Another perfectly written atmospheric read by Alexis Henderson. Her first book, The Year of the Witching, is still my favorite of her books. I'm so bummed because there has always been a planned sequel for that book, but Alexis has talked multiple times about how she is not in a good enough space to write the sequel that book deserves. I think it blocked her for a long time and kept her from writing different stories, so I am very grateful that she is publishing again even if they aren't the sequel I so desperately want. I am still loving all her standalone stories. 

Now for this book. This is Alexis' shortest book, and I felt it. Marion lives in the slums of what equates to the south during the Civil War. She is a housemaid for a bitchy old widow, but she depends on that wage to care for her sick brother. Things between her brother and her get pretty dramatic, and through some other strange events she ends up on a train to the north. There she ends up as a blood maiden for Countess Lisavet of House of Hunger. This world has its own nobility system that the book briefly touches. The story could have really benefited for just a little more development in a few areas, on being the nobility system. 

In this world, true nobles were pretty much vampires and drank human blood for youthfulness and health, like in Countess Lisavet's case. But like I said, the word "vampire" is never printed in the book although they share a lot of characteristics. I wanted to know so much more about their world. 

This book definitely has a slow buildup, but when it gets going the climax is worth the work. Very exciting very fast. I read almost the whole last half of it in one day.