Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

Zoey arrives on Mallow Island, South Carolina ready to take over her late mother's condo at the Dellawisp. Named after the tiny turquoise birds that inhabit and guard the garden, the building is built in a u-shape with 5 separate condos. The residents are all quirky in their own way, each holding on to the secrets of their past. Lizbeth Lime was the strangest of them all, hoarding boxes on boxes of papers, yelling at the neighbors for the slightest noise. But when she dies in a freak accident, the property manager hires Zoey to sort through all the boxes. But when she contacts the woman's son to collect what's left, he doesn't want anything to do with it and neither does her sister Lucy, who also lives in the Dellawisp, living like a recluse with no contact with anyone. But with Lizbeth gone, the rest of the neighbors become closer and start to heal from their pasts. 

I absolutely love this author's writing. The aura of magic and mystery, the development of relationships between the characters, the way she reveals their secrets a little bit at a time, even the "ghost story" chapters just fit seamlessly into a beautiful story. 

I received an advance reader copy of this book. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.