“Life. A woman’s life is the path of thorns,’ I say. ‘We walk through it, our feet will always hurt” (p. 270)
Revenge, witchcraft, and dark family secrets all come together in this lush dark fairytale. The story follows Asher Todd, a new governess to the mysterious Morwood family. She is to take the place of the previous governess who had mysteriously disappeared shortly after being hired. Asher has her own dark secrets though, secrets that brought her to this particular family to enact her deeds. The Morwood family is twisted, a cruel father who beats his wife and children and sleeps around, a delicate and docile wife, three children, and the matriarch who has gone blind.... and a banished sister who was kicked out of her family and is not spoken of in this home. Asher has come for revenge and to do so she will unearth all their dark secrets and unleash a ghost upon them. Asher is more than she looks, she can see ghost, and work with magic... but the more she knows this family the more she finds herself questioning just how far she will go and just how much she will destroy. Throw in a groundskeeper who is also a werewolf and a town with its own secrets and what you get is a beautiful story about how far one will go for the love of a parent, just what it means to finally cut off the toxic people in your life, and finding yourself amongst the way your family has created you. I genuinely liked Asher, she was complicated, and for all her bad she was understandable, being raised and treated the way she was you can understand how she got to be how she was. The ending of the book was beautiful because it was a bit more open ended for possibility and for growth just as Asher herself has finally opened up herself and freed herself to finally make her own choices and path in life. (Though I’ll be honest I would love an extra epilogue with Asher and her wolfy groundsman). I adored the author’s previous work and was so excited to be given the arc of her second book which I loved just as much! Seriously I can’t wait to see what dark fairytale she spins next! If you love gothic stories with a dash of morally grey characters, light romance, dark family secrets and a touch of magic, this is for you!

*Thanks Netgalley and Titan Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*