A review by lillist
Manners and Monsters by Tilly Wallace
3.0
This one was perfectly fine but unfortunately, not more than that for me.
The writing flows easily, but maybe the whole this-is-how-they-talked-in-the-olden-days felt a bit forced for me. Similarly, the characters were interesting enough, there was plenty of quirk and I liked Hannah, the protagonist, for being scientifically minded, pragmatic and competent.
My main gripe that all of the book felt somewhat formulaic. The plot was fine but the insight that lead to the solution of the mystery did not feel earned by the investigating characters. It was just like a lightbulb went on in their heads, bringing with it the epiphany.
The romance that is being set up in this first part of the series felt rather forced and contrived as well.
Mostly I feel like this book will surely be a lovely read for fans of this particular genre (supernatural mystery set in Regency Britain), but for me it felt a bit too much like it was just ticking off the boxes without offering much new in addition to that.
I mean, that sort of formula works great for other genres, so ... sure, why not? It just wasn't enough for me.
The writing flows easily, but maybe the whole this-is-how-they-talked-in-the-olden-days felt a bit forced for me. Similarly, the characters were interesting enough, there was plenty of quirk and I liked Hannah, the protagonist, for being scientifically minded, pragmatic and competent.
My main gripe that all of the book felt somewhat formulaic. The plot was fine but the insight that lead to the solution of the mystery did not feel earned by the investigating characters. It was just like a lightbulb went on in their heads, bringing with it the epiphany.
The romance that is being set up in this first part of the series felt rather forced and contrived as well.
Mostly I feel like this book will surely be a lovely read for fans of this particular genre (supernatural mystery set in Regency Britain), but for me it felt a bit too much like it was just ticking off the boxes without offering much new in addition to that.
I mean, that sort of formula works great for other genres, so ... sure, why not? It just wasn't enough for me.