The Lily of Ludgate Hill

I've loved this series, and I absolutely can't wait to read Stella's story. It's unclear to me if this one fell a bit short for me because I had such hopes for Anne and Felix Hartford or that the events that altered their initial romance are so sad overall. Their young love collapsed under the weight of losing parents, and the story begins as they're forced together due to circumstance. I adored Felix and his constant love for Anne; he is determined, caring and presents a lighthearted face to the world. Anne often reminded me of Anne of Green Gables at the point she loses Matthew. She and her mother have never come out of grieving, and we see her inner life and how much she's given up to live within her mother's grief. As the book progresses, they essentially both admit they were too young and needed the time to grow up. While that's convenient for the second chance romance plot, I still struggled not to be sad for these two characters. They lost not only a betrothed, but their best friend for seven years. Overall just more heart breaking than I was prepared for going into it. It does lead to Felix being written with deeper layers than we see in the earlier books, so that was a benefit. I'm also excited to see Teddy Hayes and Archer return from the Orphans series for Stella's story.