Good grief, this book was stressful. So much tension. And I honestly don't know if I've ever encountered a more despicable and menacing villain in over three decades of reading.

It was an unexpected sort of sequel, where the main character had lost or set aside most of what made her so irresistibly charming in the first book. The setting moved from rural France to modern Paris, the antagonist was a witch rather than a priest, everything was quite different and unexpected. It was also far more magical than I was expecting, almost like a fairy-tale taking place in a modern setting. But it was a really good story, redemptive and beautiful and pulled you in all the way through. The character of preadolescent Anouk was so well-crafted and believable. It's hard to write first-person children well, and Harris did a great job. The mother-daughter tension made my heart ache just as much as the mother-daughter love did in the first book.

Can't wait to read the rest of the series!