After the special novel The Lost bookshop, the bar was set high for a second book by Evie Woods.

The story collector is a book with a mysterious story. American Sarah is in conflict with herself after a traumatic event and spontaneously travels to Ireland where she rents a small cottage. She discovers a diary of Anna from 1911 who lived in this cottage. While reading, Sarah discovers all kinds of things about The good people, elves and fairies who, according to stories, are frequently present in Ireland.

The Storyteller is a nice book to read. The alternation of perspective between Sarah and Anna makes you as a reader constantly want to continue reading. The question of what exactly happened to Sarah is not that difficult to guess, but it is nicely incorporated into the story and the emotions that play a role are well described. By reading Anna's diary, you also sympathize with her. The naive girl who is still scarred by loss and is blinded by the wealth of an English landowner is a strong counterpart to Sarah's story. The interweaving of the Irish legends about The good people gives it a mysterious edge.

Evie Woods is good at telling stories and that quickly draws you into the lives of Sarah and Anne. The descriptions of the area are also very nicely done. You can see everything in front of you and can easily relate to the characters.

The storyteller is a beautiful and mysterious story with well-developed characters, two timelines in a beautiful setting of the Irish countryside.

The Story Collector by Evie Woods is a re-release of a book she wrote years ago under her alternate name (Evie Gaughan). It is a cute story with a little magical realism.
A woman named Sarah intends to fly from NYC to Boston but gets drunk at the airport and flies to Shannon, Ireland instead. She rents a cottage and finds a diary that is one hundred years old. A dual storyline ensues, with chapters alternating from the hundred year old story and the present. In the past, Harold is an American researching fairy folklore and Anna helps introduce him to the locals. In the present, Sarah is reading the diary and meeting the community. A little bit of fairy magic exists in both the past and the present stories, but it is pretty light.
The past storyline was more interesting and more substantial to the story, but even so,
I thought it was superficial. I expected some great fairy stories, but it didn’t go into that sort of detail. It was more on the relationship between Harold and Anna, plus others. The characters were all pretty one sided without much depth. The author tried to add some dramatic flair in Sarah, giving her some heavy issues to deal with. But it just fell flat for me.
This would best suit a reader who likes a little magic, a little romance, and the Irish countryside.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for my ARC.

I enjoyed this cute little tale about a grieving woman who drunkenly takes an impromptu flight to the sleepy Irish town of Thornwood. Sarah is supposed to be leaving her husband in NYC and flying back home to Boston on Christmas Day, but she ends up on the wrong flight and decides that maybe she needs a reset for a week or two before she heads back to the U.S.

As one does in these kinds of tales, she ends up staying longer and the possibility of healing draws ever closer with each interaction with the Irish locals. There’s a dual timeline here, and I loved learning about what life was like in rural Ireland just before WWI, as well as in 2011. The descriptions of the countryside completely drew me in. I would LOVE to visit Ireland! I just wish it had better weather… 😉😁

The ending was a little abrupt for my taste, and it is a slow burn, but I had fun immersing myself in Thornwood, and I think others will, too.

Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for gifting me with an eARC. All opinions are my own.

Evie Woods is an amazing author. Her writing is so beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time. Her books bring so much emotion out of me. I loved this book. I loved the characters stories and how she incorporated Irish folklore, The story is a little slow reading, not what I am use to. But the depth of the story makes up for it!

When you know you know, I loved this book. Amazing intertwining stories this was a cosy read and I would definitely recommend. Thank you for the ARC!

I didn’t want this to end, I was hooked and couldn’t put it down. I just loved this story. So cozy and perfect to curl up with and sink into something special. Thank you to Netgalley, and the Author Evie Woods and publishers for the arc of The story Collector.

“The Story Collector” is a thought provoking, magical and emotive read. It is a dual timeline novel that delves into the many faucets of grief and loss alongside telling tales of folklore surrounding the “Good People” in Ireland.

Sarah is full of anxieties and distress after leaving her husband on Christmas Day. She us expected at her sister’s house in Boston but at the airport she has found solace in drink and after reading a newspaper article on a magical fairly tree rashly decides to get on a different plane and fly to Ireland. On arrival she finds everything is closed or busy given the time of year but a kindly Porter at the airport hotel sorts out transport and accommodation for her. She finds herself in the beautiful but remote Irish countryside renting a small cottage. So very far removed from her home in New York and all her troubles.

It becomes clear that Sarah is no stranger to drinking to soothe her mind and forget. There is a lot more to her situation than just a broken marriage. She also likes to walk around town to help her insomnia and clear her mind. This is no easy task in the dark of the night in the countryside. She literally stumbles upon a diary hidden in a hollow of a tree.

Then follows the dual timeline story of Anna Butler. A young farm girl who’s family lived in the cottage Sarah is renting. Anna’s story begins in the diary as she is chosen as a Gaelic speaker, to translate and be the research assistant to an American scholar who is collecting stories from the locals about the “Good People”. Sarah is fascinated it is as if the folk tales stories surrounding the magical tree and this area are calling her. There are some parallels between Sarah and Anna that help Sarah work through her own situation.

I was fascinated reading about the fairies through the eyes of Anna as she reacts to her neighbour’s tales, many of them sad and quite dark. I was invested in Sarah’s story too, I wanted to know if she was going to be alright and if any magical events might occur to help resolve any of her issues.

