Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg

Rhode Island, 1846. Estranged from his family, writer Merritt Fernsby is surprised when he inherits a remote estate in the Narragansett Bay. Though the property has been uninhabited for more than a century, Merritt is ready to call it home—until he realizes he has no choice. With its doors slamming shut and locking behind him, Whimbrel House is not about to let Merritt leave. Ever.
 

Hulda Larkin of the Boston Institute for the Keeping of Enchanted Rooms has been trained in taming such structures in order to preserve their historical and magical significance. She understands the dangers of bespelled homes given to tantrums. She advises that it’s in Merritt’s best interest to make Whimbrel House their ally. To do that, she’ll need to move in, too.
 

Prepared as she is with augury, a set of magic tools, and a new staff trained in the uncanny, Hulda’s work still proves unexpectedly difficult. She and Merritt grow closer as the investigation progresses, but the house’s secrets run deeper than they anticipated. And the sentient walls aren’t their only concern—something outside is coming for the enchantments of Whimbrel House, and it could be more dangerous than what rattles within.

A haunted- or rather “enchanted” house on a private undeveloped island, a mysterious institute tasked with managing said properties in question, a budding and free-spirited writer teaming up with a prim and proper housekeeper; oh and there’s a dangerous magic-stealer on the loose. Charlie Holmberg’s Keeper of Enchanted Rooms has a lot of great elements working for it that should’ve culminated in an enchanted and dreamy experience. Unfortunately for me these pieces weren’t assembled in the most effective manner which made the overall reading experience feel underwhelming and a missed opportunity.

With its diverse plot threads, the Keeper of Enchanted Rooms is a lot of things. Taking place in New England in 1846, it’s sort of a historical fiction novel (more on that below) with a fantasy and magical theme. However in actuality, the story is better described as a cozy fantasy of sorts; I’m not sure how to describe it beyond being slow-paced and comfortable. The fantasy elements are beyond magical realism, the romance isn’t strong enough to be considered romantasy yet the magic is not development enough to be pure or hard fantasy. The book feels like it’s intended as an adult novel due to the age of the characters and plot but the read itself feels more YA in execution.

Majority of the book is spent following Merritt Fernsby and Hulda Larkin exploring the root of the Whimbrel House’s enchanted and magic that Merritt had recently inherited from his late grandmother. Hulda has been dispatched by the Boston Institute for the Keeper of Enchanted Rooms (BIKER) to investigate the source of the house’s magic as well as to transition Merritt into the new ownership and maintenance of the property. Initially a light-hearted tale of two opposite personalities, they slowly assemble a team and pseudo family with a new cleaning lady and chef. As Merritt and Hulda begin to grow close, there are other plot threads introduced including Merritt’s estrangement from the rest of his family, his abandonment by an ex-fiancé, the perpetrator and source of magic in whimbrel house, and one of Hulda’s past cases that continues to haunt her.

The first two thirds of the book is mostly quiet exploration of the remote house and Hulda slowly introducing Merritt to the world of magic and enchantments. The best part of this section is the sentient Whimbrel House itself and the chaotic shenanigans it causes. The visual imagery is imaginative and reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland with vibrant colors and wonder. The house has a distinctive personality of its own and is perhaps the most interesting character in the whole novel. Unfortunately beyond the enchanted house, this section of the book was admittedly not for me. The plot and investigation of the mystery moved incredibly slow and did not hold my interest. Perhaps my preference for harder and more defined fantasy narratives has a play here, but I found the magic system and world to be underdeveloped and poorly explained. A lot of rules to spells and magic-use are left with the explanation of “this is how they work” with no reasoning behind it. The book also has a helpful glossary describing various types of magic with their side effects, but I question why it’s included when there is so little of it utilized in the narrative. There is also a dangerous necromancer who steals magic and keeps his victims as dried out puppets, but the method of how the stealing is done is completely skipped. The extent of BIKER’s use is also barely touched on and the name of the organization seems questionable. BIKER is described as managing entire estates and mansions and magic, not a singular room or area. The name “Keeper of Enchanted Rooms” in both the book’s title and the organization doesn’t make sense beyond the odd acronym choice (Keeper of Enchanted Houses doesn’t have the same ring to it too I guess).

