Spellbook of the Lost and Found – Moira Fowley-Doyle

One stormy summer night, Olive and her best friend, Rose, begin to lose things. It starts with simple items like hair clips and jewellery, but soon it’s clear that Rose has lost something bigger; something she won’t talk about.

Then Olive meets three wild, mysterious strangers: Ivy, Hazel and Rowan. Like Rose, they’re mourning losses - and holding tight to secrets.

When they discover the ancient spellbook, full of hand-inked charms to conjure back lost things, they realise it might be their chance to set everything right. Unless it’s leading them towards secrets that were never meant to be found . . .

I loved Moira Fowley-Doyle’s atmospheric writing in her debut, THE ACCIDENT SEASON, so I was very excited to read SPELLBOOK FOR THE LOST AND FOUND which sounded fall-ish (it actually takes place in spring/summer. Oops) and I was very excited to start it when I received an audio copy for review!

SPELLBOOK FOR THE LOST AND FOUND has that air of magical realism and a touch of mystery, so it was an interesting read! The story overall didn’t really catch me as much as I had hoped because I felt like it took a little too long to set up and get into all of the inky details (yes, that is a Zenon reference — 10 points to you if you spotted it) and it felt a little lost (no pun intended) when trying to put the pieces together. Once the story really started coming together, it was actually really, really cool. There were so many things that I could have picked up on but didn’t (I was also working while listening so my brain wasn’t trying TOO hard to piece things together, which actually makes for a pretty fun experience sometimes) and I really loved the way everything resolved. The book didn’t feel long per se but it also didn’t really pull me through like I had hoped.

The characters were just… okay for me. Some of the personalities blended for a bit until I got to know them better towards the middle of the book, especially with essentially four different point of views happening in three to four different circles, until a few of the merged. I didn’t quite engage with the characters as much as I had wanted to but I did still connect with them. I think I would have rather had a bit smaller of a focus and gotten to know a few more of those characters better!

Hmmm I guess mild spoiler for the ending! I won’t give anything away but you know, end-of-the-book-talk: I did like how everything concluded but I also wasn’t sure if this really WAS supposed to be magical realism or just a “true story” (to the characters anyway) that only had seemingly magical properties. But then again, I think that was kind of the point. The characters are left wondering a little and there’s still an element of magic there but at the same time, so much was rationalized out that it kind of took away from some of that magic. So to be perfectly difficult, I liked it but didn’t all the same time.

AUDIOBOOK IMPRESSIONS

I’ve been horrible about giving my narrator impressions lately so here it is! The author/setting/characters are Irish so I’m glad all of the narrators were Irish as well! There were three different female narrators to take on the points of view that predominantly narrated the story. I love Irish accents but I’m not used to listening to them on audio so it was different and also fun! I’m really glad it brought that atmosphere and setting to the audiobook because I personally would not read an Irish accent to myself in my head when reading a print copy so it’s nice to listen to those accents in an audiobook to keep me in the location that it takes place! All of the narrators were pleasant and I thought they did a great job! I didn’t find anyone particularly excellent like omg I need to listening to everything she narrates, but I would also definitely be up for anything they did work on in the future — I just wouldn’t go seeking books out specifically for any of them like I do with some of my favorites.

Kept Me Hooked On: Magical Realism. Magical realism was something I had never been interested in before and I actually picked this one up because it was magical realism. When done well, I love it. When not done well, it’s very hit-or-miss. This one was interesting but the twists actually kind of took away some of that magic for me.
Left Me Wanting More: Magic. I think I was hoping for a bit more magic. The cover looks a bit more witchy and given the title, I was thinking this was more witchy than it was, but it was still enjoyable.

Addiction Rating
Try it

If you like magical realism, you may like this book, or if you don’t like it, it could be a good intro to the concept. It’s a little split between magic, mystery, and contemporary!