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nerdinthelibrary 's review for:
Spellbook of the Lost and Found
by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
content warnings: discussions of sexual assault and domestic violence, alcoholism, murder, loss of a loved one, sexism, racism, bullying
representation: hard of hearing chubby bisexual main character, lesbian main character, bisexual side woman of colour, side f/f relationship
“Be careful what you wish for; Not all lost things should be found.”
My thoughts on this book are extremely complicated. There were some things I really enjoyed, some things that made me really bored, some things I loved, some things I hated.
Spellbook of the Lost and Found is set in Ireland and follows a group of different teenagers as they discover a spellbook that is supposed to help them recover lost things, but there is a price to pay for getting their things back.
This book has three POV characters, and several side characters for each POV.
⇢ Olive wakes up after a party, not remembering much from the night before and unable to find her best friend. When she does find Rose, Olive starts to realise that something about her has changed and has to try to help her friend.
⇢ Hazel is a teenage runaway who is squatting in an abandoned house and illegally working at a pub with her brother, Rowan, and their best friend, Ivy, the girl that they're both in love with.
⇢ Laurel discovers the spellbook along with her two best friends, Ash and Holly, and they decide to cast the spell to recover their missing diaries. They end up finding more than their diaries, though, including a mysterious boy called Jude.
Personally, I didn't find the amount of characters confusing or overwhelming because I'm used to reading books with large ensemble casts, but I can definitely understand how that could be confusing for some.
I found myself unable to really connect with any of the characters, though. I didn't dislike any, and I have my favourites (Hazel, Rose and Olive), but they ended up feeling too mysterious for me. And until the last quarter of the book when there are some plot twists, I just didn't care about Laurel's portion of the story because it mostly just boiled down to how infatuated these girls were with Jude.
On that: the romance in this book really didn't do it for me, any of it. For one, everyone's a complete horndog in situations where they should clearly be focusing on other things. Hazel and Rowan are both in love with Ivy, and Ivy and Rowan are actually hooking up, but then Olive and Rowan have a connection, and Hazel and Rose are catching feels, then there's Ash, Holly and Laurel who are all in love with Jude and all having sex with him. It just became way to much and it made the story really drag for me.
Moving on to things I actually really enjoyed, I liked Olive and Hazel's portions of the plot. I liked the family drama that was woven into the overall story about the spellbook, and the ways in which their families connected to the spellbook and the links between the past and the present. The writing of this book is also gorgeous. It's so luscious and everything is described in a way that makes it beautiful, which could get annoying but Moïra Fowley-Doyle never overdoes it so it's just right.
There was a twist at the end that I just didn't need.
Overall, this was just okay, if mostly for the writing and setting, and I probably won't pick up another book by this author.
representation: hard of hearing chubby bisexual main character, lesbian main character, bisexual side woman of colour, side f/f relationship
“Be careful what you wish for; Not all lost things should be found.”
My thoughts on this book are extremely complicated. There were some things I really enjoyed, some things that made me really bored, some things I loved, some things I hated.
Spellbook of the Lost and Found is set in Ireland and follows a group of different teenagers as they discover a spellbook that is supposed to help them recover lost things, but there is a price to pay for getting their things back.
This book has three POV characters, and several side characters for each POV.
⇢ Olive wakes up after a party, not remembering much from the night before and unable to find her best friend. When she does find Rose, Olive starts to realise that something about her has changed and has to try to help her friend.
⇢ Hazel is a teenage runaway who is squatting in an abandoned house and illegally working at a pub with her brother, Rowan, and their best friend, Ivy, the girl that they're both in love with.
⇢ Laurel discovers the spellbook along with her two best friends, Ash and Holly, and they decide to cast the spell to recover their missing diaries. They end up finding more than their diaries, though, including a mysterious boy called Jude.
Personally, I didn't find the amount of characters confusing or overwhelming because I'm used to reading books with large ensemble casts, but I can definitely understand how that could be confusing for some.
I found myself unable to really connect with any of the characters, though. I didn't dislike any, and I have my favourites (Hazel, Rose and Olive), but they ended up feeling too mysterious for me. And until the last quarter of the book when there are some plot twists, I just didn't care about Laurel's portion of the story because it mostly just boiled down to how infatuated these girls were with Jude.
On that: the romance in this book really didn't do it for me, any of it. For one, everyone's a complete horndog in situations where they should clearly be focusing on other things. Hazel and Rowan are both in love with Ivy, and Ivy and Rowan are actually hooking up, but then Olive and Rowan have a connection, and Hazel and Rose are catching feels, then there's Ash, Holly and Laurel who are all in love with Jude and all having sex with him. It just became way to much and it made the story really drag for me.
Moving on to things I actually really enjoyed, I liked Olive and Hazel's portions of the plot. I liked the family drama that was woven into the overall story about the spellbook, and the ways in which their families connected to the spellbook and the links between the past and the present. The writing of this book is also gorgeous. It's so luscious and everything is described in a way that makes it beautiful, which could get annoying but Moïra Fowley-Doyle never overdoes it so it's just right.
There was a twist at the end that I just didn't need.
Spoiler
I have no problem with Ivy being Hazel and Rowan's half-sister, but the twins being in love with her felt so unnecessary, especially as they both get different love interests anyway.Overall, this was just okay, if mostly for the writing and setting, and I probably won't pick up another book by this author.