I absolutely loved AG Slatter's previous novel, All the Murmuring Bones, so I was excited to read this one! I didn't enjoy as much, but I did still like it.

The story follows Asher Todd, who has just become a governess at the Morwood Estate. It's clear from the start she has many secrets, as does the entire Morwood family. Slowly, all of the mysteries begin to unravel.

I liked Asher as a character. She is very cunning and resourceful. Leonora was wonderfully diabolical and a compelling character.

I also loved that there was casual LGBTQ rep - one female character is openly married to another woman and it's treated as perfectly normal in that world.

I do wish the wolves had gotten more attention, they were a very interesting part of the world but didn't seem to have much relevance to the overall plot.

One nitpick I had with the ending:

It felt a bit too similar to the end of All the Murmuring Bones, with several family members being suddenly killed. I felt bad for Jessamine, knowing she come home to find her husband and mother-in-law slain. 

I also felt the bit with Luned's abortion was unnecessary.

The themes here are similar to All the Murmuring Bones, with plenty of family secrets, drama, and magic. There also a couple nods to it, with the O'Malleys and a few locations being mentioned. Both stories are self-contained, however, so you can read one without having read the other. I enjoy the world that Slatter has crafted, and hope to see more of it in the future!

I have many feelings on this story. 

First off I just need to say, I despised Leonora. I understand that she was supposed to be a disliked character, but Asher sucking up to this Grandma literally knowing she is a bad person with bad intentions, bothered me so much. Same with the Heloise, but that’s a whole different story.

This book had soooo much potential with the amazing story and plotline. One thing about this ‘dark fairytale’ telling, is that it’s very unique, so I was still able to overall enjoy it.

The problem is the characters are all so annoying and make dumb decisions. Only characters that didn’t piss me off were the kids and Eli.

I could rant on and on, but for the most part I expected way more from this book. It was still a fair read though.

Very disturbing and pretty dark, check content warnings.