This was another great story set in Castle Knoll. Annie’s detective skills and the cast of characters are so charming. The central mystery of this book was very twisty and had a few surprises in store. The reveal felt a little rushed to me but this was overall a great read!

5 STARS ** spoiler alert ** This was honestly such a cozy follow up to the first in the series. I was so excited to jump back into the world, this manner, the slow burn of the will they won’t they with our FMC and the main law enforcement character… THEY WILL RIGHT?? The sequel picks up pretty much directly where the first left off and our main gal finds herself right back into solving more murders. I really enjoyed the parallel here with the timeline to past and present where the deaths had some similarities that kept your head tilting and your eyes narrowing. I literally just finished this book about five minutes ago so my head is spinning and I can update this when my thoughts are more collected but I need to say.. THE ENDING?! OH. MY. GOD. Please tell me there is going to be a third book right away.

If you are a mystery lover, this is the book series for you.

In How to Seal Your Own Fate, we pick up immediately where the first book leaves off. Annie is settling into life in Castle Knoll after inheriting the Gravesdown fortune. She continues to discover more secrets as she finds herself in the middle of a new mystery. Like the first, we continue in a dual timeline in the 1960s following her Great Aunt Frances. I wasn't sure how Kristen Perrin would be able to do this without it feeling forced, but it was done brilliantly! It added so much to the discovery of the mystery and added so many great twists. If you want a book that you can't stop reading until you know what happens, I highly recommend this read!

Read if you like:
- cozy sleepy english village
- great cast of characters
- dual timeline & POVs
- twists at every turn

P.S- hoping for more scenes with Annie and Crane in book 3.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

How To Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin is a duel timeline story that follows modern day Annie and her great-aunt Frances, in the late 60s, as they both investigate the mysterious deaths of the town's wealthiest family.

I enjoy the rural setting and secondary characters. Perrin's writing is descriptive and engaging and she does an excellent job at keeping the reader guessing. While this could be a stand alone, I would recommend reading How to Solve Your Own Murder first to get a sense of the characters and setting and background on why some characters have such big feelings.

Here we continue the stories of Annie and Frances and Castle Knoll. While it has been almost a year and a half since I read How to Solve Your Own Murder, I found it wasn't hard to fall back in with the characters and the town. Overall, a nice, cozy mystery, but definitely read the first book first!

I really really tried to like this. I was so, so bored and mostly just wanted it to end . I thought it started off okay, but just dragged on and honestly there were so many characters and story lines to keep straight which felt unnecessary.

How To Seal Your Own Fate by Kirsten Perrin is the second novel in the Castle Knoll Mystery Series. Annie Adams has sort of settled into her new normal. Inheriting the Gravesdown Estate and deciding what her next steps are the current plan. One day, she is stopped at the entrance to her estate by Peony Lane.

The fortune teller that changed her great aunt's life forever. She states that she has a fortune for Annie, and even though she won't want it, she should go see Archie at his farm. She realizes that there are a lot more of France's journals and files she should have that aren't accounted for.

Taking stock of what is there and what is missing brings her and her best friend, Jenny, across a body that will change the histories of the entire crew, and she'll need to revisit a cold case and solve it before it revisits her, permanently.

My favorite thing about this mystery series is how it seamlessly weaves cold cases into the tapestry of modern times. Annie is in our current timeline, and Frances's journals and the cold cases are from the 60s. By being in the same town and communicating with the same people, Annie is getting an upfront account of what occurred and begins to pull strings that don't quite fit for her.

I enjoyed How To Seal Your Fate and have given it 🥕🥕🥕🥕. It is released by Dutton on April 29th.

4 Stars

I enjoyed How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin, though not quite as much as the first book. The pacing felt a bit slower this time around, which made it a bit harder to stay fully hooked. That said, the writing was still strong, and I really appreciated being back with the great characters I fell in love with in the first book. The unique plot of the original set a high bar, and while this sequel didn’t quite reach that same level of intrigue for me, it was still an enjoyable read and a worthy follow-up. I'm definitely looking forward to what comes next from Perrin.

4 - One thing I would recommend, if it has been awhile since you read the first book in this series, look for a refresher or reread before starting this one!! Because How to Seal Your Own Fate dives back into this world with all its characters and details with very little recapping, there was a lot I think I missed picking up on, especially towards the beginning of this book.

How to Seal Your Own Fate is the second book is the Castle Knoll series. I absolutely LOVED the first book when it came out last year and was excited to hear that this was turning into a series!! In this book, Peony Lane, the fortune teller who predicted something major in Frances Adams is once again featured, except this time, Peony is the victim of a murder. In this book you are reliving the life of Frances and it follows immediately after the events of the first book, which is why I think it is helpful to read book two immediately after the first.

My favorite part about this book and series is how it is a cozy mystery. It just feels so good to curl up with a cup of tea, a nice blanket, and jump back into this world. There were parts that did confuse me throughout the book, but I'm not sure how much of that was the lack of prior details and reveals that I forgot. I did love being back with this little town and getting to see Frances' life again.

Thank you to Dutton Books for the free book!!

How To Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin--This is an entertaining follow-up to How To Solve Your Own Murder. Two timelines follow Annie and her great-aunt Frances investigating deaths and the cases eventually converge in the present day. I liked the rural British setting and the way Perrin tells the story in a way that keeps the reader guessing. At times it was a bit convoluted to follow but in the end I was pleased with the resolution of the mysteries. Best read after reading the first book in the series and not as a standalone. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC. The book releases on 4/29.

If you’ve read how to solve your own murder, you’ll know that Kristen Perrin is phenomenal at keeping you on your toes. How to seal your own fate kept me guessing throughout the whole story. Anytime I thought I had figured out who the guilty party was, I was proven wrong. This book is a wildly entertaining murder mystery that tastefully connects past timelines with the modern day. I love that although the main plot is about solving a current crime, you also are along while a crime from the past gets tied in and solved as well. The characters are all well developed, I love that Jenny got to play a larger role in this sequel and she got to come along for the ride. All in all I loved How to Seal Your Own Fate as much as I loved How to Solve Your Own Murder and i can’t wait for more!

I really liked the first book in this series and was excited to read the second installment! Sadly, I don’t think this one was *quite* as good as the series opener.

Let’s start with the good- I enjoyed returning to Castle Knoll and the idyllic setting! I also appreciated the dual timeline structure and learning more about the mysterious fortune teller Peony Lane. I was especially happy we got so much more Detective Crane in this one too ☺️ Now for the not so good- I thought the overall plot was a little thin. The circumstances surrounding the present day murder seemed unrealistic, and the connections between the past timeline and the present weren’t as strong. Things moved at a really fast pace, which kept me turning the pages but sometimes left me with whiplash. I also thought the efforts to obscure the truth were a little *too* obvious; it was clear to me when the author was intentionally obscuring something from the readers because it was important, which took me out of the story.

Overall I enjoyed this book but thought it was just okay. I’ll likely still read more from this series, though!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

3.5 stars rounded up

This is another great cozy mystery. It was a fun read. It took me a bit to get into it but once I did I was hooked. I cant wait to see what Annie solves next!

Another fantastic installment of the Castle Knoll Files! Although I enjoyed How to Solve Your Own Murder slightly more, I love the mysteries shrouding the citizens of Castle Knolls, the Gravesdowns, the Foyles and everyone else. I also enjoy watching Annie coming into her own. Her slow-burn romance with Crane is adorable and I hope it continues in book 3!

Interesting, Agatha Christie-esque whodunit that kept me entertained throughout. I wish I had read the first one before (but that’s on me), although I appreciate that it can easily be read as a stand-alone as well without giving away the first book

3.5⭐️s rounded up to 4⭐️s

This was a fun little mystery with dual POV! I enjoyed the Annie and Rowan characters the most! 🙌

This was the second book in a series but I read it as a standalone. While it did work as a standalone, I wish I would have read the first book, How To Solve Your Own Murder first! I feel like I missed some of the background of characters because of it. Even so, I would still recommend this one to cozy mystery fans! 👏

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! I’m looking forward to going back and reading the first book in the series! ❤️

I saw someone describe this series as “like Murder She Wrote, but British” and truer words were never written. That’s exactly how I would describe this series, it gives warm and cozy vibes, with a sprinkle of murder. I struggled some getting through How to Seal Your Own Fate. I really enjoyed the continuation of the dual timeline storyline, but, for me, I found the book overall to be a little dull .

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the opportunity to read this book!

How to Seal Your Own Fate brought me back to a world I was excited to revisit, but this one didn’t quite hit the same as the first book. The cozy vibes and familiar setting were there, but it almost felt like a copy-paste of book one, just with a different mystery.

I did enjoy the dual POV. Getting both sides of the story as it slowly unraveled was fun, and I liked seeing how the past and present connected. But my biggest gripe? I love a good whodunit where I can play detective too, and this one didn’t really give me that chance. Most of the big reveals were handed to us through monologues or just kind of dumped all at once. Annie pieced everything together in her head and then laid it all out, which made it hard to stay engaged in the mystery itself.

Still, it was a cozy and easy read, perfect for when you want something light with a hint of murder and a British countryside aesthetic.

I wanted to love it - I liked book 1 ALOT - but it just didn’t do it for me. I found I was bored the first 25%, then it did pick up but the storyline just didn’t do it for me. I don’t have critiques necessarily - just wasn’t for me!

How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin is the second novel in the Castle Knoll Files cozy mystery series. I was thrilled to receive an advanced copy after enjoying the first book, How to Solve Your Own Murder. I found this novel to be more slowly paced than the first.
The plot features Annie Adams who inherited her aunt Frances’ estate after solving Frances’ murder in book 1. Now Annie finds herself in the midst of multiple murders which she attempts to solve with her possible love interest Detective Crane. The slower pacing made it more difficult for me to keep track of the dual plot lines, Annie’s in the present and Frances’ diaries, and the many characters, murder victims and suspects. I would not consider this a standalone story. The last 20% of the novel picked up with several surprising twists, however I was somewhat disappointed by the final reveal of the crimes and perpetrators. The author definitely left it open for additional novels in this series. I will be cheering for Annie and Crane to get together! Fans of the first book should check this one out. 3/5⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for an advanced copy. All opinions are my own. Pub date: 4/29/25