setting! I'm normally not into WW2 historicals, but this book somehow set off a craving for these types of novels. The 1940s European setting was just done so well.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a riveting story about a coven of witches, especially Evelyn, and how they use their magic (or oomph) to affect people around them. This book was not even on my radar until I saw it on the shelf at my library. The cover intrigued me-that, and the idea of a geriatric witch being referred to as a temptress. Evelyn reminisces about her involvement in WWII as a spy while using her glamour to make her youthful again to have a relationship with her long-dead love reincarnated. The only sour note for me was the use of the floo network and toilet transportation-seemed rather too reminiscent of Harry Potter for my taste.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure how to feel about this book. It’s in halves. I hated the first half. It felt tedious and wandering with rambling about fodder I couldn’t care less about.

But then, I hit a point where it moved and a story began to form and I couldn’t gobble it in fast enough. I was intrigued and engrossed in the unfolding. So with that I’ll give this a medium rating with one thumb up for endings and one thumb down for beginnings.

[Liz Deken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun book, with more substance than I expected. Unusual interpretation of witches, full of fun, silliness, and heroism. The main character is petty but lovable. An interesting take on aging, too. A great find and a refreshingly different kind of story. I found some of the terminology grating, hence 4 v. 5 stars. Would've preferred more "ordinary" witch/occult (less inventive/obscure) terms, but still a great read.

[Michelle VanDaley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall 3 stars Performance 5 stars Story 3 stars
My review is based on the audiobook.
Overall Petty Magic was a good story. I found it to be an interesting although slow read. I would have loved to learn more about the magical parts of the story. The narrator did a fantastic job bringing the story and characters to life.

[Brianna Tieskotter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The world building was important, but made the beginning feel sluggish. It didn't really pick up until a third of the way through. That 1940s love story though... T_T Enough quirky characters to keep things great throughout. Ending was iffy, I can't quite put my finger on it.

[Isabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was definitely a fun read.
It’s not a groundbreaking novel that will stick with me for the rest of my life. It’s a quick, fun read (without too many flaws), which is exactly what I needed right now.

[Clara Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this book. I often think about the small nuances that made it charming, just small parts of how the world worked that make me smile in real life. Like when I’m knitting or baking a cake.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book club choice so quite outside my usual reading preferences! I did enjoy it, however, and the story and the style of writing was very engaging and I appreciated the humour and jokes to break up more serious aspects of the book.