I was absolutely delighted to be able to read this, because it has been highly recommended to me on twitter. It did not disappoint one bit!

This was a thrill ride the whole way through, I only picked it up this morning and I've already devoured it. I love the magic system - the schisms in the suitcases, so fascinating and now I want to go on an otherworlds adventure of my own. There was mystery, intrigue...so many different things that I enjoyed. Jonathan and Flick were both highly likeable characters. Glad there's going to be another one, and I cannot wait.

Where's my suitcase? A great new series, some fabulous concepts and a fascinating hook. Really hoping that the next one is published soon - need to know more....

The Strangeworlds Travel Agency is about multi universe travel, but in my opinion, more so about secrets, families, relationships and the lust for power. Flick is a young teen with a thirst for adventure but the reality of too much responsibility and trying to get used to a new town - due to a house move - means that she's living a fairly uneventful and routine life.

On exploring the new area, she stumbles upon a strange travel shop, and the custodian Jonathan, who curiously isn't that much older than she is. Jonathan becomes a mentor of sorts, training Flick up on the rules of travelling via suitcase. There starts an adventure that takes her to many worlds where she experiences wonder and danger in equal measure.

This first book in the series tells the reader much about The Agency and its many worlds but there is still much more to know and mysteries to solves.

"The Strangeworlds Travel Agency doesn’t sell holidays. We sell wonder.’ but I found that I liked the writing more than I did the plot or the characters.

It was a pleasant read with occasionally great one-liners but didn't leave me wanting to find out more.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a digital ARC in exchange for a candid review.

I cannot wait to get this book into my shop! I fully expect it to be a sensation and deservedly so. It’s refreshing, innovative and immensely fun to read. I’m genuinely excited to see how popular this will be with kids and how big of a series it’s going to become.

Felicity aka Flick moves to a new town and stumbles upon a strange looking shop. Full of trepidation, she goes inside, meets the proprietor, aloof teenager, Jonathan and discovers that not only can she see magic but the shop is stocked with a panoply of suitcases, each one of which is the portal to another world in the multiverse. Cue the start of a rollicking fantastical adventure. This book is brimming with magic and mystery - with echoes of the magical worlds discovered by children at the top of Enid Blyton's 'The Faraway Tree'. It's an absolute page-turner, completely absorbing and fires the imagination as the reader is whisked away to worlds containing snowstorms, eerie deserted lighthouses, bouncy gravity-free atmospheres and the sinister dystopia of The City of Five Lights where magic is seeping away and evil forces are at work. The story is a self-contained story, but there are questions left unanswered for the reader (most notably the mysterious disappearance of Jonathan's father) which sets things up perfectly for a sequel. I really hope L.D. Lapinski is afforded the opportunity to continue Flick and Jonathan's journeying and I will definitely be looking out for the next instalment. Thank you so much for the advance review copy.

I've been excited for The Strangeworlds Travel Agency for ages, and boy it did not disappoint!

As a main character, Flick is exactly what you want. Bold, outgoing, but also full of self doubt. Even though she's trying to save the worlds of the multiverse, her struggles never seem alien to the reader. Jonathon is a fantastic aide/sidekick/mentor as well, showing that just because you're a Good Guy doesn't mean you always have to act like a good guy.

Plus, who doesn't love some LGBTQ+ rep in there without it being the focus of the story?

For a full review, check out my blog, aboywithabook.wordpress.com

Escaping into one fantasy world is tempting enough but when there are a whole rainbow of magical worlds to explore in one book, it sounds almost too good to be true...

Rest assured, it is definitely not too good to be true! The Strangeworlds Travel Agency sweeps you up and whisks you away to places that crackle with imagination and magical delight.

From a bouncy world full of sweets to a forest that has echoes of Peter Pan's famous 'Lost Boys', from a sinister, abandoned lighthouse to the bustling 'City of Five Lights', this story whisks you on an epic adventure through worlds that will make you gasp in wonder.

