Excellent follow up to The Stray Spirit. Loved seeing Aspen and Emry’s friendship blossom even more.

This book takes place in ‘society’ which I didn’t realise this world had (or I’d overlooked it in the first book). Having a society where an unmarried woman can’t be seen alone with a man doesn’t seem cosy to me. It was frustrating and didn’t feel like they’d be room for any queer characters, yet everyone was completely okay with Aspen being non binary. I get that the theme is incredibly popular right now but after a while the ‘rules’ were really grating and I just wanted to spend more time with music being played in gardens. Though it does seem that society was also annoying to Cal, Aspen and Emry. 

Because of this theme it took me a bit longer to finish the book than what I would have thought. It wasn’t a huge let down though! As I thought everything else about it was really entertaining and heartwarming. 

Other than the setting, the plot was really lovely. It allowed the characters to investigate people and to make new friends with recluse spirits. Emry is slowly recovering from the events of the last book while throwing himself into even more trouble, much to Cal’s disapproval. 

Can’t wait to see where this series goes next.

Big thanks to the author for providing me with a free eARC of this book knowing I didn’t have time to read it prior to the release date.