I fear this may be a review that should have involved a thesaurus, so I will apologize in advance for the repetitive use of the word “magic” — but that is what this book is. It is MAGICAL. Seems to be a bit redundant, given the title, but I can honestly say this may be my favorite Alice Hoffman book to date. The Rules of Magic is the prequel to her 1995 novel Practical Magic. You definitely do not have to have read it to enjoy this book  (but knowing that it was the prequel, I confess I did get my hands on a copy of Practical Magic to re-read…