I can’t really tell whether or not it was a good or bad thing that I was able to predict every single twist* and reveal in this book, well before I should have been able to. I was entertained, so I guess good? Or it doesn’t matter. I’m just not used to being able to do that. So we’ll table that for now. Anyway, I went into this one grudgingly and with a bad attitude; I will admit that. And then as the book went on I got more and more pulled in, until I was crying at the climax and the feelings. At that point I was like, fine, book, you win.
*Every single one!! And some of them were out of left field. Are Meg Shaffer and I sharing a brain? Did we have the same childhood references? It’s kind of scary, considering how much I hated her second book.
This book was a tiebreaker for me, on whether or not I would keep reading Meg Shaffer. I enjoyed being emotionally manipulated by the overly sentimental The Wishing Game, but absolutely hated the author’s attempt at a portal fantasy when reading The Lost Story. Her writing style and (lack of) ability to world-build meant that book was a big bust. The Book Witch has her in what I think is her comfort zone: contemporary fantasy with a speculative twist, but no secondary worlds to be found. (And even here the rules of the magic and their consequences didn’t *really* make sense, but eh, it’s fine.)
A character being able to jump in and out of books is not a new thing, and I do wish the author had acknowledged those who came before, because this is a book about books! Thursday Next is the big one. And honestly, this book and its heroine, Rainy March, is no clever, wacky, satirical Thursday Next, but it’s not trying to be. Meg Shaffer lives in Sentimental Land and sometimes you can join her there if you think you are in the mood for that. But this book was also fun and adventurous and a little romantic, and gave me nostalgia and family feelings, and obviously comes from a place of loving loving books. And it’s a mystery! Where the characters know they are in a mystery plot!
I do actually recommend this one if you want a quick, entertaining read and don’t mind a little casual emotional manipulation.
