I found this to be a super cute story. The witty banter between Miss Taks and Morgan (the assassin) made me giggle out loud. A quick and fun read that has supernatural elements.

The Victorian era is one of my favourites to read about in terms of historical fiction, and from the description, I thought this book sounded interesting.

This was an entertaining read. The narrator struck me as not particularly kind or caring, but funny, confident and sassy. Even if she didn't seem particularly likeable, she had a strong personality that I appreciated.

The author wrote with a sort of simplicity that I liked, bringing to life both the setting and the characters within it, without over-embellishing. Maybe this was partly due to the personality of the narrator, telling the reader what they needed to know, and nothing more.

I did find this quite humorous in places, and it was quite light, easy reading. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy to review.

This is a story that follows our main character Clara as she tries to discover the truth behind a murder that she is suspected of committing, I really didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did as i found the first 20% to be slightly flat, but I could also see this to be important to explain the story and motivations for each character, as soon as I got to around 30% it’s like we suddenly switched gears and I really started getting into the plot. I really loved the found family feel that we got from our characters and there were plenty of twists and turns to keep me guessing. The idea of certain people having “Functions” which enhanced certain abilities really interested me but it wasn’t that clear to at first until we got to a few more peoples abilities. Overall I found the story to be super interesting and the interactions between everyone was really funny and the banter that Clara had with her little gang of misfits made me smile, this book was definitely a pleasant surprise for me! Thankyou Netgalley for an arc of this book :)

this felt so much like a victorian romantasy half the time and so much like a superhero scifi the other half and both halfs were so gorgeous. thanks for the arc.

This book surprised me! I have to admit, after the first 25% I almost DNF. I was a bit bored, and was not connecting with the main character. But once we encountered the "big bad" of the Dirt Man, the pacing sped up and the characterization tightened for me. I loved the camaraderie that developed between Clara and her found family (not that she would call them that, amazing grump that she is). I really began to enjoy her inner voice and her snarky comments. Sometimes it was a little much, but overall I enjoyed it. And while I like her romance in Morgan I didn't quite "buy it." I did not get a feeling of chemistry between the two; it feels more like a platonic friendship than romantic feelings. This story was entertaining, the voice was fun, and the worldbuilding was interesting. I think the characterization could have been a bit deeper, and the pacing in the beginning was slow. For these reasons, I give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up to 4.