Floodtide

Alpennia #4

by Heather Rose Jones

The streets are a perilous place for a young laundry maid dismissed without a character for indecent acts. Roz knew the end of the path for a country girl alone in the city of Rotenek. A desperate escape in the night brings her to the doorstep of Dominique the dressmaker and the hope of a second chance beyond what she could have imagined. Roz’s apprenticeship with the needle, under the patronage of the Royal Thaumaturgist, wasn’t supposed to include learning magic, but Celeste, the dressmaker’s daughter, draws Roz into the mysterious world of the charm-wives. When floodwaters and fever sweep through the lower city, Celeste’s magical charms could bring hope and healing to the forgotten poor of Rotenek, but only if Roz can claim the help of some unlikely allies.

Set in the magical early 19th century world of Alpennia, Floodtide tells an independent tale that interweaves with the adventures.

Genres: Fantasy, LGBT, Historical Fiction, Queer, Historical, Lesbian, Young Adult

270 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2019

About the author

Heather Rose Jones writes fantasy, historic fantasy, and historical fiction, including the Alpennia series with swordswomen and magic in an alternate Regency setting. She blogs about research into lesbian-like motifs in history and literature at the Lesbian Historic Motif Project which provides inspiration for her fiction. She has a PhD in linguistics, studying metaphor theory and the semantics of Medieval Welsh prepositions, and works as an industrial failure investigator in biotech.

Reviews

[Lex Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 Stars. This was a real quality read. This is the fourth book in Jones’ Alpennia series. I had read the first book and liked it a lot, but due to time constraints I had never read book two or three. As most of you know I’m really anal about reading books in order so for me to skip around like this is not normal. Plus, this series is pretty hardcore historical fantasy. This is not light fantasy, there are many names, places and new words to learn not to mention a religion that is part magical based. I clearly remember struggling to keep everything straight in my head while reading the beginning of book one. Eventually, everything clicked and the book was wonderful, but it’s not an easy breezy read. My worry with Floodtide was that missing two series books would leave me too lost to really recover. Luckily, this book is really a standalone book that takes place in the Alpennia universe. I recognized some characters from the first book, and it took me a bit to get everyone’s names straight, but once I settled into this book it was smooth sailing. While it is a book you still need to pay attention too, I think this book was even more approachable than book one. And I’m surprised and happy to say that if you are new to this series you can actually start here. If anything it might get you interested in reading the other Alpennia books.

These are historical-fantasy books. Think about that Regency era feel in Europe when everything was about proper manners, who were marrying whom, fancy balls and even duels. Jones captures that feel but creates a religion that is based in magic. I’m not a big historical fiction fan but I like this Jane Austen-ish period and I think Jones does the mix really well.

I would also put the YA tag on this book because we are in the eyes of a 16 to 17 year old laundry maid who has dreams of becoming a dress maker. It’s funny because while there are some everyday mundane tasks we read about, I was never bored for a second. The book went at a really nice pace. And while book one was about a character who had money, a woman who was expected to marry, I liked being in the POV of someone who had to work hard every day just to stay fed and to support her family back home.

Not to keep comparing this to book one but I would not put the romance tag on this while book one was a romance. The main character in Floodtide is a lesbian who has feelings for some of the other characters but this is not a romance. I do have to admit I was hoping to see the main character find love, but she is still a teenager and with everything else she had going on, I ended up not missing the romance after all.

This was a really good read. Jones writes very well and this book was no exception. I can’t wait to have some time to be able to read the other books in this series. I would recommend this to fantasy fans and fans of the Regency era. It does take a few chapters to get used to all the new names, but this book is worth it. I’m not sure if Jones is planning a sequel to this book, but I personally would love to read more about these characters. They are still young and I think they have more stories left to be told.

An ARC was given to me for a honest review.

[K.J. Charles]

A fascinating look into the world of Alpennia (a sort of alt-mittelEurope with magic) from the perspective of a servant. And it really is that perspective, with a *lot* of washing and mending and very little free time. It's fascinating both in the detail and in seeing the events of the first books from such a different point of view--trivial things become important and vice versa.

Roz starts off in a very bad place--thrown out on the streets because she's caught with another female servant--and the focus is at first very much on her struggle to survive and not cause any problems or upset anyone. She doesn't have much in the way of social graces (and we can see how that is both her and an upbringing that didn't put any particular stock on such things, unlike the ladies she serves) and her narration is quite...I'm reaching for 'affectless' here though that's not quite right. She doesn't always have the words or the experience to say what she passionately feels, which is really interesting in a first person narration.

