“𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆—𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕, 𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒕, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚.”

My first book of 2025 is this short but whimsical fantasy novel that will definitely pull at your heartstrings and awaken the girl inside you. I love how empowering this book is! Also, I just can’t get over that stunning cover that I might grab a physical copy too!
In this novel, we follow a 29-year-old, depressed woman who has decided that jumping off a bridge will put her troubles to rest but her attempts were interrupted by Ah Roa—a magical girl. Meeting Ah Roa made the young woman realize that being a magical girl definitely isn’t as easy as what she thought.

A Magical Girl Retires was such a provocative and at times funny novel about a millenial who just wanted to end her troubles, but was turned into a magical girl to combat the most terrifying threat to humankind—climate change. I love how this book has a lyrical tone to it that makes it sound like a fairytale. I also love how the protagonist looks up to her grandfather and how she loves him dearly—this made it relatable for me because my grandpa is also my most favorite person in the world.

“𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒓 ‘𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍’? 𝑫𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒅? 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 160 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔? 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒅𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒔 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒘𝒂𝒚? 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔?”