Spellbook of the Lost and Found by Moira Fowley-Doyle

Author: Moira Fowley-Doyle
Publisher:Kathy Dawson Books (Penguin)
Date of publication: August 2017

One stormy summer night, Olive and her best friend, Rose, begin to lose things. It starts with simple items like hair clips and jewelry, but soon it’s clear that Rose has lost something bigger; something she won’t talk about.

Then Olive meets three wild, mysterious strangers: Ivy, Hazel and Rowan. Like Rose, they’re mourning losses - and holding tight to secrets.

When they discover the ancient spellbook, full of hand-inked charms to conjure back lost things, they realise it might be their chance to set everything right. Unless it’s leading them towards secrets that were never meant to be found . . . 

I had heard a lot of great things about his book and it's been on my TBR fops a while.  The story involves a group of kids who set a spell to get back things that they have lost.  They quickly find out that one must give up something in order to get back what they had lost.  The story is told  through the perspective of three separate girls.

This ended up being just an OK read for me.  I like the concept of the plot, but the author could have done so much more with it.  I also did like the twist even though I figured it out halfway through.  However, I didn't really connect with any of the characters.  All three of the girls had the same "voice".  At times, I felt like I got lost in who was telling their part of the story.  The ending was kind of open ended and I'm not a big fan of those.  I do like my endings tied up nicely.  As far as I can see, this is a stand alone book, so some questions I had won't be answered.  Like just how old IS Mags and how long has she owned the pub?  I would have liked a bit more world building.

As an aside, this book is labeled as YA, but there is a lot of content in this book that really isn't YA.  At least not under 16 YA.  So, I would be cautious as to who I  recommended the book to.  I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it and was interested enough to finish it.  I think fans will enjoy it, but don't expect too much "magic".  I wanted more.