This was a really great book because it was back and forth in time. This woman named sarah that comes with her marriage. She lost something very precious to her was a child. My husband jack and her could not get along anymore. But she was going to leave him and go to boston to live with their sisters for a while. At the airport she started reading this story about how this fairy tree was saved. She ends up going to ireland and staying in this house. She still had a drinking problem but she minced herself and all the fairy tales around. And then I went back into the past about Anna who lived in this college in the 1900s, and she meets an American who is interested in the fairy tales and was writing a book about it.. This was interesting because it really showing a lot of class.Distinction about the big Mansion on the hill. The lord's son named george had a reputation with women and he fancied anna. Sarah found a diary in a tree and she started to read it.Find out more about anna's life. There's a lot of twist and turns in the story but it was very interesting. We're focused on the story collector because they were collecting stories about the fairies who live in this area based on Celtic MYT. H.. I learned a lot about these different types of fairies and how they played a very important part of their lives

Anna's and Sarah's stories in The Story Collector are enchanting and captivating. I personally enjoyed Anna's story more than Sarah's; however, I still have love for both. Anna's story is uncovered through a journal that Sarah finds shortly after arriving in Ireland. Anna's story is about her figuring things out as an underclass woman in the 1910s. Shortly into her story, we are introduced to Harold, an American traveling to find information from the locals to support his thesis. Anna impulsively offers to help as a guide for the local area, helping him get information about faries, a local superstition.

Meanwhile, Sarah is dealing with the struggles of a failed marriage, issues with alcohol, and also finds herself in Ireland. Having no place to stay, she tries to stay at a hotel in the area, but all rooms are unavailable. Luckily, they set her up at Bulter's Cottage, owned by a local family. Two particular members of the family, Hazel and Oran, have frequent visits/run-ins with Sarah. With these characters, Sarah learns how to grow from her past and forms relationships with locals. Both stories have their ups and downs, some better than others; regardless, I could not put this book down.

Evie Wood's writing style draws me in and makes me forget I'm reading. Their books are magical, fit many genres, and are just well written overall. Any book from them is automatically added to my list to read next. I love how they normalize issues in their characters lives, not making them the big issue in the end. It's more than just about the issues each character has; it's about the story in the end. There are no words to describe how much I appreciate how I feel after reading their books.

Thank you to Harper 360 and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I really enjoyed The Lost Bookshop by Woods. I'm not much of a historical fiction person but she intertwined it with modern day magical realism and that really drew me in. The same can be said with this book. Though the magical realism isn't quite as prominent in this one.
I loved the idea of an American abroad in Ireland learning about the culture through the locals and a diary hidden in a tree! It was fun to jump between the present of 2010 and the past of 1911. And the folklore of the fae as related to Ireland was really fun.
The prose is eloquent and easy to read. Each chapter easily moved the story along. Woods inserted the historical parts at just the right times to ensure the reader understood the story line. This made it easy to see the story unfold.
The modern romance was nice enough but not really a huge part of the story. I liked watching the FMC, Sarah Harper, grow and learn about herself. It was interesting to see how she was able to come into her own while being in another country and trying to learn their traditions and understand their culture.
Going into this book, I was not aware of the Irish folklore associated with fairies. I know about them from reading some paranormal books. But never in the context of Ireland the the superstitions that go along with them in that country.
I will admit the pacing was sometimes a bit slower than I would have liked. Mostly with the chapters set in 1911. But overall I enjoyed the story and I really enjoy the way this author writes. I will be picking up future books by her! I would recommend this book to anyone who loves stories by TJ Klune and/or Meg Shaffer.
3.5 stars rounded to 4

Loved this sweet story! Sarah makes a spontaneous trip to Ireland to recover from a failed marriage. She finds a hundred year old diary and reads of local faerie lore while she learns to heal in this close knit community. The book jumps from past to present as we discover old stories and legends with Sarah.
Now I’m not a huge fan of typical faerie books but this story was still rooted in reality. Definitely recommend!
I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book and provide an honest review.

