Lily Estrada is a successful OB-GYN in Los Angeles. That is, until an incident in the operating room goes tragically wrong. On leave while the incident is under review, she travels to her childhood home in La Ventana, Mexico. Only when she arrives, she senses things are not as they should be. Lily comes from a long line of women with magical gifts. And upon returning home, Lily realizes that something is wrong with her magic. In her attempt to find a solution, she encounters her old boyfriend, Sam – the one that got away. As she confronts her past, she realizes why no one else has come close to capturing her heart the way he did all those years ago. And if she wants to restore her magic, she’ll have to make herself vulnerable to those feelings all over again. The Anatomy of Magic by J. C. Cervantes is a magical realism, women’s fiction novel that explores how one’s worst heartbreak contributes to the strongest parts of who they become – and how confronting that same heartbreak can help put it back together.
Book
Lily’s childhood home lies on a flower farm where the women nourish and cultivate various flowers for their business. It is only natural that the Estrada’s women’s gifts would stem from this tradition. Lily’s magic allows her to manipulate memories, using a complex combination of flowers based on the task at hand. When Lily loses control of this magic, she isn’t sure what to do. The last thing she needs is for the boy who broke her heart to come waltzing back into her life.
As Lily and Sam slowly reconnect, the pieces of her past come back to her. And Lily knows that she has to allow herself to feel those memories in order to regain the large part of herself that is her magic. She learns Sam’s true reasons for breaking her heart all those years ago, and the implications for any future hey might have together. Desperate to make things right, she takes a risk so big that it effects her entire family and the future of their magic.
Review
Cervantes offers a heartfelt and captivating story with The Anatomy of Magic. Readers themselves will question if they would be willing to remove all memories of their first love in order to protect their heart and mental well-being. The author paces the story well, starting off with a woman’s self-healing journey and integrating a unique magic system with a second-chance romance. Lily and Sam’s love story is heartbreaking and hopeful, and I was rooting for them the whole way. Once Lily decides to take matters into her own hands, readers won’t be able to stop until the end.
J. C. Cervantes joins the Cantina Book Club Podcast to talk about how this book accompanies The Enchanted Hacienda, and what she’s working on next. Keep an ear out for the episode and preorder The Anatomy of Magic, available March 11.
