This book has plenty of similarities with Howl's Moving Castle which I LOVE! The 'cozy' parts of this fantasy really come out in the beginning of the book when Foss is dealing with her heartsickness and when she first arrives at Sylvester's house. There were some parts of this book that were gory and really eerie

specifically the mists and conflict in the bar and castle

, which kind of caught me off guard but didn't impact my overall enjoyment. This book is kind of strange in the way that the magic felt otherworldly (think Alice in Wonderland but in an old-timey fairytale).

To be completely transparent, the first half of this book was very slow and a little hard to get through. It was repetitive and really focused on Foss' inner monologue. There were points, of course, where there was some interesting dialogue or some key plots points. But the real action didn't start until after the 50% mark, then it was more medium-fast paced.

I kind of have a love/dislike relationship with Foss. I found a lot of her inner monologue to drag on and on. She was very self-deprecating but it's understandable when you think about the people she was raised around. Otherwise, I found that she was a really good representation of a "selfish" but for good reasons FMC. There were points where she made some really silly decisions, and I kind of wish we got more explanation or displays of guilt from that.

Sylvester... pretty flat, dare I say boring. I feel like he added very little to the story even though he was the MMC. I do like him, I just wish he had more to his character.

Cornelius!! Love of my life. He's like a perfect mix between Salem from the 90s version of Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Jiji from Kiki's Delivery Service. For a good chunk of the book, he is what kept me going. 

I'd recommend this book to those who like an independent FMC, talking cats, corrupt kingdoms, magic houses, and the slowest of burn romances.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review!*