I received this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

I just LOVE shells. I LOVE the beach. I don’t go often. These days the beach is a bit over an hour with bicycle, so I could visit more often, well, if my body agrees, haha. So when I saw this fun book up on Netgalley I just had to get it. Yes, it is all about the Britain coast, but I am sure several of these are also on my side of the sea in the Netherlands.

I had expected this to be a book just showing us various shells and give us some deets on how they look/where to find them the best. Instead I got that PLUS information on what inhabitants were in the shells before they died/got eaten/whatever else happened to them. We learn about bivalves, gastropods, about egg clouds (which sound prettier than it probably is), we learn what they eat, how you can spot them in alive state on the beach and where to find them the best. It was just so interesting to learn all about shells AND their inhabitants. I learned SO many new things about these creatures and the shells that encapsulate them/are their houses. Like, I didn’t know about dog whelks and how the creatures within are predators and will drill a hole into other shells to get food. Or that tube worms are ORANGE! And I would so love to meet a sea hare, and that comes from a girl who doesn’t have the biggest interest in snails. I had so much fun reading this book!

Oh, and I love that we also get short bits between with information about why shells are so loved, mythology bits, talk about tides, and others. It was a really nice addition!

And did I mention the illustrations? No, I didn’t. Well, I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. For real, they are so pretty and I wish I could just print out a few of these illustrations, or get them, because I would love to put them in frames and hang them around the house.

Bonus points to the fact you can also use this book to keep track of what you have spotted as every shell ends with a “I spotted this shell at….. on ……”.

All in all, highly recommend to everyone. This is a gorgeous guide perfect for those often visiting a beach/shell lovers.