katiewilkins186

This book was so perfect for me that I don’t feel like a completely objective reviewer. I’ve recently realized that I love books where people’s lives intersect in such a way that they all help each other become happier. This is one of those books. Like The Wedding Bees and other books with a vivid, happy atmosphere, the author clearly chose her similes and metaphors carefully to add to the mood she’s trying to create. There was a little more conflict than in The Wedding Bees, conflict which largely involved two particularly dislikable characters. Although I adored The Wedding Bees for what it is, the addition of those protagonists made this a slightly less fluffy book. The main characters really got a chance to grow as they learned to stand up to the dislikable characters when it was necessary for their own happiness.

Another bookish love I’ve recently discovered is the genre of magical realism. I think I love magical realism so much because I like happy stories and there isn’t much that’s more optimistic than magic that you almost believe could exist. I actually would have liked to see the details of the magic fleshed out a little more than they were, but it was pretty well done. It was certainly internally consistent and there are a few things that hint at a magical system connecting the different magical events. At the end of the book, I didn’t feel like it was something new and spectacular. It was, however, a perfect comfort book, superbly written and a delight to read.

This review first published on Doing Dewey.