This book centers around Libby, a lonely woman struggling with dementia, but also a best selling author who writes under a different name. I loved Libby more than I think I have ever loved another character…. And Libby did it all! She made me laugh, made me cry, made me mad… she gave me emotional whiplash and I loved every bit of it.

This one felt a little disjointed to me. There were parts that felt super repetitive, and the structure of the book within a book didn't always work for me. There's a possibility that Booth was trying to create this effect because the story is centered around a young woman who has dementia, but as a reader, it just felt like I was reading the same part of a story over and over again. I did love all of these characters and felt like they were pretty unique. But I felt like there was going to be a bigger payoff at the end, and I was just left disappointed. Not sure if this is just me being dense, but I didn't really understand why some of the setting was the same as Libby's novel. Was the entire thing just a figment of her imagination? I hate having questions like this at the end, because it makes me feel like I missed something. This book just didn't gel for me, and as much as I liked all the nods to fantasy fans and the world of Harry Potter, I probably won't be recommending this one to other readers.

Sometimes its OK to believe without knowing why.

Once upon a time there was an enormously popular fantasy series written for children (but adored equally by adults) called the Falling Children mysteries, featuring fearless Everlee, laid back Red Vines-chomping Benjamin and sensitive Huperzine as they have adventures and outsmart the villainous Unstopping. Who authors the series is the biggest mystery of all….someone known only by the pseudonym of F. T. Goldhero, but whose real identity has remained a secret throughout the publication of the first five books in the series. The sixth and final installment is due out (it is, in fact, decidedly overdue) and speculation is rampant as to when it will be published and what it will contain between its covers. There is a really big problem, though, of which even the publishers are unaware….:Libby Weeks, the highly anxious forty year old woman without family or friends from whose imagination sprang the Falling Children has just been diagnosed with dementia. For the past few months Libby has been forgetting the keys to her apartment, the password for her email, even leaving her canine companion Rolf behind at a dog park….and she has found herself with a partial manuscript that has the Falling Children in a terrible pickle and she has no idea how to finish the story. As the online clamor reaches deafening heights, Libby (well, technically F. T. Goldhero) receives an email from a Falling Children superfan, 11 year old precocious social outcast Pandora “Peanut” Bixton, who technically lives in the small town of Blue Skies, Colorado, but prefers to inhabit her imagination, writing her own stories and reading the Falling Children books over and over and over again. In the email Peanut tells her hero that she herself could write the final Falling Children book in just days, so there is no reason why Goldhero can’t just finish the darned book. Libby thinks that maybe this is the solution to her problem, and sets out to meet Peanut and see if together they can’t save the Children and their world from a horrible end, finish the book at last and maybe usher in a happy ending for themselves too.
There are so many of us in the world, readers who fell in to a make-believe world and wanted to stay there at least for a while. Was it the Chronicles of Narnia, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or Harry Potter? Especially for the last, with its midnight book release parties at bookstores worldwide and people creating quidditch leagues, the mania surrounding the Falling Children books, its mysterious author and its long overdue conclusion is all too believable. But that is only part of the appeal of this novel. With characters like Libby and Peanut, both of whom are far happier living within the stories they create than in the messy and unkind world in which they spend their days, the reader’s sympathies are engaged.as each struggles to make connections and find happiness. A fickle former best friend for Peanut, a possible love interest for Libby whose profession could prove catastrophic to her anonymity, and the anachronistic community of Blue Skies where their lives collide are all part of the many elements in this charming story chronicling the fears of flawed people and the lives they yearn to have. This is a must read for anyone who has considered fictional characters friends or has enjoyed the escape of a world within the pages of a favorite book, as well as for those who have enjoyed the books of Jasper Fforde, Elizabeth Berg and Ronald Dahl. My thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me early access to this clever story which wears its heart on its sleeve..

Cute story. Love supporting debuts and esp loved the Two things I’ noticed in terms of messaging:
1. As an author, you never really know what a book does for the reader. What a gift.
2. As a reader, we put a lot of expectations on an author.

