Review by Booklist Review
Sisters Anne, Beatrix, and Violet Quigley run a magical tearoom, reading tea leaves and telling fortunes to the magical residents of late nineteenth-century Chicago. Life is peaceful until representatives from the Council of Witches show up with a demand: help three witches find their tasks (which must be completed before they die or they will spend eternity in limbo and upset the balance of the magical universe), or be separated forever. The sisters are determined to stay together, but they each have secrets pulling them away. Beatrix has sold a novel to a very enthusiastic publisher. Violet is drawn to a traveling circus, and an alluring trapeze artist, camped out on Lake Michigan. Anne's powers seem to be growing beyond what her sisters can manage. Sivinksi's debut takes place in a deftly built but lightly fantastical world in which those with magical powers exist in the shadows of the non-magical world. Exploring themes of family, destiny, and secrets, this cozy historical fantasy will appeal to relationship fiction readers as much as it will to genre fans.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A trio of witch sisters star in Sivinski's charming if slightly overstuffed historical fantasy debut. Anne, Beatrix, and Violet Quigley happily run the Crescent Moon teahouse in 1870s Chicago--until the Council of Witches pays them a visit and assigns them a complicated mission: help three unfulfilled witches learn their Tasks, or true callings, before those witches die. Failure to uncover these witches' Tasks will bring negative consequences, including the Council shutting down the teahouse. As the sisters set out on this daunting quest, they discover that someone has cursed them, intending to tear them apart and prevent them from using their magic as seers. Now the sisters must juggle breaking that curse and helping the witches figure out their Tasks. There's a lot going on, but the story often meanders as Sivinski unfolds the sisters' various adventures. Still, the fierce love between the protagonists rings true, and the rich, cozy setting will make readers wish they had their own warm cup of tea. This satisfies. Agent: Adria Goetz, KT Literary. (Oct.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
DEBUT The Crescent Moon Tearoom, run by the triplet Quigley sisters, dispenses tea, sympathy, and fortune-telling to the well-to-do ladies of early 20th-century Chicago. The tea is magical, the sympathy is real, and the fortunes all true, as the sisters are magically gifted seers. Then they find their peace and prosperity under threat by a mysterious curse intended to separate them--and Coven leadership is determined to hasten the process. At least that's what it seems like, as the formerly united Quigleys chase after separate paths to happiness, leaving each other behind, just as the curse intends. Unless they've been utterly mistaken and the future they imagined was not what was meant to be. This cozy fantasy leads the sisters and readers down a primrose path of fear and foreboding--revealing villains around every corner--only to turn delightfully on its heel and magically change into a story of love and hope and a sisterhood that will endure as fate takes the hand it was meant to in each of their paths. VERDICT Readers who fell hard for Hazel Beck's "Witchlore" series and Ann Aguirre's "Fix-It Witches" books will be thrilled with these turn-of-the-century sister-witches in Sivinski's debut.--Marlene Harris
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Three magical sisters, who make a living in the late 1800s divining the futures of visitors to their family's Chicago tea shop, find themselves pulled in different directions after a surprise visit from the Council of Witches. Ever since the untimely deaths of their parents when they were young, triplets Anne, Beatrix, and Violet Quigley have been inseparable. Together they spend their days reading tea leaves and interpreting the images they find at the bottom of their customers' cups. It's a peaceful, pastry-filled, if somewhat uneventful existence, but all that changes when two things happen: First, the three members of the Council of Witches show up to ask an unexpected favor--they want the sisters to help the city's Diviner, who suddenly finds herself without access to magic. Then, the sisters learn from a friend of their mother about a curse that has the potential to separate them by their next birthday. Soon enough they find themselves being pulled in different directions--Anne's magic begins to grow and evolve in unexpected ways; Beatrix, after years of writing, finally catches the eye of a publisher; and Violet is swept off her feet (both literally and figuratively) by a trapeze artist when the circus comes to town. Sivinski's novel is positively delightful, and the Quigley sisters are wonderfully different from one another despite being identical triplets. But it's the house where they live and run their business that takes center stage. As their lives change, and they experience trials and tribulations, the house changes empathetically to reflect the ways they're feeling, making it a character in its own right. The result is a tale of family, love, and the things that make a house a home. A delightfully sweet and cozy novel that's as comforting as a warm cup of tea. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
