India Holton lives by the sea in New Zealand. Her books are historical fantasy romcoms featuring unconventional women and charming rogues. India's writing is fueled by tea, buttered scones, and thunderstorms. You can find more of my reviews of Holton's work here.
Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it's a pleasant existence. Until the men show up. Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he's under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman. When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her—hopefully proving, once and for all, that she's as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.
Holton's worldbuilding is twofold. First, she has to create a fantasy world for the reader, and secondly has to do so in a historical setting. I love how the historical is set up. We get Victorian England energy from who is queen of England, the type of decor referenced, and the fashion the ladies wear. But we also get the historical sense through the writing itself. Even the dialogue reads exactly like how I expected Victorian women to speak. I was particularly pleased by how each chapter beginning referenced an old Victorian classic by imitating the opening lines of those novels. But, this is also a fantasy romance! There's piracy and rogues and flying houses. The magic system isn't the main focus—the reader's ability to suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride is paramount. However, I quite enjoyed the lack of explicit detail because it allowed the novel to lean into its hilarity. This is very much a historical romance as well as a fantasy romance, and Holton allows the world to truly shine by the combination.
The romance is so swoony! I loved the opposites attract, enemies to lovers, and forced proximity tropes employed to keep Cecilia and Ned interacting throughout the book. I also loved how sometimes the book switched POVs to show Ned's side of their interactions. I felt that this was balanced well—my favorite of this is probably on literally the second or third page right after Cecilia slams the door. It sets up a quirky, he falls first romance that will have every romance reader delighting in the perfect combination of yearning and chemistry.
Finally, Holton kept the book focused not just on the romance between Ned and Cecilia, but also on the relationships between the female characters. For a book titled after the crime sorority, it was important to me to see how they interacted with one another. It was quite goofy, but I felt like it was overall a good commentary on female relationships and femininity as a whole, even if it isn't meant to be a direct commentary on either of those things. You just felt that, while reading, Holton absolutely understood that depicting the intricacies of all types of female relationships would make the novel funnier, more complex, and overall more rewarding. The book is all of these things.
If you're looking for a book that entertains and is laugh out loud funny, look no further! I can't wait to dive into the next book in this trilogy. Stay tuned!
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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