Review: Pastiche by Celia Lake

Pastiche (Charms of Albion #1)
by Celia Lake

My Rating: 5 stars

Genre: Cozy Historical Paranormal Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
Enjoy this kind and creative 1906 historical fantasy romance set in the magical community of Great Britain.

Alysoun wants more than duty.

Born into the aristocratic circles of Albion’s upper class, Alysoun has done everything expected of her. She has married well, produced two healthy children, and handled her social obligations with grace.

It’s not enough. Her husband is kind but distant, and she lives with ongoing mysterious pain. Worst of all, she is frankly bored. When Alysoun spots something odd in a stained glass exhibition at the museum, she seizes the opportunity. Perhaps it will finally give them something to talk about.

Richard lives for honour.

As a captain of Albion’s Guard, he spends his days solving problems. As Lord of the land, he makes sure his estates in England are thriving. It leaves little time for anything else, even his wife or children. He’s sure they understand. He was brought up the same way.

When Richard’s mentor is injured, the ground collapses under his feet, shaking up all of his assumptions about how his marriage, his oaths, and his life work. The question is, can he figure out how to juggle his responsibilities and two different investigations in time?

Pastiche is a standalone novel of 90,000 words. All of Celia Lake’s Albion books exploring the magical community of the British Isles can be read in any order. It is full of stained glass, living with chronic illness, an arranged marriage turned love match, and family of choice. Enjoy this charming romantic fantasy with a swirl of sex set in 1906 with a happily ever after ending!

My Review

After reading Ancient Trust I knew I wanted to go back in time and read Alysoun and Richard’s romance as I wanted to know more about them. So I picked up Pastiche. I loved this story and really enjoyed Alysoun and Richard’s romance.

Pastiche is told in dual points of view of both Alysoun and Richard. There are a few chapters at first when they first get married and have kids, but then it switches to a few years later were most of the story plays out. I thought this worked well and gave some background to their marriage and then showed how their marriage goes from arranged marriage to a true love match. I really liked this transition. It’s a very slow burn romance with a lot of other things plot and character related going on.

I really enjoyed Alysoun’s chapters from the start, I thought her struggle with her chronic illness felt relatable with how she didn’t always feel well and her struggles and condition changed from day to day. She has what would nowadays be called fibromyalgia and I thought her chronic illness was written very well. I really like her as a character the way she thinks and sees things. She likes to read a lot too and I liked reading about the museum exhibition she attends. I liked how she spots these little details and the way her minds puzzles with these clues throughout the book.

Richard was a nice enough character at first, but I felt like the further I got the more interesting he became. And his character development plot line was really awesome to see. It made sense why he acted the way he did, but it was obvious he was struggling with some parts of his life, he just didn’t really know how else to be. Seeing him slowly figure out what he wanted and communicating with Alysoun more about their relationship was wonderful. Having his mentor gets injured and learning mroe about his mentor’s personal life really changed things for him too and I liked seeing how Alysoun and Richard became good friends with Magni and Gil. And there is this scene toward the end that really shows how Richard has changed and how more sure of himself and his life he is which was awesome to see.

Alysoun and Richard’s romance was a wonderful slow burn. I thought it made sense why they acted the way they did, with Alysoun wanting more closeness but not sure how to communicate that. And Richard thinking he shouldn’t bother her and not wanting to hurt her. They are both constricted by the social expectations and rules they were taught. And seeing them slowly deepen their connection and find their own way to be together was just wonderful. I really liked seeing their romance deepen and the way they figured things out together.

I also liked the mystery they slowly get involved in regarding this stained glass exhibit were Alysoun notices some oddities in one of the stained glass pieces. I liked how Richard and Alysoun work together to solve this mystery and there are some fun side characters as well, especially Mason, Magni and Gilbert were great to read about and I can’t wait to read more about them. I liked seeing this mystery play out and how they investigated it.

Another aspect I loved about this one is the world building. I like the paranormal vibes of this world and the way it’s sprinkled everywhere. I really liked learning more about the magic and seeing some ways it was used in the daily lives of people, but also as part of investigating the stained glass mystery. And it was itnerestign to learn more about the guard and how that all worked as Richard is a guard and there’s a lot about that part of his life as well.

To summarize: I loved this book. Alysoun and Richard’s arranged marriage to love match romance was wonderful to see. It is a lovely slow burn romance were these two slowly grow closer and deepen their relationship. I liked seeing them find their own way to be together and slowly overcome the social rules and expectations and find a way that works for them. I liked Alysoun from the start, she was such an interesting character and her chronic illness was depicted very well. Richard was a nice enough character at first, but I really liked his personal development and seeing his grow more into himself and who he wants to be. The stained glass mystery was interesting and I liked seeing that progress throughout the book and seeing how they investigated that. I liked how Alysoun and Richard teamed up for that and there were some great side characters as well that I want to read more about. I also liked seeing more of this magical world and learning more of how the guard works. All in all this was such an awesome read and I cna’t wait to read more stories set in this world!

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.