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michelle_mcmaster's review against another edition
5.0
I enjoyed this one more than the first book. I cannot wait for the next one!
pam2375's review against another edition
4.0
Let me start by saying that I did not read book #1 in this series, The Little Shop of Found Things. While that fact did take away (a bit) from the story it wasn't a deal breaker. I will go back and read book 1.
This was Outlander ish to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will continue with this author.
My thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for this advanced readers copy. The release date for this book is scheduled for October 2019.
This was Outlander ish to me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will continue with this author.
My thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for this advanced readers copy. The release date for this book is scheduled for October 2019.
lynguy1's review against another edition
4.0
Secrets of the Chocolate House by Paula Brackston is a well-written, entertaining mix of Historical Fiction and Fantasy that kept me engaged throughout the book. While it is the second book in the series, it worked as a standalone novel. I believe most readers would benefit from reading the series in order as there are references back to events in the first book of the series. However, this did not diminish my reading pleasure.
The novel takes place in and around Marlborough, a market town in the English county of Wiltshire in a mix of contemporary times and the latter part of the first decade of the seventeenth century. Xanthe and her mother Flora now live in Marlborough above their antique store, The Little Shop of Found Things. Xanthe’s parents are going through a divorce, money is tight and Flora is suffering from arthritis. Xanthe has found that she can time travel to address injustices. Objects sing/whisper to her. When a copper chocolate pot calls to her, she knows that she will once again be time traveling.
Paula Brackston does a great job in giving the reader a sense of both time and place. Her descriptions help the reader to travel with Xanthe. There is history, suspense, danger, deceit, uncertainty, a villain, hope, friendship and much more.
I wish that Xanthe was a stronger female protagonist. She is still somewhat unsure of herself whether she is in contemporary times or in the seventeenth century. However, there are hints of changes and I expect this is one thing that the author will address in future books.
Readers that enjoy time travel and history should enjoy this novel. I look forward to reading more books by Paula Brackston.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Paula Brackston via Net Galley for a free electronic copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.
The novel takes place in and around Marlborough, a market town in the English county of Wiltshire in a mix of contemporary times and the latter part of the first decade of the seventeenth century. Xanthe and her mother Flora now live in Marlborough above their antique store, The Little Shop of Found Things. Xanthe’s parents are going through a divorce, money is tight and Flora is suffering from arthritis. Xanthe has found that she can time travel to address injustices. Objects sing/whisper to her. When a copper chocolate pot calls to her, she knows that she will once again be time traveling.
Paula Brackston does a great job in giving the reader a sense of both time and place. Her descriptions help the reader to travel with Xanthe. There is history, suspense, danger, deceit, uncertainty, a villain, hope, friendship and much more.
I wish that Xanthe was a stronger female protagonist. She is still somewhat unsure of herself whether she is in contemporary times or in the seventeenth century. However, there are hints of changes and I expect this is one thing that the author will address in future books.
Readers that enjoy time travel and history should enjoy this novel. I look forward to reading more books by Paula Brackston.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Paula Brackston via Net Galley for a free electronic copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.
carolyn0613's review against another edition
3.0
Xanthe has a special gift of being able to time travel using antique objects that 'sing' to her. This sounds like a bit of a far-fetched idea and I nearly gave up reading after the first few pages as I thought the writing was dire. However it soon gets into its stride and the plot is quite fast flowing and engaging and the writing improves. It is a book in a series. I hadn't read the others but, although they were referred to, it didn't affect the plotline much. I liked the descriptions of the 17th century places and the links to the present day buildings. It's a nice light read.
bhookjunkhie's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Stars. Really looking forward to the next one!❤️
sunshine169's review against another edition
3.0
I requested this book because I loved The Little Shop of Found Things. It is a cutesy and fast read. This one was good but I tire of Xanthe’s irresponsible and horrible choices.
Take this passage…
“The pill bottle on her bedside table suggested she had needed stronger painkillers. Had her arthritis worsened? Was she going to be able to manage on her own? Xanthe shook such thoughts from her head. The quicker she did what she needed to do, the sooner she could return to help her mother.”
My problems with this attitude versus the plot… Why is Xanthe putting the needs of strangers above her mother? She leaves her mother to care for herself and all the duties of running the shop. This could be somewhat forgivable if Xanthe was honest with her mother but she constantly lies. In addition, we do not know what events in the present Xanthe is preserving by going back in time to help Samuel. The only thing we learn is a cottage gets built that wouldn’t have been built if Samuel died young.
Then there is this passage regarding Xanthe’s adversary Benedict Fairfax...
“However much she had convinced herself that she was going to give him something so wonderful he would have no reason to want more from her, Mistress Flyte’s words had struck home. He was a man of no principle. A man who had set himself apart from others already by changing allegiances and serving only himself. Who could say what he would or would not do once he was in possession of his astrolabe?”
Yet she helps retrieve it for him. Wouldn’t giving a time travel device to a bad man cause worse ripples in time than a cottage not being built? I know this sounds insensitive because Xanthe clearly has feelings for Samuel but she is possibly setting in motion something far worse. Especially with what happens at the very end.
Two other issues I had:
Fairfax escapes the hangman’s noose by time traveling back 6 years. So are there two of him?
Xanthe loses her locket at the abbey. Fairfax is conveniently called away to London allowing her to go and look for it. He then is conveniently intercepted and goes back to the abbey in time to catch her and Samuel. There is just too much convenience happening in order to move the plot forward.