The story starts with her personal travails and slowly moves to focus on the floodtide and its consequences--river fever that devastates the poorer parts of the city. The class aspects here are inescapable, and our earlier upper class heroines of the series don't come out with entirely clean hands in their ignorance of the lives of the poor--which is very much plausible. The building tension of the sections waiting for the flood is goosebumpy, absolutely immersive. Alpennia is one of those fantasy places like Astreiant that is so real and vivid you feel like you've been there yourself and just forgot.

Not a romance but features Roz's love life and ends on a very hopeful note, plus there is a lovely secondary trans m/f romance.

I love this series--the domestic detail, the focus on the female, and the heroism of small details. Marvellous.

[JulesGP · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the things that I love best about this story and any story really is when an author drops you right into the action. Within the first pages, Roz, the narrator, is thrown out into the street after some naughty shenanigans at her first job and so begins her adventures in the magically infused city of Rotenek.

Roz’s family had sent her to the big city to make money to help out at home which she does by working as a laundry woman in one of the wealthy homes. It’s a solid beginning for a 16 year old from her background except that Roz is not an ordinary girl. She’s got hidden talents, not in a superhero way but rather in having a knack for survival and the drive to make her big dream happen. But because Roz doesn’t fully own a sense of accountability yet, others catch the consequences of her impulsive decisions. I mention this because all of the characters, both main and supporting are full bodied and complex, interacting and reacting in such a way that they genuinely seem like real people. It was a joy to watch all of the moving parts of a society in motion while still feeling emotionally invested. There is no romance but Roz keeps trying which is both sweet and funny.

For those interested in world building, the setting reminds me of an intricately detailed diorama of a 19th century European city like the elaborate ones you see in history museums.

Floodtide is #4 in the Alpennia series and my first so I can confidently say that it’s a standalone but it has me wanting to read everything so I’m accumulating the short stories as well as the other three books because I’m hooked. High quality storytelling.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Floodtide by Heather Rose Jones is the fourth book in the Alpennia series. As with the other three books in the series, Floodtide is set in Ms. Rose’s historical and magical world of Alpennia.

In this tale we meet Roz who has just been fired as the laundry maid without a character reference to help her find a new job. She is now totally alone in the city of Rotenek with nothing to her name but the clothes on her back, and no place to go. This is very dangerous for Roz. A young homeless woman with no protection roaming the streets is in serious jeopardy. After several days she luckily ends up at the home and dressmaker shop of Mefro Dominique and her daughter Celeste. With the help of Mefro Dominique and the patronage of the royal thaumaturgist, Roz is apprenticed to the dressmaker. Not only does she learn dressmaking skills, but she helps Celeste who happens to have a talent for magical charms. This becomes very important when the river that divides the city floods and brings the dreaded river fever that could kill thousands. It is possible that only Roz, Celeste, and their young friends can save these lives through magic…if they dare.

This is an excellent historical fantasy novel. Since it is set in a world that has already been used in other stories, there was no real need for world building. It has already been done. The story flows well and the characters are real for the time period and the world they live in. I connected with Roz and her friends, though there were times in the story that I wished Roz would mature a little faster than she did. The only real problem I had was the number of characters in the book as a whole and trying to keep up with their names. That is a problem I often have with fantasy stories, but this one wasn’t too bad. I found that as long as I paid attention to the story, I could figure out who was who. I really enjoyed the novel as a whole, so that wasn’t too hard.

This is my first novel in the Alpennia series, but I chose to read it anyway. This is an independent story, set in the same world and with some of the same characters as the other books in the series. This can be read as a standalone book. Those of you who have read the other novels will enjoy seeing a few characters you know from those books as minor characters here. I enjoyed the book even without reading the others. I will be getting the earlier novels since I’m now invested in this world and the characters I’ve met. This book could be shelved as Young Adult, but don’t let that stop you from reading this.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bella Books for an honest review.

Rainbow Reflections:
https://rainbowreflections.home.blog/

[Colleen Corgel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good historical fantasy that fans of the series will enjoy, and is more accessible for new readers. I say this because while there's not a lot of explanation about the magic system, it is due to the fact that the lead character, Roz, isn't as involved with the magic that the characters from the main series are. She knows about charms and mysteries (spells), and how the religion plays into the strength of the magic in the world, but she doesn't have the aptitude for it. Instead, she's simply trying to find a place in the world that shuns people like her: poor and romantically attracted to people of the same gender as her.

