This is my first book by T. Kingfisher and I absolutely loved the cozy horror feel of it. The story line read as a cozy book, but the author sprinkled just enough horror to make it eerie and spooky. I loved the contrast between the chapters written from a younger character’s perspective (Cordelia) and the chapters written from Hester’s perspective (adult). You can’t help but fall in love with the side characters. I especially adored Penelope’s personality and her story in general. I loved the unconventional ways of the female characters and the use of elemental magic. I will be reading more of T. Kingfisher, I don’t know what I’ve been doing with my life all this time. The middle of the book did feel a little dragged out, but overall, if you go into this read expecting slow cozy vibes mixed in with the fast paced horror scenes, it shouldn’t bother anyone.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy ahead of the release date.

This book is the best way to put you in the witchy (ok, sorceress), cozy, creepy mood we all want near the end of summertime. It’s not a beach read, it’s an autumn read. It’s Gothic-y goodness. It’s atmospheric, mildly spooky (I DO NOT do horror but I could handle this no problem), and so satisfying to finish. Now I am fully aware you may be reading this book in another season, and don’t let this stop you, but if you want something that’s like a warm blanket on a cold rainy night- this is it.

*side note*- if you are looking for a 🍿 good IG comment section vibe, the amount of goodreads reviews sniping this book as not being true retelling of The Goose Girl folktale are frickin’ hilarious. If the difference between “inspired by” and “retelling” gets you all worked up, maybe this book isn’t for you. Regardless of the blurb wording, T. Kingfisher’s writing is beautiful and, in this case, hauntingly compelling.

Our heroine, Cordelia, is a young woman who lives with her mother, a sorceress, who is controlling and manipulative and well, evil. Her mother works up a scheme to marry into wealth, and soon Cordelia finds herself in grand manor house, trying to figure out which fork to use for which course of the meal. Eventually Cordelia finds that there are good people around her, a found family of sorts, and maybe she can find the courage to thwart her mother’s plans and save her new friends from falling victim to the sorceress.

Absolute magic ✨ 5 stars!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced audiobook, in exchange for my unbiased review!

This is a dark retelling of Goose Girl by the Brothers Grimm and I have to admit I am not familiar with that tale at all, but that certainly didn’t keep me from enjoying this story. The moody atmosphere pulled me in immediately and the compelling characters kept their hooks in me the whole way through. I loved the way that heavier topics were laced throughout such warm and lovable characters (Not you, Evangeline.) it made for an interesting reading experience.
 
There were so many great characters and a lot of great character development in this story, but Hester and her geese were the real MVP for me. She started out just trying to look out for her brother and her household, but the way she treated Cordelia and ended up caring for her too was really sweet.
 
Big thank you to @macmillan.audio for the gifted ALC! Eliza Foss and Jennifer Pickens did a fantastic job bringing this story to life. It was one of those audiobooks that I was totally immersed in, due not only to the atmospheric writing, but to the listening experience as well.  The voices were spot on for me.
 

Read if you like:
🖤Dark fantasy
🤫Secrets
🔮Magic
🪿Geese
🎻Regency vibes
🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒Found family

T. Kingfisher is an auto-buy for me so I was thrilled to listen to the new audiobook early and it didn’t disappoint. However I wasn’t familiar with the Brothers Grimm Goose Girl Story that this novel is based on. This audiobook is super short, about 6 hours. and I listened in one sitting. “ Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend -unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t evil sorcerers.” I straight up rooted for Cordelia. The narrators, Eliza Foss and Jennifer Pickens, were excellent and the plot lines and the narration had me hooked until the conclusion. ALC provided by Macmillan Audio via NetGalley. I received an advance listening copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

4.25/5

This was such an intriguing plot! I felt for Cordelia so much. It gave me a similar feeling to Ella Enchanted in that Cordelia was forced to obey her mother. I have never read the fairy tale it was based on (The Goose Girl), but now I want to read it to compare the two.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I love T Kingfisher fantasies and this one was great, especially over audiobook. The narrator kept me deeply in the story and I couldn't stop listening.

Thank you to NetGalley for the copy of this ARC audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks to Macmillian Audio for gifted access via Netgalley. All opinions below are my own.

