Finding Love at the Magical Curiosity Shop - Jaimie Admans - ★★

 

AUTHOR: Jaimie Admans

SERIES: The Ever After Street, #5

GENRE: Romance-Drama.

PUBLICATION DATE: May 26, 2025.

RATING: 2 stars.

In a Nutshell: A contemporary romance-drama with a Little Mermaid twist. The fifth book of the Ever After Street series, and can be read as a standalone. It had a few charming moments, but didn’t work too well for me, partly due to my reading preferences and partly because of the lacklustre characters and romance. My least favourite of all the books I have read by this author so far. This is an outlier review.  

Plot Preview: 

Thirty-eight-year-old Mickey runs a quaint curiosity shop on the charming Ever After Street. Lately, the number of customers and sales has dwindled, but she has hopes that her beloved curios will find a new home someday. Until Ren walks in with his no-filter attitude and points out all the reasons Mickey’s shop is a mess. Ren’s teenage daughter Ava is much friendlier to Mickey, though she too has her share of sass.

When Ava discovers a secret diary in one of Mickey’s treasures, both are convinced that it must have been written by a mermaid. But the more pragmatic Ren is obviously sceptical. As they explore the mystery together, the trio discovers learns some important life lessons.

The story comes to us in Mickey’s first-person perspective. 

Though not an avid romance reader, I have read quite a few Jaimie Admans novels for their gorgeous settings, lovely meet-cutes, and adorable (and realistically vulnerable) MMCs. Not a single Admans book has failed to impress me. Until this one. I never thought I would be so disconnected from an Admans story, but I suppose even favourite authors can end up disappointing us at times. I didn’t hate this book, but I didn’t love it the way I had anticipated. 

Bookish Yays:

🎵 The Little Mermaid connection: This story isn't a retelling, but many scenes are loosely derived from the Disney version. There are also some glimpses of the original Andersen story. No complaints on this point. I am not a fan of the original fairy tale, but I liked this ode to it. 

Bookish Mixed Bags:

🧜‍♀️ Mickey: Has her charms, especially the way she lives life on her own terms, but is also too impractical and impulsive, all the more for an indie business owner. She never behaves as per her age. Her repeated declarations about Ren’s attractiveness and about how he alone made her realise the shortcomings of her shop further prove her naïveté. 

🧜‍♀️ Ren: I connected better with Ren than with Mickey because he was more practical in his thinking. Some reviewers have called him ‘grumpy’ to Mickey’s ‘sunshine’, but I find him level-headed as he uses his common sense no matter the circumstances. (Gimme a man with common sense any day over brawny hotties!) Unfortunately, his attitude especially at the start of the book, is a huge turn-off. 

🧜‍♀️ Ava: For a thirteen-year-old, she is mostly okay except in the crucial scene in the final quarter where she seems to misbehave just to set the foundation of a third-act breakup. Also, I don’t like the way she complains about her own dad to Mickey, an absolute stranger. 

🧜‍♀️ The secret diary: I relished the story in this diary and even more, the resolution of the mystery. I also love that it sounded like a diary instead of like a novel. What I don’t like is the reaction of Mickey and Ava to the diary, with their immediately jumping to the conclusion that it might be written by a mermaid. How come neither of them even wondered how a mermaid had access to writing equipment, or even how a “mermaid” would know how to *write* English? Ren seemed to be the only fellow thinking clearly. 

🧜‍♀️ Pet peeve: I hate it when characters take the entire novel to read a newly-discovered diary/journal. But I also appreciate that the reason for this is clarified (for once!) in this book. 

🧜‍♀️ The Curiosity Shop: I love the shop’s name ‘The Mermaid's Treasure Trove’ and its intent, but not how Mickey manages it. I wish we would have had a chance to explore some more curios beyond the dragon fruit table.

🧜‍♀️ The themes: Some good themes in this book include knowing yourself, handling grief, relationship breakups, single parenting, and understanding the importance of organising even when your heart isn't into it. These are quite decently handled, even if I didn’t understand why Mickey kept calling her ex “my ex” even in her first-person inner monologues. The only theme I didn’t like (probably because it went firmly against my grounded Capricorn head) was the championing of being free-spirited and believing in (English-writing) mermaids if needed. Errmm…. okay! 👀

🧜‍♀️ The series continuity: Every book in the Ever After Street series can be read as a standalone. However, considering that all the books are set on the same shopping street, the characters from the earlier books always make an appearance in subsequent stories. This is usually one of my favourite aspects: meeting the older favourites. However, in this book, the earlier characters are mostly in the background with no talking scenes. The only one who gets enough page space is Lissa, who is the lead of the next book. 

Bookish Nays:

🐡 The romance: I just didn’t see the connect between the lead pair, which is all the more disappointing for a Jaimie Admans book. Mickey and Ren have nothing in common; one is super-organised, and the other is chaos. Ren even criticises Mickey’s approach to life, and yet, within six short weeks, he is declaring undying love. It is all so abrupt and unconvincing. Further, there’s not much romance-y romance, with a major chunk of the book feeling more like general contemporary fiction. Heck, I even missed the Admans’ ubiquitous touchy-feely stuff, which is a miracle in itself as I am absolutely not into anything touchy-feely! 

🐡 The Parenting Trap: This is the first time (as far as I know) this author’s book has a single parent as a main character. It’s not a trope I am fond of, as it usually involves the same done-to-death ingredients: painful breakup, annoying/uncaring ex, troubled child, magical recovery after the new relationship. This book follows the formula to the T. But it has one thing that didn’t sit well by me: Ava and Mickey always gang up together while Ren is forced to give up on his (much more logical) reservations and succumb to their demands. There are also scenes where Mickey suggests that Ava not reveal some things to Ren. As a parent myself, I get annoyed by such tactics, especially as Ren isn’t even a bad father.

🐡 The third act breakup: I hardly ever mention this trope in my romance-genre reviews as I consider this reveal a major spoiler. However, this time, I cannot help myself. This scene is easily the weakest point of the whole book, making no sense at all and turning away from the characters’ established personality. I’d rather not have a third-act breakup in a book, but if it has to be written, it should feel genuine, not formulaic. I wish this tiresome trope would be retired. Isn't there any way to end a romance novel without resorting to a breakup in the penultimate few chapters? 

All in all, perhaps this book was a tad too whimsical for me. (I am not the kind to get gooey-eyed about mermaids.) But I would have still taken this in my stride had the connection between the lead pair been strong. If I cannot root for a couple to come together even in a romance, there’s no way to save the experience. 

Many of the reasons for my dissatisfaction stem from personal preferences, so they hopefully won't affect other readers as much. The ratings anyway confirm that I am very much an outlier. I think this story would work better for those who have a more imaginative and spontaneous mindset.

The 2025 series jinx continues with this book. I have enjoyed all the other books of the series, so this experience is a shocker to me. With just one more book to go, I hope Lissa’s story helps me say goodbye to Ever After Street with a teary smile instead of only tears. 

Recommended only to staunch Jaimie Admans fans and Ever After Street fans. If you want to begin your Jaimie Admans journey, please try the earlier novels of this series, each of which is a standalone.

My thanks to Boldwood Books for a complimentary copy of 'Finding Love at the Magical Curiosity Shop' via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work out better.

The digital version of this book is available free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers.