ARC Review of A Study In Darkness by Emma Jane Holloway!

Hello everyone! This week's Friday Reads are quite delayed and my reviewing and my blogging have been a bit sparse, but I was on vacation with the boyfriend and we had some very well deserved and needed "us time" so everything else took a back seat.

Now back to routine and with the challenge of NetGalley November to complete this month I will be focusing mostly exclusively in all the review copies I have pending and hopefully I'll manage to tackle that pile and make it less daunting!

Starting back up, today's first review is for the second book of the Baskerville Affair series.


A Study in Darkness by Emma Jane Holloway

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This series is becoming a serious favourite of mine. With the mish mash of steampunk, magic, historical fiction, adventure, romance and political intrigue that they manage to make work fantastically, it's always a treat!

A Study in Darkness is book 2 in the series and it is a strong sequel to the first book. I will try my best to make avoid spoilers for this book but be warned, there might be some spoilers for book 1 in this review.

Evelina was left heartbroken and in a difficult position by the end of book 1, and in this one she ends up getting herself into even more trouble, but being the strong woman that she is, she takes responsability from her actions and beyond and faces the consequences making a few agreements to make sure she can keep those she love out of trouble. She finds herself moving from the comforts of the higher society to the less comfortable but also less restrictive poorer and darker side of this Steampunk London. She will have to play spy, keep herself out of danger and try to learn as much about her magic as possible.

The focus of this book is more on the magic and the political elements and less in the investigating of crimes that was the being theme on book 1. Here the political conspiracy takes a bigger role and we discover a bit more about the Baskerville Affair and how they are trying to fight the Steam Barons. The Steam Barons in turn have their focus divided in two: fighting between themselves to try and get rid of the others and get control of all of London and the Empire and also trying to present an united from against the conspirators of the Baskerville Affair. Evelina finds herself in the middle of the struggle as are also her two uncles, Sherlock & Mycroft, though each of them for different reasons.

There's plenty of intrigue and action to keep you glued to the pages, with quite a few twists and turns along the way. With a pinch of romance to keep everything interesting and to give poor Evelina a respite of all the bleak perspectives that she is drowing in. The love triangle is thankfully resolved, and even I wasn't sure I had a favourite before, I think I'm pretty happy with how it all was done.

If all of this wasn't enough, the author has managed to seamlessly thread into the story the crimes of Jack the Reaper, and how it all was tied with the story was just great. Who was behind the crimes and the motivations... very well done, and soooo creepy!

The book ends with loads of action, Evelina finding herself once again in a position where she has to sacrifice her freedom for the sake of others and with a jaw dropping cliffhanger that I would have never expected!

Very well deserved 4 stars for this one!



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Friday Reads: ARC Review of A Study In Silks by Emma Jane Holloway!!

This week's Friday Reads starts with the first book of a series that mix a number of genres and does so in a fantastic way!


A Study in Silks by Emma Jane Holloway

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A Study in Silks is the first book in a trilogy (maybe series?) about Sherlock Holmes' niece Evelina. I was lucky enough to get an ARC for review on NetGalley of all the books so far in exchange for an honest opinion.

These books are a quite difficult to describe since they mix magic with murder mysteries, clockwork and steampunk, historical period and romance... but done so well! I'm still surprised how seamlessly all the different elements on this novel combine and work together, fitting perfectly like pieces of a puzzle!

Evelina is Sherlock Holmes niece, her mother was Sherlock's and Mycroft's sister but she married under her station so her family renounced her. Her father was one of the Coopers, famous part of a circus troupe and once the Holmes closed the door to them, the circus was their only option. Evelina grew there, with her mother's stories of another world till both her parents died and her Holmes grandmother decided to claim her and sent her to a school for ladies where she met Imogen Roth, daughter of a family well off and part of Society. Evelina is part of two very different worlds and doesn't feel entirely whole in either of them.

The story starts in a London in the 19th century that is not exactly historical but has quite a bit of Steampunk in it, with its clockwork machines and its Steam barons that have the monopoly of everything to do with technology in the Empire of Queen Victoria.Magic is forbidden in this world and those who have the Blood know better than to reveal their abilities.

Evelina is staying with Imogen's family in their London home when one of the maids is murdered in very suspicious circumstances, so Evelina decides to start investigating to try and solve the crime quickly to avoid too much attention from the police or her own uncle that could undermine the Roth family's reputation. But there's so much more at stake than just a maid's death.

This book is full of plots, politics, magic and even though it doesn't have any big twists you discover the clues and piece together the full picture more or less at the same time that Evelina does, so my interest was always enganged. It is told from different POVs, changing with the chapters and though sometimes it seemed a bit of an odd shift it's never difficult to follow the change cause the characters all have distinctive voices.

Evelina is a great character, she's headstrong and kind, aware of the rules she has to follow as part of the London Society but continues to bend them here and there to be who she thinks she must be. She doesn't only want to enjoy some dances and pretty dresses, but she also has a head for details and observation (rather like her uncle Sherlock) and wants to enroll in a college for ladies. She's also good at tinkering with clockwork and has magic in her blood. In more than one occasion she ends up biting more than she can chew, but one way or another she always tries to do what's right and it's very loyal to her friends and family.

There is a love triangle in this story and quite surprisingly for me, it does make sense, it does add to the story and it is done in a believable fashion. Each one of the guys is from one of the worlds that Evelina is part of: Tobias is Imogen's brother and an absolute rake, handsome but disolute. Nick is of unknown origin and parentage, has also Blood magic and was part of the circus troupe that Evelina grew in and both were inseparable as children and that grew into something more as they did. Both of them make Evelina lose her cool head at times, but she knows that neither of them can be part of her future. Nick because of a strange connection of their magics and Tobias because of family honour and Society proprietness.

It was a bit of a slow read sometimes at first, but once all characters are connected and all dots seem to be getting connected to form a picture I couldn't get through the pages fast enough! There is quite a bit of heartbreak for Evelina and I was very grateful that I had the ARC of the next book already in my Kindle app once I finished this one!

Very original take on Victorian steampunk historical fiction with a good dash of murder mystery Sherlock Holmes style. Well deserved 4 stars.



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