The House in the Cerulean Sea

If you love found family and misfit magical kids, you're in for a treat. But this is less of a story about the kids and more about the adults, flawed and human as they may be, who love and care for them.

This is a story of Linus Baker, a man with a good heart trapped in a repressive bureaucratic work environment, as he learns that there is more to the world and more to himself. He struggles with reconciling his empathetic and caring nature with the bland objectivity demanded from him at work.

As the story goes on both we and Linus are introduced to a cast of colourful, bright, larger than life characters, each making the most of their individual tragedies and we watch as they change Linus and how, in turn, he changes the world for the better.

The book is funny, in that sharp and dry, quintessentially British way, but also so full of heart that it'll make you melt. Reading it feels like receiving a warm hug that lingers and makes you feel like everything will be alright. Magic doesn't need to be in the fantastical, most of the time it can be found in the mundane.

5 stars, would definitely recommend!