Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings.   Today’s post is my definitive, and very biased ranking of all four of Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic books!   To be clear, I love all four of these books, but I just have a very specific ranking of which ones I prefer over the others, hence why I wanted to make this list.   It also seemed to be the ideal time to do this list given that we just got the announcement last month that the movie Practical Magic 2 is officially green-lit and coming soon!   Funnily enough, that announcement came out and took the internet by storm when I was doing my re-read of the entire series, so yes I have ranked these just having re-read all of them.  Without further ado, let’s look at my ranking!

Number 4: The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman

~So, for my fourth-place spot, I have chosen the final novel in the series.   While I do love this novel for a lot of what happens with Gillian’s character, and getting to catch up with the characters years later, I was not thrilled with certain decisions made in the novel.   This also gives me hope that the sequel film may address and change some of the plot points I was not a huge fan of in this final novel!

Number 3: The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

~My third-place spot has to go to the second novel in the series, a prequel that tells the story of everyone’s favorite Aunts, Franny and Jet!   It takes place largely in the 1960s and we also get to meet the Aunts’ younger brother, Vincent, who is a favorite character for those who have read the books.   I really enjoyed getting to see the back story of how Franny and Jet came to be the Aunts of the first book.

Number 2: Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

~My second-place choice nearly ties with my number one, as this third book published in the series was the story I had been waiting for ever since watching the film and reading the first book for the first time!   This is the novel where we finally get the story of the famed Ancestress of the Owens family, Maria Owens.    It is a sweeping and epic tale of the events of Maria’s life and how the Owens Curse came into being.   Many of us love the inclusion of actual historical figures from Old Salem, and the love story contained within this book is one of the most romantic in the entire series!

Number 1: Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

~No other book could have been my number one!   The original novel in this series is what brought the film into being and introduced us to all of our favorite characters, Gillian, Sally, Franny, Jet, and Maria, among others.   The haunting of Jimmy is super memorable and the magick is very rooted in the natural world and the intrinsic abilities of the individual witch.   This is such a fun and engaging first entry in the series, but be warned that this novel is quite a bit darker than its incredible film counterpart!

~I hope you have enjoyed this short look at my personal ranking of the Practical Magic book series.   What is your ranking of these books?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a collage of the book covers for the series.    I found the image on https://wiccanlife.co.uk/blog/practical-magic-series-by-alice-hoffman/.

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