The Palace of Lost Memories by C.J. Archer

The Palace of Lost Memories by C.J. Archer seemed like it would be the perfect book for me. Court intrigue, power struggles, and unraveling secrets had me thinking this book would be fast-paced and entertaining from the first to last page.

Josie, the main character starts her journey in a beautifully described world full of life. When a palace magically appears near her sleepy town, her curiosity quickly takes over. So when she meets Captain Hammer of the palace guard she jumps at the opportunity to treat his wounded comrade. Doing so earns her goodwill and when the palace has need of a healer they immediately send for her.

Due to the rules that women cannot be doctors, her father is invited to the castle and she joins him. Immediately she is thrown off balance by the Nobles and their behavior. Josie wanders and quickly gets lost and doing some begins to uncover some of the secrets surrounding the palace.

Captain Hammer and Josie quickly hit it off, and the tension between them holds for the entire book. She is drawn to him and trusts him despite his numerous warnings not to. Hammer pulls her into the court intrigue and into solving not only why his memory is lost (and that of the whole palace) but the mysterious poisoning of a Lady of the Court.

While this story does have ups and downs and a few surprising twists (and some quite predictable), I felt that the pace was slow. I found myself struggling to read this relatively short book, what should have taken me a day or two took me well over a week as I struggled to be sucked into it. I sadly will not be looking forward to the next book, the ending of this book did not leave me desiring to learn more about this world.