There was a bit more plot this volume but I haven't decided if I'll continue on. I don't really care about the characters unless there's some actual relationship or emotional development soon.

This should've ended like 3 years ago - unfortunately because of the tv show this got dragged out for years. But it ended just as beautifully as it started, however, I am glad to be finally done with it. Maybe in 4-5 years I'll reread it all the way through but we'll see.

Thank you NetGalley and Bindery Books for offering me the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read Of Monsters and Mainframes last year and it was my only 5 star read and was easily my favourite book of 2025! So of course I was super excited to see what Truelove did next, and she gave us a horror comedy about a haunted doll - amazing concept! While She's a Doll is a completely different genre to her previous book, I think the charm, the humour, the heart, and the writing is just as great as her previous novel.

I really enjoyed this one. I found it very easy to get into and get lost in the adventure that our main character, Lucy, was on. This novel was just goofy enough to stay charming. Just like Of Monsters and Mainframes, there is a lot of heart in this story; it's not hard to find the main characters loveable and it's not hard to want to root for them. However, you're definitely not going to like all the characters and for good reason!

The emotional journey of our main character is wonderful to read; she's not perfect, she has issues, but seeing her development and comparing where she ends to where she starts just warmed my heart.

For those wanting the information; the book does deal with some LGBT themes and I like how it was handled.

I like how the whole story was handled to be honest; it fitted the characters and suited the journey perfectly.

If you like horror comedies with some heart sprinkled in, I recommend this one!

I will continue to pick up whatever Truelove creates next.

I would like to thank the Publisher and NetGalley for reaching out to me first with the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, the cover art for this sequel is just as beautiful, if not more beautiful, so shout out to Natasha MacKenzie for creating this and the first book's cover too! Absolutely stunning!

This sequel follows immediately after the events of the first book, and I feel the story ends in a satisfying way and I enjoyed the climax of the novel.

I applaud the author/publisher/whoever decided to put a Glossary in the book and at the beginning of the book, thank you so much because it was a great help as I personally still found the worldbuilding in this sequel quite a challenge to wrap my head around and I used the glossary a lot throughout my read.

The writing is very flowery and descriptive. If you are into lush descriptions and beautiful ways of sights, sounds, and things being described then I can definitely recommend this book to you! The first book was also written beautifully.

I enjoyed getting back to Lufeng and seeing how her journey continued immediately after the exciting events of where book one cliff-hangered us. Also this novel (mild spoiler) gives us her remaining sibling's point of view and it was so great to read what happened to her and what happened building up to where she was in the present. I really, really enjoyed Shangshu's chapters, especially the ones telling us about her past.

However, unfortunately, I found this book just a tad too difficult to imagine because of the flowery prose and the worldbuilding, as well as I felt the pacing was a little off; in my opinion this story needed an extra 50ish pages to flesh out the world and the events more, and to be able to show us how we got from main plot point A to main plot point B (which I would say are A. Lufeng's continued escape and B. the main big event). I felt like the main event started and came out of nowhere, and I was left feeling really confused as to how we got there so quickly. I felt there was no real explanation or build up of it at all. So unfortunately for me, this book was a little bit of a let down but I can see the charm in it and can see the types of people who would enjoy the story much more than myself.

If this had been a middle book or had a planned third installment, I would not be picking it up.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. And thank you Dunlap and her publishing team for reaching out to me first for this ARC. I greatly appreciate it.

I read Dunlap's debut novel before this one, and seeing the improvement in the prose and storytelling was such a beautiful thing to be able to witness! The prose this time was less repetitive and more captivating; I think it helped that the historical background this time was a topic I had prior knowledge of, so I was actually more intrigue with what was going to happen.

I felt like the pacing was better in this novel too. I was speeding through this, wanting to read more, wanting to know more. The characters, their relationships and the development of their relationships were really great too. I adored getting to know Dell, Pippa, and Miss Kaye, and I enjoyed seeing the evolution and development of their relationships between each other. Noah was a wonderful character too and I enjoyed his relationship with the three women as well as the different perspective and point of view we get from him as his character comes from a completely different background to the others. Also, just like Dunlap's previous novel, there are queer characters and we were blessed with Sapphic relationships this time which I thoroughly enjoyed! It isn't as obvious, as explicit as in The Ressurectionists but you can definitely pick up the queer lines Dunlap is putting down.

Finally, I strongly recommend reading the Author's Note at the end as it gave great insight into why Dunlap chose these historical figures and historical moments which I thoroughly enjoyed reading about.

I honestly cannot wait to see what Dunlap writes next!