The two timelines flow and fuse well together. In 1910, you follow the story of Anna and Harold at times with bated breath as it takes a dark turn. In 2010/11 a bruised and damaged Sarah comes back to life and begins to accept the things that have been weighing her down. Much of this is with the aid of the 1910/11 story and by the characters she meets in County Clare.

Overall, I enjoy this novel from start to finish which has a lovely end to a lovely read.

I read The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods and was enthralled with the story. When I had an opportunity to be an early reader of The Story Collector by Woods, I jumped at the chance. The Story Collector is equally as absorbing as The Lost Bookshop.

In 2010, Sarah Harper and her husband Jack are divorcing amicably after a few years of marriage. Later in the story, readers will learn of the tragedy that tore them apart because of their inability to grieve together. Sarah, drinking too much, makes a sudden flight change and flees to the West Coast of Ireland rather than going to her sister’s home for Christmas.

Sarah finds a quiet cottage in Thornwood Village. Soon after her arrival on a late-night walk, still suffering from jetlag, Sarah throws an empty whiskey bottle toward the base of a tree. When the bottle hits, Sarah hears a clank rather than a soft thud of the bottle hitting grass. She digs into the earth and finds a tin box which she takes back to her cottage.

Once she opens the box, Sarah finds a diary from 1910; the writer is Anna Butler, a young woman, born and raised in Thornwood Village. Sarah becomes enthralled with reading about Anna’s life, thoughts, and experiences.

Woods throws in a bit of magical realism, romance, and stories of the Good People, otherwise known as fairies, to create a satisfying story. Sarah meets some of the local people and becomes friends with them, especially Hazel, the granddaughter of the man who owns her cottage, and Oran, Hazel’s widowed father.

The dual storyline kept me reading to see what happens with Anna and Sarah. The answers are not all straightforward, which makes for an intriguing story. Along the way, readers learn about Irish folklore, especially about the faeries. The Story Collector is a delightful story.

Thank you, NetGalley, Evie Woods, and Harper 360, for this ARC!

4.25⭐️

I’ll be honest—I picked up this book purely out of intrigue based on the cover art, without knowing what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was set in Ireland! Ever since my intense Sally Rooney phase during the pandemic, I’ve had a soft spot for anything set in Ireland.

From the beginning, I was a bit unsure where the story was headed, but Evie Woods beautifully connected the past and present. I felt particularly connected to Anna and Harold, but seeing Sarah and Oran use Anna's story to process their own grief was poignant and well-executed.

Evie did a fantastic job of capturing the complexities of grief and the journey of learning to live again.

All in all, this was a wonderful read—cozy, sweet, and lyrical. I highly recommend enjoying it with a nice cup of tea!

This is a great cozy read. I love a story that has two timelines and it was very interesting to see how events from the early 1900’s affected the village in the 2000’s. The characters were likable. I wish there was a little more character development with the modern day characters, but I still enjoyed their story as well.

Through a mixup, I read The Lost Bookshop directly before this book and that was a HUGE mistake.

While Evie Woods is a fantastic author, The Story Collector lacks the magic of The Lost Bookshop. It felt like a scrambling to recreate it and it fell short.

The characters were not as intriguing, the storyline was more predictable, and the dual timelines were not as seamless. However, this is still a great novel. Lightning doesn't strike twice but Evie Woods is a pretty great author.

Thank you to Harper 360 and Net Galley for the eARC!

In the Story Collector, by Evie Woods, is a whimsical book about 2 souls who are finding their way in their respective worlds as women of their time blended with the Irish culture and folklore surrounding fairies and magic. We follow Sarah through the modern-day timeline of finding herself after a divorce and family trauma, and we also follow Anna through her early 1900s timeline, as she tries to find a way in a world that believed women should not have rights, and who is also dealing with family loss. Both our heroines find ways to discover themselves through loss and love.

You do have to suspend believe a little because we go from Sarah being in an airport, heading home to Boston, to somehow finding herself embraced by locals in the Shannon area of Ireland. In addition, she just happens to find a hidden book that just so happens to tell the story 100 years ago, that is related to events 100 years later. In addition, there is a heavy dose of fairy lore that figures heavily in the culmination of the story. Sarah’s character grows into a strong character who overcomes the trauma that she was dealing with and finds love in the end. Anna’s character overcomes adversity and deals with a family trauma that held her back and allows her to also find unexpected love and safety. The pacing of the story is even and mostly holds your attention, as it is told in a dual timeline POV and jumps back and forth between our two main characters and their stories. Overall, I liked the story. I though it was a sweet telling and an interesting attempt at incorporating Irish folklore into a story. However, it does switch POV frequently and it feels a little too convenient that Anna’s story just happens to fill in all the holes in the events that Sarah and her timeline are investigating. The intended audience for this story is adult general fiction readers, those who enjoyed Woods’ previous book, will enjoy this story as well. Trigger warnings: miscarriage and attempted sexual assault. I would recommend this story to book club readers, adult fiction readers and even young adult readers. I gave this book 4 stars.

