Take a photo of a barcode or cover
corsetedfeminist 's review for:
Shade Spells with Strangers
by S.O. Callahan, Sarah Wallace
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
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
One thing about me… if you give me an arc, and I’m excited about it, I have no self control.
So many thanks to Sarah Wallace and S.O. Callahan for this arc. Here is my honest review, about 5 seconds after it appeared in my email.
As always with this series, this book was a delight. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again- this series is what Bridgerton wishes it was.
Keelan Cricket is the absolute cutest man ever, and I love him. So gentle, so soft, and a hopeless romantic. If the man has a fault, it’s the he’s too afraid to make someone upset- and by someone, I mostly mean his mother.
Silas Rook-Worth initially appears a bit cool, but it quickly becomes apparent that he’s a big softy inside. He reminds me a lot of so many country men I’ve known and loved- very skilled, deeply devoted to his family and career, and tender hearted underneath a slightly prickly skin.
Their romance is just as soft and tender as you’d expect from this series, which is surprising since so much of their romance happens in secret, neither Cricket nor Silas assuming that it would be a long term thing. But Silas comforting Cricket in secret is the sweetest thing you can imagine.
This book also has quite a bit of plot beyond the romance- it is set in the context of a process that our favorite Wrenwhistles have set up to test the magic of fae-humans, which gives us some delightful worldbuilding, some colorful side characters, and also the closet thing we get to an antagonist in this series, Miss Wilton-Reed, who is not a villain, exactly, but she is an antagonist straight out of a Jane Austen novel- a girl interested only in her social standing and wealth, who manages to get on Keelan Cricket’s mother’s good side and between the two women, they essentially force him into an arranged engagement. It all works out in the end, but it provides some satisfying angst and forces the romance between Silas and Cricket down, which I think benefits the story.
In short, this story is such a cozy, comforting account, and I loved every moment.
So many thanks to Sarah Wallace and S.O. Callahan for this arc. Here is my honest review, about 5 seconds after it appeared in my email.
As always with this series, this book was a delight. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again- this series is what Bridgerton wishes it was.
Keelan Cricket is the absolute cutest man ever, and I love him. So gentle, so soft, and a hopeless romantic. If the man has a fault, it’s the he’s too afraid to make someone upset- and by someone, I mostly mean his mother.
Silas Rook-Worth initially appears a bit cool, but it quickly becomes apparent that he’s a big softy inside. He reminds me a lot of so many country men I’ve known and loved- very skilled, deeply devoted to his family and career, and tender hearted underneath a slightly prickly skin.
Their romance is just as soft and tender as you’d expect from this series, which is surprising since so much of their romance happens in secret, neither Cricket nor Silas assuming that it would be a long term thing. But Silas comforting Cricket in secret is the sweetest thing you can imagine.
This book also has quite a bit of plot beyond the romance- it is set in the context of a process that our favorite Wrenwhistles have set up to test the magic of fae-humans, which gives us some delightful worldbuilding, some colorful side characters, and also the closet thing we get to an antagonist in this series, Miss Wilton-Reed, who is not a villain, exactly, but she is an antagonist straight out of a Jane Austen novel- a girl interested only in her social standing and wealth, who manages to get on Keelan Cricket’s mother’s good side and between the two women, they essentially force him into an arranged engagement. It all works out in the end, but it provides some satisfying angst and forces the romance between Silas and Cricket down, which I think benefits the story.
In short, this story is such a cozy, comforting account, and I loved every moment.