MoodReads - Romance Book Discovery

Beta soft launchEvery book’s tags are being checked by hand ✨ some categories are fuller than others while I work through them all ✨

Cover of A Curious Kind of Magic

A Curious Kind of Magic

by Mara Rutherford

🌶️fade to black·spoiler

Why Read This?

A heartwarming escape into a magical world where friendship and love triumph, leaving you with a cozy, satisfied smile.

Synopsis

Howl's Moving Castle meets Little Thieves in this cozy fantasy about the teenage owner of a (mostly fake) magical curiosity shop and a girl cursed to turn everything she touches into magic. Everyone in Ardmuir knows that Willow Stokes is a charlatan, including Willow herself. Her father's shoppe hasn't sold anything magical in decades, and it's only hanging on by the skin of the fake dragon's teeth Willow sells as charms, along with “enchanted” ostrich eggs, taxidermied chimeras, and talismans made of fools' gold. Until outlander Brianna Hargrave appears and turns Willow's fakes into exactly what they're purported to be. But try as Willow might to enlist Bri's help, she wants nothing to do with Willow and her curiosities. Because Brianna is harboring a secret of her own: everything she touches turns to magic, and the consequences have chased her all the way to Ardmuir. All she wants to do is find a particular missing grimoire, which contains a spell that can finally put an end to her curse. Desperate to keep her father's shoppe, Willow proposes a bargain that could save them both. Together with the frustratingly handsome printer's assistant, the girls will uncover a plot that goes far deeper than either could have imagined. But when Willow is forced to participate in an ambitious collector's quest for the rarest magical object in the world-a quest that risks almost-certain death-she learns that not all treasure is for sale, and that true magic is closer than she ever could have imagined.

At a Glance

3.88 ★ Goodreads
Spice Level🌶️fade to black
Endingspoiler
PairingM/F
Romance Pacingslow burn
Energylow

Top Tropes

hidden identityadventure romancecursed love interestheist romance

Mood

whimsicalheartwarmingnostalgicadventuroussecretive

Book Details

Goodreads Rating

3.88 ★

Page Count

368 pages

Published

2025

Primary Genre

Ya Fantasy

Pairing

M/F

POV

First Person

Romance Pacing

Slow Burn

Audiobook

Available

Yes

Format

Standard

Narrator

Anna Burnett

Narrator Count

Single

Tropes

RomanceMagicActionAngstWorld
Theme Constellation

Mood & Vibe

Mood

Writing Style

whimsicalwarmconversationalimmersive

Story Pacing

medium

Emotional Weight

light

Energy Required

low

Vibes

Whimsical small-town fantasy with fake magic shops, dragon eggs, and found family that feels like a warm hug on a crisp autumn day.

Characters

FMC Archetype

bookworm/scholarsunshine/optimistcaretaker

Relationship Dynamics

tensionmutual piningslow burnfriends to lovers

Spice Details 🌶️

🌶️
🌶️
🌶️
🌶️
🌶️
🌶️
Spice Level 1

Spice Style

None

Getting Steamy

None

Bringing the Heat

None
Browse more books by spice level →

World & Setting

World Type

high fantasy

Primary Setting

small town / villageshop / marketplace

Fantasy Creatures

Representation

queersapphic

Reading Context

Emotional Payoff

Best Time of Year

autumn

When & Where to Read

Short Takes

quick 280-character reactions for this book. drop a thought, rate the vibe, keep scrolling.

Sign in to share your take.

Loading...

Book Chat

Talk about A Curious Kind of Magic with other readers

this page is just the start

  • import your Goodreads or StoryGraph TBR—we tag every book with spice, tropes, CWs, mood, all of it
  • tell us a vibe (“enemies to lovers fae, high spice”) and BookMatch finds the book
  • 3,800+ romantasy books searchable by 40+ fields
  • covens, pacts, book chat—readers who get it
free account, 30 seconds