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!
Title : Ten Thousand Stitches
Author : Olivia Atwater
Series : Regency Faerie Tales #2
Format : eARC
Page Count : 288
Genre : Historical Fantasy
Publisher : Orbit Books
Release Date : July 21, 2022
Reviewer : Micky
Rating : ★ ★ ★ ★
Micky’s 4 star review
Headlines:
Cinderella based retelling
All the ire
When you get what you want but you didn’t really want it
Ten Thousand Stitches continued the feel of this series by keeping the story light, fun but with real things to say about life and inequalities in those times. While it was told in the same two worlds as Half A Soul, those characters from the first book didn’t feature and I missed them.
This story gave a feeling of Cinderella flipped around whilst being its own story in its own right. Effie was a maid in a large country house, she was treated poorly by her employers and she had a lot of stored anger. There was a serendipitous meeting with Lord Blackthorn, a fae who was trying to learn more about humans. He seemed weirdly simplistic at first but there was more under the surface. That said, Effie was such a deep and interesting character that Blackthorn was a faded character in comparison.
There was lightness and wit to this tale of servitude and stitching which I’m beginning to know and appreciate this author for. I felt a little unsatisfied by how Blackthorn’s characterisation ended, I wanted a bit more humanity which is probably not fair to ask of a fae. I’m definitely invested in this series and I look forward to the queer story that’s coming in book three.
3.75 stars rounded up.
Thank you to Orbit Books for three eARC through netgalley.
A Take from Two Cities 