About the Book
-
Author:
- Catherine Bakewell
- Genres:
- Fantasy
- Girl-Girl Romance
- Paranormal
Cover Story: Not Your Sidekick
BFF Charms: Danger Girl, Let Me Love You
Talky Talk: Love Poetry
Bonus Factors: Faith and Doubt, Family Secrets, Librarians
Anti-Bonus Factors: Worldbuilding Confusion, Doublespeak
Relationship Status: Salute
Cover Story: Not Your Sidekick
Ofelia and Lope look just like they’re described, but I wish Lope wasn’t so much in the background. She may not see herself as her lady’s equal, but as co-protagonist and narrator of half the book, that’s exactly what she is.
The Deal:
Ofelia de Bouchillon lives with her mother on a lonely country estate, guarded by knights – including Ofelia’s best friend and secret crush, Lope de la Rosa – to defend the manor from shadow monsters that attack every night. The only place in the kingdom rumored to be free of Shadows is Le Château Enchanté, the king’s palace, allegedly blessed by the gods. When Ofelia’s mother disappears on the way there, Ofelia sets out to find her, but gets a little bit sidetracked by the glamorous court life she’s always dreamed about. Lope comes along to keep her lady from getting herself killed, and maybe even find out where the Shadows come from. But the truth is more terrifying than either of the girls could have imagined.
BFF Charms: Danger Girl, Let Me Love You
Ofelia is sweet, but naïve. When her mother warns her that the “monstrous people” at Le Château are as dangerous as Shadows, she shrugs it off with the assurance that her “heart is a compass” and she’ll always know how to read someone’s intentions. Needless to say, that’s not true.
Lope has been fighting Shadows since she was twelve years old. They killed her mentor right in front of her. She’s hopelessly in love with Ofelia, but can’t tell her because of their class difference. (If you’re as confused as I was, “knight” in this book is not a noble rank; it basically means “hired soldier”.) Worse, she knows there’s something wrong with Le Château, but no one will listen to her – not even the girl she loves.
Swoonworthy Scale: 7
Ofelia and Lope take a long time to see each other clearly. While I enjoyed their “lady and guard” power dynamic in the beginning, it gets much more interesting when they move past it and become equals, Ofelia fighting alongside Lope while Lope learns to let her guard down.
Talky Talk: Love Poetry
If Cyrano de Bergerac had been a girl who liked girls, this might have been the result. Here’s Lope writing about Ofelia in her secret journal:
“And you! My daylight,
I cannot gather up the words I want to give to you.
I want to weave them into a crown
And softly place it on your brow.
Standing in your radiance,
Each word a kiss – ”
Ofelia doesn’t use line breaks, but the way she talks about Lope isn’t much different.
Bonus Factor: Faith and Doubt
Lope burns the poems she writes as offerings to “any divinity who will listen”, even though she’s not sure whether anyone is. The gods in this universe are portrayed as statues without faces, to symbolize how unknowable they are, but she still longs to hear from them.
Bonus Factor: Family Secrets
Ofelia knows nothing about who her father is, except that her mother met him at Le Château and that something happened to make her avoid the place for seventeen years, making a nice juicy mystery to solve. Telling her daughter the truth might have spared everyone some trouble, but knowing Ofelia (see BFF Charm above), probably not.
Bonus Factor: Librarians
Madame Eglantine, the palace librarian, gives the girls subtle clues to what’s really going on, even while she pretends to be as happy at Le Château as everyone else. Trust a librarian to help you find the truth.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Worldbuilding Confusion
The unnamed fictional kingdom in which this story takes place is based on 17th-century France, which means Le Château must be Versailles … only it’s not. Everyone speaks Spanish as well as French and half the characters have Spanish names. Does that mean France conquered Spain in this universe? If it did, there’s no mention of how that might affect Ofelia and Lope’s relationship, given that one has a French surname and the other a Spanish one. Also, homophobia doesn’t exist in this world even though other 17th-century attitudes, like divine-right monarchy, still do. Not every reader is going to overthink these things like I do, but I couldn’t help it.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Doublespeak
There are no Shadows around Le Château. Even when they attack on the road and travellers show up panicked and bleeding. The guards’ and physician’s flat denial of what Ofelia and Lope have just lived through is as frightening, if not more so, than the life-sucking creatures themselves.
Relationship Status: Salute
If I had a feathery hat like the Three Musketeers, I’d sweep it off to bow to this beautiful story. It may not be for me, but somewhere out there is a girl whose life it could change.
Literary Matchmaking
Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher also offers an LGBTQ+ twist on chivalric romance.
Ash (Ash #1) by Malinda Lo is another fairy tale with a same-sex, opposite-personality couple.
In the Shadow of the Sun (In the Shadow of the Sun #1) by E.M. Castellan is also set in a fantasy version of 17th-century France.
FYA Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher. I got no compensation for this review.
Yeah, anachronisms and changes in historic attitudes always bother me as well.
For me, it depends on the story. In a comedy, anachronisms can be part of the fun, but this one is so serious. That’s not to say it wasn’t a good book.