I also loved the cover and the synopsis behind sounded so fun and unique of an idea. Perhaps it’s a me thing but it teetered off into just a “like” not a “love”.

Things that I didn’t like:
1. Love story: wasn’t necessary
2. The ending wasn’t believable
3. Confusing pieces of when the children/book are mentioned. I was trying to figure out if I should be detailing the pieces of the storyline or if they even mattered
4. Started strong and just kind of slowed down to a point where i didn’t really want to pick up the book. Cue audiobook time which normally helps :)
5. Nothing tied up to me.

Libby Weeks needs help to finish the last book in her children’s fantasy series, the Falling Children. Libby has a problem. She has dementia and is having trouble remembering how to finish the book.

Libby lives alone with her dog. She has no family or friends to help her. When eleven-year-old Pandora Bixton writes to offer to help Libby finish her book Libby travels to the small town of Blue Skies to meet Pandora.

Pandora is known as Peanut and was adopted as a baby. Peanut’s older sister and brother are also adopted

Peanut wants to see the final book finished and tries to help Libby

This was such a good story. It was about families, identity and dementia. The pace was fast. Libby struggles with dementia and keeping it a secret. Peanut struggles to be accepted by her classmates while searching for the identity of her parents.

I loved all the characters and how they dealt with their problems.

Thank you NetGalley and Source Books for a chance to read this
E-Book. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

This novel had a lot of interesting plot ideas and parts of it were really entertaining. However, there were a couple things that I didn't really enjoy. I thought that the premise behind Libby's fictional book series was too similar to series that already exist, like "Keepers of the Lost Cities" and "Stranger Things". There were also too many coincidences in the novel that were never clearly explained and seemed "too good to be true".

I did really appreciate the author's depiction of Libby's dementia and thought that aspect of the novel was really well written. A lot of the novel is told from Libby's POV and it was easy to feel her frustration and fear as her mental state declines.

Overall, I thought that this novel was well written, but a bit cliche.

Libby is the successful writer of the Falling Children fantasy series. She writes under a pseudonym so no one knows who she really is. The children who read her books love the characters and believe there character's lives are similar to their own lives. Libby has now started the last book but has started having memory problems. This becomes a big issue when she meets someone who sees her office. There is a million dollar reward to anyone who uncovers the author. She decides that maybe a fan can help her finish her book. Peanut is a girl who does not fit in. She is adopted and is searching for her real parents just like the character in the books. Libby and Peanut meet in Colorado and Peanut says she will help her finish the book. This leads to all kinds of trouble. As Libby's memory fails her Peanut and her family try to protect her.

I really enjoyed this book. The book is part the fantasy stories that Libby writes and her trying to finish her last book. She has no one in her life and Peanut and her family take her in. What an engaging and hopeful story. As Libby declines there are many blessings that enter her life. Everyone hopes for someone to help them in their time of need. The ending of the book is somewhat of a surprise. I highly recommend reading this book.

Thank you to #netgalley, #StephanieBooth and #SourcebooksLandmark for a copy of this book.
#LibbyLostandFound

I devoured this book. It is so unique!

Libby is the author of the most popular children’s series (J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter) but no one knows it’s her. Her life is her characters, stories and her dog Rolf. When she discovers she has early onset dementia she is in desperate need of help finishing her final book which is being demanded by all the fans and her publishing team. Luckily, super fan Peanut has been writing Libby her ideas and stories for months and is just what Libby needs. Libby goes to Peanut’s small town and stays with her unique family thus beginning a new journey and chapter of her life.

I loved the characters and their flaws, I loved the scattered references of Libby’s series throughout the novel. I just loved it. Although it was heartbreaking when reading the chapters with Libby’s POV and how her dementia would be making the simplest thing difficult. I was begging her to let Peanut and her family know of her diagnosis, that was the hardest part of the book for me.

