The London Séance Society: A Novel

The London Seance Society was the first book by Sarah Penner I’ve read. Honestly, I wasn’t all that impressed. This book was more than I bargained for with certain topics and the lack of character development made me angry. I think if I had known about certain aspects prior to reading I wouldn’t have bought it, much less read it. It had a neat premise, but it was overshadowed by the focus not being where it should have been. So, in the London Seance Society the reader meets Lena who has become a student of Vaudeline, who was mentoring her sister Evie before she passed away. Lena holds a lot of guilt from this and is determined to understand what happened to her sister. I liked this story line and felt it was written well even with another death thrown in the mix. Now there are two murders to solve and little to go on. Lena comes across Mr. Morley who runs one side of the London Seance Society. It is a men only club so when Lena realizes her sister and Vaudeline might have crossed paths with them things become even more tricky. It becomes evident that Evie had gotten over her head somehow and Lena is stuck with the realization her sister may not have been who she thought she was. All the characters were very shady and unlikable. I can usually handle unlikable characters, but it felt like no one had a good arc. Lena ends up losing her focus often due to what I felt was an unneeded romance. Both Evie and Lena seemed to have lost their edge once romance or something along that line was thrown in. I definitely felt that this story would have been much better without it. In one instance, it grated on me that the character in question was so blinded by what others thought of their appearance that nothing else mattered. When the romance was made more prominent it seemed that the characters became more foolish and stupid with dire consequences. Actually, I take it back I did like the character of Bennett. He seemed to be the only one with character development and street smarts to an extent. The ending, while satisfying because the mystery was solved, left quite a bit to be desired since I did not like the prominent characters. It is because of this; I would say readers should research books before reading them to make sure they understand what topics may be discussed and if that is something they would really be interested in reading. However, I will say I will try her again to see if another book might be better for me. I try very hard not to judge an author by the first book of theirs I read.

Sarah’s ability to relive the past with vengeance create a wonderful read.

Everything you could ever want in a book. A wonderful period piece full of ghosts, murder mystery and a little bit of lesbianism to spice it up. The author's writing style keep the story fresh and captivating.

I picked this book because I enjoyed the author’s debut novel, The Lost Apothecary and wanted to see how this one compared.

The London Séance Society is set in 1873. Lenna’s younger sister, Evie, had a fascination with all things seance whereas Lenna can’t find a logical way to believe in such things.

When Evie gets murdered, Lenna reaches out to Evie’s mentor in hopes to find out what happened to her sister. Another part of the story focuses on The London Seance Society, which is an exclusive gentlemen’s organization that has been recently receiving negative feedback.

The story is told from Lenna’s perspective and from the perspective of a member of the London Seance Society. I really enjoyed the different points of view and getting to see how the characters experienced the events that were occurring. I feel like the writing kept me captivated and the intertwining of the two murders was well described. I will definitely continue to read whatever Sarah Penner releases!

Started out well enough but felt like the ending took on a rushed, cramped feeling. Lost that connection to the characters for a bit and felt pushed to get the story done. I did like the premise of the book and where it was going but the climax just needed some more work to really take it to the next level.