Mandy by Julie Andrews Spoiler-Free Review

 

I just finished reading Mandy by Julie Andrews. (Yes, that Julie Andrews. Did you know she was an author as well as an actress?) I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars.

This was such a sweet book! This gave off the same heartwarming, cottagecore vibes similar to Anne of Green Gables, which is one of my favorite books of all time. 

Mandy is about an orphan girl named, well, Mandy, who is ten years old and has lived in an orphanage all of her life. Despite her relatively normal an non-chaotic life in the orphanage, she's had a lingering sadness in the back of her mind because she always felt that something was missing from her life. 

One day while exploring the woods behind the orphanage, she comes across an old abandoned cottage. She decides to make it her own personal sanctuary. So she starts a project to tidy up the cottage and grow a garden there, but she has to keep it secret, as she has felt she finally found a place to call her own and doesn't want to share it with anyone. 

Mandy starts to buy some tools to fix up the cottage with the money she makes from working part-time at a local grocery store, and she occasionally steals things from the orphanage. She also lies to the adults running the orphanage and even her best friend Sue to where she sneaks off to every day. Sometimes she spends hours at the cottage by herself just hanging out and playing with the animals there. Eventually, her frequent visits to the cottage will come to a point that will change her life forever...

Again, that's where I'll stop before it gets into spoilers. 

I highly recommend this book if you are looking for an emotion-packed but uplifting read. This will definitely be a book I will be thinking about long after I have read it. I will also be checking out more from Julie Andrews! 

Also, is it just me, or is it kind of hard to always talk about in detail why you love a book when you do? For all my five star reads, I'm always like "it's just so good! Just go read it 'cause I say so!" Words can't express my love for a new favorite book. I can always discuss what it's about plot-wise but I can never get too deep about all the elements I personally loved about the book. 

Yes, that's a Strawberry Shortcake ragdoll next to the book. I like the classic Strawberry Shortcake character.