-Synopsis-

A house of haunted history and ill temper. Make yourself at home in this beguiling novel of love, magic, and danger by Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg.

Rhode Island, 1846. Estranged from his family, writer Merritt Fernsby is surprised when he inherits a remote estate in the Narragansett Bay. Though the property has been uninhabited for more than a century, Merritt is ready to call it home—until he realizes he has no choice. With its doors slamming shut and locking behind him, Whimbrel House is not about to let Merritt leave. Ever.

Hulda Larkin of the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms has been trained in taming such structures in order to preserve their historical and magical significance. She understands the dangers of bespelled homes given to tantrums. She advises that it’s in Merritt’s best interest to make Whimbrel House their ally. To do that, she’ll need to move in, too.

Prepared as she is with augury, a set of magic tools, and a new staff trained in the uncanny, Hulda’s work still proves unexpectedly difficult. She and Merritt grow closer as the investigation progresses, but the house’s secrets run deeper than they anticipated. And the sentient walls aren’t their only concern—something outside is coming for the enchantments of Whimbrel House, and it could be more dangerous than what rattles within.

-Review-

I am quite happy that I decided to finally enjoy this book as this has been on my TBR for months.

Kindle Unlimited offers both the eBook and audiobook, so I was jumping in between the formats. I full heartedly preferred the latter since I thought all three voice actors did a phenomenal job. There is something about listening to a book with multiple readers that just makes the story feel more engaging to me. My attention span has a tendency to wander with audiobooks but I found myself rarely losing my focus with this book.

This story is written in three different points of view: Silas, Merritt and Hulda with the latter two being the most prominent. In the beginning, Silas feels separate from the main story as though he is in his own book. As the story goes on, he becomes more of a central figure in the overall plot line. I enjoy this aspect a lot since it creates some surprising intersections that you may have not seen coming.

The majority of the story takes place on a small isolated island off the coast of Rhode Island, USA. That is where the Whimbrel house is located of which Merritt is now the proud owner. The house itself is probably the most interesting part of this whole story. As the title suggests the house appears to take on a mind of its own projecting its own magical abilities. These projections, hilariously cause some mischief with any who enter its corridors. Besides the island, there are trips to the main land, as well as flashbacks to England, just to make the world feel more established and large.

One aspect I love of Charlie’s writing is her blending of magic systems with the real world (albeit in the past). This was what drew me into her Paper Magician series. The worlds she creates have such a surreal feeling with the technology of the time side by side with enchanted modes of communication and travel. It feels like a dream.

The magic system in this book can be a bit overwhelming with all the classes so Charlie actually included “The Doctrines of Magic” at the beginning. This outlines each discipline such as psychometry and augury, what they pertain to, certain repercussions for using said magic and the associated mineral for each. In this book, there are 11 separate classes of which there are examples of each in the book (I believe). I also found it interesting how one’s magical abilities and how strong the ability is, has a large genetic component. This has actually caused a sort of push for magical welding people to marry and have offspring with other magical abled people in order to keep the magic going. Very interesting social aspects of this.

As far as the characters are concerned, I felt like all main characters had certain dark spots in their pasts that made their decisions feel understandable and realistic. Even concerning the antagonist, I did feel quite bad for him at the beginning. His ideologies and decisions he made were understandable given his backstory, if extremely inhumane at the end of the day. His intense emotions were blinding his inhibitions to the point where he was willing to commit atrocious acts in order to feel as though nobody could overpower him ever again. Very well written bad guy!

The romance between Merritt and Hulda was slow paced since it started out as basically an employer/employee relationship. Dealing with the quirks of the house together, they began to rely on one another for companionship and support. There were some rough spots for them as the longing began to feel stronger. Their lack of trust and confidence were due to their pasts and I found myself understanding the miscommunication and assumptions being made. The conflicts did not go on too long and was perfect to strengthen their relationship.

All in all, if you enjoy other works by Charlie and/or love fantasy worlds with heavier magic systems and some romance splashed in, I would HIGHLY recommend this series. There are four other books in this series, of which the last one comes out in September of this year. They are available on KU as both the eBook and audiobook which is fantastic. I would highly recommend the audio book for this whole series!

I will go ahead and link my previous reviews for The Paper Magician series also by Charlie:

The Paper Magician
The Glass Magician
The Master Magician
The Plastic Magician

-About the Author-

Charlie N. Holmberg is a Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author of fantasy and romance fiction, including the Paper Magician series, the Spellbreaker series, and the Whimbrel House series, and writes contemporary romance under C. N. Holmberg. She is published in over twenty languages and is a Goodreads Choice Award, ALA, and RITA finalist. Born in Salt Lake City, Charlie was raised a Trekkie alongside three sisters who also have boy names. A BYU alumna, she discovered in her thirties that she’s actually a cat person. She lives with her family in Utah.