Most of the 2nd half of the book also focuses on the growing relationship between Merritt and Hulda which again can best be described as comfortable. The romantic development is slow, quiet and very G-rated with no spice at all. Clean romances aren’t a bad thing at all (I personally like them), but the problem is what is presented feels quite juvenile and highschool-esque. While Merritt and Hulda individually are interesting (albeit a bit generic), their romance doesn’t really spark. The setup of Hulda never having a first kiss is somewhat plausible for the time period, but it still requires a bit of a stretch to believe it. At 35 yrs old, she’s getting close to the average life expectancy in the 1840’s. Merritt is charming and his bits of humor help add a bit of interest to their scenes, but the overall romance still left me wanting more. Their relationship obviously progresses in the next two books in the series but what was presented so far is just okay.

While most of the novel is slow and meandering, the last third of the book gave me sudden whiplash in its execution. Up to that point, hints about the magic-stealing danger are shown via short chapters placed between Hulda and Merritt’s perspectives. However the entire conclusion of the dangerous magical murderer and Hulda’s past are crammed into less than 50 pages, completely abandoning the comfortable and deliberate pace established. This arc also feels messier with the constant plot twists and reveals that feel like they’re out of left field. The cause of Merritt’s estrangement from his family, his abandonment by his ex-fiancé, the secondary source of magic at the Whimbrel House, connections materialize out of thin air with barely any setup. To make matters worse, the narrative devolves into an overly dramatic soap opera between Merritt, his ex-fiancé, Hulda and her boss Myra. The emotional volatility and outburst in this section was jarring for me, though you could make it argument that the characters are at their breaking points (I’m going with out of character writing that doesn’t justify their actions). At a certain point I stopped trying to understand the reasoning behind characters’ interactions and just kept going in bewilderment. Then a final confrontation with the villain happens with more action in 20 pages than the rest of the book. And suddenly the house’s enchantment can be separated from the house (with again no explanation whatsoever other than he’s a very powerful magic-user…) and is randomly placed into a dog? I had to laugh at this part for all the wrong reasons; though for what it’s worth, the dog’s random inclusion was a net plus for the series.

I found the writing itself to be pleasant and easy to understand, though Holmberg has an unusual tendency to over-use commas and run-on sentences. I am also guilty of writing sentences that should best be separated for clarity, however Holmberg goes even further than I do. There are also numerous commas that are thrown in mid-sentence that repeatedly forced me to re-read entire paragraphs to understand the phrasing. Often these commas are placed in places where you would expect a narrator or audiobook to take a breath or pause for dramatic effect, however most of these are unnecessary in written form and create a disjointed experience.

As a somewhat historical fiction story, I also found the dialogue to be inconsistent for the time period. Hulda is generally the most consistent (as necessary for her well-spoken and official demeanor), however Merritt and some of the side characters tend to speak in modern English then haphazardly throw in more traditionally dated grammar and phrases out of the blue. The same can also be said about the world Holmberg describes in 1846. Details are given for the lack of running water in Boston and in Whimbrel house when characters bathe or clean, but the setting feels more like an afterthought than an integral part of the story. There’s very little reason given that even hints at the time period apart from the obvious date at the beginning of each chapter. The political atmosphere (he’s liberal therefore they can kiss before marriage), society (complete lack of slaves, servants, militia), bathroom (okay the toilet technically exists back then but they were not installed as described in the book); these aren’t necessary elements for a historical piece but if you’re utilizing a 19th century setting, you need more historical context to be believable.

As a whole, I found most of Keeper of Enchanted Rooms to be a relaxed and whimsical, albeit lackluster soft fantasy read. There were so many great ideas on paper but the execution left a lot to be desired for me and ended up skimming most of the book disinterested. Clearly I’m in the minority on this one though and despite not enjoying it personally, I can see why a lot of people loved it for the cozy vibes and feel-good ending. I’m just not a for the vibes kind of reader and what more content and care in the story.