I enjoyed this book because Roz is very much a common person doing her best in her world, especially after being caught with her sweetheart and her sweetheart basically pinning the blame all on her. When she meets Celeste, the dressmaker's daughter and talented magic user, she is pulled into a world of magic that she only knew stories about. Celeste is an amazing character - she's smart and compassionate, even as her observations are sharp and painful.

As I said before, fans of the Alpennia series will jump in with a lot of eagerness, especially since some of the leads in the earlier books have roles here. People new to the series will find a richly built world that does a fantastic job of melding fantasy with historical fiction. Highly recommended.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been a huge fan of historical novels but this author allowed me to have my cake and eat it as well because she's skillfully blended two of my favorite genres—historical and fantasy! I've managed to fall deeply in love with the Regency era through this author's lyrical and compelling style of writing. I firmly believe that this story is my favorite one out of the entire Alpennia series because I got to experience the lives of the haves and have-nots in Rotenek's society through Roz, Celeste and Iulien's point of view. I'm one of those people who read books and see everything playing out like a movie in my mind and I must tip my coffee cup to this author because her story has entertained me long into the night and I'm going to keep my fingers crossed with the hope that she has another wonderful story to add to this series because I'm rather fond of all the quirky characters in this novel!

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very strong beginning and quite a strong ending were let down, for me, by a weak middle, and a viewpoint character who was neither the most interesting person nor the person with the most at stake. These craft missteps brought a well-edited and generally appealing book down to three stars.

I always say that if you give me a motivated character in a dynamic situation, you'll have my attention for as long as you want it. At the beginning of the book, it looked like that was what I was going to get. Roz is dismissed, without references, pay, or anything more than the clothes she's wearing at the time, for "lewd conduct" with another female servant. Desperate, she wanders the streets, homeless, penniless, and hopeless.

However, she quickly falls on her feet and gets not one, but two good opportunities. The biggest point of tension for her is that she'll eventually have to decide between them, but that decision isn't imminent or urgent. There are some half-formed romantic longings, but they never become plot drivers either, and the middle devolves into a long series of mostly inconsequential events. Roz is not striving for anything specifically, or trying to resolve any story question in particular, so there's really no plot to speak of, and she isn't a true protagonist, just a main character.

Interesting things are happening just offstage and to people who aren't Roz, but she (and, therefore, the audience through her first-person viewpoint) gets to hear about them only indirectly and not in any depth. I got the impression that this is a side story to a series that may tell some of those stories; I very much wished that I was reading the books that told those stories, and not this one, at times. Roz's is an engaging viewpoint, despite or, at times, because of its naivite, and she's one of those characters I sometimes wish we saw more of: the reliable, hard-working person of low status who isn't a noble in disguise or a fated Chosen One. The Samwise Gamgee, if you like. But in the whole of the book, she only does one thing that affects events to any degree worth speaking of, apart from perhaps bringing together characters who do more - and then holding things for them and handing them things while they do the interesting stuff.

Because there is interesting stuff on stage again, there at the end, and the characters collectively save the day. I'm all for ensemble casts, and I have no issue with that whatsoever; I'm even quite happy that, at the end, Roz makes something of a sacrifice (that still leaves her in a good position) to enable someone else to fulfil their potential. Unfortunately, that doesn't make up for the aimless middle.

What kept me reading through the aimless middle was the promise offered by the beginning; Roz's voice; and the fact that, even in an ARC from Netgalley, the copy editing was to a high standard (only five minor errors, two vocabulary and three apostrophe-related). The world-building was also interesting, with ubiquitous magic enmeshed with both folk tradition and Catholicism. But that middle part did drag the book down to three stars for me.

[Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Floodtide takes place in Heather Rose Jones' Alpennia universe, an early 19th century alt-Europe. It's one of my favorite series and it focuses on women exploring miracles, mysteries, and alchemy, as well as their romances with other women. I can recommend the entire series, and this book, without any reservations!
Floodtide switches the perspective quite a bit, focusing on a young maid who does not have the privilege or connections previous main characters have had or ended up with. She has to fight for everything she gets and has no safety net for what she's doing, raising the stakes for the challenges she faces. Those challenges are also less immediately esoteric, focusing more on the challenges of everyday people on the "wrong side of the tracks", or river, as it were.
This is a worthy sequel which I plowed through in a day (sadly, I want more time in this universe :'( ). Buy it!

