Get ready for a thrilling ride with Kristen Perrin's How to Seal Your Own Fate! The second book in her captivating Castle Knoll series, this novel takes us back to the quaint English village that harbors dark secrets beneath its idyllic surface. When Annie Adams finds herself entangled in a web of mystery and murder, she must race against time to uncover the truth behind Peony Lane's cryptic warning before it's too late.

As we're transported between present-day Castle Knoll and the village in 1967, we find ourselves piecing together the clues that connect a tragic car accident from the past to the ominous events unfolding in Annie's life. With an engaging plot that'll keep you guessing until the very end, How to Seal Your Own Fate is perfect for fans of cozy, suspenseful mysteries and well-crafted characters.

Another fantastic installment in The Castle Knoll Files! There’s something about Kristen Perrin’s writing that feels like it’s from another era—and I mean that in the best way possible. Both books in this series have a good ol’ classic mystery vibe, and the way she crafts the characters and their voices just pulls me right in!

Once again, we get to dive into both Annie’s mind and Frances’ journals to piece together the mystery, which I really enjoy. However, the slow-burn romance is really taking its time… book three, I’m counting on you! 🤞

My only gripe? The ending didn’t totally land for me. The killer’s confession felt a little far-fetched, which took away some of the satisfaction of the reveal. But overall, I’m still hooked on this series and will definitely be back for more Castle Knoll mysteries!

Huge thank you to Penguin Group Dutton and NetGalley for the gifted eARC! ❤️

Did you read How to Solve Your Own Murder and wonder what happened in the years between Emily’s disappearance and Frances and Ford’s marriage? How to Seal Your Own Fate dives into those years more, filling in the story of Frances’s late teenage years, the history and dynamics of the Foyle family, and the mystery surrounding the crash that killed Ford and Saxon’s family.

I read both books back to back and the charm and mystery of the first book really come alive again in How to Seal Your Own Fate. Annie is a delightful sleuth to follow - she has a heart for the people of Castle Knoll while wanting to solve the case and bring justice. Frances’s story was also developed in interesting ways in How to Seal Your Own Fate - her diary entries feel believable for an 18/19 year old woman. She isn’t trying to seem older and more mature to impress Ford Gravesdown in this book - she’s able to let loose and be young and free. I’m still left wondering how and why she trades that in for a life with Ford, but I’m assuming that will be in a future book (which I can’t wait to read!)

Thank you NetGalley, Penguin Group, Dutton, and Kristen Perrin for this gripping ARC!

I really liked the first Castle Knoll book and was looking forward to this sequel, but I found myself lost and wandering in the dark so quickly, that I was disappointed... It's been a year since the last book. There were so many references to the characters and events that this felt more like a "part II" than a second-in-series - and I could not keep everything straight as a result. There are a LOT of characters. There are multiple timelines. And there are a lot of mysteries - some solved previously, some unsolved, some brand new. The combination of those three things meant that I constantly felt like I was behind the 8 ball and really struggled to hold all the threads together.

I understand there is going to be another book - at this point I think I will have to save these and read them when they are all available so I can go sequentially without any breaks in between. I'm hoping that will help me hold all the pieces together in my head such that I can enjoy the interrelated and overlapping mysteries rather than be frustrated by them. I did really enjoy book one, so am definitely not counting this one out - but don't want to reread book one now for this one, and then have to go back and pick up one and two again in a year!

I really enjoyed this follow up to How To Solve Your Own Murder. The writing is addictive and always makes you want to keep going to see what will happen next. I loved that this one continued as a dual timeline as well. I will say I was slightly more invested in the first one, but overall a great sequel. Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers, and the author for this advanced copy. Can't wait to read the next one.

How to Seal Your Own Fate was as delightful as the first one. This was cozy and kept me trying to guess the twists and unable to put the book down.

"I can see how thinking that every aspect of daily life might relate to a crime can warp your sense of self."

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Another super fun read in the Castle Knoll Files! There is something about Kristen Perrin's writing that feels like it's from another time - in a wonderful way. Both of the books in this series feel like old timey mysteries and the voices of the characters and language choices just transport me. I love it and find her writing very enthralling.

Once again, the reader gets to live in both Annie's mind and Frances' journals to try to solve the mystery. I think I enjoyed the first in the series a bit more, mostly because I was more invested in the premise, and the hint of romance might be burning a bit too slow - c'mon book 3🤞🤞🤞 - but I definitely will keep coming back for future mysteries in Castle Knoll. 

