3.75 out of 5 stars

huh...that is not what I was expecting from this book. I picked it up mostly because of the cover and seeing it flagged somewhere as historical fiction and Scotland which is my wheelhouse. Throughout the read, some parts reminded me of Stalking Jack the Ripper/Nevernight/Throne of Glass/ACOTAR/An Enchantment of Ravens for different reasons. I will say I had a massive squeal when someone used the term "sassenach."

While there are some parts of the book that were historical fiction, it is predominately a book about faeries. I feel like that has been done a lot but the placement of it in Scotland gave me feelings/thoughts of folklore in our world rather than going to a whole new world--which I loved and made it a little different for me.

I wish the main character would have brought up her inventions and science more since it felt a little random with the whole plot or placed in there for convenience but was left really underdeveloped. I really liked her "rebelling" against the gender norms of the 1800s in Scotland but I think more of the inventions would've really let that part of her shine and differ her from the rest of YA fantasy with faeries.

I liked the existence of the romances and who they were with but I do wish they would've been a little bit less insta-lovey where she stays in love but just switches from scene to scene with who she is in love with.

I'll definitely be reading the sequel but I don't know how far down on my TBR list is.