Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
A Castle in the Air by Kelley Armstrong Series: Stitch in Time #4
on October 31, 2023
Genres: Science Fiction Fantasy
Pages: 389
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Portia Hastings has spent her life rescuing her younger sister from one scrape or another. Now, she has to step through time to do it, following Miranda from the nineteenth century to the eighteenth. Almost immediately, Portia is beset by highwaymen, which might be the most exciting thing to happen to her in a long time, even if she’d never admit it. When one of the highwaymen is injured, Portia makes the inexcusable mistake of helping him—she is trained as a doctor after all. Her travel companions abandon her, and she’s left at the mercy of a highwayman who demands she continue tending to his compatriot’s wounds.
Portia soon finds herself at a crumbling castle inhabited by the destitute Earl of Ravensford. Benedict Sterling is in desperate need of money, and his solution is a ball, where a wealthy bride will win the title of countess, even if it does come with one thunderously ill-tempered earl. Portia agrees to a scheme to help Benedict look like a slightly more appealing bridegroom, while she continues to search for Miranda. Then there’s the small matter of the castle, complete with a ghost intent on driving her out. But once Portia sets her mind on something, she’s not going anywhere.
Kelly Armstrong has done a fabulous job with her Stitch In Time series. While I don’t accurately know the specifics of some of the time periods, they are interesting to see in these stories. The traveling is a bit magical, unreliable and not deeply explained.
Portia is the sister of the main characters in the last two books. She’s been quite serious, working hard on her medical training, taking after her father, the doctor. Portia is really well developed here. She is really smart, honest and puts up with no nonsense. It’s a joy to get to know her in A Castle in the Air.
Portia is worried about Miranda not coming back in a timely fashion. She decides she must go through the stitch to find and help her, even though she has had no interest in going to different times previously. She finds a ride to the town where her sister and husband planned to travel but the family’s coach she travels with gets stopped by highwaymen. The family is quite disgusting, as the wealthy can be. They try to let just Portia be robbed but the crooks get the family’s money also. When the rude son stabs one of the robbers, Portia is quick to come to his aid with medical treatment.
Portia ends up getting to know and appreciate the two highwaymen. They are brothers left in a tough situation when their father died. I won’t spoil the details but Portia comes to care about their plight. They have a ghost in their home who is a bit determined to harm her. Eventually, Miranda is able to confront the ghost to resolve the issue. Portia is the one who really figures out the whole mess from Miranda’s original errand, to the highwaymen’s problems and to how the ghost was murdered.
About Kelley Armstrong
Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could
write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a
story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls
and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. Today, she continues to
spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked
away in her basement writing dungeon. She lives in southwestern
Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 23-COYER
I didn’t realize this series was up to book 4! I’m glad you’re enjoying it so much.
4 books plus the Christmas novellas. They are charming.
I really should get back into this author one day.
Kelly Armstrong is really on fire right now. Everything she is writing is really good.
Anne, this was such a fun read around Halloween as there are ghosts and a mystery to be solved. I really enjoyed this book. Portia was my kind of heroine
Portia was awesome! I loved how straightforward she was and didn’t put up with any BS. Kelley Armstrong is writing amazing stuff in multiple books recently.
Seems like the perfect story and series for the season. Glad you enjoyed, Anne💜
Thank you Jonetta. She’s a very talented writer in a few genres. I enjoy most of her work.
I had only read book two, but still really enjoyed this one. Portia and her host’s circumstances as she worked stuff out had me loving it.
Well they are separate stories but they build a little on the world and updates on the family. I am still glad I read in order but that’s my usual way.
I’m glad I hopped over here to see what’s happening today. I am way behing of Kelley’s books, but I’m jumping on my library app to see what’s what. Time to play ‘ketchup’. 🙂
She has so many great books in different genres. I enjoyed these time-slip historical romance mysteries.
I had fun with this one and enjoyed the ghostly mystery 🙂
I enjoyed this too but I was worried about how destructive the ghost was.
This series is on the top of my reading list for next year. I really enjoy the way Armstrong writes.
I’ve enjoyed almost everything by KA. I hope you love it too.
I’ve heard such great things about this author (some from you!) I need to find time to give her books a try.
Jen I think you would love, love love this series. So I hope you do try it. I’d start at the beginning and the audio version is great.
In general I tend to steer clear of time travel books but this sounds good despite the time travel not being super explained. Really I’m a sucker for anything involving a ghost!
Well you would love all the ghosts in these. I normally won’t read time travel but I’ve found some good ones lately. Kelley Armstrong is writing the best books recently.
I have this on hold at the library. It’s a bit of a wait, but that’s all right. Glad you liked it. I’ve been enjoying this series.
The main character here is outstanding. I hope you enjoy it.
So, is the series a continuation of each book before, like the Outlander series? Or is each book a new main character but connected to the characters in the other stories?
The second each main character is connected to the main characters of the previous story. Basically there was Bronwyn, then her husband’s best friend’s wife Rosalind, then Rosalind’s two sisters. The woman is the primary point of view although we do get some of the male’s POV but the woman is primary.