3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

As someone who grew up on The Secret Garden (book, movie, broadway musical), I appreciate how Logan took Frances Hodgson Burnett's story and made it their own. While, The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn is more inspired by, than a retelling of Hodgson Burnett's tale, there are some subtle nods towards the original that I enjoyed seeing (for example, in this one it's a crane that leads our protagonist to the secret garden instead of a robin).

I loved how the characters all connect in the end and the resolution of the mystery. While this isn't a novel where a ton of things happen, it is a quick read. My one complaint is that the flashbacks were super confusing while listening to the audiobook because they were happening off and on throughout the present plot without any clues to the reader they had started.

Emily Ellet does a good job with the audiobook narration.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, CamCat Books, and Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Audiobooks in exchange for an honest review.

I received a copy of this audiobook through Netgalley. This is my honest review.

I listened to this audiobook over three months ago, and I still think about it often. For me, it was a ghost story wrapped up in a mystery. There were a lot of things about the story that didn't seem to make much sense at first, like why Mari was invited to take photos of Yanagi Inn in the first place, since the owner seems to avoid it as much as possible. But as I learned more about the inn and Mari's connection to it, everything made so much more sense. I imagine a second reading/listen with the knowledge I now have would reveal some details and clues that I missed on my first listen.

Although the story got off to a slow start for me, once Mari started exploring the inn, I was drawn into the story in a big way. I wanted to know why she was so strongly discouraged from roaming around the grounds and why she kept hearing crying in the middle of the night. I was excited to see the reactions to her secret project. I really just wanted to ignore my responsibilities and keep listening.

The narration fit the character perfectly, at least the way I pictured the character in my mind. Although it's possible the narrators voice led to the picture in my head. Overall I give The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn 4.99836 out of 5 stars.

The Secret Garden was a favorite book of mine growing up and drew me to requesting a copy of the Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn. This audiobook transported me right back to those innocent years of magic and possibilities. The lyrical writing style lends to metaphors of cranes, lotus, and other Japanese symbolism; building a world of intrigued and hope through existential searching for peace through grief and new beginnings. I will definitely be purchasing a shelf trophy to thoroughly dig in and annotate during future readings.

This book was not what I was expecting. I thought it would be mysterious, but as I read I started to catch some similarities--and I felt silly that I didn't realize there is a connection here. Mari Lennox, grieving her mother, travels to Kyoto to photograph an Inn and, in doing so, discovers gardens...and secrets. Considering The Secret Garden (with Mary Lennox as the main character) was one of my favorite books growing up, it's surprising it took me that long to see the connections. But don't think this is the same book--it isn't. It is, however, worth the read--and I very much enjoyed the audio version. There is just something so lovely about hearing it read. It draws one in much better and more thoroughly than simply reading the words on the page. Fabulous book, would recommend it for sure. Thanks to NetGalley for the Advance Reader's Copy. As always, my reviews are independent and my opinions are my own.

A thoroughly enjoyable paranormal story based in Japan which deals with grief, loss and hurt in a really beautiful way.

Following the death of her mother, Mari, goes to Japan in order to photograph a run-down Japanese inn, and while there, discovers a secret garden. Well written, well narrated, and I would say deals with the topics of loss, regret and heartbreak in a way which allows you to grieve alongside the characters, even if you have not personally suffered a loss. Some elements of the story felt a bit more predictable, while others kind of took me by surprise. I was waiting for the plot twist as I was reading and though not a massive surprise, was not underwhelming at all. It is a story coloured as hopeful, a bit eerie at times, and definitely worth a listen or read!

<i>I was provided with a complimentary copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review, which I leave voluntarily</i>.

This story is extremely rich with culture. If ypu enjoy exploring Japanese culture, you'll love this one. Although it somewhat follows the story line of the original "The Secret Garden" it really is a very different story. I highly recommend going into this one as if you have never read a story quite like it because you probably haven't.

Really enjoyed reading this , I never read the blurb from NetGalley books so was pleasantly surprised with this book , beautifully written about grief and recovery . I felt like I was staying in the inn and rebuilding the secret garden with the main character . Would recommend

Mari is a photographer in the states. Her mother passes away, grieving her mother, she decides to go to Kyoto, Japan to take pictures for a client. She is staying at Yanagi Inn which is haunted. This is a retelling of The Secret Garden. It kept my interest throughout the entire book. 4 stars.