This book is incredibly charming and I hope it gets so much love and attention. I genuinely think it deserves some spotlight!

I recommend it to anyone who was in a book fandom at some point in their life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmarks for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this so much. It was really satisfying to see it all come together. It was heart wrenching and warming. A really good debut

This was not the book for me. I found it confusing and weirdly bloated.

The story revolves around Libby, who has early-onset dementia (very early - she’s in her early 40s). Unfortunately, Libby has no friends or family and no one to help as she deteriorates very quickly, all while trying to finish the final book in a wildly popular children’s fantasy series. She somehow manages to find a young fan’s story ideas online and then to arrange a meetup. This young girl, Peanut, is the second narrator, and not only does she want to see the finale of her favorite series, but she kind of believes she could be one of the main characters, even while dealing with some significant family struggles and mundane middle school friend problems.

I wanted to like this intergenerational story about the love of books and writing, and I enjoyed the initial exploration of Libby’s experience with dementia and Peanut’s experiences with being the weird kid at middle school and having too many adults at home, but many annoyances kept popping up. For one, both narrators make many, many references to the Falling Children series (the one that doesn’t exist in the real world, only in this book.) I couldn’t piece together all the quotes and details to figure out the world of the Falling Children, and I honestly couldn’t be bothered to care.

Also strangely, we’re told over and over again by both narrators that Peanut’s hometown has an eerie resemblance to the setting of the Falling Children series, but that never gets explained.

There’s also an instalove storyline. Just… why?

And Libby has very little agency throughout the book. She seems to be stumbling through and has to get saved over and over, by pretty much every other character in the book. It was difficult to tell whether some of the incidents were supposed to be funny or just to show how bad her memory loss is and how much she desperately needed rescuing. I couldn’t tell whether the characters and setting were supposed to be quirky or sincere. The ending wasn’t believable at all.

Ultimately, those annoyances tanked this book for me. But I did find some of the characters and storylines to be a little interesting. If you like a book with a lot of world building on the side and don’t mind feeling off balance much of the time, just like the two narrators, you might enjoy this book. Otherwise, I’d give it a skip.

This was such an enjoyable novel. Libby Lost and Found is a book about Libby, as she's entered middle age. She is also the author of a book series popular all over the world. She can't tell anyone who she is, because her publisher wants her identity to be a secret. She has early on set dementia, but fans are clammoring for ther next book! She reaches out to a superfan, and they are able to help each other.

The characters were so well developed and interesting. I love a unique book, because so many try to stick with a formula. This was a fun, nostalgic, different book. I think you'll love it!

Thank you to Sourcebooks/Landmark and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

#NetGalley #Sourcebooks #StephanieBooth #LibbyLostandFound

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 4 stars

A bibliophile must read!

Prepare to fall in love with Libby and Peanut; however, while mostly charming and delightful, there is some heavy subject matter covered in this novel, so please proceed with that in mind.

I enjoyed the character arc of both Libby and Peanut, but I was also completely invested in the story within the story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this digital Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

A big thanks to NetGalley and Source Books for an advance copy of this book for review purposes. Libby is a fantasy author, not just any fantasy author. The author whose book is well over due. Her fans are wondering what is going on, when the new book will come out and why the radio silence. The problem is Libby has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. As if that is not bad enough, Libby deals with anxiety which is why she writes under a pen name. How is she going to get this manuscript out? Along comes Peanut, a super fan. Peanut knows as much of the stories as Libby has forgotten. But Peanut has her own issues. This is a book about friendship, and helping someone when you don’t think you can. The characters are quirky, the dialogue is fast, and you will want this book made into a movie. I think this would be great for book club. Get it, tell your friends, and thank me later!

Reading this book stressed me out. I suppose the confusion of one of the main characters who has Alzheimer's is the point of living with the disease but it makes for a stressful ride. To further add to my distress, I couldn't always follow the plot of the books within the book. It was either too much detail or not enough at times to capture me. Peanut is a charming character however.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is by NO means my normal type of read, but the weirdness of the characters and how singular this read made this actually a huge win for me. Bibliphiles should run for this.

