Christina Baehr > Recent Status Updates

I think this book was written for people who love both Harry Potter/magical academia and BRIDESHEAD REVISITED. Also! This plot twist??

Clover is giving gender-swapped Charles Ryder from BRIDESHEAD REVISITED vibes. I think Parry is a kinder author than Waugh though, so I’m hopeful it won’t go in that direction too far.

This book went from charming to ridiculously stressful.

Thankfully the emotional pace has let up a bit but I can feel it gearing up again

Well I did not expect to start crying less than halfway through

Preparing to be devastated

Someone told me this wasn’t terrifying so here we are. So far it reminds me of Henry James.

I’m afraid the elements I don’t love have increased, while the elements I do have decreased, but I persevere

The world-building and gothic ambience keeping me hooked! It’s not my favourite type of romance, but the rest is very absorbing.

This was promoted to me in my Kindle for free as part of First Reads so I thought I’d take a look inside. I don’t usually like witchy books, but this seems to be a Charlotte Brontë-inspired gothic fantasy with embroidery/weaving magic tied to The Three Fates from Greek mythology?!! Stay tuned…

I am roaring with delight at this awful man’s delicious turns of phrases. I fully expect the plot to fall apart later and I wouldn’t trust the man alone with a teenage girl, but goodness Wells could write.

I did not expect people (or rather an amphibian) to be shot at

This man is so believably bad at courtship…send help

I am loving this unreasonably. Please, please, Mrs Nesbit, don't let me down.

Oh my goodness I love this so much I'm terrified of what Nesbit might do to these darlings

From cozy to gothic!! Friends, this chapter ("The Toad") was a wild road, and yes, I did that on purpose. One minute they are staging an intervention and forcing Toad to detox (he goes through a whole delirium tremens thing), then Toad goes back to his old ways and ends up being thrown into a terrifying dungeon with thumbscrews. Remember, in the last chapter the biggest problem was finding the tinned sardines.

Dulce Domo…the coziest chapter in all of Brit lit

Oh my goodness the forced (platonic) proximity between the royalist and puritan is my favourite thing in this book so far

Things are taking a turn. I had thought the fantasy elements were surprisingly light for a Hardinge book until now… Love the description of Charles I’s Oxford bolthole at Christ Church.

I don’t care if nothing happens the prose is perfect. Reading it aloud is delightful.

Nice thematic handling of Twelfth Night

On the downside, Hardinge doesn’t seem to realise that puritans didn’t pray for the dead. On the upside, the aristocrats are creepier than the puritans. 🤣