ghost

Review of Grimm Curiosities by Sharon Lynn Fisher

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Synopsis:
In Victorian England, a young woman inherits her father’s curiosity shop and all its ghostly secrets in a bewitching novel by the author of Salt & Broom.

It’s 1851 in old York. Lizzy Grimm struggles to save her late father’s charmingly creepy yet floundering antique shop, Grimm Curiosities. Then, during a particularly snowy December in this most haunted city in England, things turn…curiouser.

Lizzy meets Antony Carlisle, whose sister suffers from the same perplexing affliction as Lizzy’s mother—both stricken silent and unresponsive after speaking with ghosts. Working closely together to fathom what power has transformed their loved ones and why, Lizzy and Antony discover an important clue: her father’s treasured set of rare books on ancient folktales, enchantments, and yuletide myths. Books that a persistent collector is awfully keen to purchase. Books Lizzy can’t bear to sell.

Every bewitching passage and illustration opens a doorway to something ancient and dangerously inviting. Keys to a mystery Lizzy and Antony are compelled to solve—even if doing so means unleashing one of this bright holiday’s darkest myths.

Review:
“I think the most competent people are often the most critical of themselves.” (page 49)

I loved this book so very much! There is magic, holidays, and a mystery that doesn’t at all seem suspicious or connected to her family… until it is. I loved Lizzy and Antony together; they both get to be/act in a way that they can’t with others, which is such a great thing to have in friends/people who truly get you. It was great that this book was not just centralized around love; there was the definite idea that even though you may think of your situation and self as “other” there will always be some that can relate and be your friend. Not only did this book introduce so many different folklore concepts, but it showed the duality of all things and how there is always a good and bad. The ending of this book is absolutely perfect.

There is magic, there is mystery, there’s a brilliant slow burn romance. I highly recommend this to people who love fantasy/fairy tales, ghosts, and the peculiar. While I did read this in April, I highly recommend reading it in December as it is set around Christmas, and I think that would make it a much cozier time to read it, with snow everywhere. (I don’t want snow now; stay away snow!!)

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯

Review of Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood

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Synopsis:
Andromeda is a debtera—an exorcist hired to cleanse households of the Evil Eye. She would be hired, that is, if her mentor hadn’t thrown her out before she could earn her license. Now her only hope of steady work is to find a Patron—a rich, well-connected individual who will vouch for her abilities.

When a handsome young heir named Magnus Rorschach reaches out to hire her, she takes the job without question. Never mind that he’s rude and demanding and eccentric, that the contract comes with a number of outlandish rules… and that almost a dozen debtera had quit before her. If Andromeda wants to earn a living, she has no choice.

But she quickly realizes this is a job like no other, with horrifying manifestations at every turn, and that Magnus is hiding far more than she has been trained for. Death is the most likely outcome if she stays, the reason every debtera before her quit. But leaving Magnus to live out his curse alone isn’t an option because—heaven help her—she’s fallen for him.

Review:
This book was absolutely amazing! I was drawn in from the very beginning and couldn’t put it down and get enough. It was very much a gothic tale, and I loved the debtera angle. The layers within the story were awesome; I absolutely love Jember and Andromeda’s relationship because sometimes relationships aren’t always clean and pretty. I didn’t quite love Magnus. While he is quirky there was no real relationship development between Andromeda and Magnus, despite there being multiple times where shared trauma is eluded to, it is never spoken of at length/depth between them. I also quite enjoyed that this was about two different ethnicities and set in the desert- a unique setting and character/class set up.

While this is mentioned as a Jane Eyre retelling I very much liked that there are only very loose resemblances to the novel. While I did think this book was amazing and I couldn’t put it down, I did feel that the very ending was a bit flat and would have liked it to have more pomp and definition of what life looked like at the end, how things were settled between characters. That being said, this is great and you should definitely read it!

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