Libby Lost and Found centers around Libby Weeks (also known as F.T. Goldhero), a children’s author who’s been diagnosed with early-onset dementia at just 40. As she struggles to complete the final book of her wildly popular Falling Children series, she enlists the help of 11-year-old super-fan Peanut.

This premise is unique and compelling, though it was nothing like what I was expecting based on the cover. I love an unreliable narrator, and this book offers two great ones—a child with a vivid imagination who struggles to separate fact from fiction and a woman whose mind is slipping due to dementia.

Equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking, Libby Lost and Found is a touching exploration of memory, imagination, and the ways we make sense of the world through stories. Readers will fall in love with the characters and enjoy peeling back the layers of the book within a book.

Libby Lost and Found is a unique, retro book about books with a hint of psychological thrill.
The main character, Libby, is writing the final installment of her fantasy series, “The Falling Children”, which she has been writing under the pen name F.T. Goldhero. While struggling to complete the series, she is diagnosed with dementia. Her symptoms worsen rapidly, and she decides to enlist a superfan for help.
I went into Libby Lost and Found expecting a lighthearted story, but I was quickly surprised by the inclusion of child abuse, medical trauma, family dysfunction, and mental illness. The themes were presented in a raw manner that left a freightening psychological impact on the story.
“Is the medicine protecting the still heathy parts of her brain? Does it matter if she’s otherwise incapacitated?”
The story consistently felt unrealistic or “far-fetched” for modern times. Libby, who is 40 years old, recruits a 11-year-old fan to help her complete a fantasy series that she has written under a pen name for her own safety. The relationship was difficult to believe but I enjoyed the character arc of the super fan, Peanut. The way her and her family helped Libby find an end to the story and navigate her health condition was chaotic but sweet.
“Maybe Libby does want the [Falling] Children to suffer the way she is.”
The line between reality and fantasy blurs as Libby’s dementia worsens and the lives in the Falling Children parallel the real lives of Libby and Peanut. I became lost through the transitions between the stories and POVs and before I knew it, the young child was attempting to take her life like Libby did with the fictional children.
“There’s reality and there’s imagination. Do you even know the difference?”
I found the style of writing and the inclusion of child suicide and the casual treatment of the psychological impact of medicine in “Libby Lost and Found” to be difficult to read. However, I can see how this book might appeal to fans of psychological thrillers and contemporary fiction. I admire Stephanie Booth’s ability to write a story that evokes such strong emotions, and I would recommend this book to anyone who isn’t disturbed by the raw themes mentioned.
Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks and RB Media for the ARC of Libby Lost and Found.

Utterly magical and heart warming. I was sucked in from the very beginning. There is something very charming about the narrative voice.

3.75⭐️

I wasn’t a massive fan of this book, I couldn’t connect to the characters, and the plot line didn’t really work with me, but I rated this book on the higher end because of how it made me feel. Libby, the main character has early on-set dementia and as such the book is written with a really unreliable narrator. But what I loved this book is that it felt like it could be a true accurate representation of dementia. Libby gets confused, loses her train of thought, you can feel her frustration and anger with her memory and it gave me all the feelings of what dementia would feel like. And for that alone this book was good, it stands out for the realitisic portrayal of the emotional rollercoaster of a women losing her mind slowly as her world falls apart with expectations, deadlines, friends, and more.

So I’d still recommend this book but it might bring out more negative emotions than good ones, so take that with a grain of salt.

Libby is a reclusive, anxiety-ridden writer that is struggling to remember after an early onset dementia diagnosis. She finds herself leaving her comfort zone to find someone who can help her finish her final segment of her children’s book series.

This is a story of love and friendship. The story reads very similar to how children’s adventures books do, leaving me wanting to finish in one sitting. This book is well-rounded, and finishes strong.