Score: 4.5/5 Bookmarks

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for gifting me a review copy of The Garden of Promises and Lies by Paula Brackston. This is the third in the Found Things series, and while I actually haven’t read the first book (yet) I loved the second one The Chocolate House.

Xanthe lives in a little town in the UK, runs an antique shop with her mum, sings in a band, and can time travel. More accurately, she’s one of a handful of Spinners who can spin backward and forward through time. Xanthe just started discovering her gift fairly recently and is still working out how to use it, control it, and who else might be like her.

She is often ‘called to’ by antique objects that have a story to tell, and pulled back through time to right a wrong, or save someone. In this book, a vintage wedding dress starts singing to her and she has to investigate, finding herself in Bradford-on-Avon in 1815, as if she has stepped into a Jane Austen story.

Of course it’s not all smooth sailing. It’s difficult enough to step into an unfamiliar time, but there are also people out to get her and harness her abilities for themselves!

Take some historical fiction, throw in some mystery, a dash of adventure, and a hint of romance and you’ve got The Garden of Promises and Lies. I find the author’s writing is compelling, and I don’t want to put it down, but it somehow also feels like home. The characters and places feel familiar and comforting, despite the fact that they’re fictional and often in a time and place that is obviously not my own.

I am already dying to find out what happens in the next installment (and there better be one) because Xanthe has some serious unfinished business to sort out! The only reason it didn’t get a full five stars from me is that I wanted a little more from Xanthe’s current-day relationships this time around. It felt like the people in her life were introduced in the last book, and while they did evolve through this one, I wanted just a little more depth and connection between them. Having said that, I loved this book so much, and if The Chocolate House is anything to go by I’ll still be thinking about this one a year from now. This author just has a way of crafting characters and stories that stay with you, and revisit your thoughts long after you’ve turned the last page.

I will say that I was able to pick up the second book and follow the story despite not having read the first, but this latest installment builds so much on previous events I do think you should read the other two first. And that’s definitely no hardship, so enjoy!

The audiobook is 10 and a half hours long, but felt like it flew by because it was so engrossing. Marisa Calin does a wonderful job with the narration, and you’ll recognize her voice from A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, The Gown, The Mountains Wild, and of course The Chocolate House. You can grab your own copy of the audiobook via the button below, or get a physical copy here.

Synopsis:

Brackston returns to the Found Things series with a third book, The Garden of Promises and Lies.

As the bustle of the winter holidays in the Little Shop of Found Things gives way to spring, Xanthe is left to reflect on the strange events of the past year. While she's tried to keep her time-traveling talents a secret from those close to her, she is forced to take responsibility for having inadvertently transported the dangerous Benedict Fairfax to her own time. Xanthe comes to see that she must use her skills as a Spinner if she and Flora are ever to be safe, and turns to the Spinners book for help.

It is then that a beautiful antique wedding dress sings to her. Realizing the dress and her adversary are connected in some way, she answers the call. She finds herself in Bradford-on-Avon in 1815, as if she has stepped into a Jane Austen story.

Now in Xanthe's time, Fairfax is threatening Xanthe into helping him with his evil doings, and demonstrates all too clearly how much damage he is capable of causing. With Fairfax growing ever more powerful, Xanthe enlists the help of her boyfriend Liam, taking him back in time with her. It is a decision that might just ensure she prevails over her foe, but only by putting her life—and his—on the line.