annaki_laila's reviews
160 reviews

I honestly can’t say anything about this book other than this:

Absolute perfection, just like the first.


(And so, the wait for book three begins...)




(Also, that ending?!?! AH??!!?)

This book was better than I was expecting! The gradual investigation and discoveries about the case had me hooked throughout, and I genuinely cared about all the characters. Seriously a great read!

This. This book. It made me cry. I’ve been made emotional by other books, sure, but no book has ever made me physically cry until now.

It’s powerful. That’s all I need to say, honestly.

I normally find historically-set books ‘boring’, but the Victorian setting was perfect in this! Incredibly well-written, every word feels important, and I love how the plot came together in the end! There were also some amazingly witty/funny lines that I seriously wish I’d written down whilst reading. Overall, I loved it.

Quite simply, this book was gorgeous. I enjoyed the way it was told from both perspectives as well as before and after their mum’s death. I love the way each twin’s side of the story blended and connected as the plot progressed!

Finally, and I cannot stress this enough: IT HAD A HAPPY ENDING AND ALL THE CHARACTERS GOT WHAT THEY DESERVED!!!

This book has it all. It’s heartfelt, funny, and surprisingly poignant. Jane is such a wonderfully written character, I think I might just miss her now that I’ve finished reading this. Amazing.

As a fan of The Bright Sessions podcast, I couldn’t *not* read this. I wasn’t sure how Shippen’s writing would translate into novel form, but I was pleasantly surprised! I loved it. There were so many great moments and the way Caleb described emotions was gorgeous. A wonderful expansion of the Bright Sessions world.

I’m reminded once again just how ridiculously good de Castell’s writing is. I swear, each book just gets better and better. It’s such a rewarding thing to see Kellen develop and the plot was fantastic in this one.

Sadly, this was a dip in the series for me. The new characters introduced weren’t exactly memorable and didn’t really feel like they added much, and I felt myself sorely missing the characters that didn’t join the main trio in Japan. The book being in three parts makes it easy to outline my thoughts though:

Part one - An ok start, but nothing much that kept me wanting to read more.

Part two - My least favourite of the three, which is not ideal considering it was the biggest and held the bulk of the plot. It just really dragged and didn’t have much excitement for me.

Part three - I actually really enjoyed it, felt like a return to how the first two books were. It’s such a shame that this came in the last, and shortest, part of the book.

Given that the first entries in the series were so lovable and charming, I think this is more so a blip than an indicator of where the series is headed. Or at least that’s what I’m hoping. I really do still love the characters and can’t wait to see them back again.