A Pinch of Magic by Emily Heil
Tracy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: Standalone
Release Date: October 6, 2026
Camillia “Cam” Parker lives a quiet life in Brooklyn, NY working as a cookbook ghostwriter for several high-profile clients. But when she learns her beloved grandmother “Birdie” is in trouble, she races back to her hometown of Silver Cove, Virginia to help her. Only to find a much bigger problem than she ever imagined, she needs to come up with a huge amount of money in a short time to fixed Birdie’s house, so she agrees to ghostwrite a cookbook for a very well-known actress turned internet lifestyle guru and all-around-difficult-to-deal-with person, Izzy Jones. She plans on getting things started for Birdie and returning to NY ASAP, but when does anything ever go as planned?
Things go from bad to worse when she has an inconvenient attraction to Ian McCabe, the builder fixing Birdie’s house, then her cousin Avery shows up unexpectedly, then Birdie volunteers her to cater the town’s holiday fete, in addition to all that she is being haunted by a long-dead ghost named Ada from a cookbook who is demanding that Cam “Find it”, and if that is not enough, Izzy shows up and expects Cam to cater to her. It is enough to make anyone crazy, but Cam handles it all with aplomb and still assumes that she will fix everything and return alone to her quiet life in NY. Good luck with that…
This book is not what I was expecting, but it turned out to be an amazing read. Cam has a lot of baggage and seems intent on being alone but returning to her hometown and being forced to interact with others, she realizes that she has been keeping everyone at a distance in an attempt to not be like her mother, and while helping the ghost Ada find her answers, she learns that letting other in is much more rewarding than the lonely life she has been leading. This story is filled with family, friends, lots of good food, a slow burn romance, healing, a ghost with unfinished business and finally a very sweet and satisfying ending. So, while it wasn’t the magical romance I was expecting, it ended up being a very nice “feel-good” read with a strong feminine lead and wonderful, supportive secondary characters, that I would be happy to recommend.
*I am voluntarily leaving a review for a DRC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *
