Even if I knew that mystery wasn't my genre of predilection I wanted to give it a shot. And I must say that the setting was quite enjoyable (ofc it is, it's Positano) and I love a good tale of ancient sorcery.
So as a non mystery-lover this book was quite alright

thank you netgalley for the copy

3.5⭐️
This book turned out not to be for me personally but it was a beautiful book for those that love historical fiction.
Penners writing is beautifully detailed and pulls you into the story.

I did enjoy the present day time line and the magical realism and for those that like going back to other timelines she did a great job connecting the two.
I consumed the audiobook and it had 3 narrators Jessica Preddy; Greg Lockett; Gulia Innocenti. I enjoy both females as they did a great job with their recitation and spoke at a good natural pace. I personally did not enjoy the males voice and it made me disconnect from the story.

This book comes out May 1 2025

I am thankful to have gotten a complimentary audio ALC from W.F. Howes Ltd through NetGalley to read which gave me the opportunity to voluntarily leave a review.

My rating system since GoodReads doesn’t have partial stars

⭐️ Hated it
⭐️⭐️ Had a lot of trouble, prose issues, really not my cup of tea (potentially DNF’d or thought about it)
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Meh, it was an ok read but nothing special
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really enjoyed it! Would recommend to others
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Outstanding! Will circle back and read again

Oh no! I hate when I come to review and I’m a very clear outlier. So while my review is an honest one, before I begin let me say that I’ve struggled to settle to anything in the last couple of days, so it really could be a me thing this time.

I absolutely hoovered up The Lost Apothecary by the author, and I had almost forgotten that this title was sitting on my NetGalley shelf, so when I realised and made the connection I was desperate to get started. It had everything that should’ve worked perfectly for me, a beautiful setting, a dual timeline, a longing to discover secrets from the past and a little bit of witchcraft. Sadly I was quite shocked when I realised I was almost 50 % in and nothing seemed to have happened and with no real clue as to where we were heading, nothing connecting me to the characters past or present, or I hate to say any real interest in the connection between present and past.

It wasn’t really until the 70% that I felt I could get invested in the story, for me that seemed far too late, however I really loved the ending which is what essentially made me round up from 2 to 3 🌟

The narration was nice, I’m quite sad this didn’t work very well for me.

Huge thanks to W. F. Howes Ltd via NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC 🎧

Well written and full of magic and adventure this was a fun read with a strong storyline and well rounded characters
I’ve liked everything from this author she always writes very interesting stories and they’re always very different

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

I haven’t read anything by this author, but based on this book, I’d definitely look for more. I had the audio version which is very well narrated throughout and I really enjoyed listening to the title over a couple of evenings. Sarah Penney writes with assurance. In a dual timeline story, I had a real sense of mystery and witchcraft from the past resonating with the present and a search for lost treasure. There are elements of fantasy, which I’d usually avoid, but here it’s as if Sarah has cast her own bit of magic sprinkle dust and gets buy in from the reader/listener. I loved the location. I’ve never visited the Amalfi coast, but I had a strong sense of location; warm, sunny, sparkling seas and wrecks with hidden treasure. Such is the power of of the writing, even magical power like stregheria seemed plausible. There’s romance, again sort him inclined to avoid, but it’s deftly woven into this tale and I was captivated. To my surprise, I was swept along in the mystery and magic of the story and I loved it. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an early review copy.