Sadie Hartmann > Recent Status Updates

-small town
-murder mystery
-potential love interest
-reading tea leaves
-mysterious handsome man is an alchemist

I'm on chapter 5 now and things are picking up! The FMC has taken a position as a governess and is making her way to the estate. She's asking the carriage driver for details about her new employers. Things do seem a little mysterious
The beginning of the books goes the long way around to get to this point--basically Eliza Caine loses both parents when she's like 21 and so she needs to seek marriage or employment

20 pages in update:
Cornwall 1854
(love a historical setting)
Murder mystery/Dark fantasy
Alchemy & Tea Leaf Reading--so far
-cozy vibes
-tea shoppe
-love the FMC already

the island had a feel to it, wild, unmoored from reality, an oasis of otherness. It was there in the breeze drifting off the loch soft as moth wings murmuring secrets to a flame, there in the breathing tightness that wrapped around her like cobwebs, there in the unnatural silence that hushed birdsong. It felt like hallowed ground steeped in human tragedy.

A haunted, Scottish castle
And ghostly ships on the loch
AND I don't love italicized sections, especially whole chapters but I'm listening to the audiobook too, so it's fine

DNF- while I love the Nor Cal setting and the eerie storyline, the characters, the writing style, and the narrator of the audiobook are not doing it for me

I'm not going to quit, but this audiobook narrator is not my favorite--she has odd rises and falls to her voice, like a weird sing-song voice that she uses with every character

This detective is annoying

I was born in the castle?"
"As far as I am aware."
"Where is it?" asked Neve.
"It is in an area called Sutherland in the western Highlands. A most beautiful area I am led to believe, though I have not been there myself."

This is taking a long time because I have been busy--not a lot of time for audio but also, it's dragging a little bit

-I like that this is set in Nor Cal, some very familiar spots along hwy 1
-The insta-friendship between Aubrey and Dimitri is kinda cheesy but manageable
-The writing is accessible (a little basic)
-Compelling

Reading the book & the audiobook at the same time. Almost halfway through. I definitely enjoy Sabine’s story more—Alice is growing on me

"Oooo I love the whole story behind the title of this book! The midnight soil...the feral roses"

I'm only 13% into this audiobook and already, so much has happened. I'm thrilled this is a 500+ page book--I only want to listen to this for the rest of my LIFE haha
Read if you enjoy:
-Intricately detailed storytelling
-Immersive setting
-Dual narratives (so far)
María's story (1500s)
Alice's story (2019)
-Sapphic longing and desire/romance
-amazing narration!!!!

I love that the FMC is 55. And that she has a love interest and going out on a date--I so rarely read about women my age (49) they're always so young

I need a poison garden

I love the children's pot from the past

I love this audiobook, it's perfectly moody and atmospheric
-The sisters discover mysteries and family secrets
-There is a light romance brewing
-The tea leaves readings are clever
-I love the house and the grounds

-secret language of flowers
-everyone has a flower...like a totem
-"I see dead people"
-Francine is the MC "Lantana"
-I just decided, I'm going to read all three Shannon Morgan books. They're on hoopla

"There was something primeval in their worship of the moonflowers-something witchy and secret and forbidden."

-witchy
-gothic
-reading tea leaves
-creepy woods "Lonehowe Wood"
-a manor "Thwaite Manor"

"When I was dead, music would be the only thing worth missing.
But if we can carry anything with us to the afterlife, I had to believe it was music"

"She liked to say she’d lost her religion, but not her spirituality."

Same, Granny.

real question: did the author write this specifically for me?

"If there was a portal that could deliver me to the Shire, I’d walk through it willingly. If the hobbits came calling, they could have me without a fight."

"Ghosts might frighten other children, but I felt a kinship to them. Just as my grandmother did. It was something beautiful we shared, and in that moment, I felt an intense love for her."

"As soon as I was old enough to sound out words, my grandmother loaded me down with books about aliens, bigfoot, ghosts, trolls living under bridges, portals to fairy kingdoms, doomsday cults..."

Chapter 28--there are some really creepy scenes and it does really feel like stay beats from The Others movie with Nicole Kidman

Definitely unexpected! 🙌🏼❤️‍🔥

Quicksilver

I have to admit, I feel a little lost in the weeds