Found Things Series – Paula Brackston

Book 4 is available now.

Titles: Book 1 – The Little Shop of Found Things, Book 2 – Secrets of the Chocolate House, Book 3 – The Garden of Promises and Lies

Author: Paula Brackston

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Plot: Book 1 – Xanthe and her mother, Flora, have just moved to Marlborough to start a new life with their own little antique shop. Xanthe has always had a connection with some of the items in their antique shop. While exploring their new back yard and garden, Xanthe discovers a little shed like building. When she steps inside, she’s transported back in time. Xanthe soon learns she must help an innocent girl escape her fate in jail. But how can she help? Is there anyone she can trust? Can she return to her own time?

Book 2 – Xanthe’s learned she can time travel. She finds a new object, an centuries old chocolate pot, not long after she’s settled back into normal life that calls to her. When she returns home with the chocolate pot, she sees a vision of an old friend in trouble. Xanthe returns to the past to help him. But he’s not there, but in jail. In the past she also meets new friends and makes some enemies. Can her new found friendship help defeat her new enemy to save her old friend?

Book 3 – Xanthe’s been working on her time travel skills while she waits for the next object to call to her. She’s also preparing to meet Fairfax again. He’s becoming stronger since their last meeting. Xanthe can only guess at what Fairfax wants. But when he starts attacking Xanthe’s family and friends, she has no choice but to tell them what’s really been going on. Then Xanthe finds a wedding dress that calls to her. It could be the clue to help stop Fairfax. With the help of her family and friends, Xanthe may finally have all the pieces she needs to stop Fairfax once and for all. But will it be enough? Or will Fairfax achieve all he desires?

Rating: 4.3 – a good time travel series

Opinion: This was a great series. This has a great combo of fantasy, historical fiction, and sappy romance. The time travel doesn’t too technical or too detailed but gives the reader a good sense of how the time travel works. It’s never overwhelming with details or info dumps at certain points. The romance in the series is sweet and sappy. It’s meant to look like a real relationship. I wish the ex-boyfriend had more of a tie in to book two. He just shows up at the beginning, appears once in a while, then disappears at the end of the book. I enjoyed the historical fiction parts cause it’s about different times than what I’ve read about. It talks about the daily lives of more ordinary people instead of the nobility. This is a slow building series that ends in some sort of cliffhanger at the end of every book. There’s a fourth book in the series and I’m having a hard time waiting for it to come out. I’m curious to see how the authors ties everything up. I really enjoyed this series so far and would recommend this series to anyone who likes historical fiction and fantasy.