Kristin's Bookshelf

📖 A Pinch of Magic
✍️ Emily Heil
🎙️ Stephanie Willing
🎁 NetGalley & Hachette Audio
📅 10/06/26
⭐⭐⭐

A cookbook ghostwriter accidentally summons a spirit and must help with her unfinished business in this charming, food-filled paranormal story.

There were so many things I enjoyed about “A Pinch of Magic.” I appreciated that the romance wasn’t forced to carry the story, and I loved seeing Cam’s growth. She drove me crazy at times with her tendency to self-sabotage, but that also made her development more satisfying.

This book had SO much going on. Between ghostwriting, cooking for the event, discovering Ada, the romance, and her grandmother’s house falling apart, there were plenty of storylines competing for attention, yet I still found myself wishing things would move faster.

I enjoyed the characters overall, although I wanted more depth from Ada. For a ghost with unfinished business at the center of the story, she felt surprisingly surface-level. I wanted more emotion and connection to her story.

And Ian? Yellow card vibes. 😂 He seems like such a good guy, but when Cam gave him the brush-off, he accepted it and moved on awfully easily. Personally, I want someone who’s going to fight for me just a little bit! Still, I was glad things worked out between them.

This was my first audiobook narrated by Stephanie Willing, and I thought she did a really nice job. She has impressive range, and the characters were always easy to distinguish. Roxie, Izzy, and Ada felt a little over-the-top at times, but those choices also made their voices immediately recognizable.

Overall, “A Pinch of Magic” had a lot of ingredients I enjoy: food, ghosts, romance, family, and personal growth. While the pacing and character depth didn’t always work for me, it was still an enjoyable listen with plenty of cozy charm.

Thank you to Hachette Audio, NetGalley, and Emily Heil for the advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review.