booklvrkat 's review for:

Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

4.0

---

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.”