Longshadow

As the adopted daughter of the Lord Sorcier, Abigail has always been around Faeries and magic. What most of society doesn't know is that Abigail is a powerful magic wielder herself. When young women of the ton start dying with their western windows open, the Lord Sorcier suspects Faeries may be involved and Abigail is determined to help him investigate. Along the way she meets another young woman, Mercy, with magical abilities who is also investigating the deaths. While their approaches clash initially, Abigail and Mercy each have knowledge the other needs and as they continue to investigate, they'll discover they might have more in common than they thought.

This whole series has been a delight and the final installment is no exception. show more Abigail is a lovely character to spend time with and her growth as both a person and a wielder of magic is lovely to behold. Her relationship with Mercy is also charming as all get out. And there are cameos from characters from previous books in the series, which adds extra delight to the returning reader. If you've read the first two books, you should definitely pick up this final entry. show less

This is the final book in Atwater's Regency Faerie Tales trilogy, and sadly the one I liked the least. At least I know why, though: I didn't like Hugh much (Abigail's ghost "brother") and the many interactions with him rubbed me the wrong way. I dislike the "kid character is going to forever remain a kid and never grow up" trope with the sometimes exception of Peter Pan. Hugh is a side character and not the POV character of this book, but I didn't like him and it bled over into all the rest of the book. Which is a shame, because in general I liked the rest of the book.

The plot and various little mystery elements were especially fun. I liked trying to find out the plot behind the mystery—though be warned, this is a fantasy romance show more first and a mystery second, so you don't get the same mystery tropes that you would from that genre. It was also a lot of fun to reconnect with the main characters from the first two books, either as proper side characters or as cameo appearances. show less

I wonder if I would have liked this book more if I had not had such high standards after the first two books in the series. I read this to stay in the cosy Regency-era fairy world Olivia Atwater made for us, and honestly, I only finished it to stay there. I was excited to follow up on Abigail's future, but she was a bit half-baked as a character. The whole business of her wanting to live forever seemed so odd. I liked the romance; it was soft and gentle, but as the book progressed, it kinda smushed in. Danger of a slow burn, I suppose! So slow that when they kissed, I was shocked. Another issue I had with this book was what they did to my babies Elias and Dora, from Half a Soul. They felt washed up, Elias was utterly useless as a Lord show more Sorcier and Dora a comedy relief. I would have liked them to be slightly more influential to the plot, even if off page. Oh well. Still an enjoyable read. show less

The best of the series so far, I think! I liked that characters from the previous two books made appearances. As usual, the author takes some liberties with Regency culture, but those probably won't bother people who aren't history geeks, and this book spends less time with the human side of things than either of the previous two, so it's a bit less noticeable. All in all a really cute little story I enjoyed!

Abigail, adopted daughter of the Lord Sorcier of England and his half-souled wife Theodora, had a season in London but was made wretched by the other young ladies her age, so after 3 of her contemporaries have died untimely she's not moved by sympathy to investigate their deaths, but by desire to help her father and use her skills, when she meets the mysterious Mercy, whose appearance as a laundry woman is one of many deceptions, and when she gets new knowledge of the slaugh the possibilities don't narrow, they widen.

3.5

Adopted daughter to two magicians wields her own magic, solves murders, befriends ghosties and falls for a sexy washer lady-thing.

This is a chaste saccharine sweet regency romance soaked in faerie and mortal magic.
I felt it dragged a bit and I wasn’t that invested in the main characters but I still enjoyed it.

The third book in a loosely linked trilogy. It could be read as a stand-alone, but I think it's more enjoyable if you've already encountered these characters in the first two books. If you enjoy fantasy of manners, I highly recommend the whole series.