Thanks to netgalley.com and Serial Box publishing for the advance ARC copy for my honest review.

I liked 'Old In Mischief', liked that it's mostly set in Riverside, had all the characters in the series I like; Vincent, Tess, Ixkaab Balam, and Micah and liked the new wrinkle in the storyline.

That Ixkaab is faking splitting from her Kinwiinik trader family, so she can investigate who is stealing the chocolate they import from the warehouses and docks. Was surprised that you learn who the thieves are, although Ixkaab will eventually figure it out, with each new episode it end up in an epic conclusion and know it'll keep me reading.

POV – 3rd person, multi character, often omni-present
Would I read it again – Yes!
Genre – LGBT, Fantasy, Serial, Historical, Coming-of-Age, Queer
Content Warning – mild violence, sexual situations, adultery/cheating, prostitution
Orientations – MM, MF, FF



** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **



I love the world building of this series, and the talented writers who bring it all together, but I was left heartbroken by the events of Season One and I'm hopeful that Season Two will at least offer some relief from that. I'm coming straight into this, just an hour after finishing Season One, so it's all fresh in my mind. I'll also be looking to see if the same issues as Season One – editing, formatting, change of font, change of tense – are as inconsistent in Season Two, as well.

Because of the format Netgalley sent, or perhaps because of how Kindle interprets them, the formatting for the entire set of ARC's for this series were terrible. The entire document has either one or two lines then a line of gapping, repeated throughout and it's not only hard on the eyes, but makes it more difficult to follow in terms of flow.

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Episode 2: Old in Mischief, by Tessa Gratton

★★★★☆
Pages: 41

And so begins another intriguing episode. Only, this time, we have some new characters in play: Lord Arlen, and Florian and Shade. They play different fields, but are just as sly as each other. I particularly loved the way Lord Arlen rattled Diane's confidence at the end!
When it comes to the writing, I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. I'd hoped that the authors of Season 1 would be writing every season, so changing to a new writing style this far into the story was jarring. Especially since I didn't exactly warm to Gratton's style in the first place. There were some editing issues, expected of an ARC copy, but I also found that this one seemed to wax lyrically in a few places, characters unexpectedly drifting off into deep thoughts, and unnaturally glowing descriptions of themselves in their own POV. It just didn't feel as seamless as the writing I've come to love in this series.
It was good to see the old characters back again; Vincent getting his own POV for the first time, and with reason, Ixkaab being her usual reckless self and not thinking about others, Micah and Joshua getting themselves into trouble so unexpectedly. Even Diane stepped in, for a little while. But I was disappointed to find that there was no Rafe. I'll admit that I'm intrigued by Florian and Shade, though I worry that they'll be a problem for Joshua and Micah. I loved finally getting to see a hint of Vincent's past, and was shocked that Reza was a part of that!
Overall, it was a good episode, but I was missing Rafe, I was missing the political intrigue, and I missed the lightheartedness that Rafe often brings to the story. Joshua tried, but he was barely in it long enough to have any impact.

Favourite Quote

“Diane de Tremontaine understood with utter finality that there were layers and threads of intrigue and promise running through the political web of this City she could not even see, and she was not – yet – the most cunning spider at its heart.
But she would be.”

I thought that this book was solid in the content and it was really all about scene setting and introducing the characters and refreshing your memory from the previous series. 3 stars from me for this one, looking forward to part three.