Publishing April 29th! Thank you so much to Penguin Group Dutton and Netgalley for the gifted eARC! ❤️

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, so I had high hopes for its successor. Alas, it was not to be. Some authors think that since the first book was successful, they can write the second book the same way. They then create a formula that the series follows, with each rendition being inferior to its predecessor. The readers want novelty! We don’t want to read the same book over and over (well, maybe some people do, but not I).

That isn’t to say this sequel wasn’t enjoyable. I liked seeing more of Castle Knoll & getting to know its inhabitants a bit better. I liked the flashbacks vis à vis Frances’ journal entries. I liked how the dynamic changes a bit now that Annie actually lives in Castle Knoll. Overall, this book was fun to read. However, it lacked that je ne sais quoi that made the first one sparkle. I doubt I will read any more in this series.

thanks to NetGalley for the ARC

3.5⭐️, rounded down

Annie Adams is back with another small town mystery. Using clues from her Aunt Frances’ diary and notes Annie looks into a family car crash in the 1960s. How to Seal Your Fate was a well written cozy mystery. Just a few too many characters that has you wondering who certain people are.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, but must suggest reading the first book, if you can, just to refresh yourself
within the characters and the general theme.
When Annie solved the murder of her Great Aunt Frances, she inherited the huge estate, Gravesdown Hall,
along with the surrounding forested land.
We now have ‘Peony Lane,’ formerly Ellen Jones, who could be responsible for one or more murders~ by
suggestion or prediction, Possibly her own death as well.
This is a fanciful murder, with more in the works, I’d surely think! I look forward to the next installment
along with the gang we are getting to know. Annie is becoming quite the sleuth and the Author does
a masterful job with the time periods and the rural setting.
My thanks to Quercus Publishing via NetGalley for the download copy of this book for review purposes.

***A big thank you to Penguin Press Dutton and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC copy of this book.***

The publisher has asked not to give details or descriptions of this book just yet. Once authorized, I will give my honest review of this book!

3.5 rounded up. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

An enjoyable second installment in the series. I love the small-town British setting and the multiple timelines but had a bit of trouble keeping some characters straight. I’d read book number 3, as there are several storylines left unresolved.

I've read both books in this series now and I hope there are more. They're pretty quick reads and have just enough twists and turns to keep it interesting. The dual timelines were annoying at first, but I soon came to look forward to the added information from the diaries. I will keep reading this series.

3.5 star rating

From the Publisher:

Kristen Perrin is back with the second novel in her Castle Knoll series. Annie Adams is caught in a new web of murder that spans decades, returning us to the idyllic English village that holds layers of secrets.

Present day: Annie Adams is just settling into life in Castle Knoll when local fortune teller Peony Lane crosses her path and shares a cryptic message. When Peony Lane is found dead only hours later inside the locked Gravesdown Estate, Annie quickly realizes that someone is out to make her look guilty while silencing Peony at the same time. Annie has no choice but to delve into the dark secrets of Castle Knoll in order to find out just what Peony Lane was trying to warn her about, before the new life she’s just begun to build comes crashing down around her.

1967: A year has passed since her friend Emily disappeared, and teenage Frances Adams finds herself caught between two men. Ford Gravesdown is one of the only remaining members of a family known for its wealth and dubious uses of power. Archie Foyle is a local who can’t hold down a job and lives above the village pub. But when Frances teams up with Archie to investigate the car crash that claimed the lives of Ford’s family, it quickly becomes clear that this was no accident—hints of cover-ups, lies, and betrayals abound. The question is, just how far does the blackness creep through the heart of Castle Knoll? When Frances uncovers secrets kept by both Ford and Archie, she starts to wonder: What exactly has she gotten herself into?

My Review:

This is the second book in the Castle Knoll Series. I will start by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this cozy mystery series. Although sometimes you can read a book in a series out of order, that is NOT the case here. There are many characters to keep track and there is also a duel timeline. As is always a risk for me, one timeline was more enjoyable in this book. I prefer the 1960’s story that looks back at a central incident that was also addressed in the first installment as well. This is especially true of the first half of the book. The modern day time line following Annie does pick up as the book goes on. I like that the author chose to zoom in on an incident that was sort of in the background of the first story and we get to know the characters, such as Archie and Aunt Francis better.

Unfortunately, I found much of the dialogue in the present day time line to be dull. Part of the issue seems to be the long, run on sentences. There is a specific time when Annie utters entire paragraph that is so unclear that I tried reading it sever times. I find nothing there that adds to the story.

