I’m not usually one for magic in my books, but when I do, I like magical elements that occur otherwise in our world (as opposed to high fantasy), and this book delivered on that exactly. I already loved Ellie Alexander from her cozy mysteries, so when I saw this ARC, I had to read it. While I’m not an editor, I am a librarian, so I felt a deep kinship with Emily who is very like me (down to losing her mom at a young age). Unlike Emily, I have never rewritten the ends of books, but I love the idea and how that tendency played out in her story.

Starting this book, I expected a fun, sweet, light story, which in some ways it was. What I did not expect was the emotional depth from unearthing long buried and altered memories. I also love and appreciate that Emily’s story was about finding herself, not through romantic love, but through a connection to her family. While there were peripheral love interests, Emily was not involved in them, and, as she told Shay, none of them were really love stories— they were stories about finding something else.