Series: The Secrets of Ormdale

Review – Drake Hall

Posted May 25, 2025 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Drake Hall

Drake Hall

by Christina Baehr

Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 203
Series: The Secrets of Ormdale #2
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Edith’s ancient home is full of secrets…and dragons are the least of them.

As the new dragon keeper in the hidden valley of Ormdale, Edith expects her first dragon mating season to involve venomous bites and amorous wyverns. She doesn’t expect to find herself growing closer to an inconveniently appealing suitor next door, or to stumble upon a dragon poacher lurking in the outbuildings, or to uncover a family scandal in the Abbey.

Fortunately, Edith has a mentor to help her sort things out, the spellbinding Helena Drake of Drake Hall. Or does Helena harbour secrets of her own?

For Edith, the dragons were always going to be the easy part.

Christina Baehr’s Drake Hall is the second book of the series, and I think it got off the ground a bit faster than the first book — certainly I didn’t stall partway through reading, and felt pretty impelled through it. I did feel a bit cringy about certain aspects, and I’m not sure what’s going to happen when her cousin finds out what Edith’s been writing exactly (feels like a prime moment for some stupid misunderstanding).

It was definitely interesting to see Edith ending up somewhat in opposition to a particular character; it’s not something I’d been expecting, from the build-up, though we got hints in that direction pretty quickly in this installment.

I’m not quite sold on the potential romance, still, but there does now feel like there’s some space for it to grow, so… we’ll see!

Overall it feels a bit like an episode, or a part of a bigger book, rather than a standalone novel (in some ways, at least) — I’m glad I have the next one to continue onto.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Wormwood Abbey

Posted December 5, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review – Wormwood Abbey

Wormwood Abbey

by Christina Baehr

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Pages: 200
Series: The Secrets of Ormdale #1
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

As a Victorian clergyman's daughter, Edith Worms has seen everything -- until a mythical salamander tumbles out of the fireplace into her lap. When a letter arrives from estranged relatives, Edith is swept away to a crumbling gothic Abbey in the wilds of Yorkshire. Wormwood Abbey isn't just full of curious beasts and ancient family secrets: there's also a tall, dark, and entirely too handsome neighbour who is strangely reluctant for her to leave. An unexpected bond with her prickly cousin Gwendolyn gives Edith a reason to stay in this strange world -- especially when it turns out that Edith herself may have a role in guarding her family's legacy. But not all of the mysteries of Ormdale are small enough to fit in her lap...and some of them have teeth.

Christina Baehr’s Wormwood Abbey is a short historical fantasy that kicks off a series of five books (with the final book releasing in November, so it’s out now as this review goes up on my blog). It’s a pretty quick read, following Edith as she and her immediate family (her father, step-mother and half brother) arrive at the titular Wormwood Abbey to sort out the family affairs, now that all the male heirs except her father (originally disowned) are gone. There she meets her cousins Gwendolyn, Violet and Una, and… honestly doesn’t make much headway with them at first.

Oh, and there are dragons. Okay, that isn’t immediately obvious, but the cover makes it pretty clear, if you weren’t tipped off right away by names like “Wormwood” and “Ormdale”. Edith takes a while to get with the programme, even when she’s raising a baby salamander.

It’s a little slow to start, I think, but as things progress there’s a bit of adventure and tension (and some indication that there’s more to come) and perhaps a hint of romance, though Edith’s not really interested at this stage. I’m not sure how I feel about the romance yet; it feels a bit inevitable narrative-wise, but the characters don’t seem to have a lot of interest in one another.

As for Edith herself, she doesn’t quite match up to Isabella Trent (of Marie Brennan’s series), but she’s fairly practical, curious about things, and has a certain amount of courage. She’s also a writer of detective novels, which made me smile. I’m hoping her character will develop further.

Overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit, and decided to pick up the next two books in the series to follow it at least a little further — I’m definitely curious about the revelation near the end of Edith’s abilities, and where the whole thing is going other than “the Worms family protect dragons and try to prevent them impacting on local people”. I imagine the world is going to intrude rather more, as you’d expect in that era when linkages between places became more common and travel more likely.

It is worth noting that Edith’s father is a clergyman, and there’s a good amount of discussion of Christianity. I hadn’t thought about that very much myself, given the time period it’s set in, but I noticed another review that was pretty uncomfortable about it, and it’s true that there’s a fair amount of it, along with some period-typical antisemitism as well that comes up due to Edith’s birth mother being Jewish. So that’s useful to know.

Rating: 3/5

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