"A Highly Entertaining Fantasy Read"
If you enjoy stories like "Romy and Michelle's High School
Reunion" in which the off beat free spirited type triumphs
over judgmental preppy snobs, you'll like this one. Not
that Callie Hauseman has a clue she's the least bit
unusual. She is who she is. Life had thrown Callie a few curves. Her parents had been
killed in an accident when she was a little girl and she
had gone to live with a maternal aunt and uncle. She'd been
unhappy until she discovered her aunt's passion for vintage
movies, a passion she soon shared. Callie always seems to
equate life's moments with scenes from those movies and
they were a source of comfort to her when sad or depressed.
Callie had also inherited Wiccan blood from the Northern
Black Forest from her mother's family, although so diluted
through intermarriage with regular people that Callie had
doubted she had any ability whatsoever in that area. If she
hadn't already been having a horrible day, perhaps such an
unusual thing wouldn't have happened. She had slipped on a patch of ice that morning, scrapping
her face, and making her body ache in places she hadn't
known she possessed. Then her car had decided not to start
and she had had to take public transportation to work. But
had her weasel of a boss even noticed? Of course not! Sy
Teller never thought of anyone but himself. So when he'd
asked her to go clear across town after hours to pick up a
wedding gift for his "idiot nephew", it had been the last
straw. If she hadn't needed her Christmas bonus so much, she would
have refused. She couldn't even imagine such a mean old man
having a family. When she returned with the gift, and had
Sy demanded that she return in the morning to have it
wrapped, she couldn't resist telling him exactly what she
thought of him. Unfortunately she still needed that bonus,
so instead of calling him a son of a female canine to his
face, she had dug into her German Wiccan roots and called
him the same in words he wouldn't understand. She must have
gotten the declension wrong because after the room stopped
shaking, a cute like golden retriever stood where her
cranky boss had been. Whoops! David Teller, a.k.a. the idiot nephew, was having problems
of his own, although he wasn't exactly aware of it. He'd
been born in South Boston, and had been running from his
Southie roots for years. His sleek, sophisticated,
pedigreed, fiancée referred to him rather deprecatingly as
a self made man. Of course it was his father Doug, the
Appliance King, who was the real self made man. He was the
reason David had been able to attend Harvard, join a
prestigious accounting firm, attract a woman like Lydia
and leave the world of his childhood far behind. They been
together for three years, drifted into living together, and
were now planning a marriage he couldn't even remember
proposing. Maybe subconsciously this was the reason he
avoided dealing with the details. Now Lydia was insisting
that he get an R.S.V.P from an estranged uncle he hasn't
heard from in years, and he knows better than to come home
without it. But Sy Teller seems to have disappeared off the
face of the Earth, and the strange thing is that no one at
his office seems to be bothered by that fact. Stranger
still is how nervous his secretary is when questioned about
him. Still he finds her appealing in an off the wall manner.
She's definitely not his type and undoubtedly a few bricks
shy of a load, so why can't he stop thinking about her? Why
can't he let the police just handle his uncle's case?
Convinced that Callie knows more than she's saying, he
stakes out her place. Finally the pressure gets to her and
she blurts out the truth. Apparently she's crazier than he
thought if she expected him to believe she'd turned his
sour old uncle into a cute little puppy. Lydia was right,
he should have left this to the police, except that Callie
haunts his dreams and he can't seem to let this whole the
whole affair rest. Before he knows it, he's losing track of
time, missing business meetings and social events much to
the ire of his fiancée and his business associates. What if
she's actually telling the truth? All David knows is that
all of a sudden his tidy, predictable existence has been
turned upside down, and for the first time since he'd left
South Boston he was having fun. Now if they could just
track down Callie's traveling relatives and reverse
the spell everything would be perfect, because he was
fairly certain that his uncle wasn't the only thing he'd
lost to her. He just hoped her aunts were better witches
than Callie. This story is a hoot. Callie is wacky but totally real. She
hasn't a clue that she's unique. She's as surprised by what
transpires as anyone, but takes it all remarkable in
stride. What probably charms David the most about her is
that she actually finds his roots admirable. David's
fiancée is your stereotypical shallow snob, much more
worried about saving the price per plate at the wedding
than in his uncle's fate. Poor David doesn't know what hit
him, but its fun watching him fall head over heels for
Callie as she turns his whole world upside down. Ms.
Ireland saves the best fun for the end, as predictably Sy
is returned to human form, but is not quite the same man
they remember. Sorry no clues, I highly suggest you pick up
this highly entertaining read. Copyright © 2003
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted May 7, 2003
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Impractical Magic Callie Hauseman may be descended from a long line of
somewhat ditzy witches, but the family magic certainly
isn't working for her. Why else would she the scattered-
brain beauty be stuck in a dead-end job, socking away money
to finish that college degree? Callie isn't serious when
she spits out a curse her Aunt Agnes used to say, but in an
instant, she has changed her cranky tyrant of a boss into
an adorable golden retriever puppy! Now, panicked and
desperate, Callie's got to find someone to help her reverse
the curse...before his handsome nephew starts sniffing
around. Improbable Love
As a CPA, David Teller likes everything about his life
buttoned up, just like his Uncle Sy. So why hasn't the old
man RSVP'd to David's wedding invitation? Determined to get
an answer (and appease his demanding fiancé), he marches
into Sy's office only to find his wacky secretary, babbling
about accidentally turning his uncle into a dog. Before he
can say, the cute ones are always crazy, David is following
Callie, determined to uncover her secret. But the more time
he spends with her, the more he's sure she's telling the
truth...because for the first time ever, he's feeling utterly
bewitched...
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