Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater
Name of Book: Ten Thousand StitchesAuthor: Olivia Atwater
ISBN: 978-0-316-46290-7
Publisher: Orbit
Part of a Series: Regency Faeri tales (HALF A SOUL prequel, LONG SHADOW sequel)
Type of book: Regency England, 1800s, maids, servants, roles, clothes, faerie folk, faerie land, fitting in, anger, emotions, control, romance
Year it was published: 2022
Summary:
Regency housemaid Euphemia Reeves has acquired a faerie godfather. Unfortunately, he has no idea what he's doing.
Effie has most inconveniently fallen in love with the dashing Mr Benedict Ashbrooke. There's only one problem; Effie is a housemaid, and a housemaid cannot marry a gentleman. It seems that Effie is out of luck until she stumbles into the faerie realm of Lord Blackthorn, who is only too eager to help Effie win Mr Ashbrooke's heart. All he asks in return is that Effie sew ten thousand stitches onto his favourite jacket.
Effie has heard rumours about what happens to those who accept help from faeries, but life as a maid at Hartfield is so awful that she is willing to risk even her immortal soul for a chance at something better. Now, she has one hundred days - and ten thousand stitches - to make Mr Ashbrooke fall in love and propose. . . if Lord Blackthorn doesn't wreck things by accident, that is. For Effie's greatest obstacle might well prove to be Lord Blackthorn's overwhelmingly good intentions.
From the author of HALF A SOUL comes a whimsical fantasy romance with a Cinderella twist. Pick up TEN THOUSAND STITCHES, and dive into another enchanting faerie tale set in Olivia Atwater's charming, magical version of Regency England!
Basically there are two main character Euphemia "Effie" Reeves and Lord Juniper Blackthorn. Effie is an angry housemaid who loves to sew and is very talented at it. She also feels unfairness of life and for the sake of having a job and a place to eat and live at, she does the best she can at controlling her anger. She has also fallen in love with a lord and desires for him to see her and love her back. Lord Juniper Blackthorn is definitely an enigma among the fairy folk and he is very kindhearted and searches for to become virtuous and from the outset is insistent on helping Effie in her mission. The secondary characters of other maids are also wonderfully drawn, especially Effie's best friend and her boss.
Theme:
Anger has a purpose
Plot:
The story is in third person narrative completely from Effie's point of view, and it starts with her discovering the "prince charming" that she falls in love with. When she meets up with Juniper Blackthorn, self-styled "lord", who is looking for the meaning of virtue in Regency England, she accepts his help and thus begins the attempts at seduction. The story is linear and reading of HALF A SOUL isn't required, which makes it standalone. Also like the previous novel, there aren't any sexual scenes and its styled more for exploration than spiciness factor.
Author Information:
(From goodreads)
Olivia Atwater writes whimsical historical fantasy with a hint of satire. She lives in Montreal, Quebec with her fantastic, prose-inspiring husband and her two cats. When she told her second-grade history teacher that she wanted to work with history someday, she is fairly certain this isn't what either party had in mind. She has been, at various times, a historical re-enactor, a professional witch at a metaphysical supply store, a web developer, and a vending machine repairperson.
Searching for more Regency faerie tales? Sign up for the Atwater Scandal Sheets at oliviaatwater.com and get ongoing updates, along with the exclusive novella The Latch Key.
If I may say so, this novel is even better than the first one, and no, in this case reading the first one isn't required to enjoy it because it has different characters as well as motivations and characters from the first novel don't even make any appearances. What I really loved about TEN THOUSAND STITCHES is the author's take on the emotion of anger. Anger has and continues to be vilified, especially when it comes to the "gentler" sex. The "gentler" sex aren't supposed to feel anger, and quite often when anger is felt, at least in previous generations, no one was given a roadmap for navigating such a complex emotion. In TEN THOUSAND STITCHES, Olivia Atwater gives a different spin to both anger and the tale of Cinderella, which I really appreciated and loved, and yes, I enjoyed visiting the land of fairies and getting to know their world. I also loved the character of Juniper Blackthorn (He made a cameo appearance in previous novel towards the end) and its quite easy to fall in love with him.
This was given for review
4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
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