Mini Review: The Girl Who Chased The Moon

Emily Benedict has come to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew, she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor, Julia Winterson, bakes hope in the form of cakes, not only wishing to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth but also dreaming of rekindling the love she fears might be lost forever. Can a hummingbird cake really bring back a lost love? Is there really a ghost dancing in Emily’s backyard? The answers are never what you expect. But in this town of lovable misfits, the unexpected fits right in.

Wow. I was really surprised by this book. I hadn't heard very much about it prior to picking it up at my library's book sale; in fact, the only time I had ever seen it before was on a single vlog where the booktuber was showcasing it as one of her favorite books of all time. However, after I started reading it [and it subsequently showed up on my Facebook as I have it linked with my Goodreads account] one of my good friends [as well as one of my favorite book bloggers] pounced on it and informed me that Sarah Addison Allen was one of her favorite authors.

And you have no idea how hard a book it is to review...

I was captivated by the writing style from almost the very beginning. It was beautiful and just a little bit haunting; perfect for the fairy tale-esque story that it was telling. It captured everything so well. I was entranced as well as enchanted. The characters were quirky enough to fit their small town setting and real enough to make you believe that you could happen into this magical little town yourself. You wanted to know something about everyone and was just given enough to really make you curious without ever over-revealing and causing the townspeople [and the town] to lose it's mystery. It's like a glowing spiderweb of a book; everything is weaved together so perfectly, and you don't even know until you've closed it how perfect a trap it is for ensnaring a reader.

I could hardly put it down.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon was a fantastic sampling of magical realism, for those new to the "genre" and wanting to give it a try, and on the border of being a perfect modern fairy tale.

4.5/5