Many thanks to Candlewick Press for the ARC

Initially, I found this a little hard to get invested in. The main pov character, Danny, is difficult to get a bead on initially and it feels like she is keeping the reader at arms length. As you read further, you see that this is deliberate. Danny is lost in her own life and she doesn't have answers for the reader - which is sorta ironic given what her talent turns out to be.

Danny and her mother recently moved from a conservative small town in Michigan to the much more liberal Tempest in California. Danny, who is still working out her sexuality and where she fits in, meets a group of girls who seem to be expecting her. There was a fifth girl once but she's missing and Danny can find things. Time is of the essence for this group of witches, however. Mysterious deaths are occurring...

You need to give this one room to develop but it's well worth it if you do. This is a spellbinding tale of magic, sisterhood, friendship, acceptance and love. The sparse prose is more literary than you normally see with YA but it perfectly fits the tone of the book. This is also a great book for diverse representation. (The entire coven is queer for example.) If you're looking for something very typical in YA then this may not be for you. Rather than offer answers, this book examines what the right questions are. Don't expect one true loves for example, but instead enjoy the fact that many different kinds of love are celebrated in the bonds that the Greys feel for each other. In the end this will resonate most with those who once felt or still do feel, out of place in their own lives. It's not quite perfect - there are one or two minor plotholes for example - but it's such a beautiful book that it doesn't matter. Recommend for those who like intelligently written literary fantasy featuring queer witches.

I was unable to access the review copy for this book due to formatting issues. I am reviewing based on what I have been able to read from other sources and based on communications with the author.

This took me a bit as it felt disconnected and confusing. Overall I liked the characters and the mystery. I would have liked more with Danny and her mom.. This played a big role on her and I felt I didn't get the relationship.

This book absolutely excels at being an atmospheric read. Amy Rose Capetta is very capable of making you feel like you're there. Unfortunately, the plot of this falls a little flat for me. Overall, this is an enjoyable queer and atmospheric witchy read, but nothing truly exceptional.

The Lost Coast enchants you. It's a gorgeously written book with lines that haunt you. Not to mention that basically everyone in the Grays are diverse (fat, queer, lesbian, gray-ace, Black, Fillipino). The main character, Danny, is unlike any other I've read at all. She's a character that has a lot of hidden aspects, from the readers, but also from herself. There's a quiet mystery, a subtle ominous, that builds as you keep reading until it swirls up and sweeps you off your feet.

It's a book that has a quiet intensity to the words. And you are pulled along through the tranquil narration, all with a dread rising in the pit of your stomach. There's a mystery at your feet and The Lost Coast slowly unravels all these moments from the Gray's past, and even beyond. It's a story that spans decades, longing, and generations of girls who have had to fight just to exist.

My review will be published on my blog at http://www.kinziethings.com on April 14, 2019. I will post to Goodreads immediately. The review is as follows!

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The short blurb bit: Danny seems to have been looking for something without really knowing it. She has moved with her mother to a small town called Tempest. She falls in with a group of friends called The Grays without knowing that they may have actually brought her there.

The Grays are a coven of young witches who have lost their friend, Imogen. Danny – it seems may have exactly the magical skill that they need to get Imogen back. There are forces working against them though, and all of them may be in danger.

The descriptive bit: Danny and the Grays inhabit a world where magic lives and breathes and gets tangled up in people’s’ bodies. Capetta waves a beautiful tale of magic, love, exploration, and coming of age. When Danny arrives in Tempest, she doesn’t know that there is magic inside her. The Grays take her under their wings and teach her to listen to her instincts.

"Magic is like love. You see how other people do it, you have the stories and instructions they leave behind, but then you have to figure out how you do it."

The Grays have lost their friend and coven-member, Imogen. Danny brings with her, the exact magic that is needed to help find Imogen and restore things to the way they were. The Grays are diverse and wonderful: Lelia is a non-binary asexual nature lover who collects buttons, June is a Filipino lesbian with a physical disability, Hawthorn is black and bisexual and finally, Rush lives with Synesthesia, plays the Cello and hums her magical spells.

As the search for Imogen begins, the mystery deepens. Soon, there are two dead boys, a frightened little sister and Danny is finding herself drawn to one particular Gray.

This is a little bit mystery, a little bit love story and a lot magical.

My thoughts bit: The writing in this novel is exquisite. It reads much more like poetry than prose. In particular, I enjoyed the descriptions of nature: the giant Redwoods, the wind, and rain, the ocean… Capetta writes with such detail that the reader can paint a vivid mental picture of the landscape.

I struggled a little with the time jumps and the switching points of view. The cast of characters was a bit complex.

I did feel that all of the characters were fully fleshed out and given the respect of having their own personalities and quirks. I enjoyed getting to know them.

The warnings bit: Mentions death, injuries, physical disability.

