Book Review: Holly Cottage

Holly Cottage: A short steampunk adventure by Shelley Adina
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The third of four “Manor House” tales, Holly Cottage may be a short story, but I believe it tells us about an important milestone in the life of Maggie Polgarth. One of the first of the street sparrows taken in by the Lady of Devices, Maggie’s now grown up and purchasing a home of her own.

You’ll probably guess the name of the house by the title of the book, but you’ll need to read the adventure to learn how the cottage earned this name. The refurbishing and furnishing of Holly Cottage is all so delightfully cozy, and includes a very amusing attic-scavenge for forgotten family treasures to furnish the cottage. A wonderful sideboard is found, and now I want one just like it!

But there’s more to the story than feathering Maggie’s new nest. She’s moved into an area near Vauxhall Gardens that’s under the control of the south bank gangs. Maggie, and the Lady, are well-known to them. When the gang realizes who’s moved into the cottage, the situation becomes dire.

But Maggie has more than enemies paying attention to her. Another of the Lady’s street sparrows, Jake McTavish, has been agonizing over his feelings towards her – and then there’s Alden Dean, a handsome, refined man who’s been tutoring the Lady’s young brother. Jake and Alden are as different as night and day. Both want her attention, but what does Maggie want?

I enjoyed the range of this story – there are ample amounts of humor and horror, love and hatred, anger and joy. For me, this has been the most satisfying of the Manor House stories so far.

Tomorrow I’ll wrap up the Manor House reviews with Gwynn Place!

View all my Goodreads reviews

To read all my reviews for the Manor House series, here are the links. Book One: Carrick House ~ Book Two: Selwyn Place ~ Book Three: Holly Cottage ~ Book Four: Gwynn Place