This Book Is The One Secret That Should Be Shared! | The Secret Science Of Magic Book Review

by - Wednesday, April 19, 2017

The Secret Science Of Magic Book Review | sprinkledpages


When Hardie Grant sent me this book, I was SO SO SO excited, to say the least. Not only was it so beautifully and lovingly packaged, it was by an author whose work I had previously read and loved (Life In Outer Space AKA the cutest book ever – read it if you haven’t already friends!) and it was an #ozya I was very excited for! 

For more thoughts, just keep reading! 


About the book. 

Book: The Secret Science Of Magic
Author: Melissa Keil
Pages: 328
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont
Publication date: 1 April 2017
Synopsis: Sophia is smart, like genius-calculator-brain smart. But there are some things no amount of genius can prepare you for, and the messiness of real life is one of them. When everything she knows is falling apart, how can she crack the puzzle of what to do with her life?

Joshua spends his time honing magic tricks and planning how to win Sophia’s heart. But when your best trick is making schoolwork disappear, how do you possibly romance a genius?

In life and love, timing is everything. (source)
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Recommended for: Anyone 13+

Thank you to Hardie Grant Egmont for providing me a review copy however this is an honest review and all thoughts and opinions are my own.


My thoughts.

{ WRITING }

The writing made this book a little hard to get into. It was well-written but at times very confusing. It didn’t really take time to introduce the situation and just threw you into the action, which didn’t work for this because I spent the first half of the book quite confused and trying to play catch up.


It also didn’t really catch my attention at the beginning. The pacing was slow and I wasn’t really connecting with the characters the way I did in Life In Outer Space so it took me a while to get through the first half. 

However, the second half picks up a lot and it gets better from there.


{ IDEA }

Okay, the premise for this book sounded so cute and I am such a huge sucker for books that incorporate a theme to them such as maths and physics and magic. I though the idea of this wasn’t very original but Keil made it work by adding her own spin on things! I liked the uniqueness of the characters, both in personality and the diverse aspects wise because Sophia was Sri Lankan and her best friend, Elsie was Indian and it was so great to see that rep! 

The Secret Science Of Magic Book Review | sprinkledpages

{ PLOT }

 The plot of this was quite slow and it was boring at times. I know most contemporaries are more character driven than plot but I found there wasn’t a huge amount of character development either and it was all romance focused, which would have worked if the romance didn’t feel slightly forced and a little insta-lovey. I didn’t feel the characters really had chemistry either and they didn’t seem to have that ‘clicking’ factor I look for in my favourite couples! 


{ CHARACTERS }

I thought the characters were great. They were unique and had identifiable personalities and I really liked them both. Sophia was quite focused and quiet, not really wanting to push beyond her comfort zones, something I can really relate to! Josh was such a ball of sunshine and I loved that about him!
However, as mentioned before, I didn’t really love the romance and I didn’t connect with the characters meaning I felt pretty meh about them overall, quite sadly. 

In saying that, I adored the side characters because they were so much fun and even though they weren’t main characters, they were still huge parts of the stories and seemed like real people instead of just there for the story line. There was lots of good humour between Elsie’s family and they seemed like such a lovely bunch! 

The Secret Science Of Magic Book Review | sprinkledpages

{ FINALLY… }

This was a cute and fluffy read overall but still slightly disappointing because I had expected more after Life In Outer Space! The lack of connection with the characters and the slow beginning threw me off sadly, however I quite liked the diversity included! 

I should also mention that this book is #ownvoices because Keil is Sri Lankan herself I believe so please do try and read this if it interests you because it’s super important to support #ownvoices reads!  


OVERALL RATING:

½

Have you read The Secret Science Of Magic? What did you think? Or are you planning to?

You May Also Like

20 happy thoughts

  1. I have a copy of this to read, I'm glad you liked the rep & characters. :) At first I didn't know it was a contemporary since it had magic in the title! I'm looking forward to reading it. It seems like something light and enjoyable. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This seems so cute, but I think the romance and characters might not work for me based on what you said. We'll see☺ Wonderful review!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This sounds like a cute book, but it's a little bit of a bummer about the pacing and it being hard to get into at first. I hadn't even heard of this until now, but it sounds like something I might enjoy - definitely adding to my TBR. Great review!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I actually have a copy of this to review but I wasn't sure whether I would get around to reading it (it was unsolicited). Although, the fact that it is Aussie YA, #ownvoices, and diverse might tip me towards reading it.

    I always find it quite disappointing when I can't get into a ship because shipping characters is one of my favourite things to do! And so when the ship isn't great but there's a big focus on romance the book can lose some of its pull, I guess.

    I'm glad you were able to enjoy this one overall, Anisha! I've heard really good things about the author's other books, so I might give them a try, as well. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. YES OMG I NEED TO BE ABLE TO SHIP A CHARACTER TO FALL IN LOVE WITH BOOKS (because I am such a romantic at heart!). I do hope you read it, even if you end up DNFing it because you never know, you might like it more than I did! :)

      Delete
  5. This sounds so fun! It's too bad it was hard to get into. I have little patience for slow beginnings these days. I'm happy you still enjoyed it! Great review!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This does sound like a lot of fun! A bummer it was a little disappointing though.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This book is so pretty! It's also awesome that it's #ownvoices! I'm sorry it didn't live up to expectations, but I'm glad you still managed to enjoy it :) Fabulous review!

    Brittany @ Brittany's Book Rambles

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's always sad when books end up being a little disappointing, isn't it? The romance does sound kind of annoying, but I really love when books have physics as a theme. And that cover is absolutely GORGEOUS! Awesome review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Erin! And yeah the cover is a serious stunner!

      Delete
  9. Oh my goodness, I am getting so behind in my OzYA reading! Another gem I've missed!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I completely agree with you, it was such a cute read but could have been better. Even so, I'm planning to read her other books since I've seen great reviews for them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Life In Outer Space is the cutest! Start with that one!

      Delete

Leave me a comment below! And feel free to leave your website URL so I can come visit!