Book Review: Lost Coast Literary by Ellie Alexander

Book editor Emily Bryant finds herself unexpectedly in the charming town of Cascata on California’s Lost Coast, holding the keys to her grandmother’s rambling Victorian mansion. While sorting through her grandmother’s things, Emily learns that to inherit the estate she must edit old manuscripts. It’s a strange request from a family member who was basically a stranger.

Emily quickly realizes that there’s something different about these manuscripts. Any changes she makes, come true. At first, she embraces the gift. She has a chance to help characters find true love or chart a new course for their future. Only things go terribly wrong. Her edits have the opposite effect. The sweet and funky seaside community of Cascata is reeling from the chaos Emily has created. Everything she thought she believed about her family and her past is in jeopardy, and no amount of re-writing can fix the damage she’s done.

Then she finds one last manuscript. If Emily can get this edit right, then maybe she’ll have a chance to create a new narrative for herself and everyone around her.[summary via Publisher]

Disclaimer: This isn't a cozy mystery. However it is written by cozy mystery author, Ellie Alexander.

Lost Coast Literary is Ellie Alexander's first foray into a non-mystery General Fiction novel, and if this one is any indicator, I absolutely can't wait to see what else she has in store for us!

Emily Bryant is returning to Cascata, California, to deal with her late Grandmother's estate. However it isn't all hugs and family reunions, as Emily and her Dad left the coast when she was a child, and never had anything to do with his family.  What Emily finds at her grandmother's estate will question everything she thought she knew about her childhood and her family.

I absolutely loved this book! I confess, I didn't read the synopsis when I got it. With a lot of my favourite authors, I just go in "blind" because I know their previous work, and I know I will love anything they write. So I didn't actually know it wasn't a cozy mystery when I started. However I had faith that I would love it because Ellie Alexander's Sloan Krause Mysteries are some of my absolute favourite mysteries!

It's not just that Lost Coast Literary is a book about books [my favourite kind of books], or that the characters and the plot is so compelling that I couldn't put it down [I couldn't!], it's that the concept was so completely unique to me. Magic manuscripts? Sign me up! I just loved everything about this book, and without gushing too much, it's fair to say it is easily my favourite book this month!

Lost Coast Literary reads like a love letter to bibliophiles. From all the book references to the gorgeous descriptions of the coast, food and people, this book should be on the top of your reading list. While you're there definitely add the Sloan Krause Mysteries too, because first and foremost I'm a book enabler... just like Emily!