Twelve year old Flick is the epitome of 'normal'. Her family are normal and her life is normal. That is until she discovers The Strangeworld's Travel Agency, run by eccentric Jonathan Mercator.

When Jonathan realises that Flick can see magic, he welcomes her into an exclusive society - one that allows members to travel across the multiverse through suitcases. But, whilst Flick is dazzled by her new adventures, it is clear that Jonathan is keeping dark secrets. Desperate to find his missing father, he embarks on a journey that plunges both himself and Flick into deadly danger. For the worlds are changing - threatened by a leaking magic - and some people will do anything to escape them...

This book, filled to the brim with L.D Lapinski's phenomenal creativity, is the ultimate fantasy read. It begins with the joyful feel of a kid in a sweet shop before twisting into a dark, breath-taking adventure. It charts not only the discovery of worlds that we have all dreamed of ourselves, but also Flick's discovery of who she is and where she fits within the magic.

The character of Jonathan is unusual. Here we have an older - almost adult- mentor showing Flick the ropes of the magical society that he is Head Custodian of. Whilst his scathing sarcasm is fun to read, his guarded attitude and wariness is a stark contrast to Flick's jubilant innocence and his story just as compelling. It is Jonathan's turmoil that drives the first part of the novel, with Flick very much in the passenger seat. However, when she discovers the extent of Jonathan's lies, she is forced to come into her own with a power and strength she could never have dreamed of.

As this is the first in a series, the story leaves the readers with a whole suitcase full of unanswered questions and an insatiable thirst for more. With parallels to well-loved magical lands such as 'Peter Pan' 'Oz' and Phillip Pullman's trilogy 'Northern Lights' (in particular the world-jumping that occurs in 'The Subtle Knife), it promises to become a memorable and epic quest steeped in a depth of magic that I haven't experienced for a long time.

An absolutely cracking read!

I have only read two chapters so far, but think this will be a wonderful book. I have enjoyed the contrasting approaches of the two visitors to the shop and feel the way the shop works has a few surprises still to deliver. The descriptions are brilliant. I will write a longer review when I have finished it.

Oh this was so.good. A nail-biting magical adventure for anyone who loved Abi Elphinstone or.the Nevermoor series. Very happy bookseller here who will be handselling like crazy.

I loved this - magical, sweeping and so imaginative, with a very likeable main character. A must-read for middle grade readers and a must-have for school libraries.

What a delight this book is! It gave me very strong faraway tree nostalgia which I loved. What child would not like to escape the mundane of day to day life to adventure in other magical worlds all unique and brilliant, and if not entirely possible then this book certainly softens the blow. I can't wait to read whats next in the series.

Get ready to lose yourself in an adventure brimming with magic and fantastic new worlds.
Meet Jonathan Mercator, a quirky 18 year old, who has found himself in charge of the family business Strangeworlds Travel Agency; and Felicity (Flick) who has just moved house away from the bustle of the city. Faced with a long, boring summer, no friends until school starts, and helping look after her baby brother, Flick stumbles across The Strangeworlds Travel Agency. Little did she expect the magical adventure she was about to find herself in. Join Flick and Jonathan as they travel to magical new worlds, face the hidden dangers and discover what friendship really is.

When I was little, I used to love the world of Mr Ben, who stepped into the changing room, put on a costume and embarked on a fantastical adventure. This book offers all of that and more for today’s readers. The plot is brimming with magic, adventure and intrigue, along with a host of characters I'm sure we will meet again. I can’t wait to step inside again and be reunited with Flick and Jonathan!

Although not normally a huge fan of fantasy books, this had me gripped from the first chapter. The Strangeworlds Travel Agency enables people to travel between worlds by stepping into suitcases. When Flick stumbles into the travel agency by accident after moving to a new town, she doesn’t realise how many adventures are in store. As she becomes more and more intrigued with the possibility of visiting different worlds, she is drawn into the world of a Strangeworlds traveller.

I liked both of the characters and found them believable. The book also has something to say about how we treat our world and use its resources.

