* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

3.5 stars

This sequel to The Vine Witch could nearly have worked as a standalone and was quite different in feel from its predecessor. While Smith still writes scenery well and I was transported to historical Paris, it wasn't as vibrant as it had been in the original. Instead, there appeared to have been a trade to character focus. This worked well to give better rounding in a few of the characters and pulled the story together.

The magic usage, development, and history were perhaps the best pieces and I loved reading bits of spell usage and past magical events. I also really adored the addition of the black cat and found Alexandre's character charming. These were great side characters that really helped to add a little extra wonderful depth to the narrative and just made things feel a bit more cozy.

The Elena storyline seemed to be more of a tell vs. show approach due to the lack of a Jean-Paul storyline. Most of the things for Elena's character and plot were either done in the background or very quickly addressed. However, Yvette's story was told cleverly and well. There was good establishment of a history for her and pieces of the mystery were slowly unfolded in a way that let the reader determine the truth prior to Yvette's discovery.

The pacing was a bit irregular, but the good writing pulled it though and the ending was very well done. There was a good climax, great explanation and wrap up that left the book without a horrible cliffhanger, but still maintained enough mystery to explore in the next book to this series. A good read and I look forward to reading the next book when it is released.