I am a total sucker for anything Beauty & the Beast inspired or adjacent, and this book absolutely pulled me in with its parallels. I loved the prose and the magic and dark fairytale aspects of this, as it all reminded me a bit of Robin McKinley’s magic (who is my favorite author). The mystery was intriguing and the characters lovable in their own strange ways. I also loved the ties to Slavic culture. But that ending! Gah! Why don’t you just tear out my heart with that one! From everyone else’s reviews, I apparently now need to go watch Howl’s Moving Castle they all say that this is similar and if so, I'm definitely gonna love it.