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blissofalife's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
An interesting read! I enjoyed reading it, though each time I put it down I struggled to want to pick it back up. The ending was satisfying, and the non-linear timeline was well done!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Violence, Classism, and Misogyny
Minor: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Blood, and Sexual content
wganas4's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Vomit
breezypeach's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Lina’s sister is found murdered, she has to find out what happened to her. To achieve this she apprentices under a highly regarded medium in Paris. The two are invited back to the London Seance Society to investigate a murder, and as they begin to investigate they find there is many more connections and conspiracies than initially expected. This was a really fun read. The mystery was fun and definitely kept me coming back for more. However, I really didn’t like the secondary POV and how that ended up basically being the means to which the reader learns what actually happened. I would have enjoyed the story much more just from Lina’s perspective.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, Violence, Sexism, and Sexual assault
iridescentdreams's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, Murder, Grief, and Gore
growintogardens's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.75
A lot of promise, but the characters just didn't click for me and the pacing was too slow at times. It sucks because queer characters and the setting had me so excited for this book and historical mysteries are my jam.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Sexism, Murder, Violence, Grief, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
ginafugate's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was amazing!!! I absolutely LOVED this author’s first book, The Lost Apothecary, & thought nothing else could compare but I was wrong! This book is as good - if not BETTER - than TLA. Loved all the mystery with its many twists & turns, super strong world building, solid character development, plot, and romance of different kinds. I highly recommend this book and can’t wait for her next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Grief, Blood, Confinement, Death, Child death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
ailiscr32's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Lenna is irritating and quick to jump to conclusions, often wrong ones. Vaudeline seems to lack personality at any moment that Lenna's ability to come to erroneous conclusions relates to her. Mr. Morely is bland until the end where he suddenly has some type of personality.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, and Violence
emilywemily6's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This one is kind of hard for me to rate, especially because I loved Penner’s first book! The writing at the beginning was hard to follow and so I was confused for the first half of the book that the beginning seance was Evie’s. The first half was kind of slow while the second half got more interesting and definitely picked up speed. I feel like these characters were overly sexualized and the focus on lust detracted from the story and from the other personality traits of the characters- literally everyone is obsessed with sex in this book. I found the society’s secrets very intriguing and how the scandal kept growing, though some of the “twists” were very predictable. I also feel like the ending wrapped up too nicely because of the paranormal being able to do things these characters could not. Lenna did some stupid things and often didn’t even try to fight her way out of tricky situations. I would have appreciated a bit more effort on her part. This book feels different than Penner’s previous and while I generally enjoyed it, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Sexism, and Death
Moderate: Rape and Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcohol
mgmotley's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Murder, and Sexism