Mistletoe and Magic
by Katie Rose
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
My Review:
This was my first foray into the Appleton sisters stories. So I missed out on Jennifer and Winnie's journeys. With this being a novella, I was concerned that I'd completely lose the story arc details by not having read the other books first. I'm happy to say I didn't feel lost at all. All the necessary details were there and I didn't feel like I missed out on the plot by reading this one first. Of course, I think I would understand a little more of the undercurrents by reading in order.
Penelope makes/made her living with her sisters as a spiritualist. It's all a sham, but in a helpful way to the people that come to them. They justify the ruse because they feel they simply help people find peace. The only thing is, Penelope really can see the future. She occasionally has visions that always come true. Somehow she's been able to hide the extent of her talent from her sisters for all these years. It felt like she was rather naïve and silly, but very caring and loving. She was emotionally weighed down keeping the weight of the world on her shoulders and the feeling that she alone knew if her family would be happy, but she was also rather beautiful and flighty. Her decisions seem only vaguely thought out and have this sense of emotion behind them without much reason.
As soon as Penelope attends her first party, all the males want to claim her because she's just so beautiful. But when Jared sees her, he will do anything he can to win her. No matter than he's been a certified rake, he's ready to go on the straight and narrow to have her. This is one of those areas that maybe would make a little more sense if I read the other books first. I have no ideas about Jared besides what's written in this novella, but I'm not sure how one goes from no feeling for someone (that you have previously met) and you're chasing everything else in skirts, to “this is the only girl for me even though she won't give me the time of day”.
Don't get me wrong, Jared's resiliency and persistence were quite inspiring and heartfelt. He really put all of himself into proving that he loved Penelope. I said “aww” every time he did something above and beyond to make things better for Penelope and anything or anyone she found important. I just didn't see that jiving with the idea that he hadn't noticed and wanted Penelope and only Penelope before the start of this book.
The descriptions in this book were wonderful. I really felt like I could see exactly what things looked like and what was going on. The dresses and locations were so well written that I really felt like I was there.
I can't say I know that much about how people in New York at that time spoke, but I found it really funny when the doctor diagnosed Penelope as follows:
She appears to have suffered trauma and is in a catatonic state.
It just goes to show how the fervency behind everything these characters experienced was so large. Penelope isn't just beautiful – she is just so strikingly lovely, like an angel come to earth. Jared doesn't simply fall in love with her, but his first glance tells him he must possess her and “protect her from now until eternity”. They can't just be sad about something – Penelope goes catatonic.
I had fun reading this book, but I think I would have started getting irritated with Penelope if this book were much longer. I liked Jared for the most part, but I'm not sure that I can say all portions of his character mesh together. This was a book who's prose was much larger-than-life and I loved the sense of place but I didn't feel draw in to the characters emotions because of their almost frivolous attitudes. It was nice to read a high society type of historical, set somewhere other than London. I think I may have to go back and read the other books in the series to find out more about the Appleton sisters.
I received a complementary ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
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