I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

This was a very peculiar read, and even several hours after finishing it, I am not entirely sure of how I feel about it. I'll try to give some sense to what I say here, but please forgive me if (as is very likely) I should fail miserably. Because summing up my thoughts on this book is by no means easy. Although one thing is clear: I am IN LOVE WITH THAT COVER! It is just so gorgeous! *takes several minutes to stare at the beautiful cover* Ok, now that that's out of my system, let's move on to more serious considerations...

I'll start by saying that I found this incredibly original, both in terms of story and writing style. I really liked the prose, and at times it sounded almost poetic. I am not much of a fan of descriptive scenes, but here I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. In fact, I might even go as far as saying that the writing was my favourite part of the book. There, I said it. As far as the story goes, the basic plot is pretty straightforward, but a lot of complications and sub-plots ensue that complicate matters enormously and made it a just a little to easy to lose track of the main plot.

This is not helped by the fact that the book is narrated in multiple POVs, with several different characters taking turns in narrating their own story. While it all fitted together in the end, I did have some trouble keeping up with them throughout and that made me enjoy the story overall just a little bit less. But that's definitely a case of "it's not you, it's me", and if you like multiple POVs, you're probably going to enjoy this a lot.

As for the characters, I loved how weird and quirky they all were! Unfortunately though, because of the constant switching in narration, I found it hard to really connect with any one character, and I never really felt like I had gotten to know them to a good extent. Nonetheless, I still liked reading about them, in all their uniqueness. And I was really happy with the endings all of them got, which doesn't happen often for me!

Overall, this was an enjoyable read, perfect for someone looking for a highly original and unique story. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland in some ways, only much darker. If you like supernatural adult books, then you should definitely give this a try!

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An intriguing story playing in old Victorian London with an immensely colourful and detailed writing-style, eloquent and specific descriptions make you feel deeply pulled in where you can very nearly see, feel and smell everything happening, and will give you goose-bumps!
A book I’ll always come back to! ( )

3.5 Stars

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Read near the end of 2016, but it is certainly a contender for the weirdest book of the year for me. It is difficult to place it somewhere, but if I had to, it would be some kind of adult fairy tale. I really liked the cover.

It starts out rather like a horror tale. Mirror grandfather, being mad, tried to kill her to conserve her soul in a clock. It turns out that a lot of children are disappearing by the hands of a certain cult. But since the story is told from different POVs and not chronologically, it will be of extreme importance to keep your mind with this read.

It certainly was strange. It was very interesting, and I cannot say I've read something similar before, but at times is was borderline absurd and because the story switched so often between many characters (all of which had their own weird stories) some parts of it felt a bit rushed.

I'm glad I already have the second book in the series, with an equally nice cover!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! ( )

3.75.

Strange, twisted, macabre, odd, different and all together lovely. ( )

A penny dreadful fairy tale - Delightfully dark, wonderfully wicked – highly original!

I am so pleased I chose this book for review. I enjoyed every page and now I’ve finished it I feel like I could read it all again and enjoy it just as much.

“1888. A little girl called Mirror and her shape-shifting guardian Goliath Honeyflower are washed up on the shores of Victorian England. Something has been wrong with Mirror since the day her grandfather locked her inside a mysterious clock that was painted all over with ladybirds.”

There is a lovely blending of fairy tale and horror with this novel and when I began reading this story I thought, “Ok, is this a child’s way of making up stories and coping with her trauma or not? Or is it real?” I was delighted to discover when I read there was just so much more going on with this story.

I think to describe Bee’s novel as a penny dreadful fairy tale might come close to giving you a feel for this book. The writing is wonderful. The use of imagery, colour (I know it’s a book not a film, but you’ll get this ref when you read it!) is superb and immerses you in this world. I particularly loved the use of odd fonts and different spacing for some of the text as an excellent way of highlighting the madness of some of the characters.

I had many laugh out loud moments while reading this due to the excellent dialogue and characterisations. Seriously – Mr Loveheart turns out to be a wonderfully deranged hero and I'm glad this is marked as book 1 in his adventures, because the world needs to see more of Mr Loveheart!

There are many interconnected sub-stories here and the book jumps about in terms of time periods; some readers may not cope with this. However, I loved these extra stories and didn’t mind the jumps in time. In fact, I think, given the nature of Mirror’s gift and that she is a child, those jumps were highly appropriate. It does mean though, that you’ve got to concentrate on reading at least until you get into the swing of things.

This is a five out of five stars rating and I hardly ever say that. I really didn’t want to put it down or for it to end! I will be on the lookout for more books by this author.

Bravo Ishbelle Bee!

(Release date 2 June, 2015)
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