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The worldbuilding in Floodtide is also excellent, bringing magic to early nineteenth-century Europe in a way that feels authentic. Titles and names have been created that are uniquely Alpennian, and the author has provided a helpful pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book for those who are interested in such things. Jones’s writing style is also so gorgeous, yet precise, that it’s impossible not to be spellbound by it.

Full review: https://www.lambdaliterary.org/2020/0...

[Dannica · Rating 4 out of 5]

More Alpennia! Alpennia book 4!
As Alpennia goes on, it becomes less and less an f/f romance series (at least thus far). Book One, a straight up romance. Book Two, partly a romance, partly a tale of Antuniet reclaiming her family's pride, partly the continuing story of Barbara and Margerit. Book Three, a multitude of narrators going about their lives and a love affair ending in a breakup. And now book four, where Rozild, our only narrator this time around, does have three (very different) crushes, but there still is no real romantic subplot because none of them goes anywhere. (Though I wonder if perhaps in a future book, Rozild and Celeste... but we'll see.)

I appreciated seeing the world of Alpennia from the "downstairs" point of view. If nothing else, the difference between how Roz and company view the dangers of floodtide bringing fever vs. Tiporsel House's nonchalant attitude towards it--whew! When you're caught up in mysteries and politics, sometimes you forget other, very important things. I doubt I'll be able to read Mother of Souls again without feeling uneasy or at least being very aware that the narrators are heavily biased in some areas. Anyways I loved seeing some lower class characters, and watching the younger generation in general have adventures of their own.
Also I would read a whole book about Tavit and Liv's romance, just saying ;)

[Eva Müller · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand I think that the first-person POV is a really good choice for this series since it means we (and the author) are staying with a single character. I found, especially Mother of Souls was really clogged down by too many POV characters and the constant hopping between them and their plotlines. Now we stay with Roz who (after some initial doubts) grew on me and I enjoyed following her journey.

On the other hand...I still had the same issue I had with Mother of Souls, namely that it doesn't really feel like characters setting out to achieve a goal but more like...characters doing stuff and then coincidentally solving a major problem at the end. It always feels a bit odd and very convenient.

At the same time - and this is an issue I had with this series from the beginning - the (smaller) problems the characters actually have rarely need more than one chapter to be solved. Nobody stays mad for longer. If they need something, they'll get it soon. Together with the already mentioned lack of a major problem at the beginning, it means the story appears a bit meandering and without much tension.

[Aleana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

This was a good read set in world where magic and mystery has its place.

It took me a minute to get into because there was a lot of characters from previous books that haven't read and even though this book is told from the pov of a teenage servant girl name Roz.

Roz was dismissed from her job as a laundry maid because she was to believe to have indecent acts with another young woman.


When she has nowhere to turn she wind up at dressmaker place asking for chance and she becomes apprentice I love going into details on how to make dresses and how each titch is connected.

Roz get drawn into the dressmaker daughter Celeste web when she starts to learn magic which is in this book but it most in the background but to me the book is more about how Roz find her place and the secrets we learn through her eyes. I like the difference dynamics between each women and how they are unique and strong in different ways.

I did like how everything was tied together that made a great ending.

[Thesincouch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic slow-paced read about a servant in a magical setting. I'd described as the cosy fantasy as much of it is about Roz working, falling in love and making new friends but it does have a plague and homophobia that Roz experiences directly. I love fantasy that focus on the working class and/or poor people as it feels like something that could happen to my family? That is to say, it's more relatable than reading about nobles and billionaires while also being very escapist because it is fantasy and there is magic.

I loved the worldbuilding and the writing and I'm for sure going to check out the other ones in the series.

[jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

heather rose jones is DOING IT – working class lesbians, women intellectuals in middle europe, fully fleshed out jewish and black characters on top of what's already a spectacular bit of just-realistic-enough fantasy worldbuilding... in contrast to the previous alpennia books, which focus largely on romances between older women, floodtide is told first person from the pov of a teenage girl named roz who works in the saveze household with her own little crew of younger friends – particularly celeste if you remember her! background characters and relationships make appearances that are super rewarding for readers of the previous books, but i think this book could very effectively be read as an intro to the series as well (as jones meant for it to be). it's testament to jones' incredible versatility in jumping from the regency romance register of daughter of mystery to the domestic fiction-esque mother of souls to what is really a delightful romp of a bildungsroman.

also it features an epidemic plot where roz, celeste, and their teenage friends struggle to stop the spread of river fever in the poorer quarters of rotenek. as if this book did not ALREADY hit all the right notes for me!!!!! i'm spoiled by heather rose jones.