Many thanks to Net Galley and CamCat Audio for an audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was my first time reading something like this. It was a different read for me but I liked it. It was very slow for me though I felt like the story was not going anywhere for like 40% of the story but I wanted to know what happens. By the end as it started picking up its pace and plot, it was good but predictable.

I loved the narrators voice, it scared me at times. However, I was thinking that this truly was going to be a horror story, when it really wasn't. It was much more than that. This book resonates with how dark and deep grief can lead you to mixed with Japanese culture. At first I was confused about the main character, because to me it sounded like she was a teenager, there was a lot of angst. I then soon realized that she was actually much older and was going through a lot. It is kinda sorta a retelling of the secret garden, but way too emotional for me.

Mari Lennox grew up in Japan, the daughter of American immigrants. So when she is offered a grant to photograph the Yanagi Inn, Kyoto, soon after her mother passes away Mari decides to leave Chicago to take on a nostalgic trip and new challenge. However soon after she arrives at the inn, Mari begins hearing strange noises and when venturing in the entrancing, but overgrown garden she feels a strange connection. Through her photographs Mari sees another side to the inn, and begins to discover, that this side is linked to her families ancestry.

A lovely retelling of The Secret Garden, with its own flair. I wasn’t too keen on the character of Mari to be honest, she seems a bit juvenile at times and I find the self direction odd,; The continuous mantra of ‘Breathe Mari, breathe’ was rather irritating. Overall this was a charming, atmospheric tale with some lovely visuals, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me.

The narrator was great and voiced each character distinctly.

What an undeerfull story, the mystery kept me awake into the night because I just couldn’t wait to see what happened next. I thought I had everything figured out I was wrong :-)

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loved the original book and anyone who loves a book that will keep you guessing what’s really going on to the very end.

#thesecretgardenofyanagiinn, #AmberLogan, #netgalley

A moody book about loss, loneliness, and losing loved ones. This book is reminisce of a gothic, but set in a Japanese ryokan with a lead who varies between relatable and annoying.

I wanted to love this book, and did enjoy large parts of it, however Mari varied between being a character who was relatable if a bit childish and straight up acting inappropriately for her setting and age causing massive secondhand embarrassment. About halfway through the book, I decide to image Mari as about 12 years younger around 25/26 instead of 37/38 and al of a sudden it became much more understandable for her to be acting like a child.

Now for what held me through to the end of this book. The descriptions of the gardens and inn were amazing, and the side cast was well fleshed out and interesting. I enjoyed the meld of gothic ideas and storytelling with the setting and culture of Japan. If you want an atmospheric read this is one I can recommend highly for that alone.

I would recommend this book to those who like the following:
- Atmospheric reads
- Gothics
- Japanese setting
- The exploration of mourning
- The exploration of death and loss
- Gardens or photography
- Mystery’s

I would however warn off anyone who has a hard time reading about the loss of loved ones and of children, death, and those who can easily find main POV characters annoying.
I received and ARC of this book at no cost/for free, I am leaving this review voluntarily and all thoughts and opinions are wholly my own and unbiased.

The Secret Garden of Yanagai Inn is a modern retelling of The Secret Garden. The story takes place in Japan following the Mari Lennox who is grieving the recent loss of her mother. Mari travels to Japan on a grant to photograph Yanagai Inn. The story features a ghostly mystery as well as characters dealing with grief of losing a loved one.

I really enjoyed this story and thought that the narrator did a good job for the most part. There were a few instances that the voices of some characters were at a much higher pitch and it felt like the pitch change almost interrupted the peaceful tone of the story. Other than that I think that the narrator did a great job and the pronunciations seemed to be accurate but I am not very familiar with the Japanese language. I do know her pronunciations are a lot more accurate than what mine would have been if I was reading!

My favorite parts of the story were of course the paranormal portions and the mystery of trying to figure out who Mari was hearing at night crying. I am not really familiar with the original story and will definitely be looking into that after enjoying this story! I also enjoyed the details when describing the surroundings and the Inn. I do feel like the story pacing felt slow and there were a few chapters that did not keep me as engaged with the story. I do not feel like the slow pacing had a very negative affect on the book however. The book felt very peaceful and calming and I think a portion of that is due to the pacing.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Amber Logan for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Grieving her mother’s death, Mari Lennox travels to Kyoto, Japan to take photographs of Yanagi Inn for a client. As she explores the inn and its grounds, her camera captures striking images, uncovering layers of mystery shrouding the old resort—including an overgrown, secret garden on a forbidden island. But then eerie weeping no one else in the inn seems to hear starts keeping her awake at night.