Blog post; http://sunstormsandthunderclouds.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-lost-coast-by-amy-rose-capetta.html?m=1

Goodreads review; https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2756408537

I didn't know what to expect from this book, and I know I say that a lot, but I genuinely didn't. I find some stories containing LGBTQIA+ characters can usually fall into being a cliche, where their identification label is their sole character trait, but this book wasn't that at all. This book explored sexuality and gender identities in such a nice way, where the characters were more than just who they decided they wanted to kiss or what they were attracted too. It was integrated as an important part of these characters and their journeys but I liked that the author didn't use it as the only thing about these characters, for example, Leila is fiesty, she has heartache and she's real, Rush is quiet and intelligent, musically literate and has sythesthia (another thing I'd never really seen a YA author tackle.)

My favourite character was Danny. Danny was super interesting, and she was a lot more complex than I first thought. I felt like she was so kind, sure she was looking for a new life and she was looking for new friends, but what The Grays were asking her to do was a lot, and she did it. She knew that Rush and Imogen were a thing, and despite falling for Rush, she was still determined to help them out in finding Imogen.

The writing style of this book drew me in straight away. I love trees. I love being in the forest, I love being surrounded by trees, so straight off the bat, the ethereal description of being surrounded by Redwood trees made me really happy. It really made for a magical setting and it set up how beautiful the region of the Lost Coast must be. I think Amy Rose Capetta has a really beautiful writing style, it flows really well and the layout of the book and the alternating points of view didn't affect the flow of the story in the slightest. I think the story had enough twists and turns to keep the reader fully immersed and I read this book in one sitting.

Overall Rating: 5 Stars. I think this story fills a gap that is missing in YA Witch Lit, it covers a ground that I feel some authors are afraid to cover/haven't covered in a good way and if it sounds like a book you'd be interested in, I would recommend you pick it up!

Thank you to the publisher, Candlewick Press, and Net Galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There were a few things I disliked and a few things I liked about this book.

I disliked that the chapters jumped around so much. Each chapter is labeled so we know who's point of view its from, it just got to be too much. There's POVs from Danny to start with, then there are some chapters from inatimate objects or birds, then other members of the coven...so it gets to be a lot especially when it's written with this poetic whimsical style. The other thing I disliked as that there didn't seem to be a strong plot. The idea was there but it never really developed, it just seemed like things happened. I also had a hard time imagining what was going on to be believable. These girls are in high school but are running around the woods, practicing magic, and searching for their lost friend (and lets be honest it doesn't even seem like her parents care about what happened to her.)

What I did like was the writing style, it was super poetic and whimsical. It definitely added to the whole feel of the book. I especially liked that there's lots of representation in this book. There's LGBTQ, body inclusion, and different ethnicities, while not all of them are shoved in your face, they are all mentioned in the book. If anything the book mostly emphasizes the LGBTQ aspects of the characters.

Overall it was an enjoyable and interesting read.

Amy Rose Capetta is becoming one of my go-to authors. I love her work and this story was absolutely brilliant. The writing was so beautiful and I couldn't put it down. I read it so quickly and I just want more from her. I especially love the inclusion and representation of her books.

Overall, the story of Danny joining the Grays and their search for their friend Imogen is well plotted and beautifully written. The point of view changes were clever and helped keep the somewhat frantic pace of the plot. The time jumps also deepened the readers understanding of the Grays interpersonal relationships much like flashbacks in the crime drama so that clues come together slowly but efficiently.

This book took me longer than expected to get through. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy it but more that I found it hard to really lose myself in the story. While the premise is really intriguing, and the atmosphere all encompassing, the characters seemed much older than they really were which was jarring. Working in a high school, I see all sorts of teenagers at all levels of maturity and the Grays would have been more believable as college students, in my opinion. However, I am aware that the situations they are in truly make the most sense plot wise if there are parents and siblings directly on the periphery.

Will I still promote this through readers advisory and purchase a copy when I get the chance? Absolutely. Strong women, queer identities, and real friendships should be represented whenever possible and Capetta did a wonderful job creating a world where her characters can be themselves with others around for support.

Thank you to the publisher, Candlewick Press, and Net Galley for an ARC of The Lost Coast in exchange for a review!

This cover drew me to the novel instantly, and once I read the blurb I knew I had to read it! I love the colours and the simplicity of the illustrations. It transports you to somewhere magical and intriguing. Upon reading the blurb, and discovering that it is an LGBTQIA young adult novel, with witches and friendships and mystery, i was excited when my request was accepted. It has all the markings of a great book, especially given that it is so diverse.

Unfortunately I just couldn’t get into it. I’ve tried on multiple occasions and I finally I put down my Kindle and realised I would be DNFing it. I just didn’t understand fully what was happening. The POV changes too often between the characters, with not enough time given to each one to fully get to know them. Moreover, I felt the characters weren’t given enough of a voice for me to care about any of them very much. The pacing was bizarre - it jumped too much between POV’s, and I couldn’t figure out what the others were up to at any point in time. The time seemed to leap forward, and I found keeping track difficult.

