Let me just start out by saying that I really enjoyed this book. I feel like it was different from the other YA books I’ve seen lately and that was so refreshing. I love regency-era books and this was a real treat.

The main characters were all charming in their own way. Emma and her cousins are just the right mixture of debutante and daring. This first book is mainly about Emma, the second focuses on Gretchen, one of the other cousins.

“Ooof,” Emma wheezed. “Someone’s elbow is taking liberties.”
“Sorry, sorry.” Gretchen shifted. “But if Penelope’s left foot gets any closer to my cleavage we’ll have to read the banns.”
Penelope squirmed and spat out what felt like a wad of lace. “I sincerely hope that was someone’s petticoat and not a rat.”

The dialogue between the girls is especially great. They interact with each other like you would expect family or close friends to. There’s no cattiness between them or petty jealousy. (Although Penelope might be jealous that the other girls’ familiars weren’t spiders like hers…)

Cormac is a breath of fresh air in the world of YA male love interests. Let me just take a moment to say thank you to Alyxandra Harvey. Ah yiss. He is not brooding in the way that has become so common. He is not borderline mentally abusive just for the sake of mystery and he’s rather dashing and suave.

“Shouldn’t you at least be clutching me out of fear?”
She turned to look at him. “Why? I’m not afraid of the dark, Cormac.”
He sighed theatrically. “But girls clutch at me out of fear all the time. Apparently I am a great defender against bees, spiders, moths, and suspicious-looking scones.”
Aside from the characters, I really loved the setting and detail in this book. Harvey really drives home certain smells and feelings for different things, and at first, I was kind of annoyed by it. I just wanted to say out loud that I get it. But after thinking about it a little bit I thought, I actually like that she did that. It really cemented the scene for me. You could almost be more a part of this story when you knew that the since the character was coming upon something you’d seen before, you’d remember the way it would smell or the way that it would feel.
I.Love.That.

There were only minor details that bothered me. I wish Emma had been more upset about her mother’s broken keepsake. I wish that the characters weren’t so garbled at times. I got a little confused when there were too many at once.

Other than that, I highly recommend this book. The second book, I’m waiting to read and I’ll admit, it’s for a stupid reason. I REALLY hate the main guy’s name. Tobias. *shudder*