This book is as much about human emotions as it is about folklore and magic. It covers grief and loss as well as touching on the social and political climate of Ireland in 1910. I was surprised by the dark nature of both storylines and was motivated to read on in order to see the light at the end of the tunnel for Sarah and Anna as the healing powers of nature, friendship, love and time all come into play.

Oh my goodness I loved this story. Part fairytale, part self healing, I loved the past and the present stories that intersected beautifully. This is the perfect book to read on a winter afternoon in front of the fire. The first book I have read of this Author, I will be reading many more.

Thank you to the Author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read, review and give an honest opinion of an ARC

The Story Collector by E. Woods, published by Harper Collins / One More Chapter, is a charming novel, well written.
The story jumps between pasts and present, tells Sarah and Jack, and Anna's story.
Blurb: A charming novel full of secrets and mystery: 1911 Anna, a young farm girl, volunteers to help an intriguing American visitor, Harold Griffin-Krauss, translate 'fairy stories' from Irish to English. But all is not as it seems and Anna soon finds herself at the heart of a mystery that threatens the future of her community and her very way of life…
New York, 2010
Captivated by the land of myth, folklore and superstition, Sarah Harper boards a plane bound for the West Coast of Ireland and finds herself walking in the footsteps of Harold and Anna one hundred years later.

The Story Collector by Evie Woods is a story between two timelines set in Ireland. Sarah (2010) travels to Ireland from the US, on a whim, and finds herself reading a diary from a hundred years ago. It’s Anna’s diary that describes her life while assisting a young man researching the Good People, fairies of Ireland. There are touches of mystery and magic while the story is revealed about Anna and Harold, the storyteller.

I would recommend this book for readers of women’s fiction who would fancy a trip to the Irish countryside of County Clare. Anna’s story tells of Ireland in the 1910s as a young lady trying to find her place in the world. Sarah’s story describes a woman in 2010 trying to make peace with her choices and find her way back home.

Thank you Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

An interesting tale about Celtic folk lore. Told in two voices, young Anna whose words are from a diary 1910/1911 and Sarah 100 years later in 2010/11. Intriguing mix of secrets, myths, legends, curses and superstition. Set in Ireland where Anna is the daughter of a 'peasant' family and Sarah is an American who finds herself unexpectedly on a flight to Shannon from New York when she was intending to go to her family in Boston. Great characters throughout with lots of tales mainly involving Fairies and The Good People, spooky at times but the book certainly draws the reader in.

There weren't many surprises in this book, I got exactly what I was expecting. And I'm not complaining.
A pleasant story about big city girl in a small village.
Had hoped the fairy storyline would be a bit darker, but that's just me.
Nicely written.

This book came along at just the right time for me, in the middle of a divorce, I found this book about lost love and second chances comforting and reassuring

I decided to give this one a go based solely on the fact that the author's other book The Lost Bookshop has rave reviews (it's still on my TBR).

If you ever believed in or enjoy fairy's this book is for you. It's a trip into a magical and mystical world. This isn't my usual genre, but I really enjoyed this one. The story alternates between the past (with a diary) and the present. The dual storylines kept the story interesting. This is one enjoyable read!

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter | One More Chapter for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

An absolutely beautiful book. Weaving Irish folklore with 2 different stories it really brought the spirit of Ireland through the pages. Highly recommended.

Such a beautiful story and the ride that this book took me on is one that I would like to share with everyone. The characters and what they do l just feel like if I say anything I will spoil something but just please if you enjoy a good tale, look at this one.

Following the unexpected journey of Sarah to Ireland, we follow her story and that of Anna, who's diary she finds. Set many years apart, the diary gives a beautiful story of Irish folklore and fairies, and it unexpectedly helps Sarah with her own life. It is beautifully written and with some romance, I think the story is more about the lives of two young women and their journey. I highly recommend reading.

The Story Collector by Evie Woods is a charming, evocative story full of secrets and mystery. It spans two centuries and tells the stories of two women and the men they fell in love with.
1910, Anna a young naive farm girl meets Harold Griffin-Kraus and helps him to to interpretation the local people’s fairy stories and folk lore.
Harper is the second woman in the story and she goes on a plane to Ireland in the New Year of 2011 and meets another lost soul. Harper finds Anna’s diary and reads her story and sees how it resonates with her own.
A story full of folk lore and fairies, love, laughter, sadness and renewal.
Highly recommended

This is the second book by Evie Woods that I have read and I was looking forward to it having enjoyed the previous book. However, it wasn't as good for me as The Lost Book Shop. The plot line was too obvious and felt cliched, the ending was predictable and this took away the mystery that the story needed.
I struggled to relate to the characters and found the main character, Sarah's excessive drinking unnecessary for the plot.
This book didn't deliver the impact it should have, which is a shame as it could have been a good story.

This is the first book by Evie Woods that I have read. I read a preview for The Lost Bookshop at the end of The Story Collector so I will be keeping my eyes out for that now!

I loved reading about Harold and Anna from 100 years ago, and their search for stories about The Good People.

Then we have Sarah, who seemingly on a whim ends up in Ireland, following in Harold and Anna's footsteps 100 years later.

A delightful tale of love and loss and magical stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for the digital ARC. All opinions are my own.