Despite the warnings of the staff, Mari searches the deep recesses of the old building to discover the source of the ghostly sound, only to realize that her own family’s history is tied to the inn, its mysterious, forlorn garden . . . and the secrets it holds.

I thought the first half of the book was really good. I loved the setting was in Japan and how the story was a retelling of the Secret Garden. It’s one of my favorite classic stories. But then there was a lot of repetitiveness that got a little annoying to listen to. Mari was telling herself to breathe over 20 times in the same chapter. She ended up talking to herself a lot and it might’ve helped if there were more people for her to interact with. I thought it was heavily about her and her grief. It would’ve been nice if the other characters were more fleshed out. I would check out another book by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and CamCat books for my audiobook arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

"The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn" is a modern retelling of the classic "The Secret Garden." The printed version came out last year and the audiobook is a new edition so I thought I'd give it a chance and download the arc. I have to say that this is kind of a disappointing one for me. Growing up, I loved "The Secret Garden." I loved the movie and the book and both are just magical. This retelling, unfortunately, didn't have that magical quality that I was looking forward to. The story felt very lackluster which might be attributed to the writing style which I found to be lacking too. The writing was too simplistic and the pacing was much slower than I anticipated. Granted, this is a modern adult retelling and it is technically categorized as a literary fiction book, but it was SLOW. Things do pick up when Mari, the main character, finds the garden but even then...what I think the author was aiming for was atmospheric but for me, it came across very boring. Maybe it was supposed to be meditative...who knows. Either way, it didn't work for me.

The reader was also difficult to like. For a character who's supposed to be in her thirties, I found the audiobook reader to sound so girlish and juvenile. There were some times, extended times, where her voice was shrill and irritating. I found it difficult to listen to this for more than 20-30 minutes at a time because of how grating her voice was. The voice paired with the writing just didn't work for me at all.

Overall, I wouldn't really recommend this. Maybe I'm not in the demographic for the book since this feels more appropriate for the mid-40s+ demographic. It definitely reminded me of some of the patrons I used to help. Unfortunately for me, I definitely feel like I wasted my time with this one.

I’m a huge fan of all things The Secret Garden. I watched the movie religiously as a child and even still to this day it is one of my all time comfort films. I also find myself replaying the audiobook nightly to fall asleep at night. So when I heard this was a retelling I was extremely excited.

The issue with saying something is a retelling is that you have big shoes to fill and for some people you’ll never come close to what they know and love. I think it would have been better for this book to be inspired by The Secret Garden instead of a retelling. No need to have the same character names and plot line. Just let it be a grieving American coming to Japan to overcome her fears and become creative again.

The narrator did a fine job but sometimes her voice came off more juvenile than I would have expected.

The book felt a little lackluster for me. Something deeper was missing. I felt like I couldn’t connect with Mari even though I knew I should with everything she had gone through. I’m not even sure how it could be improved. Maybe it just wasn’t meant for me to be connected with her.

Thank you to NetGalley, CamCat Books and Amber Logan for the opportunity to read this book. I have written this review voluntarily.

A modern retelling of The Secret Garden set in Japan, The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn has a slow beginning but picks up the minute Mari discovers the 'secret garden' (on an abandoned island near the Inn) and decides to restore it to its former beauty with help from an elderly woman. I loved the original book and I think this retelling is very good as well. The writing is simple, beautiful, descriptive and atmospheric. There are very few characters but they are enough to move the story forward since the main character is definitely the garden.

I listened to the audiobook and absolutely loved Emily Ellet's narration. Her calm and soothing voice is a perfect fit for this book.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher CamCat Books/IBPA Members' Audiobooks and the author Amber Logan for the ALC.

The Secret Garden of Yanagi Inn is a modern retelling of The Secret Garden. I loved the American-in-Japan twist on the story. I did find the pace a bit slow for me and I could tell there were symbolisms that I was not apt at decoding, but it was also soothing with beautiful imagery. I would recommend for someone who wants a quiet book, a calming tale to hear by audio. (This was an audio book for me.)

The Secret Garden is one of my favorite audiobooks, so this retelling set in a forlorn Japanese Inn was a must-listen for me. Here, elements of the original tale are retold as a gothic mystery with heart-pounding surprises around every corner. I was fully absorbed in the world of Yanagi Inn, where the main character, Mari, finds herself isolated, grieving, and drawn toward long-buried secrets. Amber Logan’s graceful prose and expert narration by Emily Ellet made the audiobook a truly immersive experience, and the book’s themes of rebirth and transformation made this story every bit as satisfying as the classic.