An Island Strange and Wild - by Lisa Amowitz (Paperback)

Even though this book was published earlier this year, I received an digital ARC from NetGalley for this book. All opinions are my own and I'm writing this review voluntarily. An Island strange and wild captured me by the beautiful cover and the description being that this was a type of secret garden retelling. However, I found that while it does have some secret garden elements, it does NOT go in the same direction. The plot follows Rosalie/Rosie/Rose in a first person, present tense, single POV. The book starts off a little mundane, 18 year old Rosalie is feeling trapped and embittered by her mother, she's lost her father and she has this fleeting crushlike romance with this kid she's known for 8 years. As soon as you settle into this book thinking it's gonna be cute and cozy if not a little predictable, page 23 happens. Out the gate this book takes you by storm and I mean that literally. It is one whirlwind after another. A character dies, a mysterious person shows up out of the blue, and the hits just keep on hitting. Rosalie ends up disobeying her mother's wishes and ends up on this uncharted island where everything from the flora to the inhabitants to the ground it self seems to vibrate with magic and mystery. This book gives a feeling of almost eldritch mystery as you're unraveling everything. There is barely a moment of peace for the poor girl as she spends just over a week as she to solve this islands strange and wonderous ways. I wanna say, that some things were mildly predictable, but not in the way you think they might be. "So what if he's a seal? Seals are cute."And everytime you think Rosalie may have a handle on something, the other shoe continues to drop. The magic system in this book is very concrete, very beautiful in a tragic sort of way. The way Lisa describes her world is bursting with color and sights and feelings. This book is supposed to be a trilogy, so I'm interested to see what happens next. I feel like, for the most part, Lisa Amowitz did a great job in making this book feel complete as a stand a lone but also left room for continuation.