[K.J .]

This novel made me want to grab a sketchpad and create one of those beautiful maps you find in antique shops or Tolkien books.
There are many strengths in this novel, but space permits me to detail only a couple of them. Here’s one: the world-building. It’s so good. Jones centres the city of Rotenek in Alpennia in the 1800s. It is basically Europe. It works because she’s tweaked reality just enough so that we nod at the parts we recognise and revel in the parts pulled from imagination. Another strength is that Jones brings depth and layers to the story in the language of Alpennia and the religious practices without us needing to keep a notebook handy to create charts of who said what, and when, and why, and what does this mean? This story is wonderful to read, sweeping in grandeur and tight in its tale.
It’s such a specific genre. If you’re into contemporary romance with sex and snappy
dialogue, then this is not the story for you.
I would not classify this novel as a romance. The young main character is a lesbian and does express feelings towards women, but the main focus of the novel is the adventure of the flood tide and how this impacts on the city and the citizens.
I hadn’t heard of this author before I read Floodtide. Obviously I have now downloaded all of Jones’ novels because of course I did. She’s a great writer and this is an awesome book.


See more at https://lesreveur.com

[Darlene Vendegna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent continuation of the wonderful Alpennia series, but is also a great stand alone story in its own right. It’s the same fascinating country with the same type of engaging and well drawn characters. What’s different this time around is that the story is told with a first person viewpoint. That person, Roz, is a young lesbian, who wears her heart on her sleeve, and frequently gets herself in trouble because of it. Because of Roz’s lower station in the city, the reader is introduced in depth and detail to the lower classes, as well as brought along on youthful excursions and experiences. As I said, this book is an excellent continuation of the series, but I dare say it could also serve as a wonder entry point. One could read this and easily want to know more about all the other characters and their stories that led to this one. I couldn’t put it down and anxiously await the next. If you enjoy youthful protagonists, coming out stories, magic, excellent world building or just plain good writing, welcome to Alpennia.

[Best Lesfic Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in an imagined 19th century French kingdom of Alpennia, this is a thoroughly engrossing read. A little bit of Downton Abbey with a whole lot more magic and a whole lot more lesbian couples, the world it creates completely captures the reader.

Read the full review @ https://bestlesficreviews.blogspot.co...

[Beth Bernobich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the privilege of reading a draft of Floodtide, and I love how Jones is adding layers and complexity to the world of Alpennia. Highly recommended!

[gwendalyn _books_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was received from the Author, and Publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own


My Bookish Links:
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Book Blog :http://gwendalynbooks.wordpress.com
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Floodtide, by the author Heather Rose Jones is a “alternate-Regency-era Ruritanian adventure” coined by the author, is the fourth book in the the much loved Alpennia series.

The lead protagonist is a laundry maid Rozild Pairmen, who struggles under her formidable enemy is a housekeeper, who holds the power to dismiss her at a whim.
Roz is Dismissed because of her indiscretions that cause a series of events.
Roz, is then presented with a second chance from the dressmaker Mefro Dominique,
The dressmaker is understanding of Roz’s plight, but also knows what favors to call in. Mefro Dominique, carefully collects and hoards favors from the women who are her clientele. Rozild becomes an apprentice steady rising in her position.

The household has a close relationship of woman, and Roz becomes close to Celeste, who happens to have a talent for magical charms. This very important talent becomes needed when the river that divides the city floods and brings the dreaded river fever that could kill thousands.

This captivating novel is rich and vibrant, with wonderful diverse characters.
An historical magical realism book at its best. transporting the reader to another place and time. I was completely immersed into Heather Rose Jones meticulous world building, The storyline flows beautifully and the intriguing secrets we get to know as the main protagonist does. Roz is headstrong character, knowing what she could expect out of life, But struggles at the bonds that have been placed on her. This add depth to the plot line. Wonderful characters development and complex relationships, along with the setting period drama are brought to life with unique details.
This is a splendidly exquisite book!

[Katie Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caught in a forbidden relationship with a fellow maid, Roz is thrown onto the streets without a reference. Luckily she ends up being hired by Maisetra Sovitre...but exactly what kind of household has she found herself in? And how does her secret longing to become a dressmaker fit into the picture?

