The Last Heir to Blackwood Library: A Haunting Historical Fantasy Romance

The Last Heir to Blackwood Library: A Haunting Historical Fantasy Romance

Hester Fox

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

 "Weaves a spell of darkness that’s mysterious and magical, and binds it with a knot of deathless love."  — New York Times bestselling author Susanna Kearsley on A Lullaby for Witches In post – World War I England, a young woman inherits a mysterious library and must untangle its powerful secrets … With the stroke of a pen, twenty-three-year-old Ivy Radcliffe becomes Lady Hayworth, owner of a sprawling estate on the Yorkshire moors. Ivy has never heard of Blackwood Abbey, or of the ancient bloodline from which she’s descended. With nothing to keep her in London since losing her brother in the Great War, she warily makes her way to her new home. The abbey is foreboding, the servants reserved and suspicious. But there is a treasure waiting behind locked a magnificent library. Despite cryptic warnings from the staff, Ivy feels irresistibly drawn to its dusty shelves, where familiar works mingle with strange, esoteric texts. And she senses something else in the library too, a presence that seems to have a will of its own.   Rumors swirl in the village about the abbey’s previous owners, about ghosts and curses, and an enigmatic manuscript at the center of it all. And as events grow more sinister, it will be up to Ivy to uncover the library’s mysteries in order to reclaim her own story—before it vanishes forever. Lush, atmospheric and transporting, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library  is a skillful reflection on memory and female agency, and a love letter to books from a writer at the height of her power.


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  • Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

    Oh I really enjoyed this one! This is my first Hester Fox novel and I can't wait to dive into more of her work.
    I have a Video review if you feel like watching that: The Last Heir to Blackwood Library

    I really think a lot of people who gave this a low rating didn't understand Ivy's character. She isn't dumb or stupid and doesn't make dumb choices. She is literally going crazy and making rash decisions. She doesn't know who to trust and what to trust, she is making choices she thinks are the right ones, and it doesn't help that everyone around her is either actively lying to her, playing on her emotions, or acting suspicious around her. Her actions make sense when you pay attention to how the story is structured and how it is playing out.

    I really loved the romantic subplot and was for a close minute thinking Fox was going to take it a direction I didn't want and was ready to throw this book across the room. Clearly that didn't happen but Fox had me on edge, and I appreciate that because it made the outcome so much more satisfying.

    This reads really quickly as I read about 60% in one night and I only meant to read for an hour and was up for 3 instead. I was instantly hooked and had to force myself to put it down just to go to sleep. I was excited to pick it back up the next day. I will be checking out more of Fox's work!

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