The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

If I could describe this book with only one word I would describe it as: Quirky. It is most definitely a quirky book, but I love it so for that.

Emily Benedict came to Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life. Such as, why did Dulcie Shelby leave her hometown so suddenly? And why did she vow never to return? But the moment Emily enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew—a reclusive, real-life gentle giant—she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor bakes hope in the form of cakes.

It’s been about a month since I’ve read this book so my review is going to be a little vague but I still wanted to write one because this is a beautiful book in my opinion.



This story is set in Mullaby, in the south of America. Mullaby is a town with a lot of secrets and when recently orphaned Emily moves there to live with a Grandfather she didn’t know she had she begins to find out her mother, who has only ever been a great human being and activist in Emily’s eyes, isn’t fondly thought of and this makes Emily an unwelcome visitor. Emily is driven to find out what her mother could have possibly done to be so hated and finds an unlikely friend in her neighbour Julia, a woman desperate to leave Mullaby who is also haunted by her past there.

I enjoyed most of the main characters in this book. I connected with both Emily and Julia who are really genuine characters filled with inner turmoil. Emily’s Grandfather Vance, the Giant of Mullaby, is lovely, Sawyer is sexy and Win is charming and sweet. The relationships the characters develop with each other are very realistic and sweet. You really feel like these characters are real people.

The book’s revelations aren’t particularly surprising but I really like the fact that the author incorporates a little bit of magic into the real world without trying to explain it. This is a book that wasn’t written to become the next ‘big thing’. It’s not trying to be some young adult fantasy or be a trilogy or even have a love triangle. It is just simply a slightly whimsical and romantic book that makes you see that not even adults have everything all sorted out and there is a little bit of magic in the world, you just have to look for it. It doesn’t take it’s self too seriously and doesn’t expect a huge fan base, even though I think it deserves it.

I would recommend this book to anyone with a sweet tooth who wants to read something that gives them hope, just don’t read this on an empty stomach.