This book is in two time frames 2011 & 1911. The character Sarah from 2011 is in the midst of divorce and suffering heart break. She gets drunk at the airport and wakes up in Ireland. It started because she saw an article that the town was saving a tree because it has faeries the good people.

The 1911 characters were Anna and Howard. Howard is an American seeking stories about the “ good people “ faeries “ so he has Anna help him around the local town and talk to people to write a book about the good people.

There is divorce, heartbreak, child loss, and to me a mediocre love story as well. I was hoping for more Faeries, love, magic, happiness and this book did not give that.

However the writer is amazing.

I wanted so badly to like this story by Evie Woods, but the first chapters of THE STORY COLLECTOR were so off-putting in what felt like a formulaic, "insert here to elicit XXX emotion" that I abandoned it when it became clear that it wasn't going to deepen or fulfill the wonderful promise of the premise. I kept slogging until it felt like I was working way too hard to figure out the story. References to the United States were hackneyed and several absolutely wrong, making me feel displaced and ill at ease with the entire Ireland experience. So very disappointed with this effort from a fine writer and a terrific publisher. I received a copy of this book and these thoughts are my own, unbiased opinions.

3.5 stars

It was a good book! I didn’t love it as much as I did The Lost Bookshop. I love Evies writing style though. The magic realism she threads within her books really sweep you away. And especially with the backdrop of Ireland.

I enjoyed the Anna’s story more than I did Sarah’s. Sarah’s chapters felt disjointed and the development was hard to see in those chapters. I felt like Oran and Sarah talked only a handful of times, then they are together. I think there would have been a lot more complex things going on for both of them. I liked how reading the journal helped her grieve.

I loved Anna’s story. It made the most sense to me how she thought she was just a “farmers girl” and was unworthy of George’s attention. But the story showed how wrong that idea was.

I did want a different ending of Anna and Harold’s story, but I do understand why the ending was that way. The love that Anna had for her family couldn’t be taken away. I just hope Harold lived a fulfilling life after he got back to USA.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A charming storyline that goes between two timelines. The characters are engaging and magical. If you like folk stories and magic give it a read.

Enjoyed this book, I love old crazy folk tales that are told by older generations. In some ways this was a very sweet story, albeit with a lot of disturbing happenings along the way. I’m Irish and loved learning about the history, whether real or not.

This story was told in a dual timeline between Sarah in 2011 and the diary of Anne in 1911. Sarah is recovering from a loss and detours her trip home to see her parents. She flies to Ireland after reading an intriguing article about a tree and Irish folklore. In Ireland Sarah discovers a diary written by a young girl named Anne in 1911. Anne was assisting an American to collect and record local folklore.
In my opinion the novel lacked the anticipated magic one expects with Irish folklore, the narrative just fell flat. The book was a slow start and didn’t pull out of its stagnant state until the last 1/3 of the book, then it was great.
The tense of the journal was off and seemed out of sync with something written first person in a diary. I was waiting for a connection between Sarah and Anne through the diary but it never showed up. While some of the imagery was beautiful, I expected so much more. I would have liked more description and interaction in the back stories of the story collector. Overall the story was somewhat disjointed and hard to connect with the characters.
I did enjoy the last 1/3 of the book, and how the author wrapped things up, even though it seemed rushed.

I would like to thank NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book as an ARC. These opinions are my own.
I give it 2.5/5 stars.

Unhappy wife gets drunk at the airport. Hearing a story about a fairie tree, she swaps ticket to Boston for one to Shannon and wakes up in Ireland with a hangover.

Her story parallels one told in a diary she discovers shortly after arrival. Written in the early 20th Century, the diary author is a young Irish girl hired to escort an American collector of fairie stories.

The experiences the people interviewed share are magical and mystical. Evie Woods' writing is especially grand in the diary.

A very enjoyable read.

