Character Development: ☆☆☆☆
"Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Haunted by visions of the Fairy King since childhood, she's had no choice. Her tattered copy of Angharad - Emrys Myrddin's epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him - is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin's family announces a contest to redesign the late author's estate, Effy feels certain it's her destiny.But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Heloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together clues about Myrddin's legacy, dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspire against them - and the truth may bring them both to ruin."
Scheduling note: Sorry all two of my readers that this is later than usual! I originally had it scheduled for the end of June, and then I realized I had an advanced reader copy to review that published June 30th, and I really wanted to have my review for that out prior to the publication date, even if it was only a few days early. Now on with the review!
Ooooh, this book has such eerie, unsettling vibes. Effy, not permitted to enroll as a literature student at college because women aren't allowed in that program, ends up instead the only woman in the architecture program, saddled with an advisor who sexually assaulted her, and dealing with rumors spread by some of the douchebag guys in her program. When the estate of her favorite, recently departed author solicits architectural plans for a redesign of the property, she jumps at the chance to escape college and experience the home of the man who wrote Angharad.
When she gets there, she discovers that not only is it nothing like she expected - she's been relegated to the dilapidated guest quarters by Myrddin's reclusive widow, the manor is beyond dilapidated and falling apart, and even with the help of her medication, she keeps seeing unsettling things. Worst of all, her host, Myrddin's son, seems at times to become dangerous, almost violent.
When Effy forms an unexpected alliance with Preston Heloury, promising to help him look for evidence that Myrddin didn't write his famous epic, she quickly finds herself in deeper than she ever could have expected. With a catastrophic storm rolling in, the mystery of how Angharad came to be unraveling, and the darkness in Myrddin's son growing, will Effy find herself in over her head, drowning in her search for connect with Myrddin's legacy? Or can she make it out in time?
This book was full of haunting twists and turns, head-spinning reveals, and an undercurrent of yearning that kept me reading way later than I should have been. The pace was perfect, and I thought there was just enough of a "what the hell is real? What is happening?" feeling without being completely lost and frustrated at having no idea what to believe. Effy was clever, Preston was principled and kind, and I really enjoyed seeing their story develop. Great read!
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