The House of Velvet & Glass by Katherine Howe

Still reeling from the deaths of her mother and sister on the Titanic, Sibyl Allston is living a life of quiet desperation with her taciturn father and scandal-plagued brother in an elegant town house in Boston’s Back Bay. Trapped in a world over which she has no control, Sibyl flees for solace to the parlor of a table-turning medium. But when her brother is suddenly kicked out of Harvard under mysterious circumstances and falls under the sway of a strange young woman, Sibyl turns for help to psychology professor Benton Derby, despite the unspoken tensions of their shared past. As Benton and Sibyl work together to solve a harrowing mystery, their long-simmering spark flares to life, and they realize that there may be something even more magical between them than a medium’s scrying glass. From the opium dens of Boston’s Chinatown to the opulent salons of high society, from the back alleys of colonial Shanghai to the decks of theTitanic, The House of Velvet and Glass weaves together meticulous period detail, intoxicating romance, and a final shocking twist that will leave readers breathless.


I was very skeptical to read this book, I have never really read many books in the adult fantasy genre. The only adult books I have ever read were written by J.R. Ward, Jodi Picoult, and Danielle Steele.  I enjoyed this book, but there were some issues with it. It seems like there were too many storylines developing at once. I really liked how realistic the characters were with their many secrets. It gives the readers an essence of Edgar Allen Poe. Howe has such a vivid imagination and wonderful writing. Everything was spectacular: characters; plot; most in particular how she gets everything in her imagination to flow, it's just simply spectacular. People who read Howe's other books were disappointed in this book but if you have read her previous work, read it with an open mind and you won't be disappointed. Everything is not what it seems,  and this phrase will come into your mind while reading this novel.