One Good Turn

One Good Turn (2022) Sarah Wallace (Meddle & Mend #2)

Set in London ~1816

Nell Birks doesn’t want the life she grew into. As an orphan plucked off the streets she was glad to have food to eat and a safe place to sleep, but she wants to learn magic rather than continue life as a pick-pocket and thief.

When she interferes on Jack’s territory she is required to do one last job for him as payback. But when that job leads to her and her friend Pip getting caught, she takes the lord up on his offer of escape, and soon begins a magical education she never could have imagined.

She also meets many of the characters from the previous book, Letters to Half Moon Street, including Viscount Finlington who takes her in.

This is another queer cozy fantasy, but not a romance, as Nell is aromantic. Instead we get to watch her building her life on her own terms, and becoming the person she believed she was meant to be.

We also get the set-up for the next book, Pip’s story, which is darker, as Pip was forced into prostitution by a man he believed to be his lover.

Lino put a hand on Nell’s arm. “Nelly,” he said in a soft voice. “Jack used to take him here. He brought him most nights.”

“He wouldn’t!”

He gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “He did.”

Nell opened her mouth to argue and then closed it as she thought back to how Pip had been in his last months in London.

Despite the thievery and acknowledgement of prostitution, this is still a cozy, and very lovely.

Characters: Miss Nell Birks, Viscount Bertie Finlington, Mr. Smelting, Philip Standish, Davey Smith, Jack Reid, Charles Kentworthy, Patience Carew, Mr. Hartford, Miss Gerry Hartford, Miss Locke, Miss Betsy Holgraf, Mx. Harriet, Archie, Lino Bowles, Thomas

Rating: 8.5/10

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