jacey | Book Log 14/2016 - Emma Newman: Between Two Thorns

Cathy is trying to get away from her controlling family by living in our world, Mundanus, even though she knows she'll age and die like a mortal. She has a mortal boyfriend whom she loves dearly and she's making a life for herself. When her family catch up with her she's dragged back to undertake an arranged marriage in the world of the Nether, a Regency-esque buffer region between Mundanus and Exilium, the home of the exiled Fey. The Fey are still powerful, even in exile, and the great families in the Nether are still obligated to their Fey lords. Cathy is a member of the Papaver family, obligated to Lord Poppy. The Rosa family, powerful in London, is now jostling for position in Aquae Sulis, the Nether version of Bath. The Iris family contains Will, Cathy's potential bridegroom. There's a lot in here: a sorcerer; the wicked Rosa family; a kidnapping of Bath's Master of Ceremonies with the season about to start; an Arbiter who's been split from his own soul (which is now residing in a gargoyle);. It's all a little confusing and sadly I'm sometimes easily confused, but there's still a lot to like. Once minor gripe is that it doesn't really resolve, so I presume the second book picks up where the first left off.