I will continue reading this series with the hope that Xanthe can sit her mother down and tell her what it is that she can do so the lying will stop. Lying never ends well.
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Take this passage…
“The pill bottle on her bedside table suggested she had needed stronger painkillers. Had her arthritis worsened? Was she going to be able to manage on her own? Xanthe shook such thoughts from her head. The quicker she did what she needed to do, the sooner she could return to help her mother.”
My problems with this attitude versus the plot… Why is Xanthe putting the needs of strangers above her mother? She leaves her mother to care for herself and all the duties of running the shop. This could be somewhat forgivable if Xanthe was honest with her mother but she constantly lies. In addition, we do not know what events in the present Xanthe is preserving by going back in time to help Samuel. The only thing we learn is a cottage gets built that wouldn’t have been built if Samuel died young.
Then there is this passage regarding Xanthe’s adversary Benedict Fairfax...
“However much she had convinced herself that she was going to give him something so wonderful he would have no reason to want more from her, Mistress Flyte’s words had struck home. He was a man of no principle. A man who had set himself apart from others already by changing allegiances and serving only himself. Who could say what he would or would not do once he was in possession of his astrolabe?”
Yet she helps retrieve it for him. Wouldn’t giving a time travel device to a bad man cause worse ripples in time than a cottage not being built? I know this sounds insensitive because Xanthe clearly has feelings for Samuel but she is possibly setting in motion something far worse. Especially with what happens at the very end.
Two other issues I had:
Fairfax escapes the hangman’s noose by time traveling back 6 years. So are there two of him?
Xanthe loses her locket at the abbey. Fairfax is conveniently called away to London allowing her to go and look for it. He then is conveniently intercepted and goes back to the abbey in time to catch her and Samuel. There is just too much convenience happening in order to move the plot forward.
I will continue reading this series with the hope that Xanthe can sit her mother down and tell her what it is that she can do so the lying will stop. Lying never ends well.
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
sarah_moynihan's review against another edition
3.0
Secrets of the Chocolate House by Paula Brackston is the second book in the Found Things series, centered around Xanthe, a woman with the abitlity to travel through time with the aid of antiques that carry a significant history.
When I first came across this book and saw that it was recommended to fans of Outlander, I was excited to start reading. But besides the time traveling woman and her romantic history with men from both time periods I didn't see too much of a connection, this had a much different vibe. If a story involves time travel doesn't mean that it needs to be equated to Outlander, this story can stand on its own as something seperate.
I really liked the concept that objects hold on to their histories and carry the emotions they they once envoked or which their previous owners strongly felt.
Full disclosure that I have not read the first book in this series, so perhaps if I had this book would have had made a greater impression on me. May have made it more powerful. But I believe that it was not really necessary to understanding the understanding of the book, as things from the last book that were needed to understand events in this book were explained along the way.
Interesting story with great detail but often got bogged down in details and descriptions, which make the story drag a bit. It was a slow read for me and I found that the forward progression for this plot was very gradual and I found myself tempted to skip ahead.
I felt that Malcom was unnecessary to story and that he just got in the way, delaying when we would see Xanthe do what she needed to.
Further I found some of Xanthe's reasoning or choses to be illogical or that I just couldn't agree with her reasoning. But we can't always see eye to eye with our characters.
Although it's not necessary to read the first in the series prior to read this book, I would recommed it to really pull the story together and so that you feel more of the emotional obligation Xanthe feels to help Sam.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sharing an eARC copy with me for reviewing purposes. This is my honest review.
When I first came across this book and saw that it was recommended to fans of Outlander, I was excited to start reading. But besides the time traveling woman and her romantic history with men from both time periods I didn't see too much of a connection, this had a much different vibe. If a story involves time travel doesn't mean that it needs to be equated to Outlander, this story can stand on its own as something seperate.
I really liked the concept that objects hold on to their histories and carry the emotions they they once envoked or which their previous owners strongly felt.
Full disclosure that I have not read the first book in this series, so perhaps if I had this book would have had made a greater impression on me. May have made it more powerful. But I believe that it was not really necessary to understanding the understanding of the book, as things from the last book that were needed to understand events in this book were explained along the way.
Interesting story with great detail but often got bogged down in details and descriptions, which make the story drag a bit. It was a slow read for me and I found that the forward progression for this plot was very gradual and I found myself tempted to skip ahead.
I felt that Malcom was unnecessary to story and that he just got in the way, delaying when we would see Xanthe do what she needed to.
Further I found some of Xanthe's reasoning or choses to be illogical or that I just couldn't agree with her reasoning. But we can't always see eye to eye with our characters.
Although it's not necessary to read the first in the series prior to read this book, I would recommed it to really pull the story together and so that you feel more of the emotional obligation Xanthe feels to help Sam.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sharing an eARC copy with me for reviewing purposes. This is my honest review.
amotisse's review against another edition
4.0
Second book in the found things series, mixing comfy chick
Lit with antiques and adventures in time. Likeable characters, well paced magical realism.
Lit with antiques and adventures in time. Likeable characters, well paced magical realism.
mamap's review against another edition
2.0
Skipped through a lot of the philosophy and drama. I really didn't care.
Xanthe heads back and ends up in the place of someone who knows about her time travel and names her a "spinner." She's challenged by a man who wants to use her powers to control - the world? - and he takes Samuel. Who's engaged to someone else.
Xanthe heads back and ends up in the place of someone who knows about her time travel and names her a "spinner." She's challenged by a man who wants to use her powers to control - the world? - and he takes Samuel. Who's engaged to someone else.