5 Perfect Books To Read If You Can't Wait For Practical Magic 2

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The time everyone is waiting for is here, or at least everyone who wore bell sleeves in the '90s. That's right: The release of "Practical Magic 2" is upon us. The long-awaited sequel to the 1998 film beloved by Stevie Nicks fans everywhere unleashes its powers upon the world on September 11, 2026, bringing out covens from all four corners of the world, midnight margaritas in hand.

If you just can't wait for the most magical time of the year, you have a few witchy entertainment options. Of course, you could plow through the "Practical Magic" series of novels, or if you don't want to spoil yourself, you could check out the best books by Alice Hoffman that aren't "Practical Magic." If you're an equal opportunity reader of books and/or palms, however, there's a world of witchcraft available at your local library. We've scoured the selections and compiled the best titles for those biding their time until the Owens family reunion.

In Sarah Penner's 2021 debut novel, Nella Clavinger provides her magical services to 18th-century London's high society women, much like Aunts Frances and Jet Owens do for the women of their small Massachusetts town. The major difference is that Nella's service is primarily murder, usually of wayward and abusive husbands, sold through the poisons she brews in her apothecary. But Nella has rules: She won't sell a poison if she knows it's intended for a woman. When a customer coerces her to break that rule at the same time that 12-year-old Eliza Fanning comes into her life as an eager apprentice, Nella's already precarious existence is flung into chaos.

Meanwhile, in the present day, Caroline Parcewell has traveled to London amidst her own marital turmoil. When she happens upon a vial bearing the mysterious mark of Nella's apothecary, she embarks upon a journey that makes her the only person alive who knows what really happened to Nella and Eliza. With a high-stakes plot full of twists and turns, "The Lost Apothecary" has all the cozy enchantment of "Practical Magic," but the heart of a thriller.

Speaking of eager apprentices, 17-year-old Beatrice Dunn changes everything for a pair of enterprising witches when she arrives in 19th-century Manhattan to answer their ad seeking a shopgirl in "The Witches of New York." Adelaide Thom and Eleanor St. Clair run Tea and Sympathy, a tea shop whose real service — you guessed it — is magical favors for upper-class women. "Think 'Practical Magic' with a Victorian twist," as Reactor described the 2017 book.

When Beatrice displays magical gifts beyond what anyone imagined, Adelaide and Eleanor's relationship is tested as tensions over their different intentions for the girl arise. Complications in each of their personal lives only aggravate the situation, and the conflict comes to a head when Beatrice disappears and the duo must fend off a host of other forces with their own designs on Beatrice. Throw in a talking raven and a handful of ghosts, and you've got one wild fantasy.

Much like the Owens women and any man unlucky enough to fall in love with one of them, the sorceresses of "The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches" are cursed. Thanks to an ancient spell that backfired, all witches are destined for speedy orphanhood. That's how the three youngest residents of Nowhere House came to live under the care of its owner, who's gone MIA, leaving the household staff to help the girls harness their powers. With a legal official coming to inspect the situation, things are looking dire.

Enter Mika Moon, a lonely 30-something social media (and real life) witch. She's tasked with teaching the Nowhere girls to control their magic before all their secrets are disastrously revealed. She's not tasked with falling in love with the estate's gruff librarian, but she doesn't seem to have much of a choice. This 2022 nominee for the Goodreads Choice Award for Readers' Favorite Fantasy is the perfect witchy romance for your fall TBR.

The Owens family's story goes all the way back to the witch trials of the 17th century, and so does that of the Ayres women of 2023's "Weyward." It starts with Altha Weyward, a healer from the English village of Crows Beck awaiting trial for witchcraft after the death of a local farmer in 1619. Three centuries later, 16-year-old Violet Ayres strains against the patriarchal society as well as the actual patriarch who keeps her confined to their nearby estate and frowns on her nature explorations for fear she'll end up like her deceased mother, Elizabeth Weyward.

In the present day, Kate Ayres has inherited a Crows Beck cottage from a great aunt she hardly knew. It's just the excuse she needs to flee her abusive boyfriend, just as Gillian Owens does in "Practical Magic." As Kate learns more about her magical roots, the intergenerational threads weave together in a way that's both surprising and satisfying.

By far, the most frequently recommended book for "Practical Magic" fans is Sarah Addison Allen's 2007 debut, "Garden Spells," and it's easy to see why. Like Sally Owens, Claire Waverley is wary of both love and magic. She doesn't mind using her knowledge of enchanted plants to influence the customers of her catering business, but she goes to great lengths to keep anyone from eating the apples that grow in the garden of her family's historical home, as they induce visions of the future — and the future is not always good. Claire and her elderly cousin Evanelle are the only Waverleys left ... as far as she knows.

That's because, like Sally, Claire also has a long-lost sister who comes barreling back into her life in the wake of an abusive relationship. The aftermath is less deadly but no less dramatic as Claire helps her sister put her life back together and faces the shared trauma of their mother's death. She learns to accept love into her own life as well. Now, does that sound like anything you've read before?

We searched social media for recommendations of books with similar vibes to Alice Hoffman's "Practical Magic" series. Specifically, we looked for titles that included elements of witchcraft and bonds between women, especially intergenerational families, themes of empowerment, and characters who are outsiders in their communities but find belonging with each other. We included only standalone, novel-length fiction. We ranked the resulting list in order of average Goodreads review score.