Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber

 

It starts with a class in an old movie theater.

Folklore 517: Local Legends and Urban Myths, taught by a woman called the Professor. Most students believe the Professor’s stories are just fiction, but Holland St. James has always been convinced that magic is real. When she tracks down a local legend named the Watch Man, who can supposedly tell you when you’ll die, the world finally makes sense. Except that the Watch Man tells her she will die at midnight tomorrow unless she finds an ancient object called the Alchemical Heart.

With the clock ticking, Holland is pulled deeper into this magical world in the heart of Los Angeles—and into the path of a magnetic stranger. Everything about him feels like a bad idea, but he promises Holland that her sister sent him to protect her. As they chase clues and stories that take them closer to the Alchemical Heart, Holland realizes everyone in this intoxicating new world is lying to her, even this stranger. And if she can’t figure out whom to trust, not even the Alchemical Heart will save her.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222706197-alchemy-of-secrets

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My Review: 4/5 Stars

Holland has always been in love with stories and magic. And after taking a class in college about local legends and myths, it’s only convinced her that magic is real. She’s even working on her thesis around this. The Professor of this special course tells these stories to her students with the condition they don’t tell anyone about it. And when Holland comes across a trail to one of those stories, she can’t help but follow it. This is how she meets the Watch Man. Who tells her that she will die at midnight the following day unless she finds a magical object called the Alchemical Heart. With the clock ticking, Holland races to find this heart and what it means. It leads her down the path of more magic than she can imagine. But with a few hiccups. Like two men rushing to her aid saying they’ve both been sent by her sister to protect her. It’s a battle of figuring out who to trust every time she meets someone on her path. Can she find what she is looking for in time? This was a really fun story! It’s this race against the clock as you try to figure the clues out with Holland. But also a game of tying to figure out who is actually on Holland’s side. Not gonna lie, I hit a point of wanting to shake her and tell her to trust no one cause it seems she may have been better off on her own! But we had some pretty interesting twists and turns and overall, I really enjoyed the story. And with the looks of a promise of a sequel, I’m very curious to see what story, and maybe even who’s story, could possibly be next.