To follow ( )

This is a mystery and romance thinly wrapped in a fantasy coating. The kings new castle took only 3 months to build and no workers were ever observed by the local village. Once itt is inhabited, the residents have as little to do with the outside world as possible until the king has to invite his nobles to visit so he can shop for a wife. Josie and her father are summoned to assist with a poisoning and Josie discovers that none of the residents can remember anything from before waking up in the castle.
Most of the book is involved with the romance developing between Josie and Hammer, the captain of the guards and pursuit of the poisoner. Everyone is quite busy overlooking the elephant in the room- what happened to their memories? Presumably this will be answered in the future books but I found it somewhat strange.

library audio-book completed 2/24/2023 ( )

Great story! Can't wait to read the next book. ( )

This book is pleasant and easy to read, with a strong slice-of-life feel to it. The immediate mystery to solve—the poisoning—is quite straightforward. Josie somehow gets everyone to confide in her and has few real problems inveigling herself into the palace, despite the fact she's not supposed to be there.

Despite the book title, the palace inhabitants' memory loss isn't a central part of the plot. In places, it feels more like a pretext for Josie (as first person PoV narrator) to explain the different customs, cultures etc to one of the other characters (often Hammer). I guess having a lot of characters ignorant of the world turns the naive farmboy/beggar etc excuse for exposition on its head. A number of observations and revelations come up which feel planted to feed into a sequel rather than being a part of this story.

Overall, it feels like this book is a small introductory adventure in a much bigger world.

This was such a fun listen. I had never heard of it before I was browsing Hoopla. The cover caught my eye and the blurb sounded interesting. And boy was this an interesting listen. The cast of this audiobook is amazing. Between the voice work and the story, you are sucked in and can NOT stop listening.

How long do you think it takes to build a magnificent palace? A few years, a few decades. Well, everyone in town is amazed when the King’s new massive and beautiful palace goes up in just about three months. This is an amazing feet, especially considering that no one was ever seen working on the building.

Not only did the palace go up in 3 months with no visible workers, none of the palace staff can remember their past. They are keeping this secret from everyone right now, but some know the secret.

Josie is the local midwife, and also the daughter of the local doctor. She goes to the palace with her father when he is called to diagnose a poisoning. The palace does have it’s own doctor but this is beyond his knowledge. While Josie’s father wants to get in and out of the palace as fast as he can, Josie is intrigued. She goes exploring and gets involved way more than her father would like.

Then there is Hammer, i.e. Captain of the Guard. He’s handsome, smart, daring, and caring. An almost perfect man. And he is the one trying to hold the palace and all it’s people together while they figure out what is going on.

This story was such a great listen. It has romance but was not a romance novel. I liked that. It was a fantasy, but it was fantasy light. You see, magic is a threat, and it scares almost everyone. It wasn’t a thriller, but it was a mystery. Who was the poisoner and why. Plus all the palace intrigue. I finished book one and immediately had to have book 2.
#BBRC #WhenitRains
#ReadHarder #CozyMystery
#Booked2019 #femaledetective ( )