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Brick

Brick

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic - Emily Croy Barker This book is a well thought out fantasy, that explores the implications of an alternate world, accessible with great difficulty or occasional luck from this world. The start of the book is a familiar look at a graduate student in literature whose life experiences are not going well. After a particularly sad episode where she meets her ex-fiance at someone else's wedding, just after she has been effectively put on notice by her thesis advisor, and after the ex has announced his impending wedding, but not to her, she inadvertently walks thru a portal to the other word, and into an enchanted and enchanting garden. Could be a tremendous improvement on her messy life in our world, except . . .

The rest of the story is a fun read, and I enjoyed the many twists and turns. Yes, clearly could be the first of at least one more episode, perhaps several. I am looking forward to them.

In one of the reviews posted here, this book is compared unfavorably to Lev Grossman's The Magicians. About which one of the Goodreads commenters remarks " A miserable book about miserable people being miserable while doing miserable things" I enjoyed entering a world where likeable people were doing interesting things and enjoying their accomplishments.