I really love this author's writing style. It really feels like I'm in the protagonist's head -- she genuinely feels like a child, and it can be unexpectedly funny at points. What do you mean that the magical sourdough starter is named Bob, has sentience, and ate rats?

But yes, I really am captivated by this book. I read 82 pages in one night, would have read more, but I'm tired and hungry.

If I have one complaint, is how young the protagonist is. I wish tge author made her sixteen at least. But ideally, this would be an adult book with a protagonist over 25 with the maturity to match. I just like my protags older, because there could be romance or smut in that case.

Still, I do like the heroine so far.

Overall, I'm happy with it and cant wait to read the rest.

I‘m really enjoying these books so far but idk what to make of the romance it’s so weird paced ??

I'm surprised, this has some pretty heavy themes in it...

Do we think that the other Sabine Matteo once new, was the widow who turned Maria/Sabine? I think so! What would their relationship have been? I'm hoping her backstory will be told via him.

Was thinking to myself how I have this ridiculous habit of intentionally speeding through book blurbs trying not to learn too much, leaving a book on my TBR for ages, starting to read it going off the memory of the blurb, and then being completely thrown by what the book is actually about because I realize I didn't actually know.

Case in point: started the castle knoll files series today, DEAD CERTAIN the MC was an old male detective. It is about a 25 year old girl and her kooky aunt. This is abundantly clear in the blurb and I have no idea how I misremembered that badly. I spent the first 20 pages going "oh? Oh?? Oh!"

So anyway, that got me thinking, do any of y'all have reading quirks like this that are ultimately harmless but kind of weird? A beige flag, if you will?

Venice in the late 17th century was a city defined by performance and surveillance. Masks were worn year-round, allowing anonymity, social transgression, and reinvention, while the State relied o secret informants and hidden courts to maintain control. The city balanced indulgance and repression, freedom and fear. Though no longer a dominant empire, Venice remained wealthy, artistic, and haunted by the memory of plague and decline.

Why Venice matters here: Venice feels like a deliberate contrast to Spain. Where Spain enforced conformity through overy religious authority, Venice allows excess, pleasure, and disguise, but watches just as closely. Identity here is something you can put on and take off, but never escape entirely. The setting deepens the book's interest in hidden selves, performance, and survival by making secrecy not just necessary but normalized.

I really haven’t read this genre before and wanna give it a try any recommendations from which of these books I should start from.🩶