In conclusion, Woods’ The Story Collector is a story that deals with trauma, loss and love in a sweet, whimsical way.

This book does not disappoint! I adored it from start to finish, I only put it down to go to work! The Dul-Timeline was amazing and it honestly was so very captivating!

A cozy fantasy in the vein of Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries.

In this dual-timeline story, Sarah flees her marriage to grieve in Ireland, a last-minute decision that changes her world forever. In addition to befriending the local inhabitants-including a handsome-yet-grumpy Irish conservation officer- and learning the local fairy legends, she discovers a diary kept by teenage Anna Butler, a local farmer's daughter, in 1910.

My favorite part of the story was Anna's perspective. In pre-World War 1 Ireland, Anna's chosen as a local guide and research assistant for a professor interested in the local fairy legends. Anna's a believer who thinks her sister who died of consumption now lives with the fairies. She's also sweet, naive and protective of the professor. When Anna attracts the attention of a rich lord - rumored to have been a changeling - she finds herself in danger she doesn't see coming.

I enjoyed this charming introduction to several generations of an Irish town and its local legends. The magic and romance reverberates through the years, providing a delightful escape that will make you long for some lazy weeks in an Irish village.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Story Collector was a delight. I enjoy books about Ireland and I believe in the magic that land holds. This novel wove the story of Harold and Anna seamlessly with the story of Sarah as she searches finds herself after a great loss. Good books are impossible to put down and this novel was a very quick read as I was eager to have the stories unfold. Wonderful setting, believable characters, and satisfying ending. Who could ask for anything more? I will be recommending this book to my book club and all my reading friends.

🧚📚 The Story Collector 📚🧚
By Evie Woods
✨ Thank you to @harpercollins360 and @netgalley for a copy of this eARC - which is available August 13th! ✨

📚 Folklore
🧚 Fairies
📚 Dual POV
🧚 Dual timeline

📚 The atmosphere is cozy and felt like I had stepped right into this little Irish village.
I liked the mix between modern and historical.
✨ Just when I would find myself drawn more to one character/time period it would completely change in the next chapter.
🧚 This was a short read which felt a little dark and morbid at times which I wasn’t expecting but found myself enjoying.
📚 There was a bit of a sweet, tender romance happening within both storylines which added a little extra besides the main plot.
🧚 Sarah has a bit of a traumatic relationship past that makes her more relatable. Whereas Anna is young and naive making her story feel a little tragic. Their stories are different but also have some parallels.
📚 At times it felt a bit tedious and seemed to just meander and then pick up and then back again - the pacing was a bit all over the place.
✨ In the end I thought it wrapped up nicely and was happy with the way the two stories tied together.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

One hundred years ago, Anna, a young farm girl, volunteers to help an American visitor translate fairy stories from Irish to English. But all is not as it seems and Anna soon finds herself at the heart of a mystery that threatens her very way of life. In New York in the present day, Sarah Harper boards a plane bound for the West Coast of Ireland. But once there, she finds she has unearthed dark secrets – secrets that tread the line between the everyday and the otherworldly, the seen and the unseen.

This was an interesting book full of colorful characters and was very well written. Evie Woods is an excellent author and always throws a little whimsy and magic in the books she writes. The books also introduces you to Ireland and its history. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting my request to read this book.

A story about grieving, the journey to healing, and allowing others into your life despite their beliefs and differences. Sarah, an American, finds herself leaving her husband in New York on Christmas Day with every intention of going to stay with her sister in Boston. After her husband drops her off at the airport, she makes an unexpected decision to head to Ireland where she ends up staying in a cottage in a little village.

I really enjoyed this book. A slower paced story, it gave me the chance to get to know and connect to the main characters. I relate to them closing themselves up after the passing of a loved one. Struggling to grieve, the idea of Sarah finding the diary of a young lady named Anna who lived over 100 years ago was a great concept. I enjoyed how the book toggled between the two women’s stories and how Irish Folklore brought them together. Through Anna’s belief in the Good People and Sarah’s vested interest in the topic, I felt like they were the perfect pair for each other. I found myself wanting them both to find peace in their grief.

An amazing book that I highly recommend.

The story Collector :

This book was great! I loved how it intertwined magic with grief and Good/Evil.

I was rooting for Anna and Harold...

It was a bit slow at first but it got me losing sleep as soon as it got me hooked.

Having someone experiencing the story with me was great since I felt Sarah was having my same thoughts/feelings.

