This book felt...I don't know what to call it? A tiny bit heavier, deeper than the author's previous books, but I enjoyed it all the same. Maybe it was just the sadness that was wrapped through this story that affected me so, but it was a lovely story nonetheless. I absolutely love the magical elements that are in all of her books, and this one did not disappoint.

A favorite for this year, I am just sorry it took me so long to get to it. Sarah Addison Allen writes charming stories filled quirky and appealing characters and magical realism. Set in South Carolina on the fictional Mallow Island and the Dellawisp Apartments that are named after the small turquoise birds that inhabit the area. It follows the residents when Zoey shows up to spend the summer in the apartment left to her by her mother. About new starts and found family and completely delightful.

Entertaining enough story with obvious plot "twists" but too many underdeveloped characters so I never felt fully engaged with the story. Too sweet and sentimental, even when dealing with dark subjects. Magical realism was lightly sprinkled into the story but not a major part, more like a quirk some characters shared.

I wanted to love this book but there was some disconnect between the book and I. I put it down a few times thinking it was the mood I was in but each time I picked it up the disconnect was still there.

I just could not get into this book, but I can't quite put my finger on what exactly kept me from being engaged with it. It had all the elements I love in a book, like magical realism and being character driven, which is why I requested it in the first place. However, I never quite got that spark that caused any desire to continue reading it.

I feel part of my issue was the actual characters themselves. I never became attached to any of them. I also feel like the plot could have been better. There was some great quotes, but nothing really happened until the last few pages and by that point I was already checked out. Overall, ratings are high for this book, but it just wasn't for me and I can't say I'd recommend it.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

I love Sarah Addison Allen’s quirky charming magical realism writing and this one did not disappoint. This book may be leaning a little towards the supernatural, however I still enjoyed it immensely.
The story is about a group that becomes a found family and I really enjoyed reading about their journey together.
If you enjoy reading about flawed characters dealing with grief, loss, and moving on from the past then I recommend Other birds by Sarah Addison Allen.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

This beautiful story has so much heart and whimsy with unique characters you wish you could be friends with. I loved the stories of connections and finding home and family. Truly a magical and charming book.

Thanks to St. MArtin's for the copy to review.

“If the people around you don’t love or accept you just as you are, find new people. They’re out there.”

Sarah Addison Allen has wonderful prose and engaging writing style that I recommend people to try out, but the plot and flow of the novel just did not work out for me. I felt it was trying a bit too hard to be moving, beautiful, etc. and it just did not hit for me sadly. I think flow wise, I just needed it to try... a little less.

I always thought I was a magic realism lover, but it has to be done perfectly for me to be bought into it. For this one, it just was a miss for me sadly.

Zoey is an 18 year old from Oklahoma ready to start a new life at college in South Carolina. She arrives on Mallow Island early in the summer to claim the condo at the Dellawisp that was left to her from her mother's estate On her first morning there, a neighbor is found dead.! This sets in motion a murder mystery that brings together all the quirky neighbors, each with their own secrets.

I really enjoyed this book because it shows how everyone has a guardian angel, everyone is brought together by fate and every person has an impact on those in their lives.

3.5/5 stars, this was a really sad but heartfelt story

Thank you to St. Martins Press for the arc through netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Going into this story I didn't really know what to expect, and while it didn't end up being my favorite book ever I think it was still a pretty solid read. The problem is, I read this really recently and not all of the details stuck with me, and I think it's just that kind of story. It's forgettable but when you are reading it, it's cute and heartfelt enough that it keeps you reading.

There was nothing inherently wrong with this story, I just felt that it was slow-moving, especially in the beginning. Some stories need to start and be told this way though and so I wasn't uninterested, it just made it a bit harder to get into. And I really do think that this story had to be told this way otherwise it would not have the emotional appeal or impact that it did. Throughout the story, there were more secrets and side plots revealed that did in fact, increase the pace of the story, but still, not everything was entirely interesting to me personally.

I don't have much to say other than this, it was an okay story and I recommend it to people who want a hard-hitting contemporary (with hints of magic). It just wasn't necessarily what I wanted to read at the time. The ending is very strange, but also very sad I will give the story that. The electric group of people in this story did make me smile, and I enjoyed seeing how they developed into a found family.

[TW: death of a parent, death of a loved one, immigration mentioned, sex and cheating mentioned, cult themes, animal harm (unintentional), estranged family, drug abuse and overdose mentioned, death from cancer, death of a friend, religious abuse, child negligence and abuse and death mentioned, sick death mentioned, drug addiction, arrests mentioned, assault]

Zoey Hennessy is a young women out in the world for the first time. She journeys to her late mother’s home, Mallow Island—known for its marshmallow confections—in search of clues about her relationship with her mother.

“Other Birds” is set at the pink Dellawisp Condos, named after the swirls of tiny turquoise birds native to the island. The theme of birds is wound throughout the novel as is Allen’s trademark magic.

On the night of Zoey’s arrival with the invisible Pigeon in tow, one of her neighbours, Lizbeth Lime, dies under odd circumstances, and Zoey’s summer ends up being quite extraordinary.

Her neighbors are quirky and become her chosen family. Each character has a complex past and Zoey guides them into coming together and healing. By the end of the novel, the secondary characters’ stories are as important as Zoey’s story.

