Friday Memes: The Shelterlings by Sarah Beth Durst

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

As the only squirrel at the Shelter for Rejected Familiars, Holly always volunteered for the chores that required and exceptionally fluffy tail, such as sweeping the porch.

Friday 56:

Charlie added, "Everyone's going to be so happy if we come back with the sixth ingredient. We'll only be one step away from casting the spell!"

This week I'm spotlighting The Shelterlings by Sarah Beth Durst. She emailed and asked if I wanted to review it. Since I've enjoyed all of her other books, I was quick to agree.

Here's the description from Amazon:

A group of magical misfit animals learns to appreciate their seemingly useless powers—and themselves—when they work together to thwart a villain’s attempt to steal their magic.

Holly, a grey squirrel, and her animal friends have accepted that they will never be wizards’ familiars. Though they are each magical, their powers are so offbeat—Holly herself can conjure pastries (and only pastries)—that no professional magic-worker would choose any of them as a companion for noble quests. So instead of going on adventures, they languish at the Shelter for Rejected Familiars, where they are known as “shelterlings.”

When an old friend appears with a plan for curing the shelterlings’ defective magic, everyone is on board to help him locate and retrieve the ingredients for a powerful spell. But when they learn that his offer is not what it seems, Holly and the shelterlings must fight to defend their magic, discovering in the process that their unorthodox skills may just be what is needed to save the day.