The Watchmaker's Daughter by C.J. Archer

India Steele is desperate. Her father is dead, her fiancé took her inheritance, and no one will employ her, despite years working for her watchmaker father. Indeed, the other London watchmakers seem frightened of her. Alone, poor, and at the end of her tether, India takes employment with the only person who'll accept her - an enigmatic and mysterious man from America. A man who possesses a strange watch that rejuvenates him when he's ill. Matthew Glass must find a particular watchmaker, but he won't tell India why any old one won't do. Nor will he tell her what he does back home, and how he can afford to stay in a house in one of London's best streets. So when she reads about an American outlaw known as the Dark Rider arriving in England, she suspects Mr. Glass is the fugitive. When danger comes to their door, she's certain of it. But if she notifies the authorities, she'll find herself unemployed and homeless again - and she will have betrayed the man who saved her life.With a cast of quirky characters, an intriguing mystery, and a dash of romance,

To be very honest, I didn't really like this one a lot overall, but let me start off with what I did like about it. The magic system had really great promise and I was genuinely interested in finding out more about the mysterious clock that Matt had, and what powers India was going to turn out to have regarding clocks. The set-up for the mystery around Matt and his watch was pretty neat, and that really kept me going in the beginning chapters. I also kinda enjoyed the banter and chemistry between Willie, Duke, and Cyclops.

Now, things I didn't like. Relating to the above, I wish more had been done with the magic system. The book kinda starts off with that particular mystery, but then switches tack halfway to the hunt for an American outlaw, the Dark Rider, and we only find out some answers to the magic system in a pretty hasty and anticlimactic revelation scene at the end. It's like their magic powers is more of an afterthought even though I personally found it much more interesting than the American outlaw thread.

There was also a lot about the book that didn't make sense to me, especially India's ridiculous crime-solving skills: Matt is newly arrived from America, an America outlaw has been newly spotted around town, therefore he must be the outlaw! Matt's cousin is named Johnson, the American outlaw is named Johnson, therefore the outlaw must be from Matt's family! The leaps in logic here really took me out of the story a lot.

I was also not a huge fan of the romance between India and Matt. Aside from the insta-lust thing going on which I get is a trope in this genre by this time, it was honestly a little discomfiting how much India would get sexual thoughts about Matt at the worst moments, like in the middle of a high-speed chase, or when mysterious gunshots ring in the house in the middle of the night and when she is comforting a scared old lady.

There were many other instances where characters' motivations felt inconsistent to me and sadly, I couldn't really immerse myself into the story as much as I would've liked. I really really wish the magic system played more of a part in this story though! It had such great potential to be something new and refreshing.

Enjoyable. Well constructed world, good enough plot, interesting characters if a bit cliche maybe? It is a romance at heart so keep that in mind.

It was OK. The plot was a little convoluted and I could see the author was working to create a lovable crew of misfits. It just fell a little flat. It's possible that this will lay the ground work for the future books in this series. It's good enough that I will continue on to see how the next book goes, but just as filler when I want a light quick read.

“I'd wanted to be a little reckless and experience something I'd never done before, but staying in with a good book now seemed more appealing.”

India Steele is the daughter of a watchmaker who has passed away, and whose store was left to India's ex-, and not to India herself. Women can't own property, you know. On her initial quest to see a wrong righted she meets Matthew Glass, mysterious man from America who's trying to find a specific man who created a specific pocketwatch who once resided in London. India is hired to help him look, having no job and no boarding and needing a roof over her head. So begins a bit of a meandering quest to find this watchmaker, where India meets Matthew's friends and family, visits watchmaker after watchmaker, all the while suspecting Matthew of being more than he seems.

I don't normally read YA and I don't normally read romance, but I was willing to overlook these personal hangups because it was the book being read in my book club on Discord this month and because it was a relatively easy read. The chapters are a bit on the long side, but it still was a very quick read by my standards. I didn't particularly care for how India was written, being that she's supposedly 27 or 28, but waxes wildly between being incredibly capable and incredibly helpless. That bit of inconsistent character development sort of grated on me after a bit. I also felt like the book spins its wheels a bit in the beginning, before we get an infodump about what all this is supposed to mean near the end. I know this is part of a longer series, but I feel like things could have been paced just a bit better. Finally, my old nemesis “we are both attractive and in close proximity to each other, we must fall in love” romance trope reared its ugly head again. I guess I just wish for a bit more...meaning, intent, something, to two people who are suddenly just together after less than a week.

All that said... the idea of clock magic was appealing, it's a unique take on magic I haven't read before. I liked the cast of characters surrounding Matthew, and thought the story itself was well written beyond my pacing hangups. It's an intriguing beginning to a lengthy series, but I'm not sure I'll be continuing with it.