The heart of the book is mother figures, and deceased mothers refusing to leave after they’ve passed away. Most of the characters don’t have great mother figures, and Allen gives them space to be messy.

“Other Birds” is about what you do when you lose people and how you move on. It is is a beautiful, lyrical story, complete with genuine characters whose depth reflects Allen's skill as a writer.

I really wanted to love this book and I think I’m in the minority but I could not get into it. I think magical realism is just not for me. The cover really got my attention and that was what made me want to read it!

Normally, I adore Sarah Addison Allen books. As a devourer of early Alice Hoffman books in the late 90s, Addison Allen often feels like the inheritor of that southern gothic/magical fiction/light women's fiction intersection that Hoffman dominated in my heart for so long. Other Birds takes its place among a solid line of Addison Allen books in that the story is character-driven with hints of a magical other woven throughout. Here characters are drawn together by the Dellawisp, a collection of condos hidden away on Mallow Island off the coast of South Carolina. The central ones are Zoey, just on the cusp of entering college, who inherits her mother's condo, and Charlotte, a henna artist with a mysterious past.

There are, of course, a lot of wonderful parts of the book like a cast of ghostly visitors, Mallow Island's candy-colored landscape, the Dellawisp itself, and a central story emphasizing found family. On the other hand, there are a lot of elements like the overwhelming whiteness of the book, the framing of one character of color as mother figure, the depiction of another's sexuality, and the way trauma is used. The pacing of the book is also slow without much development until the third act climax and reveal and their hurried resolutions.

In sum, this one is a no for me, though I do recognize this is not the perspective of most reader's of Other Birds. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book.

This book sounded interesting to me and I was lucky enough to receive an ARC from the publisher. Though I'm not a huge fan of magical realism, I like exploring books from other genres so that I have some titles to recommend to patrons at my library. Having said that, I'm sad that it took me so long to read this book! Sarah Addison Allen is a lovely writer and I was drawn in to the story of the inhabitants of the Dellawisp Apartments, human, bird, or apparition, as they struggles through their lives and found that they didn't actually have to struggle alone. Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the preview copy in exchange for my honest opinion. I will happily recommend this book.

Another fun and magical read from Ms. Sarah Addison Allen. These are great when I want a break from my typical dark murdery reads. Very enjoyable, will recommend easily.

Magical and very intriguing, this is the world of Other birds, a world where the characters had to work hard and accept the past in order to move forward and built a new future.

The story of Zoe who has been living alone for most of her life, moving into her mother's studio her new life will start to unfold meeting new characters and people that will transform that loneliness into something more beautiful and more magical. her father and stepmother didn't really care for Zoe, they literally treat her like she was non-existence. I'm glad that as soon as she moved away her life even looked more magical and appealing that the one she was living under her father's roof.

Her new neighbors are also having a difficult time with many things that are not even communicating but in some way, they show as they walk around. is like everybody in the complex was escaping from a past that didn't want to share but shared anyway with their attitude and ways of moving around.

I felt connected with Zoe's character, especially with her loneliness.

A very magical story where Zoe finally finds someway some company and love even if it was not what we expected her neighbors were completely transformed by Zoe's ways and magic.

This is one of those stories that will take you time to get immersed in but at the same time will make you feel happy and in love with some of the characters.

Thank you, Netgalley, and St. Martin's Press, for the advance copy of Other Birds in exchange for an honest review.

Magical and delightful! Beautiful story - Helps you to believe in the good of human nature again. Excellent character development - you find yourself invested in each character. They are all eclectic and you will hate to see them go as you finish the novel. It's the cool breeze off a bird's wing - light, entertaining, and, above all else, fun!

Ms. Allen's books always have just the right touch of magical realism. I just love the lovely, unique turns of phrase she comes up with. I think both adults and young adults (including high school students) will enjoy this book. If you like oddball, quirky characters and a good storyline with a bit of mystery, this book is for you.

I was SO EXCITED to see that Sarah Addison Allen had a new book coming out. It’s been awhile since her last one (with good reason) and she definitely did not disappoint me. I love that her books primarily take place in the south and have that low magic vibe to them. Other Birds was a bit more somber than some of her other titles, dealing with some heavier topics, but they were done well. The ending totally made me cry and I love how it wrapped up. It was such a solid 5 stars from me and I’m in love with the story.

Other Birds was precious! Magical realism at its best!

Zoey Hennessey finds herself moving from Tulsa to Mallow Island in South Carolina. She'll be there until she starts college. The condo was left to her by her mother, Paloma who died when she was young.

Paloma used to love going to Mallow Island and Zoey is hoping to find out more about her mother at the Dellawisps. The building's name comes from the small turquoise birds that inhabit the courtyard. On her arrival, the apartment manager, Frasier takes her to her condo and Zoey realizes there is nothing left behind by her mother. Yet, her disappointment is not long-lasting.

Zoey will get to know the other owners of the condos including Charlotte (henna artist), Mac (chef), Lizbeth (eccentric, hoarder), Lucy (Lizbeth's sister and a recluse), Frasier, and Lizbeth's son. The readers will also meet the ghosts too.

It was a sweet story despite the painful background of each character. I love Zoey's innocence and the way she is able to connect with all the other characters. In a way, she helps them heal and move forward, with some of them finding romance too.

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by St. Martin's Press via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.