The Lost Souls of Benzaiten

Machi makes a wish; a simple, desperate, wish that she doesn’t even believe will come true. So, she the last thing she expects is for Benzaiten, a goddess of luck, to appear and ask why she wishes to be a robot vacuum cleaner and demanding she change her prayer. With every adventure Machi feels no closer to finding her voice, lost when her two best friends decided they were better off without her, until she starts meeting other lost souls.

This is not a lighthearted story. Please make sure you read the content warnings in the beginning of the book, there are heavy themes of mental health and death. That being said, it is a hopeful story that left me not quite ready to close the book once finished. It’s also about friendship breakups, a relationship that isn’t often written about. Machi’s story, though not the same, felt familiar, something many people have gone through.

All the characters are interesting, different from each other and had layers of personality. And any character mentioned is important to the story, both in Machi’s past and her future.