Review: Ashes To Ashes & From The Ashes by C.J. Archer

Title: Ashes To Ashes
Author: C.J. Archer
Series: The Ministry of Curiosities #5
Genre: Paranormal/Historical Fiction/Romance/Mystery
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Publication Date: April 26th, 2016
Edition: Kindle Edition, 126 pages
Source: Purchased
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM  

 

  

 Synopsis:

     With Charlie gone, Lincoln finds that Lichfield Towers offers no sanctuary. With reminders of her at every turn, and employees threatening to mutiny, he must try to find the murderer who is killing supernaturals on his own. Another victim leads to further leads, but is Lincoln too distracted to work efficiently? 

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     This was a very short addition to the series, and it makes me wonder if people ended up skipping it because of it's length. It's not labeled like a short story, though it kind of is. It's only Seven chapters, and the "main" books in this series are already short, and this one is about half the length.
 

      I did like reading from Lincoln's POV, though I would have liked it more had we seen some things from his perspective from the start. That is another reason why I wonder if people skipped this one, and it is not one that should be skipped. There's actually a decent amount of not only character but plot development in this book.

 

     I do wish this had been a little bit longer. Maybe have more time pass, or more confrontations with the other Ministry members, to set up something more for the next book, which I am currently reading while writing this review (even though I'm putting them together.) I just don't have a whole lot to say about this book, since it is so short, but I still wanted to write a review to encourage other people who might pick up this series to not skip this novella.

 

 

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Title: From The Ashes
Author: C.J. Archer
Series: The Ministry of Curiosities #6

Genre: Paranormal/Historical Fiction/Romance/Mystery
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 
Publication Date: August 23rd, 2016
Edition: Kindle Edition, 309 pages
Source:  Purchased
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Powell's 

Synopsis:

     When Charlie returns to Lichfield, she steps into chaos. The killer is still on the loose, Lady Harcourt's secret is out, Seth and Gus are gone, and Lady Vickers has come to stay. But nothing compares to the chaos inflicted on Charlie's heart by seeing Lincoln every day.
     Despite their frequent clashes, Lincoln and Charlie manage to work together to narrow their list of suspects. No one can be trusted, especially not the members of the committee who are not what they seem. Long buried pasts are dug up as Charlie and Lincoln attempt to restore peace to Lichfield.
     But when danger enters her home, Charlie's world is shattered.

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This is one of the better books in the series. Charlie has always had agency, but in this one, she has grown so much in the short time she spent away from Linchfield. I like that she made some friends there. For most of the series, her only friends were Seth and Gus, she likely didn't notice how lonely it was not to have friends closer to her age who are also female. I hope that the friends she makes there will play some role in the story moving forward. It was also nice that she didn't instantly forgive Lincoln. She held her ground and explained to him what it meant to be sent away, though it took overhearing a conversation with Seth for him to fully understand.
 This felt a little like two books, the events at the start with her still at that school didn't match the events that happened when she returned to London. It didn't slow the pace down, but other than Alice arriving, nothing that happened in the school had much to do with anything else in the book. I thought there would be more of a connection since it was a pretty large event at the start of the book and it seemed like there was something more nefarious going on since the school was suggested by one of the Committee members.

I gotta say, I wasn't expecting the person behind everything to be the person it turned out to be, but it was revealed it made sense. He was the only one there who wasn't adamant about sending Charlie away. It was almost like he wanted her right where he could get to her. This book also had a bit of a better balance between the romance aspect and the mystery. I liked that Lincoln was less stoic in this book, that Charlie put him on edge and forced him to actually confess how he felt about her.

I'm curious and looking forward to the rest of the series. There's a decent number left, and I wonder where things are headed if they solved the big mystery.  Or was that only one part of it...