Category: Magical Realism

Book Review, Fiction, Magical Realism

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Magical Realism
Read if you liked: The Wishing Game

Zoey arrives at her late-mother’s apartment with the hope that it will help her feel close to her and understand her life more. Upon her arrival at the Dellawisp, she meets a cast of quirky neighbors. When one of them dies in a tragic accident, the neighbors begin to come together and the magic that surrounds the Dellawisp becomes more apparent.

Some of Zoey’s new ‘neighbors’ just so happen to be ghosts and their narration is scattered throughout the story providing insight and perspective to the living characters who they haunt. The whole cast of characters really made this book sparkle. From the secretive estranged sisters, to the shy chef, to the elusive owner of the Dellawisp himself, the group became an unexpected family as they work together to clean out the apartment of the deceased resident in an effort to uncover the secret story she so often mentioned hiding.

The magic of the Dellawisp, which hosts a group of magical birds called dellawisps, was so palpable as was the larger community on Mallow Island. The lore surrounding the island’s famous recluse author was another level of mystery that tied the community together and kept me reading.

I loved the way individual one-on-on resident relationships were explored, each completely different and nuanced. We slowly come to learn the hardships and demons that each person is dealing with and to watch them soften as they open up.

This was a very character-driven story and as such, it felt fairly slow to me and I didn’t find the reveals to be terribly intriguing. That said, it was a very lovely, heartwarming, and unusual tale with a setting that truly came to life in a way that few books are able to achieve. 

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Other Birds at an indie bookstore near you
Other Birds on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Magical Realism

The Good Part by Sophie Cousens ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance/Magical Realism
Read if you liked: The Seven Year Slip

Ooh I loved this book. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times: I’m a sucker for a story with a whisper of magical realism. In The Good Part, Lucy is tired of struggling through her days as a defeated-feeling twenty-six year old. When she stops into a little shop to hide from the rain and notices a whimsical wishing machine, she makes a wish to skip ahead to the good part of her life. When she wakes up, Lucy finds that her wish has been granted.

I was definitely stresseddd for Lucy at times as she tries to adjust to her new life in the future and scared that she would really screw things up. There were moments, particularly with her husband, that were heartbreaking as she tries to communicate her reality while also feeling utterly disconnected from the life around her. I was obsessed with the fact that her little son was trying so hard to help her find her time machine. Their relationship was so sweet and I loved its unconventional nature.

Lucy quickly realizes that skipping out on a huge chunk of her life is perhaps not exactly what she wanted for herself. As she grows closer to the new people in her life, she’s forced to decide if she wanted to go back in time and get to live out all those missed years even though there is no guarantee that her actions will lead her back to this exact future.

Spending time with Lucy and her friends and family was such a joy. I loved the support systems around her and seeing everyone’s attempts to help her. The dilemma she has to deal with was especially thought-provoking and made my heart hurt for her in the way only great writing can do.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Good Part at an indie bookstore near you
The Good Part on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Magical Realism

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Magical Realism
Similar to: T.J. Klune

The Wishing Game is kind of a literary spin on Willie Wonka. Jack Masterson, author of the children’s Clock Island series, invites four contestants to his home on Clock Island to compete for the single copy of his new manuscript. As a child, each contestant ran away to Clock Island in an attempt to meet one of the series’ main characters, who they believed could grant their wishes and help them escape from hardships in their lives.

Lucy, our main character, fell in love with the Clock Island series as a child and has shared that love with the children she teaches as an adult. In particular, she has shared their magic with Christopher, an orphan who she wants nothing more than to foster. Her financial circumstances make this an impossibility, but if she’s able to win Jack’s contest, it could change everything.

I loved how whimsical this book was. Jack is so eccentric and fun and I loved the way he was balanced out by the grumpy illustrator living on the island with him. The premise of the contest added an element of thrill to the story, as the contestants had no idea what to expect next. I loved that despite the fact that they were competing, the four of them were supportive of one another and understanding of the paths that led them each there.

Overall, this was such a heartwarming, feel-good story. Despite the heavy topics it delves into surrounding each character’s past, it ended on a high note and leaves everyone in the story believing that wishes can come true.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Wishing Game at an indie bookstore near you
The Wishing Game on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Magical Realism

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fiction/Magical Realism

I went into Shark Heart with highhh expectations. Usually, I really enjoy books set in the normal world but with one fantastical element, and this one fit the bill. Lewis, a newlywed, is diagnosed with a mutation that will cause him to transform into a shark within a year. Together, he and his wife Wren face the tremendous grief that comes with his diagnosis as they both lose grasp of the lives they had expected for themselves.

The chapters and narration in this book were short and to the point. For me, it helped express how rapidly things were changing in Lewis and Wren’s life and the times when all they could focus on was a singular event signaling that Lewis’s mutation was escalating. I was able to wrap my head around this strange world, but I would have appreciated a little more world-building to explain what supports were in place for people dealing with mutations and how common they were.

In the middle of the book, the storyline changes completely, moving back into the past to Angela, Wren’s mother. This part of the book did not tie neatly into Lewis and Wren’s section and really threw off the story for me. Although it wasn’t a poorly written plot line, I just didn’t get how it fit into the rest of the story. I would have preferred more depth into Lewis and Wren’s lives before and during the mutation.

This one definitely left my heart aching and deeply explored the ideas of loss and grief through a bizarre lens that somehow worked. I read it within 48 hours and even though I did enjoy it, it left me wishing there had been a little more to it.

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Buy Shark Heart at an indie bookstore near you
Shark Heart on Goodreads

Book Review, Magical Realism, Romance

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance/Magical Realism
Similar to: In Five Years

After the death of her aunt, Clementine moves into her aunt’s apartment; the apartment she was always told is magic. One day, she returns to it to find a strange man, Iwan, there, claiming to be renting the space from her aunt for the summer. As Clementine gets to know him, she simultaneously realizes that she’s falling for him and that he exists seven years in the past.

I lovvvve a book with a whisper of magical realism in an otherwise normal reality. It took me a minute to understand the premise of this one, but once it clicked I was enchanted.

The chemistry between Iwan and Clementine was sooo palpable. I loved that it was fostered in the haven of the magic apartment in the past and forced to be confined there until they crossed paths again seven years later.

Clementine is struggling to come to terms with existing in a world without her aunt and grief plays into her narrative so palpably and painfully. She also finds herself at a crossroads in her career and all of these facets made her a complex, well-rounded character who I found myself rooting for.

The only piece of this story I didn’t absolutely adore was the ending which felt like it rushed to tie up all the loose ends. Nonetheless, I’ll definitely reread this one to be re-immersed in the magical world Poston created.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Seven Year Slip at an indie bookstore near you
The Seven Year Slip on Goodreads