This is the story of a young girl, Cordelia, whose mother is an evil sorceress. There isn't much given to us about what world they're living in and whether this is a normal occurrance or not. She is able to take over her Cordelia's body and force her to "be obediant" as well as control her horse to keep watch in moments she can't be there. As she schemes for a better life for them via marriage with a rich lord, her antics become more violent and Cordelia realizes she must do something. But she is young and naive so she must trust those around her to help find a way to stop her scheming mother.

I was definitely entertained by this story. The scheming to marry a rich man was is a familiar tale but the way magic was used was fun and unique. I also liked that the girl was naive and stayed so, it's so unrealistic when characters suddenly become so capable in the face of trouble. Instead she used logic and ration and relied on the others, that part gave me cozy found family vibes. If you don't like animal torture... you might want to skip this one.

I also really liked that they had different narrators for the women, it was easy to differentiate and keep up with the story.

Read this one if you liked The Familiar.

4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Cordelia and Hester were incredible main characters. I loved how different in age they were, and it was so cool getting different POVs on the situation they were now all in together. Cordelia is reserved, fearful, and observant, and she’s had to be all of these things while living with her mother, who is also a sorceress. Her mother has used her sorcery to get what she wants, while constantly manipulating and hurting people in the process. Cordelia has dealt with so much hurt and disappointment and fear that when she steps into Hester’s home—it’s a place where she’s seen and doesn’t feel like a nuisance. Hester’s knees ache and she’s ready to embroider her next project, but she didn’t expect for her brother to fall in love with a random woman he barely knows or have her and her daughter stay in their home. They are an unlikely pair, but they realize they must come together in order to end what Cordelia’s mother is doing once and for all.

Kingfisher really fleshed out these characters, every person in this story I could feel had an integral part in the storyline, and I was wondering how it was all going to finish out.

I absolutely loved the narrators Eliza Foss and Jennifer Pickens. They brought the story to life.

CW: violence, child abuse, animal abuse, emotional abuse, death, murder, injury/injury detail

T Kingfisher just has this enchanting and eerie quality to her writing that I absolutely adore. And there is always an underlying subtle humor that just meshes with my brain. How could I resist this?

I’ve been requesting Kingfisher ARC’s from Tor for literal years, and I finally got approved for one. After absolutely loving Nettle & Bone and liking Thornhedge quite a bit, I knew Kingfisher’s newest fairytale iteration would be right up my alley, and it did not disappoint. A Sorceress Comes to Call perfectly embodies a dark fairytale with a silver lining and quite the comeuppance for the nasty, gold digging, spiteful mother. Pick this one up this spooky season for the perfect read to go with the darker and cooler days.

I’ve read three of Kingfisher’s books, all of them fairytales, and the strongest appeal to me among all of them lies in the wonderful found family element they all possess. Sure, they all have fantastic dark but whimsical qualities to them, but the found family aspect strikes me to the heart the most. Though Cordelia has a mother, her mother is complete trash, and she seems to have no hope of ever getting out from under her mother’s thumb. Enter: the prospective step-dad. Though Cordelia’s mom latches on to a new beau in order to fund her lifestyle, she finds quite the friend in the man’s sister, Hester, whose wit and cunning are a match and rival to the evil sorceress.

While Cordelia is the main character for readers, for me, Hester really shines brighter than all the others. She’s sharp, empathetic, and kind—and she won’t hesitate to get rid of someone who threatens her family. After a short while of knowing her, Hester considers Cordelia among the members of her family. Once Kingfisher establishes this connection, readers get quite a wild ride of scheming to do away with the evil sorceress.

Narration for this title wonderfully provided by Eliza Foss and Jennifer Pickens, who provide the voices for the alternation between Hester and Cordelia. Both did amazing jobs, and the book went by too fast for their reading of it.

My thanks to Macmillan Audio and Tor for the ALC, for which I willingly give my own, honest opinion.

Although this isn’t my favorite T. Kingfisher story, it’s definitely worth reading. She has a knack for bringing quirky characters to life and placing them in bizarre situations, and this book was no exception.

