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A spellbinding tale about two daring women who hunt for truth and justice in the perilous art of conjuring the dead.1873. At an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris, a dark séance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D’Allaire. Known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them, she is highly sought after by widows and investigators alike.Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister’s death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. But as the women team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves…
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As someone that has struggled with accepting the 'invisible' (spiritualism) along with the 'logical' (science) in their life, I found myself connecting with our main character Lenna quite a bit throughout The London Séance Society. Her gradual acceptance of spiritualism and its ability to coexist with her love of and beliefs in science felt real and something I relate to on a personal level.
My biggest complaint is the relationship development between Lenna and Vaudeline. I just didn't feel the chemistry or the passion - removing the 'romance' completely would have done nothing to the story in my opinion. I did enjoy their interactions as mentor/mentee though.
0Content Warnings: Sexual Assault, Murder, Death of a loved one, Grief, Mild Gore/Injury
Thank you Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
AAAAAAAAA I WAS NOT EXPECTING HOW AMAZING THIS WAS GOING TO BE????
I like a good ghost story, but not overly into general spirit stuff but the book seemed great and the mystery was super interesting. Unbeknownst to me, the book had pushed a tiny snowball off a very steep cliff that I was just starting to climb as I turned the first page.
When the ginormous snowball hit me face first and caught me up in it I just could not stop reading. I had some very minor issues with the writing (will explain later) but honestly by the end I couldn't see any other deserving rating than a 5/5.
The characters, loved 'em. Sassy, stubborn, quiet, asshole-ish, all sorts thrown in a mixing pot together to create a cast of wonderful characters who played their roles far too damn well. Are they entirely realistic? Not really tbh. Does that matter? Not even slightly.
The only minor issues I had was with a bit of the writing style. At the beginning of the book a few descriptions felt a bit stilted. "Now sit at the desk and go through each item you can see". Later on I realised repetition was getting a bit annoying, one PoV would find out some information about someone, then we'd go to their PoV and that information would be explained in detail again but with just a couple new additions. It was a tad annoying but it wasn't done too often and the new insight and different take was interesting but probably the second PoV didn't need to reiterate the known info.
The bad thing about reading books early, I have no where to post all the absolutely perfect quotes from the ending I have saved! Honestly, going to do that cliche cheesy frame a book quote type things with one of these in particular.
Also as a note, keep reading after finishing the main story. There's so many fascinating things included after the story ends!!
Be gay, do crime - that's for sure! (also goddamn the lesbian and bi rep was so adorable aaaaaaa)
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