There will be another installment and I am torn if I will I continue in the series. If the plot of the next installment catching my interest, I will probably give it a go!

Thank you to NetGalley for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Dutton Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced copy to read and review! The second installment in the Castle Knoll series by Kristen Perrin will be available starting March 27, 2025!

Annie Adams is attempting to settle into life in Castle Knoll after solving Aunt Frances' murder when the elusive and cryptic Peony Lane appears. As quickly as she appears, she is murdered with implications pointing directly at Annie! Can she solve this one too before she gets hauled off?

If you haven't read the first book, HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER, read it first! HOW TO SEAL YOUR OWN FATE builds on the secrets and characters from before, and it's a great second installment. The way Kristen Perrin ties previous events to the current timeline via flashbacks really works and I really enjoyed this cosy murder mystery. It was the perfect read to become an armchair sleuth, which is my favorite way to experience these types of novels.

If you enjoy cosy mysteries with a bit of snark, I'd recommend checking out this series!

CW: murder

Worse than I was expecting, considering that the first book was pretty decent. How to Solve You Own Murder did a great job of balancing what we as the audience knew with what Annie is learning and what Frances wrote in her journal. Unfortunately, How to Seal Your Own Fate did a bad job at this, making it feel like we as the audience were always waiting for the characters to catch up with what we already know, which became very frustrating. There were also some blatant continuity issues? I wasn't a fan of the way the mystery played out (he killed them all with a big stick? really?) and the "journal entries" are even more ridiculous than in the first book.

Great sequel, fun cozy mystery. Just enough plot twists, love the setting. Looking forward to another book in the future.

While I enjoyed this one I have to admit I didn't love it as much as book 1. Parts of this felt really forced and a bit unbelievable.

I enjoyed the writing - the plot was okay but didn't really pull me in like the first in this series did.

thank you for the chance to read this one early!

How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin is a sequel to How To Solve Your Own Murder. Readers return to the English village of Castle Knoll and the same cast of characters. Annie is now living in her Aunt Frances’s mansion, Gravesdown Hall, having inherited it all in the first book. She meets the fortune teller Peony Lane alluded to in book one, having given her Aunt Frances the fortune predicting her death. Peony delivers a cryptic message and before Annie can ask questions, Peony is found murdered. The plot then follows Annie and friends solving this murder. Intertwined in this we learn more about the death of the Gravesdowns in the 1960’s, which led to Ford Gravesdown inheriting everything, and Annie goes about solving that old mystery as well.
This was very busy- lots of characters to keep track of, flip flopping timeline from past to present, and multiple murders to keep straight. I found myself getting slightly confused at times. It was an enjoyable read, but I didn’t like it as much as the first one. The solve at the end didn’t come together as seamlessly as I would have liked. I did really enjoy the scenery and learning more history of Ford, Frances and Archie, but not sure I would continue reading any future novels in this series. While this could be read as a stand alone, it will work better if read after the first one as it continues multiple storylines that were not concluded in How to Solve Your Own Murder. Thanks to Net Galley and Penguin Group Dutton for my ARC.

Disclaimer: there's really no way to talk about this book without lightly spoiling the ending of the first one (but also if you've read a murder mystery before or have even been in the next room when someone else is reading one, it's not really spoiling). You've been warned.

HOW TO SEAL YOUR OWN FATE picks up shortly after HOW TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER left off, with our protagonist sleuth Annie Adams finding her footing as the new owner of the Gravesdown estate. Her peacetime era is cut short, however, by the discovery of a new body on the grounds, and this time it's none other than Peony Lane, the fortune-teller who predicted the murder of Annie's Aunt Frances. Cue the sleuthing.

I'll say off the top that this was a fun mystery to tag along with, and I enjoyed getting to know both Annie in the present day and Frances in the flashbacks we get from her diary. Kristen Perrin has created a great backdrop in the village of Castle Knoll, and I will most likely read the next installment in the series (it's heavily teased, not a spoiler). The parts where Annie is reflecting on the parallels she feels between herself and Frances are a deft bit of characterization, and it adds depth to her growing reputation as the village sleuth.

That said, this sequel falls a bit short of the highs of the first, in my opinion. Having Frances's will as the inciting incident in the first book was a delightfully clever vehicle for putting certain characters at odds and setting up information imbalances, and you can feel the absence of such a device in this book. As well, I wasn't really sold on Jenny as a sidekick. She gets a good deal more page time this time around, but we don't really learn anything new about her, and she's almost too invested in Annie's life/doings to seem like a real character with her own interiority.