Bessie Bell has just been let go in a soectacular way from her position as a housemaid in the Adair home. The young master of the house didnt take no for an answer but did try to take liberties so she had no choice but to hit him with a bucket.

Setting out into the night with only her brownie friend Derri she is somewhat at a loss what to do. when...a curricle draws up carrying a strange man named Mr Green.He is searching for a otherwordly equine by the name of 'Tatterfoal'

After the two them has a brief encounter with the Horse, Mr Green brings Bess to the home of Mrs Aylfendeane (the heroine from the previous book) Treated very well Bessie wants to go and visit this Aylfenham shes heard about,well it certainly cant be worse than Trilby!

After being turned down by Mr Green (the gent is clearly more than he seems' to take her with to Aylfenham,Bessie gets her wish when a small goblin named Driggal appears and offers to bring her there.

What follows is a quest for a fairy ointment in the goblin market, quite a lot of banter between Bessie and Grunewald ,a bit of pickpocketing and more.

This book has more of one of my Favorite characters namely Grunewald the Goblin king.

I think i liked it more than the previous book because of two reasons 1) Isabel was a bit too perfect for my taste 2) Grundelwald and Bessie spend significant more time together deceloping their relationship and friendly bickering

If this had been a proper historical I would have not believed a housemaid in the regency would be treated like a guest but this is not quite the real mundane world...so I will just take it as it is.A comfortable read. ( )

This book was diverting. Like most things that Charlotte English writes, it's not particularly deep, but it was entertaining.

The main character, Bessie Bell, is perhaps not as hilarious as some of English's other protagonists, but she's interesting enough. She is unjustly fired from her job as a housekeeper in some manor, and wanders out through the forest with no hope and no plan--until she's picked up by a very enigmatic man.

Bessie Bell is quite a spunky lady, for an out-of-work housekeeper. After she is fired, she decides that never again will she be some downtrodden servant. She has no plan and no resources, and she's thrown into a magical world with absolutely no magical power of her own. Nevertheless she becomes a force to be reckoned with. King, pretender, agents of the crown--all these come to depend on her. All of them try to order her around, but she winds up leading them all. And you can see why the, er, love interest winds up falling for her--and you can also understand why she decides what she does in the end. ( )

This was - well, the world was interesting as usual, the new lights on Mr Green were rather neat, and I really like Bessie. The plot(s) were silly (partly because this was the second book I read in a row with an unknown relative doing elaborate plotting!). The characters - were a bit obtuse; Bessie refused to consider, and Mr Green was even better at ignoring, their connection. It was blindingly obvious to the reader, and nearly as obvious to other characters, but the two of them went on assuring themselves and each other that it was merely...convenience, or something. Hmph. And the disposition of the villain seemed wrong-headed to me - it's only going to solidify her convictions. OK, not wonderful. But I will happily read the next book in the series as well. ( )

This was a quick and enjoyable read. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that even though this was the 3rd book in the series, it could be read as a stand alone without feeling you are missing anything by not having read the preceding books.
The characters were very well developed and Bessie is a strong female without losing any femininity.
I look forward to reading more Tales of Aylfenhame. ( )

Following on from the previous 2 installments, the 3rd book is another self-contained historical fantasy. It's still very much in the same vein as the earlier works, but is rather darker in tone starting with an attempted rape and ending with the heroine declining to live happily ever after even though she is in love with the hero. Also, the heroine is a servant, not a member of the local gentry like the previous installments. I think I preferred this one with the grittiness. It looks like there will be further volumes appearing.