Title: Grimoire Girl: Creating an Inheritance of Magic & Mischief
Author: Hilarie Burton Morgan
Publication: October 3, 2023
Publisher: HarperOne
Genre: Memoirs, Grimoire, Non-Fiction
Pages: 240
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Goodreads
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
Grimoire Girl is a book of life-saving wisdom that Hilarie Burton wants to pass down to her own children, friends, and fortunately, all of us. It is her personal grimoire, a collection of essays that follows her odyssey to define “home” for her and her family. Chronicling her journey through the dark wood of grief and loss of identity, she reveals how she endured and came out the other side, discovering that home means returning to your true self and embracing everyday enchantment. As she did in Rural Diaries, Hilarie includes recipes and tips sure to delight fans, and shares ways to infuse magic into daily life: how to craft an altar, how to see your deepest friendships as your “coven,” simple spells, and meals and rituals that create special traditions for your family.
REVIEW:
Full disclosure, I am not sure Hilarie Burton Morgan can do wrong in my eyes. I think she is a fascinating human being with an abundance of knowledge she has bundled over the years from people she has come in contact with and gotten to know and she shares it with the world selflessly. What is not to love? So when she released her second book, Grimoire Girl, I knew I had to read it. Rural Diaries was one of my favorite reads when it came out. I had high expectations for Grimoire Girl because of how much I loved Rural Diaries, and it did not disappoint, but it did surprise me.
Before I get into the book, I want to point out that I started this book the day it was released. It was delivered to my door on release day and I instantly started. But the depths of this book were not those of which I wanted to rush. I would read a chapter, put it away and brew on the information. Sometimes I came back and re-read and others I just needed to sit with for a while. So this may not be “fresh off the press” anymore, but it deserved the time I took to read it.
Grimoire Girl is just what it sounds like… It’s a grimoire. For those unfamiliar, just read it… she explains what it is. Don’t simply google it because you are going to find some dark, evil definition that makes you think a grimoire is going to send you straight to the pits of hell. It’s not. Think of it as this abundance of information I speak of and condensing it into a shareable means to pass down from generation to generation. Burton explains to us how she created hers and why and how to do our own. This book is like a memoir and a “how-to” all in one. I loved the stories of how some of her grimoire came to be followed by advice on ways to create your own parts and what you could include. I fully intend to make that pot pie recipe too. I’ll keep you all posted on that.
Burton has a way of telling stories. She’s done it for years in her acting and also on her true crime documentary show about miscarriages of justice. And for all these readers of the world, she gifts us that storytelling in books like Grimoire Girl. The book was packed with richness, emotions, and laughs. I loved the tidbits of her family mixed in and you can just feel her love for them radiating off the pages. I want to meet all these cool, quirky people she has met along the way. I cried when reading about her losses. I felt her ache of grief. Any writer who can make emotions flow into the reader the way Burton does deserves some kind of award.
Just like Rural Diaries was, Grimoire Girl is everything I had hoped for with its witchy, magical essence, recipes, advice, and an epic line of characters. Pick it up, read it, and then start your grimoire to pass down to your own family or friends. I’ll be doing just that starting with this book. An absolute must-read, keep on your shelf, highlight, mark it up, and then pass it on as well.
