The House in the Cerulean Sea

A rather heartwarming read that has a similar charm to it that Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events have in their respective series. In some instances, it does feel like it could fit in a corner of the Wizarding World, especially with certain character and organization names. For some, that may help ground them in the world and story more, even if it can come across as a little too similar to others. The story, however, is sincere, good-natured, and even comical enough to stand on its own.

I would classify this as more character-driven than plot-driven, and given the slice-of-life nature of the story, some readers may feel the story drags on a bit before getting to more interesting plot points. There was a point in the book where I found my interest waning, but I stuck with it and found the story picked up the more I read. Klune, in my opinion, tells this story with the idea that you're in it for the characters, first and foremost, so just something to think about.

The slow moments in the story did leave me with an initial 4-star rating, but the ending worked for me and bumped the story up to a 5-star must read. The prose, the characters, the romance (subtle though it was until the last third), and the minimal but intriguing worldbuilding definitely outweigh the few qualms I may have had with it.