I usually like whimsical-type novels, ones that give you that magical feeling of being somewhere new and exciting where you’re never entirely certain what’s going to happen, but The Lost Coast was perhaps too whimsical even for me. I’m sad that I didn’t get along with it, but I wouldn’t discourage others from reading it. The characters are diverse and probably interesting if you can get into it. The chapters are short and it makes for a quick read, with an intriguing premise.

Unfortunately it wasn’t for me..

This was one of those books that started off at a very quick pace but it slowly started to lose its steam toward the middle and went downhill from there.

I was instantly sold on the fact that this was about a diverse group of witches who didn't give a f**k. That they didn't let small minded people get in their way and that they did what pleases them. But the story was mediocre and very predictable. I don't think that you should rely heavily on having diverse characters because the story is what should hold it all together. The glue simply wasn't there for this.

What I enjoyed was how the trees felt and breathed life into this story. How they drew people to them. It was very eccentric in a way that made me want to read more about the Redwoods of California.

The downhill slope is what made this disappointing. It didn't keep up with the steady pace that it started with. Plus I was looking for something a tad bit more creepy and this had none of that. It was a modern-day crummier version of The Craft.

There are better witch books in the YA field. I would look elsewhere for that and maybe watch The Craft while you're at it.

The Lost Coast feels like it was written just for me. It features a spectrum of queerness, strong girls, a variety of relationships, and magic to boot. Capetta's writing pulled me in from page one and kept me there for the whole story. I can't wait for this to change teen girls' lives.

Wow, okay, where do I even begin? First of all, I am never one to pick up Fantasy. So, this was a first for me; but holy cow, am I glad I requested this book. I could not put it down once I started.

From page one, I was completely captivated by the writing. Amy Rose Capetta's writing is SO beautiful. Her metaphors were flawless, and just everything about the writing style is simply amazing.

The Lost Coast is about a girl, Danny, who moves to Tempest in Northern California with her mom after having a mischievous past in Michigan. She meets a group of girls who call themselves the Grays, and who happen to practice witchcraft. It turns out, the Grays cast a spell to bring Danny to them because they need help finding their friend, Imogen. Except, Imogen is physically present; she's just mentally missing. The story develops when Danny joins the Grays and tries to find out what happened to Imogen, and how to get her back.

The story is so whimsical with its magic and witchcraft elements. It shows beautiful character developments in Danny and the Grays, and has wonderful queer rep. I cannot wait for this book to come out. I will probably read it once or twice more until then.

I really enjoyed this story of eerie happenings in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Atmospheric, smart, tingly, and fun.

The Lost Coast. What a beneficial title. What a beneficial book. They are both so beautiful. Yet the inside is just so blah. I was so bored and didn’t care about what happened to any of them. Just didn’t care.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me an Arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book.
I loved the character diversity in this book.
There was a lot of sexual and recital diversity in this book and that made me very happy.
The plot was really good but I only got truely hooked by the end of the book.
I loved it and gave it 4 stars.

Summary

This book follows the story of the Grays, a coven of witches that are searching for their missing friend Imogen. They find Danny, who has the power to help track their friend and hopefully find her. Along the way, Danny discovers more about herself and finds the truth can be hard to bear, while she fights to save those she has grown to care very much about.

Likes

I liked this one! I didn't love it but I enjoyed reading it. My main like is the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ elements. It's so present and done so well that I was like YES I NEEDED THIS. The characters are really open about discussing sexuality and gender identity and that was refreshing to see in a YA book. Danny is a soft-spoken character who knows absolutely nothing about witches and she is welcomed into the Grays like part of a family. I loved that feeling between all of the girls and it warmed my heart a little! I thought the plot was also intriguing and I couldn't stop reading! It's part mystery, part magic and it wound together these elements in a wonderful way. The twists had me on the edge of my seat and I found myself trying to figure out where the heck Imogen was the entire book! There were also humorous elements to the story and I found myself giggling at times because of the characters' humor and lightheartedness that was oh so catchy.

Dislikes

About all I disliked clearly with this book was the multiple POVs and time jumps. They were a little confusing to keep track of at times. One moment they were in present day, then a few years ago, etc. The multiple POVs worked for fleshing out parts of the story where the main characters were not there, but at times there were some POVs that I was like huh how did that add to the story? AKA a POV about the kids from the school, the ravens, etc. But all in all, it was a lovely and quick read!

Recommendation

I would recommend this book to fans of Amy as well as those who are looking for a unique LGBTQIA+ read!

This book just really wasn't for me. I was hoping for Wicked Deep vibes but honestly I was just disappointed.