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My Rating

A story that begins with a “Jane Eyre? Jane Austen?” sentence can never go wrong in my opinion and Lost Coast Literary is a book lover’s dream come true. Books, books and more books, book therapist, book editor, a literary mansion, book themed parties, the world just comes alive in all its myriad glorious colors in Ellie Alexander’s Lost Coast Literary.

If there’s a mansion like The Ballard anywhere in this world, I want to visit it, stay in it, and luxuriate in it. Ellie Alexander creates a kind of helpless craving for the place and the cozy setup is a writer’s retreat and a reader’s holy grail. Emily Bryant is forced to visit Cascata a small town along the California Coastline to deal with her grandmother’s last wishes. The Ballard has been gifted to her depending on certain conditions but Emily wants nothing to do with Cascata or her extended family and especially with editing the forsaken manuscripts. But, of course, life has a few lessons in store for her.

The writing by the author is magical just like the magical realism knitted thru the realistic story of a woman finding her true self. The words by Ellie Alexander transports the reader to Emily’s world discovering the small and warmth filled community and its residents, her confusion in realizing that her editing gives her the responsibility of playing GOD in people’s lives, her frustration in not understanding the reasons of her father’s estrangement from her family, the snippets of memory that pops in which she is unable to trust, the reader is made to walk in Emily’s shoes and discover the soothing balm that the reading world imparts.

I would like to thank the author, yes of course for the delightful rapture that she engulfed me in, but also for providing a purview of the job of an editor. We all might know what it entails but here, the reader is made to see the event two-fold. Whilst Emily is editing, the reader gets the scene as a short story but then when things unfold in front of her own eyes, Emily is both a reader and an observer and thus a different perspective is offered to ‘us, the readers”.

It is easy to fall in love with almost all the characters in the story except for the dad. There’s nothing wrong with his arc but I wished that he was more fleshed out and the family reunion happened faster than I did expect.

Ellie Alexander dedicates her book to “For every reader who has found themselves through the pages of a book and in the process discovered who they were always meant to be.” Truly a book that needs to be read by anyone and everyone who loves books, Lost Coast Literary is that cuddly teddy bear for all rainy days.

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 she must edit old manuscripts to inherit the estate. 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. But then 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 editing can fix the damage she’s done. 

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

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Amazon USA: https://amzn.to/3ueEmMB

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3L6H8ul

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lost-coast-literary-ellie-alexander/1140835273

Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/books/lost-coast-literary/9781737391524

Order direct: https://elliealexander.co/lost-coast-literary

Ellie Alexander is a voracious storyteller and a lover of words and all things bookish. She believes that stories have the ability to transport and transform us. With over twenty-six published novels and counting, her goal is to tell stories that provide points of connection, escape, and understanding. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elliealexanderauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ellielovesbooks

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwd80ruKbz98VZQGT2I23-Q

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/ellie-alexander

Many thanks to Digital Reads PR and the author for a chance to read and review this book. All opinions are expressed voluntarily.

This review is published in my blog Rain’n’Books, ##Goodreads, ##Amazon India, ##Book Bub, ##Medium.com, ##Facebook, ##Twitter.

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