A little bit twee.

This book was so fun! I love puzzles and I loved the concept of the Puzzlemakers. Pippa seemed like a woman I would vibe with. Clayton Stumper was the main focus of the book and his quest for finding his birth parents. I enjoyed how the backstory of the Puzzlemakers came through in both flashback chapters from Pippa's point of view and present-day adventures from Clayton's point of view. One thing in particular that I appreciated in this book was that it felt like the characters were real and true people. For example, I wonder how much Pippa knew she was orchestrating and how much was chance in a way that makes me feel like Pippa is a real woman. 

✨Bring✨ | Borrow | Bypass

Thank you to Edelweiss, Doubleday, & Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

Review: I was utterly charmed by this novel, and oh so so so so deeply desire for this to be a film - with the right actors and settings this could be one of the top films ever made and I'll die on that hill. The puzzles?? Creighton Hall?? The relationships?? The PUZZLES? Ugh, it'd be amazing.

This had a now & then narration; now showcasing Clayton trying to figure out who he is in the world without his adopted mother, Pippa; and the then showing how Pippa came to found The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers and how she became Clayton's family (as did the rest of the Fellowship, but don't even get me started on that because I'll cry).

There were a lot of side characters here, some more enjoyable and fleshed out than others - but I really didn't mind. The ones that needed to be full were, and the ones that weren't were still delightful.

I really liked how the end all came together, even if (by that point), it wasn't wholly surprising. Definitely recommend this cozy, lovely, wonderful novel.

(Also, I didn't get many of the puzzles throughout but it didn't dampen my enjoyment.)

Some quotes that I loved:

A good friend should build you up, she always used to say. They should help you become the best version of yourself. In that sense, forging a friendship was akin to finding a soulmate.

"But the trick, young man, is to find the person who loves you the way you love them. The way you deserve to be loved. Because, in the end, ..." Her hands were clasped around his again. "Love is all that matters."
 

If you love puzzles then you’ll love this book. It has riddles, crosswords, anagrams all tied into the story as clues to solve a mystery. I loved all of the characters and just the theme in general about finding and building you’re own family. There’s a lot of quotes/wisdom sprinkled throughout.

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Doubleday in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

WARNING: it's another unpopular opinion review!!

I have a weak spot for stories with older main characters and a found family trope, so I thought that The Fellowship Of Puzzlemakers would be a perfect fit for me. I loved the sound of the premise, with the mystery around Clayton's birth parents, the idea of the fellowship and the puzzle element... And I fully expected to enjoy my time with this debut. Sadly, the complete opposite ended up being true, and I somehow I struggled considerably to make it to the end. I seem to be an outlier as most people seem to love this book, but I'll try to explain what did and didn't work for me in case I'm not the only one out there who couldn't quite connect to this story.

First of all, I have to say that I still love the premise of The Fellowship Of Puzzlemakers and the general idea behind the plot and everything that happens. The fellowship and its members are so intriguing, and I enjoyed learning more about how the fellowship was formed and grew over time. The puzzle element was great as well, although I have to say the effect was kind of ruined as they didn't come out well at all in the kindle version. I suspect they would work so much better on paper though! I also do hope that the basic math errors that popped up will be edited out in the final version.

Now, where did it go wrong for me then? It was probably mostly the execution, and not the content of the story for me. First of all, the pace is extremely slow, and I struggled considerably to stay invested and convince myself to keep reading. I kept putting it down to do other things, and you know something is wrong when you rather start cleaning than read another chapter... The fact that the story constantly switches between past and present didn't really help either; dual timelines can go both ways for me in the first place, but in this case it was not the timelines, but the sheer amount of switches combined with the short chapters for me. It made it really hard to connect to the main characters, as I never felt I got to spend any proper quality time with them before I had to switch my brain to a completely different era.

As for the characters... Somehow I was never able to warm up to them. I mentioned the constant POV switches, but this wasn't the only issue for me. There is something almost distant about the way the story is told, and this distance made it hard to make a proper connection to the characters. I never felt invested in what was happening, and as a result I struggled to care about what was going to happen next. The mystery of Clayton's parentage was also a bit too simple, because there frankly aren't too many female characters to choose from in the first place... As a result, the final reveal wasn't all that satisfying to me.

I'm not saying that The Fellowship Of Puzzlemakers is a bad read though, but it definitely wasn't the book for me. I somehow liked the idea behind this story a lot more than the actual execution... But then again, I seem to be in the minority, so don't give up on my account if you like the sound of this debut. Chances are high it will work better for you! 

 I would like to thank NetGalley and Vintage Anchor for providing me with a free e-ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

After the death of the main parental figure in his life, Pippa, Clayton is at a loss of what to do next. When he discovers that Pippa left him with a set of puzzles that could lead him to find his biological parents, Clayton sets out on this journey where he learns what family ultimately means.

I had some high hopes for The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers when I first requested it back in September. The book’s concept seemed interesting and I thought I would be delighted with a nice cozy read set in England.

While this book didn’t live up to all of my expectations, it wasn’t a terrible read and there’s definitely readers out there who will fall in love with The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers when it comes out this spring.

One of Burr’s biggest strengths in this book is the unique character voices it provides to Clayton and Pippa. Told in alternating timelines (one featuring Clayton’s journey and the other on Pippa starting The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers), each voice gets their own distinct characteristics and personality traits to the point where you’re almost conversing with them as the story plays out. I also thought Burr had a nice writing style and did a really good job with alternating between timelines and how they ultimately sync up with each other.

My main critique with this book is the pacing. You will come to realize that the pacing for this book is very slow and it shows the more you read it, to the point where it feels like the book drags in certain places. I’m not the biggest fan of books with slow pacing, which is why I didn’t really like the book as much.

Nevertheless, while I wasn’t the right reader for this book, that doesn’t mean you won’t like it. Fans of Lessons in Chemistry of the Thursday Murder Club series, there’s a good chance you will like the quirky ensemble of Fellowship members featured throughout the book. If you love unique character voices and don’t mind the slow pacing, Burr’s writing style will be up your alley. That being said, this book wasn’t for me, but it can be a good pick for some readers.