BOOKS | Review: The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater

Name: The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater (Victorian Faerie Tales series #1)

Author: Olivia Atwater

Publisher: Olivia Atwater

Date published: November 2023

Genre: Fiction, adult, romance, fantasy, historical, gothic

Pages: 328

Rating: 5/5

Victorian governess Winifred Hall knows a con when she sees one. When her bratty young charge transforms overnight into a perfectly behaved block of wood, she soon realises that the real boy has been abducted by the Fair Folk. Unfortunately, the lord of Witchwood Manor is the only man in England who doesn’t believe in faeries - which leaves Winnie in the unenviable position of rescuing the young lord-to-be all by herself.
Witchwood Manor is bigger than its inhabitants realise, however, and full of otherworldly dangers. As Winnie delves deeper into the other side of the house, she enlists the aid of its dark and dubious faerie butler, Mr Quincy, who hides several awful secrets behind his charming smile. Winnie hopes to make her way to the centre of the Witchwood Knot through wit and cleverness... but when all of her usual tricks fail, who will she dare to trust?

- From Goodreads.

I like that the author did something different to her previous books in this story. All her books feel distinct from each other in terms of plot and characters, while still having the the similar writing style and perfect romantic feelings that I love from her books.

The gothic, dark atmosphere was done perfectly. It definitely took a darker turn from her other books but worked very well for this story. All of the descriptions of the setting and all the details in the house and the way it became a whole sinister world of it's own all added to the spookier feeling of this story.

The characters were so fascinating and a joy to follow. I loved Winnie and how she slowly became more caring and protective of Robert who she had been hired to be a governess for, and how he slowly came to trust her.

I also loved the slow build of the relationship between Winnie and Mr Quincy. How they went from enemies who could not trust each other to falling in love and telling each other things they had not told anyone else was done so perfectly and written so well. I just adored every scene they were in together and he was such an intense, intriguing character.

The plot was thrilling and suspenseful, and I was intrigued the whole time to find out how Winnie would unravel the mystery and help to fix everything. I think it resolved well while also leaving enough suspense for the next book, which I will be very excited to read. I think this book solidified that Olivia Atwater is a new favourite of mine and I will definitely continue to read everything she writes.

BOOKS | Review: Longshadow by Olivia Atwater

Name: Longshadow (Regency Faerie Tales series #3)

Author: Olivia Atwater

Publisher: Orbit

Date published: August 2022

Genre: Fiction, adult, romance, fantasy, historical

Pages: 288

Rating: 4/5

Proper Regency ladies are not supposed to become magicians - but Miss Abigail Wilder is far from proper. The marriageable young ladies of London are dying mysteriously, and Abigail Wilder intends to discover why. Abigail's father, the Lord Sorcier of England, believes that a dark lord of faerie is involved - but while Abigail is willing to match her magic against Lord Longshadow, neither her father nor high society believe that she is capable of doing so. Thankfully, Abigail is not the only one investigating the terrible events in London. Mercy, a street rat and self-taught magician, insists on joining Abigail to unravel the mystery. But while Mercy's own magic is strange and foreboding, she may well post an even greater danger to Abigail's heart.

- From Goodreads.

Although I still really loved this book, I think I did struggle with it a little more than I did the other two books in this series. It was a little frustrating at the start that Abigail could not understand that Elias wanted to protect her. Of course her desire to help and take part in the investigation was understandable, it just might have been better it she had still been able to see that her father just did not want her involved because he did not want her harmed. Even if she still went against his wishes it would be better than her not being able to understand his feelings at all, which did not really make sense to me, even if it was somewhat resolved later, it did not really seem like a necessary conflict to include and just made the beginning of the book a little more difficult to get through, when for the previous two books I have not had any issue finding them enjoyable and easy to read right from the beginning.

It still had a really great sense of humour and some really funny moments, like with Mr Hayes the little scarecrow, that I really enjoyed. I also thought the plot was really clever and exciting to read, the mystery was well done and had a few surprises I was not expecting.

It was really nice to see characters from the previous books again and to catch up with them, I still just absolutely love the romantic couples from the first two stories so much, Elias and Dora and Euphemia and Juniper just have the perfect affection for each other and it makes me so happy.

Abigail and Hugh's bond was really sweet and they had some really heartfelt and emotional scenes together. It was nice to see Elias, Dora, Abigail and Hugh all as a family, they had some lovely moments together and you could tell how much they loved and cared for each other.

I do not think I fell in love with Abigail as a main character and her romance with Mercy as much as I fell in love with the characters and romances from the previous books, but I did still really like Abigail, she was a good character to follow and I did like that the romance was something a little different in this book, each one in this series certainly stands on its own and does not feel at all repetitive.

