I really enjoyed this book! What a fun read. Part Through the Looking Glass, Howl's Moving Castle, and Jane Austen comedy of manners, I read this over two evenings and never felt like the plot sagged or went on too long. Tight writing, solid characters, satisfying twist and a Stardust sort of ending. Very enjoyable historical fantasy.

Honestly, I couldn't get past the first chapter. The story never engaged me, and the narrator already seemed like a marytr. 😔

I couldn't get past how anachronistic the main character was, and ended up dropping this book about half way through. 😔

I think I'm giving up on this book. The heroine isn't a "thinking woman" and I feel like this is the author's stereotype of Millennials rearing its ugly head. Too reactive, too willing to blame everything on everyone else, and I don't think I can stand the remaining 2/3 of the book since it doesn't seem like the character grows much (I jumped to the last chapter to see what I was in for).

I made the mistake of jumping ahead in the book and found something triggering for me. I like the characters so I've decided to not finish this one and move onto the next book in the series.

I'm taking a break from this book because it's pretty dark.

This had a slow start for me. Right around the halfway point, the mystery plot picked up and the momentum increased until the ending slammed into place. Since this is a duology, the ending is a cliffhanger with more questions than I've seen in a long time for a narrative. I'm glad I kept with it, I'm interested to see how this turns out. I appreciated the slow burn for Elsie and Bacchus... We don't get a resolution until the second book. If nothing else I'm going to read the second book just to root for a interracial romance!

I did notice a funny quirk in a few descriptions... It only happens a couple times but it was enough for me to notice a pattern that Holmberg (or maybe just Elsie) likes to describe things like stomachs and skeletons as "slapping the ground" or "melting into a puddle" to help explain Elsie's dread. I don't know why this pulled me out of the story, but it did, briefly, to make me chuckle at how odd it seemed before moving on.