The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic

The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic blends several literary genres. The centrality of Jake and Sadie’s relationship situates it within the romance genre. The specific arc of that relationship—as it gets a second chance years after its first, youthful iteration that ended in heartbreak—is a common trope in romance novels. The novel also has elements of fantasy and magical realism. The use of magic and spells, particularly the presence of seven magical families in town, situates it in the fantasy genre. However, the inclusion of non-magical people and real-world allusions aligns the novel with magical realism.

Most uniquely, the novel is similar to another subgenre of books that focus on food magic in a realistic setting. Other texts in the culinary magical realism genre include Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate (1989), Joanne Harris’s Chocolat (1999), Aimee Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (2010), and Roselle Lim’s Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune (2019). Like Water for Chocolate is an important magical realism text, and its structure is similar to that of The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic. Like Water For Chocolate features 12 chapters, one for each month of the year, each of which is preceded by a recipe.