Reviews

Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater

Only show reviews with written explanations

caitcoy's review

adventurous emotional funny informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

While I enjoyed Half a Soul (substantially more on re-read, to be honest), Ten Thousand Stitches is easily my favorite of the series so far. I had a really hard time putting the book down once I started it and easily could have read it in a single sitting if I'd been able to sacrifice my sleep. While this has less banter than Half a Soul, I found myself really loving the determination and cinnamon roll character of both leads and was rooting for them from the very beginning. It's a very sweet romance with almost no spice or banter but absolutely made my heart melt.

Ten Thousand Stitches is also the first historical romance that I've read where the heroine isn't highborn and the focus is really on her life as a servant with occasional moments where she pretends to be otherwise at a ball or event. There is a lot of social commentary about the powerlessness of servants in the face of employers who routinely mistreat and take advantage of them. Atwater really made the house feel claustrophobic in a way that I've not seen historical romance accomplish. But it also ultimately has so much hope and empowerment and the historical details made that all the sweeter.

Ten Thousand Stitches is easily one of my favorite historical romances and fully sold me on Atwater's writing style and characters in this series after struggling a bit on my initial read of Half a Soul. This one was everything I could have wanted and had my whole heart. Definitely looking forward to reading Long Shadow and then re-reading Witchwood Knot with that full knowledge.