The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: Wormwood Abbey

Series: The Secrets of Ormdale #1

Author: Christina Baehr

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Cozy

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

As a Victorian clergyman’s daughter, Edith Worms has seen everything — until a mythical salamander tumbles out of the fireplace into her lap. When a letter arrives from estranged relatives, Edith is swept away to a crumbling gothic Abbey in the wilds of Yorkshire.

Wormwood Abbey isn’t just full of curious beasts and ancient family secrets: there’s also a tall, dark, and entirely too handsome neighbour who is strangely reluctant for her to leave.

An unexpected bond with her prickly cousin Gwendolyn gives Edith a reason to stay in this strange world — especially when it turns out that Edith herself may have a role in guarding her family’s legacy.

But not all of the mysteries of Ormdale are small enough to fit in her lap…and some of them have teeth. – summary from Goodreads

Wormwood Abbey is a cozy historical fantasy with mystery elements woven in and dragons! This was a wonderful book, that kept me engaged.

Edith was a wonderful main character! She was so lovely and felt incredibly realistic. She had such a unique voice and I loved her narration. This story is also told in the past tense, so some of the narration is her telling the story. She was headstrong and determined, as well as kind, and wanting to understand people. She wasn’t too much of one thing, instead a nice balance that made her realistic and relatable.

Edith was also a murder mystery writer, which I just loved. It wasn’t the biggest part of the story, but it did have some influence on the story. She is a clergyman’s daughter, as well, which guides the story a little bit.

This does have Christian elements, but it is very subtle. You can really see it in Edith’s morals, which I love quite a bit.

Edith’s family is also amazing! I love her mom (stepmom) so much. I am so used to not-so-great mothers, so to have a wonderful mother is amazing. Her father and brother are also a lot of fun, and the family dynamic in this book is exactly what I have been searching for. I will also point out that Edith is a little older than my usual protagonists at 21 years old. Even still she goes to her parents for advice and comfort when she needs it. It is incredibly refreshing to have a main character rely on their family for help.

The other characters were interesting, and I am excited to get to know more of them. I really liked Simon, but he is a pretty minor character, but you can tell that will change in future books. I will say he is very respectful and kind to everyone. I can’t wait to see where his story is going to go. Gewndolyn is amazing! She was a tough nut to crack, but throughout the course of the book, you see more and more of her. At first, you totally think she is a mean girl, but slowly you realize there is more to her. I’m really excited to see how her story develops!

There were dragons in this book! Not the dragons that we usually think of, but little dragons that look more like common lizards. I like this whole concept, and the concept of the Dragon Keepers. It was intriguing and melded well with the English countryside. I loved all the little adventures there was because of the dragons. It was a lot of fun, and it had in-depth world-building.

This also took place in 1899. I loved all the historical elements! It was a unique setting, too, because there was some technology, but for the most part there really wasn’t anything. So, it was nice to have this melded with the dragons. And Edith came from the city to the countryside where there wasn’t any technology, so her perspective was super interesting.

There was some mystery, which I enjoyed. I am not usually a mystery reader, but one of the big reasons I liked this mystery was because it didn’t really have anything to do with murder. It was more about solving the mysteries of Ormdale. There was some peril, talk of death, and somebody did die. But it wasn’t on page, and most of the danger was fairly mild.

Wormwood Abbey was an engaging historical fantasy with mystery, dragons, and an unique narrator.