C.J. Archer

Back with book 5 in the Glass and Steele series and ya’ll, I could serious read these characters and this world for the rest of my life and not be bored.

India and Matt are running out of time. They have to find the healing magician in order to fix Matts watch, or he will die. It continues to become weaker and soon enough, it will cease to work at all. When clues point them to a local convent, Matt and India investigate. The nuns are tight lipped, but they are able to discover that twenty show more years ago, two infants and the Mother Superior went missing. With the convent actively thwarting their attempts at digging up information, an old enemy intent on taking Matt out, and a family matter that threatens India and Matts happiness together, the sleuthing duo have no shortage of problems to solve and people to be wary of.

First and foremost, thank you Jesus we FINALLY have some real feelings sharing between Matt and India. That plot line was literally making me crazy. THEY BELONG TOGETHER PEOPLE! But wouldn’t you know it, OF COURSE, something threatens their happiness and ability to be together. Honestly, I don’t know whats worse, India not being honest with Matt about her feelings in books one through four, or finally bearing their hearts and love to each other only to have his pesky family drama interfere.

It’s infuriating.

And I can’t get enough!

I like that we get some more fleshing out of some of our beloved secondary characters, most notably, Willie. Having such a diverse kind of character in this time period and setting was unexpected, but books need more of it! We got to see a more vulnerable side to Willie which really gave her much more depth as a character. As with the rest of the books in this series, there was plenty of heart stopping action to keep your adrenaline spiked. I’m not ashamed to admit I gasped, out loud, on more than one occasion in a public setting.

Book 6 has been ordered and on the way (thanks Amazon!), can’t wait to dive into it! show less

India Steele is a victim of one of the oldest scams in Victorian England. She is a woman left alone by the death of her father and dismissed out of hand by her fiancé. Her fiancé, who has worked himself into her father’s good graces, inherits the father’s watch and clock shop, the shop in which India apprenticed under her father and which she had expected to run. But alas, in Victorian England women cannot inherit or own property of their own, and the Watchmaker’s Guild is unanimous show more in their refusal to admit a woman as a practicing watchmaker. India is homeless with nowhere to go and no real prospects for a job.

Matt Glass is a mysterious American with a problem. He must find a particular watchmaker in London to repair his watch; a particular watchmaker with particular skills. He has no idea of the man’s name or location, only that he is from England and was in Broken Creek, New Mexico five years previously. He encounters India and hires her to help him find the mysterious watchmaker. Having no options, she works for Glass but has reservations that he is all he seems to be. Along the way to seeking the missing watchmaker, India encounters many surprises, threats, and adventures, barely surviving many of them. One of the keenest surprises and greatest threats to her is the vulnerability of her own heart.

Flawlessly written, with excellent characterization and brimming with twists and turns, The Watchmaker’s Daughter kept me guessing until the end. It is an entertaining book with both a storyline and a lesson about people and the social conditions of the time. 5-Stars. show less

My kind of catnip, interwar story, magic as a bonus and some snobbery about it. Add in a magical library and a sarky heroine, Sylvia Ashe who is alone in the world, and is finding herself dealing with Gabe, who is a war hero and consults with Scotland Yard to keep away the terrors of his past.
Gabe accidentally gets Sylvia sacked from her job in a library and determines to fix the problem, the only way he knows how, and creates a job for her in the magical library. There she finds a home and show more he also finds that she has skills in linking information. He's got a girlfriend but their relationship seems based more on pragmatism than love.
It's complicated and messy and there are plenty of bright young things and it was a peach of a read. show less

I'll admit, this is, I believe, my first ever cosy mystery book! I also admit that I only read this book because it had a purple cover and that was part of a story graph challenge. Honestly, I did not expect it to be a 5 star read at all, so I'm pleasantly surprised and really glad I stumbled across this book!

I generally avoid detective style books (if I see D.C or D.I on the back of a book, it goes back on the shelf immediately), probably because they take themselves too seriously, the show more storylines are too samey and they just seem boring to me - I'd much rather read a book about true crime than read about a fictional detective solving a fictional (and probably outlandish) murder! That's why I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did.

Maybe because I took this story at face value and didn't go into it with a critical eye, that is why I don't really follow the criticisms shared in other reviews. One mentioned that Cleo is Cambridge educated, yet acts naïve and jumps to conclusions, but this is mentioned only a couple of times. Just because someone is well-educated, doesn't mean they can't make mistakes or be naïve to things. I didn't see Cleo as naïve, only passionate about figuring out the mystery.

I loved the tension and banter between Cleo and Harry and I hope it expands in later books. I was hoping something would happen at the end with them, but even though that didn't happen, it was still a satisfying ending that leads into the next book. All the characters felt so real and alive; they all had their own personalities and I could imagine how they behaved so easily. Archer gives little snippets of information which allows your mind to wander and imagine - nothing's bogged down by too much description which I'm all for!

The book was so easy to read, everything flowed so well into another. Although the book is 350+ pages, it didn't feel that way at all. Something was always happening and there was never a lull in the story where I felt I was losing interest. It felt almost fast paced, yet because of the length, it could probably still be deemed medium paced.

I can't think of any moment where I thought, 'that's cringe/weird/doesn't sound right'. It was just a pleasant read from start to finish. No writing/spelling errors either. I can't think of a negative part of the book which is why I had to give it 5 stars! show less