To enjoy this book, you will need to embrace the magical weirdness of it all. It’s a creative story, albeit heavy themes, told from a triple point of view. You have Opaline’s story starting in the 1920’s and leading to her bookshop over the next 30ish years. Her story is very sad and heavy. The other two povs are in modern times. Henry is a phd candidate researching Opaline’s shop. Martha is the new housekeeper in the home where the shop used to be. She is escaping an abusive husband so there are abuse themes too. Henry and Martha team up to investigate. Then the story gets weird and magical. I appreciate the creativeness of the story and it had me guessing to the end.

Thank you Harper360 for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to @netgalley and Harper360 for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to see Evie Woods writing another dual-timeline Irish novel after the Lost Bookshop, and they did not disappoint. I don’t think I’ve ever read dual timelines written so beautifully. They are subtly linked in little ways beyond the obvious which I adore. All of the characters are well written and lovable. The plots are interesting and move at a great pace without being overly intense giving nice cozy vibes. And I love that the 1911 plotline doesn’t end the way you’d assume.

The author is masterful at winding real historical places and events into a charming book laced with just a hint of magic. And I’m desperate to return to Ireland with ever page. So yes, I’m in love with this book.

3.5 star rating, rounded up to a 4 star.

Thank you so much NetGalley & the publisher for a free copy of this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I’d seen this authors previous works out and about & it seemed perfect for me. I’m so glad I request this ARC! This is a short read at under 350 pages & reminded me of the atmospheric vibes & mystery with a touch of darkness from the classic fairy lore from Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries, but with a duel timeline POV.

Sarah is recently divorced and plans a truly last minute trip to Ireland to escape her problems. She finds Anna’s diary from exactly 100 years ago as they uncover the secrets of Thornwood (and their hearts), while we learn the secrets of their past in the Irish countryside. I was skeptical the first chapter or two but fell into the countryside and duel timeline.

Very rarely do I think books should be longer; this is the exception. I truly longed for more here & thought this book could have been drawn out more with explanation & exploration of both Sarah & Anna’s POV, especially toward the end of the book. The ending felt a bit rushed and sudden & left me wanting more, and not just because it was over. Regardless, I truly enjoyed this read! If you want a short atmospheric & location based read set in Ireland with classic fae folklore, I’d recommend!

✨ The Story Collector - Evie Gaughan(Woods) ✨
ARC E-Book Review

“The moon had grown tired of her antics and pulled the clouds back over its face, leaving Sarah in total darkness once more.”

What a delightful surprising read! Would definitely recommend this book if you like dual timelines, magical realism, folklore and romanticize the Irish countryside.

The story provides two timelines with Anna in 1911 and Sarah in 2011. Both women work through grief and finding themselves in the backdrop of lush Irish countryside and faerie lore, working the magic within themselves and nature into their healing. I had a good time reading this, and especially liked Anna’s story. This would be a great read around the holidays!

🧚🏻🌳❤️✍️

Thank you @Harpercollins360 & @netgalley for letting me read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Books that take place in Ireland are always like a cozy blanket for me. And then you add in some folklore; fairies and whatnot--and it's like crack.
This book wasn't all rainbows and unicorns, however. It did deal with some sensitive subject matter as the main character, Sarah, deals with some painful memories.
Told in dual timelines, The Story Collector, uses two different main characters to tell a remarkable story of magic, folklore, and mystery.
I loved the characters and setting. I felt truly transported and have fallen in love with this author.

Thank you to Harper for the opportunity to read and review this lovely book!

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

Drunk and escaping a failing marriage, Sara changes her holiday plans in the airport, leaving America for Ireland. Resentful, lost, she fumbles around the countryside and finds the hidden diary of teenaged Anna from a century before. Anna assisted an American scholar as he investigating the persistent belief in fairy lore across Celtic countries. As Sara fights an instant attraction to a handsome widower in Ireland, Anna struggles with her own interests in men in the past, to a dire result.

I struggled with this book. Anna's story is so much more interesting than Sara's. Sara isn't even likeable from the start--she's careless, drunk, and the book is frustratingly reluctant to share the reason why she and her husband split. However, Anna's plot isn't without a major issue, as her so-called diary entries read nothing like a diary, but like a straight-up novel. She explains way too many things that wouldn't be explained if she was writing to herself. Honestly, the lack proper structure baffled me. The only climax is in Anna's plot. Sara's storyline is predictable and bland.

Really, read for Anna's story and an escape to beautiful Ireland.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Story Collector by Evie Woods.

Come on guys, let's run away to Ireland together!

That's exactly what Sarah does, completely unplanned, after her marriage comes to a heartbreaking end. She's staying at a charming and quaint getaway where she comes across a journal. In that journal is more lore, whimsy, and romance than she could have ever bargained for. And will perhaps lead her to some of her own.

This was so sweet and cathartic to read. It has a very quiet tempo, and admittedly does drag a bit, but is perfect for a cozy winter read.