Romance, theatre and hypnosis

If you read Heartless City, you’ve already met the energetic Philomena Blackwell. If you haven’t then you’ve got an occasion not only to observe her as a side character but as the main heroine of this brand new story full or love, singing and topped with a bit of a mystery.

The Hypnotic City (The Gold and Gaslight Chronicles #2) by Andrea Berthot

My rating: 

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I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Philomena and Jenny were finally able to leave London and move on to the city of opportunities – New York. It’s there that the young, determined girl want to find a place for herself preferably as an actress. With her lovely singing voice,and newly found ability to imitate accents, she’s trying to get the best role she can.

When it seems like she got her wish, something is not right. The young stage manager has a strange influence over his employees and his audience. But what does it mean to Philomena and her friends?

This book is a nicely written story that reads well close to a fireplace on late autumn evenings. Contrary to the first story, the Hypnotic City concentrates more on Philomena’s life rather than the evil in the city. Most of the books is a nice love story with some career search. As much as I enjoyed reading this, I was expecting a bit more action and paranormal mystery hunting.

Even Philomena seemed to loose some of her energy and wit. Maybe it’s the new city influencing her, maybe she’s simply growing up, but I have a feeling she lost some vigor in this story. She’s still self-sufficient and strong, doesn’t need a man to take care of her and that’s fantastic. She cares for her friends and for her loved ones and is willing to sacrifice herself up to a certain degree… she’d rather fight than gets killed.

And the villain? Should I say he was a typical evil dude? Hiding his true face until he has enough and terrorizing everyone who goes against him. He thinks he’s so smart, so in control, but it takes pretty much one day and a little bit of luck to outsmart him.

To sum it up it was a nice, enjoyable and fast read, but I did prefer the first book. Mostly because this one concentrates on romance rather than mystery and action.

Check out my review of the first book of the series – The Heartless City which had a very different cover when I’ve read it, but now both volumes apparently fit each other.

It’s still nice, but I liked the blue one better :).

Have you read any of these books?
If you don’t mind some little pieces of past mentioned in the newer story, you might actually read it separately.