Becca McCulloch Reads and Writes: November 2025

In the spirit of Practical Magic and First Frost, a modern-day magic folk tale weaves a fantasy of love, secrets, spellbooks, and family bonds into evocative prose ....

It's common knowledge in Duran Hill that some women in the Kinley family have certain gifts ... and certain curses ... running through their bloodlines. But for three sisters in all but name — Rachel, Juliette, and their cousin Sylvia — the ties that bind them close as ivy throughout their childhood are pulled apart in adolescence when both the gift and curse of that power is revealed between them.

Since that fateful incident, sensible Juliette has tailored a perfect and perfectly-ordinary life which unravels after she marries — and loses — the love of her life. Sylvia, drawn to the dark side, sets up a shop that caters to all the mystical powers the latter generations of the Kinley family shunned. And Rachel, the wild child, in whom its magic seems to create a charmed life, is a carefree wanderer who finds herself suddenly drawn home again.

Her arrival will stir old rivalries and test forgotten bonds in the brief span of a few weeks. But when an old friend in desperate trouble seeks her out, she will impulsively unleash the dangerous secret behind their power: one which has lain forgotten in the Kinley house for two generations.

From the Siren's song of a dead man's violin to a jar full of harmless-looking buttons, nothing under the shadow of the family's roof is what it seems — nothing in their bloodline is safe from the dangerous past.

For Juliette, it brings a test of whether love that has withered can bloom again. For Sylvia, a question of whether a dangerous mistake can only be endured until it destroys you. And for Rachel, the choice is the price between the future of the souls she loves most in life and a powerful force that both makes her the enigma she is — and makes to destroy her like embers caught in a firewind.

Against the backdrop of Southern charm, Scottish superstitions, and bewitching romance, ABRACADABRA casts a spell which cannot be undone, from the ache of lost love to the familial links between souls which go as deep as blood and bone.

Youtube Links for Abracadabra trailers:

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKmNSqCOAKk

Short Teaser: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/edJevuMyWqk

Review

This romp through Scottish mysticism used such symbols as shapeshifting animals, death omens, natural magic of trees and plants, and holiday traditions. The Scottish traditions create a cozy story of family dealing with age-old curses and modern inconveniences. I will never look at a jar of buttons the same way.

Fans of Practical Magic will enjoy stepping inside this family as they deal with dark secrets and experiences out of step with modern life. The author has good control of suspense as she creates a world that is both inviting and unsettling.

Purchase Links

Amazon (Universal link): https://books2read.com/u/31ABBv

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/abracadabra-48?sId=3c2b0be2-df21-4aa1-82f7-3c38d91d5b38

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/abracadabra/id6748605399

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/abracadabra-evanne-hardin-gray/1147826940?ean=2940181835467

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1809968

Author Bio – Evanne Hardin Gray has spent most of her adulthood (and part of her childhood) writing novels, short stories, and screenplays. She has family roots in both New England and the South, which is where she currently writes (sometimes as a 'ghost'), gardens, and collects books and ideas for them.