annaki_laila's reviews
162 reviews

The pace was a little slow around the middle, but overall it was a great read with lovely writing! Plus, it involves Shakespeare. That’s always a positive.

A wonderful sequel. My only issue with the book was that Ember felt kind of unimportant to the story, which was a shame as she was a key character in the first book and I really enjoyed her in that. But the way this book’s ending reunited her with the others was really sweet and I liked it a lot, so ultimately my issue with it is only minor.

Overall, I loved this book. It was great to see a focus on some different characters and to return to the rich, magical world that I deeply enjoyed in the first book.

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.