This is a suspenseful, disturbing, and funny coming of age historical fantasy inspired by “The Goose Girl.” It was interesting to see how the author incorporated aspects of the fairytale into a very different story. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Cordelia, the innocent 14-year-old daughter of an evil sorceress, and Hester, the world-weary middle-aged spinster sister of a wealthy squire. All of the characters were wonderful except for the sorceress Evangeline, who was manipulative, narcissistic, and truly scary.

The audiobook production was excellent, and I enjoyed the narration by Jennifer Pickens for Cordelia’s point of view and Eliza Foss for Hester’s point of view. The narrators are fun to listen to, with good pacing, clear pronunciation, and distinctive voices to suit the characters. Both were able to convey the mood, emotions, and humor of the story effectively. The story works very well as an audiobook.

Recommended for fans of quirky fairytale reimaginings, historical fantasy/horror, and T. Kingfisher’s distinctive imagination and sense of humor.

I received a free review copy of the audiobook from Macmillan Audio and Tor Books through NetGalley. I volunteered to provide an honest review.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

i really enjoyed the audiobook - it was told by two different women narrators and each of them captured the different personalities of the characters so perfectly! highly recommend!

one of my most anticipated releases of the year and i enjoyed it! it wasn't my favorite by t. kingfisher, but the woman can do no wrong. this had her signature humor, dark atmosphere, and interesting and eccentric characters. i just thought there was going to be a lot more to the plot than what it was!

T. Kingfisher is slowly becoming one of my favorite authors and is definitely one of the best I have found at writing dark fairy tale retellings. She does an incredible job twisting stories into her own. You may know the "Goose Girl" fairy tale going in but that doesn't mean you'll know what will happen here. I didn't want to stop listening to this book once I started. It was great in every single aspect.

The story follows both Cordelia and Hester. Cordelia is a fourteen-year-old who has been tortured by her mother her entire life. Her mother, Evangeline, is a sorceress who is used to getting what she wants and even takes control of her daughter's actions at times. Evangeline has decided she wants to get married to a wealthy man so that she can have a great fortune and get her daughter married too. She will do anything to get what she wants.

Hester is the intelligent sister of the Squire, whom Evangeline wants to marry. She sees right through Evangeline and knows she has to find a way to stop Evangeline from marrying her brother. Hester also wants to help Cordelia, whom she grows fond of.

I loved following both perspectives, but especially Hester. This is quite a dark story, but I loved the humor throughout. Most of this humor came from Hester's narration. She was so funny, along with many of her friends. I was surprised by how many times this had me laughing out loud. The wit of these characters is just top-notch. Also, her romance with one of the other characters was so sweet. I'm a sucker for a story like theirs. 

Cordelia is a timid girl who is afraid of everything around her because of how her mother has treated her. It is hard to listen to this abuse, but it makes Cordelia's growth all the better. We watch her grow throughout the book with the love of her friends.

There is nothing I could say bad about this book other than the fact that I did not want it to end. Every character was so well fleshed out and came alive in the story. I also loved the side characters we had, such as Alice, Penelope, Imogene, Richard, and Wilfred.

I'm thankful I requested the audiobook ARC from NetGalley because it was perfect. Both narrators did a wonderful job creating each of the characters' voices and an eerie feeling with their narration. I highly recommend it. I'll definitely be adding this to my collection and will pick up anything T. Kingfisher writes. She has such a unique voice and is a talented author.

T. Kingfisher is an auto buy author of mine for a REASON. Time after time they knock it out of the park. This was such a beautiful story. Theres secrets and murder and forbidden magic!!! Complicated family relationships!!!! All around amazing characters!!!! Parts of this book ripped trauma right from my skull and other parts felt like a warm hug. All I know is, I never wanted it to end.
Thank you so much to Tor Books for providing me with this ARC.

A big thanks to NetGalley and MacMillian for providing both an eARC and an advance audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

*Le Gasp!* Is T. Kingfisher slowly becoming a favorite author? I think it's more plausible than you think.

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is a dark fantasy retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl. Cordelia knows her mother is . . . unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms—there are no secrets in this house—and her mother doesn't allow Cordelia to have a single friend. Unless you count Falada, her mother's beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t evil sorcerers. When her mother unexpectedly moves them into the manor home of a wealthy older Squire and his kind but keen-eyed sister, Hester, Cordelia knows this welcoming pair are to be her mother's next victims. But Cordelia feels at home for the very first time among these people, and as her mother's plans darken, she must decide how to face the woman who raised her to save the people who have become like family.

