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lunarchfey's review against another edition
DNF. This seemed quite charming, but definitely needed a more thorough editing pass to smooth out the grammatical errors and issues.
wildfaeriecaps's review
5.0
Now, if that wasn't a delight and a half to read, I don't know what would be.
Have I hit the historical/spiritualist/occult/fantasy jackpot or what? I want more in this world. More Seb and more Alfie and more Nott Haven. Please? And more Captain because who doesn't need a random, wonderful cat? I want more drama with Francis and for Kara to find love and.. look. This story was such a joy and I want more.
Have I hit the historical/spiritualist/occult/fantasy jackpot or what? I want more in this world. More Seb and more Alfie and more Nott Haven. Please? And more Captain because who doesn't need a random, wonderful cat? I want more drama with Francis and for Kara to find love and.. look. This story was such a joy and I want more.
danni's review against another edition
1.0
This would have been a DNF but I picked it for a book club, so I felt obligated to keep reading it all the way through.
This book needed a going-over by an editor. At least once, maybe twice. There were issues with punctuation, grammar and spelling. There were awkward sentences, and ones that went on too long, and stuff that just felt awkward to read. I had to read and reread sentences to try to figure out what was going on in the scene.
There was no chemistry between the main characters. It felt like there was just... no substance to their relationship, and the characters themselves. Alfie is supposed to be a dandy, but there were maybe two references to him liking nice clothes, and in my opinion that does not make someone a dandy. He has no money, he lives in a dusty, dirty house, and if you're making a point at how the character is a dandy in the very title of the book, it should feel relevant to the character in some way. Sebastian has a tragic backstory that is practically glazed right over. The characters
The book feels like it's out of time. It is extremely hard to pinpoint when this book is taking place. At first I thought I was getting into a Regency romance, and then about halfway through the book the police whipped out a crime scene camera and it made me do a double take.
Getting into some late book spoilers, so I'm going to put this behind some tags:
Sebastian had an ex who died, he was killed by a criminal. That's about all the mention it gets in the book. You would think there might be a bit more focus on one of the main character's having an ex who's died, but that's not the case.
It's trying it's best to be a murder mystery, but it's not a very captivating mystery either. If you're like me you'll figure it out before it gets to the point of the reveal, which also did not get enough time on the page, either, and just left more questions.
There's also some deus ex machina going on where Alfie is apparently developing his powers, but there's no explanation why, there's no real reason for it but by the end of the book he can also kind of read minds I guess and it solves the problem, but it gets no explanation at all.
It feels like it has the beginnings of something that could have been good. But I get the impression that it was trying too hard to set up threads for future books, with a lot of "and this, and this, and also this" going on in the background. If there are going to be future books, I hope the author puts more time into developing the characters, the plot, and has them professionally edited.
This book needed a going-over by an editor. At least once, maybe twice. There were issues with punctuation, grammar and spelling. There were awkward sentences, and ones that went on too long, and stuff that just felt awkward to read. I had to read and reread sentences to try to figure out what was going on in the scene.
There was no chemistry between the main characters. It felt like there was just... no substance to their relationship, and the characters themselves. Alfie is supposed to be a dandy, but there were maybe two references to him liking nice clothes, and in my opinion that does not make someone a dandy. He has no money, he lives in a dusty, dirty house, and if you're making a point at how the character is a dandy in the very title of the book, it should feel relevant to the character in some way. Sebastian has a tragic backstory that is practically glazed right over. The characters
Spoiler
work together for a few days, partake in some nameless drug and have sex, and then Sebastian disappears for two days and Alfie starts fretting about being abandoned, but he wasn't and actually it turns out that they love each other. Another maybe two days later and they're planning on moving into Alfie's house at the end of the book.The book feels like it's out of time. It is extremely hard to pinpoint when this book is taking place. At first I thought I was getting into a Regency romance, and then about halfway through the book the police whipped out a crime scene camera and it made me do a double take.
Getting into some late book spoilers, so I'm going to put this behind some tags:
Spoiler
There gets to a point where it comes out that vampires and werewolves are also real and living in the city. Which I wasn't expecting to happen. It felt odd, but by that point I was already disappointed that this really wasn't a book about a regency medium. So when Alfie just up and takes Sebastian to a vampire bar, I was just at the point where I was rolling my eyes. The entire supernatural element gets glazed over by Sebastian, who was entirely unaware it even existed. It really just got a "oh okay" and they were off again. Apparently Alfie had some sort of relationship with the leader of the vampires, but that also got brushed off. It's like there were little threads of things that should have been elaborated on, but were skipped over entirely.Sebastian had an ex who died, he was killed by a criminal. That's about all the mention it gets in the book. You would think there might be a bit more focus on one of the main character's having an ex who's died, but that's not the case.
It's trying it's best to be a murder mystery, but it's not a very captivating mystery either. If you're like me you'll figure it out before it gets to the point of the reveal, which also did not get enough time on the page, either, and just left more questions.
There's also some deus ex machina going on where Alfie is apparently developing his powers, but there's no explanation why, there's no real reason for it but by the end of the book he can also kind of read minds I guess and it solves the problem, but it gets no explanation at all.
It feels like it has the beginnings of something that could have been good. But I get the impression that it was trying too hard to set up threads for future books, with a lot of "and this, and this, and also this" going on in the background. If there are going to be future books, I hope the author puts more time into developing the characters, the plot, and has them professionally edited.
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