Overall this was a lovely book to read and I still really adore the way Olivia Atwater writes so I will definitely be picking up her next book.

BOOKS | Review: Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater

Name: Ten Thousand Stitches (Regency Faerie Tales series #2)

Author: Olivia Atwater

Publisher: Orbit

Date published: July 2022

Genre: Fiction, adult, romance, historical, fantasy, fairy tales

Pages: 245

Rating: 5/5

Regency housemaid Euphemia Reeves has acquired a faerie godfather. Unfortunately, he has no idea what he's doing.
Effie has most inconveniently fallen in love with the dashing Mr Benedict Ashbrooke. There's only one problem; Effie is a housemaid, and a housemaid cannot marry a gentleman. It seems that Effie is out of luck until she stumbles into the faerie realm of Lord Blackthorn, who is only too eager to help Effie win Mr Ashbrooke's heart. All he asks in return is that Effie sew ten thousand stitches onto his favourite jacket.
Effie has heard rumours about what happens to those who accept help from faeries, but life as a maid at Hartfield is so awful that she is willing to risk even her immortal soul for a chance at something better. Now, she has one hundred days - and ten thousand stitches - to make Mr Ashbrooke fall in love and propose... if Lord Blackthorn doesn't wreck things by accident, that is. For Effie's greatest obstacle might well prove to be Lord Blackthorn's overwhelmingly good intentions.

- From Goodreads.

Ten Thousand Stitches had the same heartwarming, whimsical, and humourous writing style as Half a Soul, with similar messaging that was both emotional, meaningful and hopeful while having a realistic, thoughtful, and sometimes quite serious undercurrent, all while still managing to have a different plot and distinct characters.

Lord Blackthorn was quite a unique character, who still to had the dangerous element of being a faerie while also being very sweet and loveable and endearing and I loved seeing him learn and change over the course of the story. His romance with Effie was so heartwarming and made me so happy to read.

Effie was a wonderful main character, I loved how she learnt more about herself and how she discovered the effect she had on people around her and how she could help them.

The author still writes female friendships very well, I loved Effie and Lydia's friendship and how they cared about each other so much.

I still found the world to be inventive and I enjoyed learning more about it and seeing it from a different perspective than we did in Half a Soul. It felt both realistic and whimsical, and all the descriptions were lovely to read, especially whenever we went into Faerie and saw the magical home of Lord Blackthorn.

I will definitely continue to read more books in this series and anything else the author writes. I really enjoy her writing style and everything I have read from her so far has just made me so delighted.

BOOKS | Review: Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

Name: Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales series #1)

Author: Olivia Atwater

Publisher: Orbit

Date published: June 2022

Genre: Fiction, adult, fantasy, romance, historical, fairy tales

Pages: 304

Rating: 5/5

It's difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you're a young lady with only half a soul.

Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment - a condition which makes her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season - but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs.

If Dora's reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world... but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.

- From Goodreads.

This book was just utterly wonderful. It left me feeling so happy and overall was just such a joy to read. The idea for the story felt very unique and an interesting storyline to follow. I thought the fact that Dora had half her soul taken from her and this left her unable to feel emotions as strongly and to react like other people was written very well and felt very creative. I could still connect to Dora and found her to be very loveable and endearing. She was very complex and self aware and I loved following her development. I also loved her relationships with the other characters in the story. Her friendship with her cousin Vanessa was so heartwarming and it was so lovely to see two female characters so devoted to each other and who were such a good comfort to each other and could be such a good influence on each other.

I also really loved Dora's romance with the Lord Sorcier, Elias, the way the relationship between them changed and grew was done so well. I loved the affection they had for each other and how the dialogue between them was so charming and witty. I think they have definitely become one of my favourite fictional couples already.

Another character I loved was Elias' friend Albert, he was a wonderful part of the story and it was lovely to see him becoming friends with Dora and them helping and supporting each other.

I thought the book did a great job of showing all the different parts of society. Dora and Vanessa faced difficulties being women of their social class at that time, especially Dora who found herself a bit of an outcast when she could not behave the way she was expected to, but they also saw the hardships of people who lived different lives to them and I thought all the discussions around that in the story were well done. I also liked that there was an overall theme in the book that said that we might not be able to change all the bad in society all at once but you can keep doing your best to do something yourself and you can still make some positive difference.

I liked how magic was involved in the story. The descriptions of how Elias used magic were always so enjoyable to read and I also enjoyed the elements of faerie folklore that were in the book and how they were used, they made it very mysterious and enchanting.

Overall it really was a fantastic book. I loved every moment and will definitely read it again and read more from this author. I would recommend this book if you liked Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones or An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson.