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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
I really wanted to pick this book up and love it as much as the Accident Season. Sadly that was not to be. I didn't identify with the characters in the story and I didn't love the development. Which is a pity because in her other book I was so absorbed. I kept reading and hoping it would suck me into that world and when it didn't happen I was left feeling kind of meh. I also found her writing wasn't as poetically put. Maybe the next book will engage me and I can try again. For now I'm breaking up with this one. Sorry.
"We're all made up of all of it: of longing, of belonging, and of all the things we lose along the way."
This book felt like magic. Like whispers in the trees and unspeakable evils in the shadows and sparkly fairy lights at twilight. I loved it, though the sheer number of characters and names to remember detracted from the core story a bit for me. And the similarities of their names, all the trees and plants, made it even harder. I guessed the twist about halfway through, but it didn't spoil anything as the book went on. I just loved the atmosphere here and the way I was never sure what was real. 4 solid stars.
This book felt like magic. Like whispers in the trees and unspeakable evils in the shadows and sparkly fairy lights at twilight. I loved it, though the sheer number of characters and names to remember detracted from the core story a bit for me. And the similarities of their names, all the trees and plants, made it even harder. I guessed the twist about halfway through, but it didn't spoil anything as the book went on. I just loved the atmosphere here and the way I was never sure what was real. 4 solid stars.
Objectively this book has a lot of my favorite things: magic, spells, strong friendships, a romance that may or may not end in disaster. Even with all of those appeal factors and knowing that I should love this book, I couldn't get into it at all. I just don’t. My main issue was that I had absolutely no interest in one of the three narrators and that lack of investment made it hard to buy into the rest of the story.
There are a lot of good things here too though. Olive is deaf in one ear and uses a hearing aid--a key part of her character but not of her plot. Olive and Rose are also openly bisexual which is rarely seen in text especially when they aren't in a relationship with each other.
Fowley-Doyle's writing is beautiful although with three different first person narrators the voices occasionally blend together.
Recommended for fans of magic realism, Irish settings, and stories that bring fantasy into the everyday.
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
There are a lot of good things here too though. Olive is deaf in one ear and uses a hearing aid--a key part of her character but not of her plot. Olive and Rose are also openly bisexual which is rarely seen in text especially when they aren't in a relationship with each other.
Fowley-Doyle's writing is beautiful although with three different first person narrators the voices occasionally blend together.
Recommended for fans of magic realism, Irish settings, and stories that bring fantasy into the everyday.
You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print
It all starts on a dark and stormy night. Three friends find a red leather Spellbook when their journals go missing just before the township's annual May bonfire. There was this dreamlike atmosphere over the entire story, it created this unanticipated world where everything happened. Diverse representation throughout the story is here too, I was not expecting it (I do not look at peer reviews before reading) and I am quite happy with how the author wove it all into the story. The writer left behind so many signs and trails for us to follow, you will slowly realize just how thoughtful and shadowy as the mystery unfolds and they learn the identities of the spell casters. A slow unraveling of a story, the pacing is a bit slow the first quarter of the story and then it picks up the pace. Partly this is due to the multiple points of view. I was not expecting romance in this story and the spice of it is subdued, but it does bring a different feel to the moments throughout the story. Spellbook of the Lost and Found is a marvelously charming read that draws you into a world of death, secrecy, and perseverance. The author is a literary charm caster, summoning up a thrilling mood in the woodland on the edges of town and in the remains of bonfire revelry. “If you’re not careful you can spend your whole life looking for what you’ve lost.”
Dayummm this book was so magical and wonderfuk. I REALLY enjoy stories like this one. Everybody should read this
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
2.5 stars. Too many teen hormones for my taste. The writing style was a little wonky for me, as it kept switching tenses, and there were just too many unrelateable characters to keep up with.
TW // rape
4.0
(I've never had this much trouble reviewing a book.)
The positive:
- 10/10 vibes
- great queer rep
- amazing friendships/found family trope
- very atmospheric writing
- clever plot twist
The negative:
- included a very specific writing pet peeve of mine
- left too many open questions for me at the end
4.0
(I've never had this much trouble reviewing a book.)
The positive:
- 10/10 vibes
- great queer rep
- amazing friendships/found family trope
- very atmospheric writing
- clever plot twist
The negative:
- included a very specific writing pet peeve of mine
- left too many open questions for me at the end
I loved this! It was by no means perfect but I think my enjoyment of the reading process was enough for me to overlook the flaws.
I found this book to be the perfect amount of eerie without actually being scary. It was gripping and every detail had a purpose in the plot. I love when authors can take a story that starts off like a convoluted mess in the beginning and then unravel an interconnected web by the end.
Some points that I didn’t like: the perspective changes were hard to follow in the beginning, exacerbated by the fact that they all use first-person and the chapters aren’t very long. By a quarter way into the book or so I had the hang of it, but in the beginning I had to keep checking back to remember who it was who did/said what.
There were also certain parts of the ending that I didn’t like. Not that the ending was bad, I just think it could have been better.
So yeah, definitely not a perfect book but I still enjoyed it a lot.
I found this book to be the perfect amount of eerie without actually being scary. It was gripping and every detail had a purpose in the plot. I love when authors can take a story that starts off like a convoluted mess in the beginning and then unravel an interconnected web by the end.
Some points that I didn’t like: the perspective changes were hard to follow in the beginning, exacerbated by the fact that they all use first-person and the chapters aren’t very long. By a quarter way into the book or so I had the hang of it, but in the beginning I had to keep checking back to remember who it was who did/said what.
There were also certain parts of the ending that I didn’t like. Not that the ending was bad, I just think it could have been better.
So yeah, definitely not a perfect book but I still enjoyed it a lot.