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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. There isn't a man in Hollywood who you can call to find out the time you'll die. There's not a haunted hotel bar in Los Angeles that the devil likes to frequent. There's no such thing as magic.
But ... most students don't have the same tragic past as Holland St. James.
Now a graduate student, Holland is hoping to use her thesis to rewrite her past by proving that some of the most infamous deaths in old Hollywood were actually murders committed by the devil. She has no idea that this quest will lead her into a deadly world of century-old secrets and unimaginable lies and onto the path of two very dangerous men, both of whom are willing to do whatever it takes to find a magic that will either forever alter Holland's life or completely destroy it.
What are you reading this week? And what did you think of last week’s books? (10/23/2025)
The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman, Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber and Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.
-Gabi_J
"Stephanie Garber spins pure magic in her books and her adult debut is absolutely no exception...This time Garber is turning the Hollywood glamour up and taking us on a unique new ride that you won't want to stop talking about." —Cosmopolitan
"I've never read anything quite like Alchemy of Secrets―it's full of adventure and magic and quirky twists that will keep you guessing until the very last line. What a fantastic adult fantasy debut for Stephanie Garber!" ―Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"As dazzling as a jewel box, Alchemy of Secrets immediately charmed me with its layers of mysteries. magic, and twists. No one does world-building like Stephanie Garber. I want to live in this book!" ―Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Thirteenth Child
This information about Alchemy of Secrets was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Stephanie Garber is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Once Upon a Broken Heart, The Ballad of Never After, and the Caraval trilogy. Her books have been translated into over thirty languages.
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