Helen > Recent Status Updates

Maggie Smith, did someone force you to write this?

If you don’t want to tell the Reader any details and keep writing around the subject, why release it to the public?

I can’t take any more of this.

K.J. CHARLES? GOTHIC MYSTERY? QUEER ROMANCE? CRIMSON PEAK? KNIVES OUT?

Possible Forbidden Rendezvous on the Misty Moors at Midnight?!

I'm probably raising my expectations to unreachable heights by getting this excited, but I can't help it.

I feel like I am being continuously scolded by flowers for straying from God.

WTH.

The mystery was pretty good.

I have nothing nice to say about the “romance” subplots, so I won’t say anything at all.

Except; ew.

I really wish that I didn't read the cannibalism/embalming chapter with breakfast this morning.

The writing was fine, but the timing was unfortunate.

Of the sapphic sci-fi Sherlock Holmes pastiches that I’ve read recently, I prefer The Tea Master and the Detective to this. Which is a bit disappointing, as that series doesn’t continue with the same sleuthing partners and this one does.

In this novella’s defence, it does pick up towards the end.

I might be willing to try another in this series, but IDK.

No; I’m not rereading Viscounts and Villainy this early.

This is a completely separate queer, speculative fiction mystery with two silhouettes on a bright orange background.

…Guys, I like this style of cover as much as the next reader, but I feel like we could use some more variety.

Just a bit. 🤏

I loved this.

The subject matter is fascinating and the writing is fantastic. I have several sections highlighted just for their great turns of phrase.

I even loved the audiobook version, and I often struggle with those. It's read by the author and I think he does a great job.

I could probably knock this out in two more hours, but I don’t want to.

I know U-Hauling can be pretty extreme, but this is unbelievable.

Okay, so.

I really enjoy the relationship at the centre of this series and that;s what got me through it.

These books are weirdly...tensionless? The stakes are high on paper but the danger rarely feels urgent .

IDK, I guess I just feel a bit let down because I wanted the book to be more climactic.

Spoilers, maybe:



The previous book in the series felt like a bit of a filler episode, so I was looking forward to this instalment because I thought we might get back to some stakes.

Almost a quarter of the way in, the most driving incident for the plot happened off-page.

This book has gorgeous turns of phrase like: ‘Trilobites plowed silty seabeds using spade-like snouts.’

It’s still taking me a while to get through, because this sucker is DENSE.