Although I did see the potential in the story and world constructed, it didn‘t quite convince me for several reasons.
One, it had - in my opinion - a lot of repeating sentences and sequences which dragged the storyline out and made it boring. Violet for examples goes on and on about the job of a caretaker and how difficult it is and how much of a sacrifice, which her father made and she has to make too. I did understand the importance of the cartaker already in the prologue because there was such an emphasis on it so there really wasn‘t a need to bring it up again and again! Second, altough Vi is so determined to fight for her house and has so much love for it, she is also plagued by self-doubts. Which I get, of course, but it was also a bit much and mentioned all the time, because of which I couldn‘t enjoy the story itself any more. And lastly - what did Vi exactly do the whole time? She always talks about saving the house and doing everything for it - but the first 200 pages she only gets back to the house and begins working in a taverne to afford reparations for the house. I‘m really questioning this tactic, because she has only one summer and really big plans but only works in the taverne the whole time? That just isn‘t really believable.
But if you overlook this inconveniences this book still grants you a few enjoyable hours. And as I said, I really liked the idea of the magical Houses and everything.