An interesting look at the world of Alpennia from a very different perspective. The fact that Roz is both younger and a servant marks a huge alteration in the focus of the book. Sure, Roz has teenage romances (the first of which is the catalyst for the book) and crushes on basically everyone (very believable for a teenager), but romance is not a center point of the story in the same kind of way that it is in the earlier books.

Also, the fact that Roz is a servant makes a great deal of difference as well. She has no spare time, and lacks a great deal of the social knowledge that we've come to take for granted from characters in earlier books. Her Alpennia is a very different Alpennia, for all that it faces the same foes.

The one annoying thing is that most of thus book runs concurrently with Book 3. I always find that sort of thing irritating, because I'm trying to keep the course of events in that book straight while working to catch up with this one. But it's a minor quibble.

[Everydayreader1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book as part of a bundle offered by storybundle.com. It is the fourth book in the Alpennia series, and I wondered if I would have difficulty making sense out of it since I have not yet read the previous titles in the series. I needn't have worried.

This book is part historical novel and part fantasy, with just the right amount of magic in the mix. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Heather Rose Jones has crafted a wonderful tale of love, loss and triumph over disaster. Despite its name, Alpennia is a very realistic place. And, if you'll forgive an intentional play on words, very realistic charms and great characters. Roz has come to the city to make her way and send money home to her family. She has ambitions beyond her work as a laundry maid. This is her journey, with many twists and turns along the way.

I am so glad I happened upon this book, and will definitely read more by Heather Rose Jones, not only because of the storyline, but also because this book nudged me out of my comfort zone in terms of genre.

[Ry Herman · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Floodtide, Heather Rose Jones has successfully pulled off one of the most difficult feats in literature -- telling the same story as a previous book from a different character's point of view. While this has been attempted many times, it usually falls into any of a number of pitfalls: repetitiveness, a dearth of originality, a story with a plot contorted around the events of the previous one, or the simple lack of any reason for the story to exist. Floodtide avoids all of these problems, and instead offers a fresh and very different take on Alpennia from a point of view that, as it turns out, adds a great deal to the story and the ongoing events. This one may have the strongest writing yet of all the Alpennia novels, and that's saying a lot for a series whose charms I will wax rhapsodic about at the slightest provocation.

[Karen Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read the three previous novels set in Jones' Alpennia universe, and I found this one just as fascinating, just as dramatic, and just as charming as all the others (though you don't need to have read any of the others to thoroughly enjoy this one).

This is the story of Roz, a girl in service who is tossed out for behaving unmentionably with another girl. She stumbles on a new position, and makes a life with new friends, one of whom knows how to make charms. Unlike the church mysteries or the alchemy of jewels, these are simple spells for solving simple, everyday problems. And there are problems to be solved.

I loved the way Roz and her friends, who aren't titled nobles of any sort, are blended in with what we already know of Alpennia, and find their own ways of making a difference.

[Kylie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Went into this book blind, having not remembered why I put it on my To-Reads.

I found it slow, the main plot didn't show up till very late and everything about it was just very basic. The world has potential to be interesting but the focus is on the main character who is a young woman just trying to get through life and this story feels very much just like that.

Basic fantasy, classic rich house vs near poverty house class differences, that I'm honestly tired of reading about as it's starting to feel like a ploy of "look rich people can be good too". Which isn't the story I'm looking for these days.

[Nightbow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heavens I love this series. Heather Rose Jones is a classy, classy writer. Reading this slows my whole reality down to an early 19th-century pace. Religious magic--on a church level and a folk level mixed with old-school manners, class consciousness (would enjoy this even more in the foreground in a future installment, actually), queer folx, enough money to save the day sometimes, and courageous young people discerning their inner compass to save the day other times: winning! Please oh please more in this series, Dr Jones, pretty please!

[Grey · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 stars.
I read it sequentially following the previous 3 novels set in Alpennia. It can be read as a stand-alone, though it benefits from the background context (and it adds to the reader's experience, in my opinion).

It is the most well-crafted work in Alpennia series yet. It shows no issues with pacing, and it neatly crosses themes of classism and faith. Definitely a grabber from start to finish.

[Doris Raines · Rating 5 out of 5]

NICE BOOK.

[Lynnet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favorite of the Alpennia series so far.

[Marilyn Langlois · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had been wanting to read this series for a while now and started with this one. It was very enjoyable and the world building excellent. I can't wait to read the 3 previous books.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5