Well this was lovely. Viola is a librarian who might lose her job. She is being pressured to marry a man even though that is not her preference. Boudicca is a gargoyle who Viola has known as a statue and has confided in for years believing she wasn't real. Viola and Boudicca have a very sweet complicated relationship. This book deals with the historical complications of women needing to marry as well as combined with the fantasy elements of magic. There were certain elements that I found to be rushed a bit but other then that I really enjoyed it. Oh and the spice was a very good time!

I loved this 🥹🤍

The cozy vibes w/ low stakes (pretty action packed)🥰 And the showcase of gender inequality— Arranged marriage (ick) to a man (double ick) has me lmfaoo.

Viola is such a brilliant scholar & her love for the library? How could you not love her.
Most of all, I think I fell for Boudicca too lol!!
A gargoyle mommy— She was just such a green flag. I love the inclusion. It was just so there and not over explained or anything.
I really wanna know the backstory to her brother though, but all her siblings were great and full of character. Even Zander was fun, but I wish they showed a bit more magic— I’m so curious to what more they can do.

Overall, this was such a yummy read—
And I would love to read more books in this universe. I still have so many questions!!
Like who’s really pulling strings? And what else can she learn to do…
Abby Craden did an AMAZING job narrating, I seriously fell in love w/ her work.

I saw the words librarian and gargoyle and I was sold - didn't even read the synopsis or look at the cover properly!

Turns out I didn't need to either because this was the sweetest little sapphic fantasy romance.

Viola & Boudicca were meant to be! Viola was determined to prove the existence of magic and between her beloved library potentially closing, an arranged marriage she doesn't want and dark magic swirling around her she needed a place to rest and what better place than her beloved gargoyle Iggy's arms?

They'd known each other for years without being able to communicate with each other. And when Xander, Iggy's master, allowed her to go out into the world it was the perfect opportunity for her to speak with Viola under a human guise. Their dynamic from the start was very swoony and they appreciated each other from their first "meeting" even though Viola still didn't quite know who Iggy really was. And Iggy's protective instincts took over as Viola dealt with a lingering dark presence and tried to figure out how magic factored into her life & heritage. They were very much drawn together!

The ending was so satisfying and spoke of many adventures to come for these two. I hope we get more books in this world, I love a Victorian type of fantasy setting.

Narration by Abby Craden was top notch, she captured both Viola & Boudicca so brilliantly - a fantastic choice for this audiobook. Production on point too!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ALC - very lucky to have listened to and discovered another fun gem like this one.

2.5-3 ⭐️

Eh, this was ok? It just wasn’t for me sadly.
I couldn’t get invested in Viola’s arranged marriage plot, it was pretty boring and I also didn’t really like Viola as a character? She was so so whiny, and while she did have a lot of valid criticisms of her family’s expectations of her, she also seemed so naive to how the world around her works that it drove me bananas. Like, she didn’t even understand how her society works so that she could rebel against it or come up with ways to be herself without being ostracized? She just kept forcing her way on people until they finally just gave in by the end for no reason (I guess she just wore them down)
Her relationship with Boudicca was also super weird, like, Boudicca knew her since she was a child and I know I know, nothing happened until she was an adult, but it still gave me the ick. They were so horny for each other so fast and so just, yuck. Viola was also so possessive of the gargoyle even before she knew she was alive which is weird, and then there’s that whole thing at the end about Boudicca being her own person not beholden to Viola but we see no evidence of this.
The best part of the book for sure was Boudicca trying to figure out how being her own person with agency and a soul would work for her, I wish that had actually been the A plot of this book. Ultimately though it just ended with her always being obsessed with and protecting Viola.
The audiobook narrator did a great job with the voices though, and ai really liked her voice for Boudicca. Overall, I don’t hate it, I just don’t like it either.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced listening copy!

I’ve gotten into gargoyles lately and LOVE that so many creature books are being made! Majority of the time the gargoyles are but this one ugh this one is a masterpiece with both main characters being female!! Loved every moment of this and can’t wait for more!

Am I glad I read it? This didn't quite hit for me. I was drawn to this because of the setting—1910s Paris, the librarian FMC, and the idea of a hot gargoyle love interest (we need more sapphic monster romances!). Shine plays around with some common historical romance tropes and themes, including kissing lessons, impending unwanted marriage to a stuffy aristocrat, expectations of marriageable misses, and a rebellious MC trying to find her way out from under her wealthy family's thumb, Shine's approach to this story is cute, fun, sweet, and overall quite lighthearted. I'm not generally drawn to these kinds of stories and, given this, found that this approach undermined what I was initially interested in about the story. I have no doubt that there are plenty of readers for whom this kind of story will work, but I am unfortunately not one of them.

I love love loved that Boudicca is a tall muscle mommy in human form, though. Give me more of those.

On the narration: I was thrilled to see that Abby Craden was the narrator for this audiobook. Her deep, almost smoky voice works really well for Boudicca's character, but her narration for Viola comes across as very young, almost uncomfortably so given that the first time we hear Craden narrating Viola is when Viola is a child.

Thanks to Tantor Audio, the author, and Netgalley for the ALC of this title, which is out on September 9.

DNF. Listen I made it 10% in, but I just couldn’t vibe with the gargoyle knowing the FMC when she was a child and then 15 years later she is back. He didn’t have any inappropriate thoughts when she was a child, but I just can’t vibe with it.

This was a lighthearted, cozy, and fun monster romance set in a beautiful Paris. A librarian named Viola, at risk of losing her job due to funding, vents her problems to a gargoyle statue. In this magical world, Viola's life is turned upside down when a mage gives a task to a soulless stone creature named Boudicca. As part of her task, she is made human-like, and soon after, she begins to feel human desires, including companionship and love for Viola. To make matters even more complicated, Viola's parents set up an arranged marriage for her with a Duke's son, promising her an "opt out" option if things don't work out. Viola has a ball to plan and decides to have Boudicca escort her, causing town gossip since she is technically engaged. This also angers her betrothed that changed his tune about giving Viola an option to the marriage. Viola finds herself struggling with how sweet and smart Boudicca is, and she wonders why she didn't meet her before this betrothal. Boudicca, for her part, wonders if Viola could truly love her if she knew her true form. This story had a strong theme throughout the story is freedom, being your true self, and accepting others for their

It's a sweet and strong story, and I am interested in reading more from this series.

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Thanks to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review. Release date is 9/9/25.