laurapedulli 's review for:

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

3.0

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I really wanted to like this book more. I feel like all of the elements were there: strong, likeable characters, well-researched history, descriptive prose, but yet, it didn't all come together as something that was a fluid, enjoyable, read. The author would end scenes with a cliff hanger, but then jump in time without explaining what happened the moments after these scenes, so they were all explained as past events, losing a lot of their lustre. Sometimes I'd want her to slow down to describe these transformative scenes, and other times I'd want her to speed up as her writing was overly descriptive and I felt like I was hacking my way through a densely grown trail, trying to follow her train of thought and getting bored. Often I lost track of who was who. To be honest, getting through the last 1/3rd of the book was a bit of a struggle, and the twist at the end seemed totally random and forced. I'm still giving the book 3 stars. I think her previous book, Before We Were Yours, was much better.