A Sorceress Comes to Call

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

This is marketed as a goose girl retelling and while there is a horse or something pretending to be a horse named Falada, and there are geese, it otherwise does not follow the original goose girl story. 

Cordelia is controlled by her mother Evangeline, a sorcerer of great power in a world that believes sorcerers can only do small acts of magic.  Having lost the support of her “benefactor,” Evangeline announes that she must marry as Cordelia is too young yet. She picks out an older country squire and moves them both to his estate. 

The story switches between Cordelia's POV and that of Hester, the squire's sister, who are both well developed. The story was interesting and often suspenseful. It at least edged toward horror if not fully stepping over into it. It is basically a story about an abused girl and her toxic mother and how to get Cordelia to safety.

Overall I liked this book a lot. The central characters, and most of the larger supporting characters are well developed. More minor characters tend to be a bit cookie-cutter. Evangeline is very one note villain, but given that Cordelia is terrified of her and Hester wants nothing to do with her, this is not, perhaps, surprising. Also she's the villain. There's also a romantic subplot that I completely adored.