I loved the author's previous book, The Lost Bookshop, so I knew I had to read this latest book! Going back and forth from present day, to the diary that tells Anna's story, it is an interesting look at the culture of Ireland before their civil war for independence, and how superstitions still played a part of their life, and how some of those have remained to present day. In the present day, Sarah doesn't know why she is called to Ireland, to a mysterious town of Thornwood, far off the beaten track, but once she gets there she feels at home, and realizes she was called their for a reason- not to find Anna's diary, but to heal herself, and in doing so, help heal others in Thornwood. It's a book that will have you entranced and ready to head to Ireland, so it's perfect for late summer reading!

I really enjoyed this book. The characters, setting, magical realism and the magic of books all gave off such a cozy vibe.

For me it was not my cup of tea. I found the story hard to get into and I was not interested in the characters.

This book was so charming. I loved the setting and the alternating time line. I preferred the timeline from 100 years prior. As a lover of books and stories I enjoyed the idea of the idea of preserving history, stories, beliefs through writing and art. I wish there would have been more to the historical story line in the end. I feel like it abruptly cut off and the resolution was a bit short. All in all a good read.

Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it”.
This book was the equivalent to a cup of warm soup on a cold day. It had just the right amount of whimsy and amazing story telling that it just warmed my soul right up.
When Sarah, newly separated, finds herself at the airport planning on going back to Boston to be with her family she decides on a whim to go instead to Ireland. There she ends up meeting a cast of characters that helps her to heal her heart. She also finds a diary of Anna, a woman who lived in the town early 1900’s that became an assistant to a man researching fairies.

I loved the dual time line and was invested in both Anna and Sarah’s stories. This book was a joy to read and I thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me to read an advanced copy.

4 Irish charm stars

This was the perfect one to read while I was on vacation in Ireland. Folk stories, fairies, magic, and great characters filled this one and made for an atmospheric read.

With a dual storyline, I was pulled right into this one. The contemporary storyline features Sarah, an American who has fled to Ireland after trauma at home. She lands in a quiet western Irish village and begins a healing process. She discovers a hidden diary and that’s the perfect segue to the other storyline.

The earlier storyline (by about 100 years) features another young woman, Anna, who helps an American academic research fairy stories. She’s an insider and can get the local Irish to open up to Harold with their stories. As you can intuit from the title, Harold is the story collector.

Harold and Anna talk with various people in the community and spend some time at the local manor. Some of the stories were charming, and some were horrifying as people try to make sense of their world and sometimes believe that magic is to blame for their problems.

I loved the descriptions of the countryside, and I searched for my own fairy Hawthorn tree!

I enjoyed this book, albeit not as much as The Lost Bookshop. It is well written but has unmined potential. I like the premise, although I am not a fan of dual or multi timeline stories, inasmuch as they usually are a bit disruptive to the story. This was not, which is a plus. I always knew who was the focus and in which era. However, I feel as if the character and plot development were a bit superficial and I wanted more and deeper.
3.5 stars

What a lovely story! The dual time storytelling works beautifully here as we follow Sarah and Oran in the present learning about Anna and Harold in the past. There’s some suspension of disbelief needed here as we follow Sarah’s unexpected journey from NYC to Ireland and her discovery of Anna’s diary. However, every good story requires that suspension and it’s not hard to do here. Woods spins a gentle but gripping tale of past small village intrigue with a modern tale of a woman examining her life and wondering how she got so off track. This will appeal to fans of Susanna Kearsley and those who enjoy dual time stories.

Recommended

I received a temporary digital copy of The Story Collector by Evie Woods from NetGalley, One More Chapter and the author in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Sarah Harper finds herself in a small Irish village after a few too many beverages in an airport bound for Boston. While exploring, she finds a diary of a young girl named Anna who assisted an American in collecting stories on fairies. Through the land, time and Anna's story, Sarah begins to heal from a recent experience that landed her in Ireland in the first place.

The Story Collector was a good read on Irish traditions and their folklore. I enjoyed Anna's story much more than Sarah's, but both characters were interesting.