All I have to say is, this book is amazingly creepy in all the right ways. And I need everyone to read it absolutely immediately.

A Sorceress Comes to Call is a phenomenal retelling of the Brothers Grimm's Goose Girl, and exceeded my expectations in every way.

Cordelia immediately caught my attention and I felt all of the emotions she was feeling. She was controlled by her mother, Evangeline, an evil sorceress. She not allowed to have friends, and even not allowed to have doors in their house for the fear her mother had of sweet Cordelia keeping secrets.

Things change when Evangeline goes out to scheme to catch a suitor. They move in to an older rich squire’s house (Evangeline’s goal) where Cordelia meets Hester, the Squire’s sister. Hester and Cordelia form a friendship and learn secrets all while trying to stop Evangeline. Things go dark fast.

I loved all of the characters. The Narrators were superb and extremely talented. I love the nods T. Kingfisher hinted at from her other novels. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the e-arc!
Not gonna lie I was a bit shocked at how much I enjoyed this book! This is a retelling of The Goose Girl following Cordelia, a young girl who is utterly controlled by her mother. Her mother is a sorceress and uses her magic Cherry cabinet on others and benefit herself. When she decides she wants to marry a wealthy squire, she manages their way into his home and life. This book is a great mix of secrets, magic, and growth.
I ended up really liking Cordelia as a character; She suffered greatly due to her mother's magic, and I think the portrayal of fear and abuse was very emotional and moving. I found myself relating to her as a character; constantly trying to find safety while living in such fear of her mother. Not only is she incredibly strong and kind but she is intelligent and brave.
Overall I did really enjoy the story however the narrator wasn't my favorite. I found myself struggling with some of the voices and the transitions. It definitely took me out of the story a bit but overall I still really enjoyed the book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the audio ARC of this book!

I truly loved this story. I was hooked from the first paragraph and couldn't wait to find out how it would end. T Kingfisher is one of my favorite authors of all time due to her hilarious sense of humor, extremely loveable characters, and the common themes of found family.
I did not want to put this book down (but life, ugh) and finished it in four days which is pretty impressive for me! The narrators were also phenomenal! Their voices were absolutely perfect for the characters and really helped you feel every emotion.
I would highly recommend this book to basically anyone. I think it'd be appropriate for 16+. There are some darker descriptions and some language.

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is a Goose Girl retelling featuring a wicked mother sorceress who uses her magic to control and manipulate others. After her patron scorns her, Cordelia's mother sets her sights on marrying the country squire so their family's wealth will be set, but Hester, the squire's spinster sister plans to rebuke her advances. Corderlia also doesn't want the first place she's ever felt welcome to have her mother spoil it, can she and Hester prevent the devastation that is sure to come if the sorceress succeeds?

T. Kingfisher writes in the most captivating way. Within several minutes of the audiobook playing, I was hooked. This book is a dark retelling, much like last year's Thornhedge novella, but not as dark as Nettle and Bone. The novel had dashes of humor, charming characters, and witty banter, while also featuring a lovely "found family" message as Hester and the servants embrace Cordelia as one of their own.

The last third of the book suffered from some pacing issues, in my opinion, and I didn't care for how they worked on resolving the issues of taking down the sorceress. I'm sure T. Kingfisher wanted to horrify readers and she did just that, but I wish the scenes with the spell had been handled differently. I loved how the epilogue tied everything together though.

The narrator did a fantastic job differentiating the characters, even when there were accents they had to tackle. I would recommend the audiobook experience to readers!

3.5★
A Sorceress Comes To Call by T. Kingfisher is  a dark, Victorianeque book about an evil mother with a plan, a timid young girl, and an old lady who gets caught in the middle.

I love the dual POV of an elderly woman and a young girl. The contrast between the two was entertaining. Although as humorous as the prose might be, I felt bad for poor Cordelia.

I sadly didn't find this as magical and enchanting as Kingfishers other books, but the extra touch of horror she added to the last fourth of the book made it worth it.

Thank you Macmillian Audio for this arc. I enjoyed it and of course will be reading more of my favorite author's work.