Dell | Published October 6, 2026

Thank you to NetGalley and Dell for the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Some of my favorite stories have a touch of magic in them. Is magic real? I don’t know, but I’d like to think so. I like to think there is magic in love, in healing.

As a child, Ali longed for stability and permanence. Her mother, a travel nurse, longed for movement and new places, but Ali’s heart stayed with her uncle on the family’s pear orchard. When he dies, she inherits the orchard and relocates from Florida to Oregon with her fiancé and best friend, giddy and eager for the first picking. When the dream falters in the harsh light of real life, Ali is left alone, desperately trying to send her roots into the soil of the future.

Then there’s Logan, her childhood sweetheart from one teenage summer. After raising his brothers when his mother left, he’s preparing to leave just as Ali is settling in for good. Their roles have completely reversed. Meanwhile, things are going wrong all over the orchard: pears coated in a waxy film and encased in crystal, technicolor bunnies hiding in the barn, and long-buried secrets revealed in the pages of Ali’s uncle’s journals.

What worked: There are a lot of emotions packed into these pages: love and loss, guilt and regret, grief, fear, and anger. The romance has depth and a significant swoon factor. What I found especially memorable and admirable was the hope the author infused. She didn’t shy away from the ugly and painful parts of relationships, romantic, familial, or otherwise. There is palpable pain in her process, but always with room for hope.

There’s a key moment when Ali surrenders to both pain and hope. She must advocate for an outcome she least wants, because it’s the only true path forward. Everything in her wants to demand what she wants instead of what the situation needs, and even she recognizes it: “I’m sad, but that’s okay. Sadness is just part of it.”

What didn’t: Under the Orchard’s Spell isn’t a remarkable book. There’s nothing ground-breaking or incredible. Then again, I’m not sure it needs to be. It’s memorable and cozy and romantic, and it’s a heartfelt, warm, well-written story that I gladly and eagerly recommend to readers.

Who it’s for: Readers who love a cozy, magical romance with real emotional depth, especially fans of Best Hex Ever by Nadia El-Fassi and Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen.

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