Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 01/01/2022 *Starred Review* Three years after arriving in Aldermere with her mom and a list of oddly specific fears (“6. Adults who look angry”), shy Fin has fallen in love with the small Northern California town, not least because it has a shop in which she can trade away any unhappy memory she chooses. That’s not all that’s magical about Aldermere: Lloyd-Jones tucks in evocative details (unusually intelligent local ravens; the fact that doors have to be carefully labeled or they’ll transport the opener to a random place) and also supplies Fin with two truly marvelous friends whose instant, unstinting trust and support never wavers—even when she accidentally creates a body double made up of all her surrendered memories and suppressed character traits. As a wave of thefts and destructive mishaps sets the whole town abuzz, Fin’s search for a way to quash her scary, elusive counterpart grows increasingly urgent. Dizzying as all this may be, the author still has an array of tricks to pull from her sleeve at the climax. Highlighted by as neat a switch on the “evil twin” trope as ever was, this tale has much to offer readers who prefer a “quiet and creeping” sort of magic over “bright flashing spells or turning people into toads”—though there’s a certain amount of that, too. - Copyright 2022 Booklist.

School Library Journal - 02/01/2022 Gr 5 Up—Eleven-year-old Fin, who is white, has been living in the town of Aldermere for three years. She and her mother have finally stopped moving all the time; she feels safe here and is finally considering Aldermere home. This magical town contains ravens who demand feeding or they will destroy your garbage, strange multi-legged creatures, rumors of a bigfoot lurking, and, most interestingly, the tea shop that vanishes when strangers try to get inside. In the tea shop, Fin has been secretly using magic to overcome her fears, and she has a long list of them. When Talia the shop owner is injured and away, Fin attempts to combat her latest fear and uses the magic on herself without Talia's guidance. The result is an eerie tea-constructed twin who wreaks havoc on Aldermere. Fin must overcome her fears, without magic, to save the town she has come to love. Lloyd-Jones has created a magical place in the Redwoods of Northern California. Aldermere, population 239, is rife with forests, rumored woodland creatures, eerie shadows, and a mossy dampness that invites enchantment. The story of Fin and her fears reaches far beyond the search for her self-created twin, although that, too, is entertaining. The book examines what it means to confront fear and how memory can interfere with growth and self-awareness. Fin's journey leads her through friendship, family, and the challenge of accepting who she was and who she can become. Fans of Harry Potter and magical creatures will not want to put this book down, and will want to revist Aldermere again and again. VERDICT An enchanting tale that will keep middle grade readers captivated and wanting more. A must-read for fans of magic worlds and fantastical creatures.—Carol Connor - Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.