Hunting the Wren by Susanna M. Newstead. BooksGoSocial, 2021.

I enjoyed reading this story about new master astrologer Bennet and his new servant Christa, their everyday life in medieval Marlborough, and their efforts to see a murderer and a pair of con artists brought to justice.

The book is well written, easy to read, with descriptions that make visualizing the setting very easy. Main characters are engaging, supporting characters develop as the story progresses, and life as described could very likely be what it was like at the time. Aside from the role of astrology in the story, woven in pragmatically as the work of a journalist or lawyer might be today, an element of magic and some romance help the story along.
This light, easy, pleasant read is my first experience with Susanna M. Newstead who writes medieval murder mysteries.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of Hunting the Wren for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. #HuntingTheWren #NetGalley

The concept of this was interesting but I couldn't get past the writing style which I found to be just really weak. There was a lot of what I commonly hear called "floating head" syndrome, where there was a lot of dialogue kind of driving the story along without being anchored to the setting in any way. Like honestly, this felt more like reading a screenplay than a novel. I also felt like there was a lot of "telling" and not "showing." Combined, I really feel like this story would've benefited from further development and editing.

For a mystery romance, I appreciate the amount of effort that went into the research for this book. It was well thought out and the research and lore were my favorite parts of the book.

I think I would have appreciated more twists and mystery to the story, more crime solving and adventure and a little less romance, since I didn't quite connect with the characters and the writing wasn't my favored style. If the reader is looking for something more light and whimsical, Hunting the Wren should hit the nail on the head.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me a free ARC.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this free ARC.

I honestly didn't enjoy this very much, at first I thought I was going to love it because of the setting. I like that the MC is an astrologer. I like the plot, it was very unique and intriguing but I just couldn't finish the book. The romance moments didn't make me feel anything and maybe that's just me! But I wouldn't recommend if you don't like unnecessary romance in historical fiction mystery books. I would've preferred it much more if it was a crime-solving mystery with some unique twists.

A sweet story with beautiful writing from the author - you can truly tell that a lot of time and effort went into historical research to present the town set in medieval times. It’s a good mix of crime solving, relationships and with sprinkles of romance throughout. Highly recommended read.