Emily Benedict came 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 realises 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 neighbour, Julia Winterson, bakes hope in the form of cakes, offering them to satisfy the town’s sweet tooth - but also in the hope of rekindling a 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.

Sarah Addison Allen is an author that has been on my radar for ages now. I’ve had one of her novels, Garden Spells, sitting on my shelf since 2009 but have never found time to read it. I received a proof copy last year of The Girl Who Chased The Moon, but again, it sad on my shelf unread because Sarah is an unknown author to me, though I know her books have magical elements which made me think she was like Cecelia Ahern whom I love. I was then lucky enough to get a finished paperback copy of The Girl Who Chased The Moon and it really is a beautiful book. The cover is a midnight blue, with a charm bracelet on the front and it’s very charming. I was looking for a quick read and this fit the bill perfectly, so I took it with me on my day out.

At a mere 261 pages, The Girl Who Chased The Moon is undoubtedly one of the shortest books I’ve ever read. But, boy, does it pack a punch. This review won’t be very long, mainly because no words of mine can do a book like this justice. It’s the kind of book you need to read to believe. It’s also a book that you need to suspend your beliefs for to read because it is a bit ‘out there’. In fact what makes me love the book even more is that it’s not a Chick Lit novel. It’s not like anything I’ve ever read before and for me to compare Cecelia Ahern and Sarah Addison Allen is ridiculous because their magical aspects are planets apart. Both good in their own way, but nowhere near similar to each other. At all.

At the heart of The Girl Who Chased The Moon, though, are some wonderful love stories. There’s none of your Chick Lit romance in there; no lying or ridiculous arguing, just two good, old fashioned love stories. It’s so good to get a book like this, where love can conquer all and where there’s no need to split apart the happy couples to makes for some big reunion at the end of the book. It really spoke to the hopeless romantic in me, let me tell you. First there’s the developing relationship between Emily and Win, made harder (and very Romeo and Juliet-esque) because the two families are at loggerheads due to something that happened in the past. And then there’s Julia and Sawyer (I bet I’m not the only one who imagines him as a blonder Josh Holloway), who knew each other as teenagers until one night pulled them in two utterly different directions. Very much contrasting stories, but the same because at the end of the day, all it boiled down to was whether or not they loved each other.

The characters really spoke to me in the book. They were so real to me, it’s unreal. Getting to know Emily, Win, Julia, Sawyer and Grandfather Vance was like seeing them on screen, they were that real. They all came alive in my mind and I could imagine it panning out on a screen as I read. Quite a feat, it has to be said, but this book really spoke to me. I don’t want to faff about by saying I connected to the characters/would love to be friends with them because despite that being true, I wouldn’t want to be friends with them, I wouldn’t want to disrupt their little world they have in Mullaby because Mullaby is a magical place. Sarah Addison Allen is an amazing writer when it comes to making her characters real and I was with them all of the way, rooting for them, hoping for the best and wanting to learn their secrets.

I know that my review probably sounds more like a love letter than a review, but that speaks volumes about this book. I loved it. I loved Mullaby, I loved the magical changing wallpaper, I loved the bright Mullaby lights that are a mystery to all and I loved every single page of the book. I completely lost myself in the novel, and that’s exactly what a book like The Girl Who Chased The Moon should do. It sucked me in good and proper and when I finished reading it, I wanted to begin it again and experience it all again. Sarah Addison Allen really knows how to weave her stories, she is a magician storyteller, I’m not joking. To paraphrase the Taylor Swift song, I was enchanted to read the book, and I didn’t want to give it up. I didn’t want it to end. When I started the book this morning I didn’t expect it to take me in like it did, I didn’t think it was going to be my kind of book, but that’s the best kind of book, the kind of book that takes you by surprise and instantly becomes a favourite. The Girl Who Chased The Moon is a favourite.

I’d like to thank the publishers for sending me this to review.

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