47 pages • 1 hour read
Breanne RandallThe Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 12-Interlude 15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 12 Summary
Seth and Sadie’s mother, Florence, arrives. Florence is accompanied by a young girl, Sage, whom she introduces as Seth and Sadie’s younger sister. Aunt Anne brings Sage into the kitchen for hot chocolate, leaving Florence and the twins alone. Florence begins to tell the story of her youth: She wanted to see who she was outside of magic and family legacy, and she told herself she was in love with Julian. After the twins were born, she was physically unable to stay close to the family, or natural disasters occurred and people began to die. Any gifts she tried to send “burst into flame, leaving an ash that smelled of self-hatred and regret” (218). She tells the twins she decided she should try for a second chance, and became pregnant with Sage in order to try again as a mother. She expresses deep regret at what Gigi sacrificed for her and that she was unable to see her mother before she died. She tells the twins that she’ll help them figure out what to do about the life debt.
When Florence asks, Seth reveals that his magic is knowing what people want and need, even if they don’t realize it themselves. While Sadie suggests that he could use it to help people, he tells his sister that the power is also his curse. He also says it had been getting worse for a while before he left. Florence takes this to mean that he is the one to whom Gigi tied her life, as his magic likely started to alter when she became ill. Seth, then, is the one in danger now that Gigi is dead. Sadie gives the others their letters from Gigi.
Interlude 12 Summary
The interlude is a recipe for “dream catcher” (226) hot chocolate, which helps prevent nightmares, headaches, and heartaches.
Chapter 13 Summary
The next morning, Sadie feels out of place in her house as she watches Seth, Anne, and Florence in the kitchen. She takes Gigi’s notebook to the café and flips through it for direction. A shopping list makes her think to make lemon rosemary cake for clarity. Jake comes to see her and asks for the dog back. She says no, thinking that she must be missing something when it comes to him.
Despite Seth’s protests, Sadie tries a summoning spell to ask Gigi for advice. They feel an ominous presence, and Seth forces Sadie inside rather than trying the spell again.
Aunts, uncles, other extended family members, and Raquel arrive for Gigi’s memorial dinner. Seth and Florence return from picking up Gigi’s ashes. When Florence meets Raquel, she asks how long Raquel and Seth have been in love. Sadie is shocked, but quickly realizes the signs she has missed.
They have dinner together, including fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. Sadie toasts Gigi’s belief in the legacy of love. Her curse feels far away.
Interlude 13 Summary
This interlude is a recipe for the marjoram and white pepper macaroni and cheese served at Gigi’s memorial dinner. It represents “happiness and good tidings on a new adventure” (244).
Chapter 14 Summary
Sadie tries to figure out how to save Seth. She knows she will be willing to sacrifice herself if necessary, but only if she knows it will work. She visits the other magical families of Poppy Meadows, asking for help and trying the spells they suggest, all of which fail. As they try one of the spells, Seth and Sadie see the spirit figure again. It is a man wearing a white suit and holding a brown cigarette.
Sadie finds poisonous Jerusalem cherries in the kitchen and decides to drink a tea of them to sacrifice herself for Seth. She begins drinking the tea, but Seth realizes something is wrong and returns home to give her the antidote to poison. Seth also calls Jake, a paramedic, to check Sadie. He tells her that she is the love of his life, and he needs to figure things out with Bethany.
Interlude 14 Summary
The interlude is a recipe for “Athena’s tea,” a rooibos blend designed to bring the wisdom of head and heart into balance.
Chapter 15 Summary
Sadie recovers and feels calmer the next day. She and Sage bake in preparation for the Fall Festival, which is the same day as the full moon. The aunts and uncles announce that nearly the whole extended family is moving back to Poppy Meadows. Sadie brings Bethany honey chrysanthemum scones that make the eater more open and honest, trying to make friends with her. Bethany tells Sadie that she isn’t really pregnant; she just said she was so that Jake wouldn’t leave her. Sadie returns home and tells Florence what she learned. Florence tells Sadie Jake does need to know, but Sadie shouldn’t be the one to tell him. Florence also says she has an idea about how to satisfy the life debt.
Interlude 15 Summary
This interlude is a recipe for orange honey vanilla scones to encourage openness and honesty.
Chapter 12-Interlude 15 Analysis
With Florence’s return, this section of the novel introduces a subtheme of fraught mother-daughter relationships. Whereas Seth is immediately prepared to forgive their mother, Sadie struggles with their interactions. Randall emphasizes the effect Florence’s abandonment had on Sadie: “Their mother was back. But even knowing she’d left because of the magic, the curse, didn’t take away the sting of abandonment she’d felt her whole life” (216). Florence’s return forms part of the book’s pattern of Second Chances: Florence will have a second chance to be a mother to Sadie and Seth, and Sadie will have a second chance to learn who her mother is and to understand why she left. For the moment, though, she’s learning that knowing the truth is not enough to erase the pain of the past.
While she understands that the abandonment wasn’t entirely her mother’s fault, she is unsure of her own role: “how was she supposed to behave toward the woman when she’d never laid eyes on her? What were the rules of civility when it came to long-lost mothers?” (216). In a moment of crisis, Sadie looks for a standard against which to measure her own behavior. This focus on rules and correctness is fundamental to her character and arises from the absence of her mother. Sadie has attempted to exert control over other aspects of her life because she couldn’t control her mother’s departure. Now, with the biggest problem of her life seemingly resolved, Sadie feels lost: “when it was all stripped away, with her mother here before her, telling her she was proud, who was she?” (225). The experience of being unsure as a result of Florence’s return is a catalyzing event for Sadie’s character trajectory, as she begins to reconceptualize herself, eventually realizing she must sacrifice her magic to save Seth.
This section also epitomizes the novel’s blended tone. Despite themes like self-sacrifice, mental health, and terminal illness, Randall emphasizes the whimsical and cozy tone of the novel through its setting. For example, this section of the novel includes Sadie’s near suicide-attempt, as she begins drinking the poison cherry tea in an attempt to save Seth. Randall also foreshadows Sadie drinking the tea. Sadie finds the cherries in the kitchen, and thinks about sacrifice and the fact that she’d once written a play in which a character had used it as poison. Randall also uses metaphor to foreshadow the event, noting that “Anxiety was a poison that made her frantic” (251). Sadie’s near death also functions as a catalyst for her relationship with Jake, who admits that he loves her and plans to do something about his relationship with Bethany.
As a counterpoint to the intensity of the cherry tea scene, Randall includes a description of the autumnal glory of the main street of Poppy Meadows, like “gingersnap wind” (257) as well as homey descriptions of recipes. Randall therefore blends heavy themes with vivid, homey settings to produce a comfortable tone while also addressing difficult issues.