The only negative was that I found some of worlds they visited to be a bit too sickly sweet; a cross between the multicoloured land of Oz and Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

This book is full of imagination, awe and wonder. I was hooked from the first chapter!
The concept of travelling to different worlds through a suitcase reminded me of a modern take on Enid Blyton’s A Magical Faraway Tree which was the key book which made me a reader as a child.
The complex and varied language in this book would stretch the most able children in year 6 and would be suitable and engaging for years 7-9.
I will certainly be recommending this to the children in my class and I can’t wait to do some work on them designing and writing descriptively about their own magical world contained within a suitcase.

The Strangeworlds Travel Agency is a really fun book perfect for fans of Harry Potter and (my personal favourite) The Uncommoners.
When 13 year-old Flick wanders in the aforementioned Travel Agency as she explores her new town, she is confused to see a young man surrounded by nothing but suitcases. Naturally there is more to the dusty old establishment than meets the eye, and she soon realises that the world is not all she imagined it to be. Just wanting to escape from the difficulties at home, where she appears to be doing the role of a young carer, she is soon thrust into escapism the likes of which she could never have expected.
I am a sucker for a novel which puts a twist on reality, and this book does that with aplomb. A fun, magic adventure perfect for the MG reader.

Flick’s family has just moved house, so Flick goes out to explore and discovers a strange shop which draws her in. Strangeworlds Travel Agency is a gateway to other worlds, using suitcases to travel to parallel worlds.
The Custodian, Jonathan, teachers Flick about travel, but has omitted to tell her the whole truth. When Flick discovers this, not only is she in danger but so are the many strange worlds and it is up to Flick and Jonathan to save the lot. Jonathan tries to dissuade the thieves trying to barter Flick’s survival for a suitcase by saying it is their ‘greed preventing the world from healing itself’, so there are also parallels with the conservation of our own world if only we could stop our own selfishness from destroying the planet.
Various characters are introduced in this story and we know we have not heard the last about them as this is a book intended for a series of travel to different worlds. I look forward to meeting Flick and Jonathan again in a different world to continue their quest to discover the truth about Jonathan’s family, and quite why Flick has powers she probably doesn’t even realise.

The Strangeworlds Travel agency is a magical place, unnoticed by many, until one day, 12-year old Flick stumbles into it just when she needs to the most. After moving away from the city with her very busy parents, she meets 18-year old Jonathan Mercator, the sarcastic 'travel agent' for 'The Strangeworlds Society' where the number one rule is "don't lose your luggage!". The many suitcases adorning the walls of the travel agency are doorways to other worlds, waiting for someone to jump right in! But all is not right with the worlds. Flick joins forces with Jonathan to try and find his missing father and discover what exactly is going on in Five Lights, the city at the centre of the worlds, where buildings and streets have started disappearing.

I loved that the suitcases are portals to other worlds; it reminded me of the lands at the top of Enid Blyton's 'Faraway Tree' - a favourite of mine growing up! This book is magical, adventurous and full of twists and turns. A perfect read for children around Year 4 and up.

I received this book from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the concept of the Strangeworlds Travel Agency! I wish it was real :)

I found this middle grade fantasy super fun and engaging. Jonathan comes across as a little older than he is, but also as young and missing his father. Flick definitely seems to have a lot more autonomy than I would give a 12 year old, but it does make sense with the plot.

The worlds we visit are super fun, and I really enjoyed the storyline revolving around Five Lights. I’m definitely eager to find out more and will be picking up a finished copy of this when it comes out :)

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Please note review will go live on blog on 30th april

A beautifully written book. I was transported into the world of Flick and Johnathon and it was unlike anything I’ve read before which is saying something. The introduction was quite brilliant. A few typos here and there but they are completely excused by the writing of this story. It’s not often I love a book quite as much as this but it took me back to being a child and being able to immerse myself in a mystical world where anything is possible. I can’t wait for more in the series.

A fantastic MG adventure. I was thoroughly absorbed from beginning to end. I’m certain this is going to be a popular series of books, with all the magical travel into unusual and perilous worlds.