The Enchanted Music Box by Cindy Kirk is a good magical realism story. I don’t like fantasy novels that feel too unrealistic, but this was a good blend of realistic features mixed with magical elements.
Quick Plot Description
Lorraine is about thirty. She’s a CPA who is dating another CPA, Brent. Lorraine is all about keeping a schedule and doing things according to a specific plan. When she’s looking at antiques, she comes across a music box. The owner of the antique store isn’t sure where the music box came from and lets Lorraine have it for free. When Lorraine opens the music box, it plays different songs. While the songs are playing Lorraine is transported back to important scenes from her past as well as events happening now with family and friends. She soon realizes that her obsession with keeping the exact same schedule has prevented her from properly living her life.
My Thoughts
This was an enjoyable book. The plot itself is a 5-star story. For me, though, the book had a few too many things that bothered me to give this the full 5 stars.
The dialogue, especially between Annie and her boyfriend, Brent, felt a bit off at times. They didn’t feel like adults having adult conversations. Along with that, they really don’t seem like they know each other even though if I remember right, they’ve been dating for about a year.
The Music Box Itself
I also felt like the music box should have played a bigger part in the story. The book’s description makes it sound like the music box plays a bigger part in the story. I wish that it had shown her how her life could go differently. From the book’s description, I thought that the music box was going to show her alternate routes in her life. That never really happened.
Thoughts on the Ending
The ending also felt a bit abrupt. It’s like the author wanted the book to only be a certain length, and when she realized she couldn’t keep it under that length at the pace she was going, she decided to just reduce the final 30-40 pages to about 15 pages.
Clean or Not?
Overall, this is a clean novel. There’s one swear word (and I think it really was only one). There’s no sexual content or violence. Even though this wasn’t a perfect book, I feel like it’s worth reading if you like cute, somewhat magical stories.
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