Magic Under Glass is one of those books that I just happened to stumble across and start reading with absolutely zero expectations, which is pretty refreshing. 
 I'm happy to say I enjoyed it. 
 We follow Nim, a once prosperous singer and dancer who has fallen on hard times, now working as a 'trouser girl'. However, she is suddenly employed by the dapper gentleman Hollin Parry, who wants her to sing alongside an antique automaton. But she soon discovers that the automaton is enchanted, housing the spirit of Erris, a fairy prince who had mysteriously disappeared in the fairy wars some years ago. What follows is a light, fast paced adventure in which Nim attempts to free Erris while they gradually fall in love. 
 Let me say now - this is a short, fast read. It's not challenging or shocking or complex. It's a book you can curl up with when you're feeling a bit low to let it magic you away for a few hours. The prose is engaging but simple, the plot very fairy-tale like. Whenever a darker element seems to start to slip in when we aren't looking, Dolamore reassures us and lightens the mood. It's fairly happy, altogether. 
 Character-wise, Nim is generally a good heroine, who certainly develops through the story. She has her less attractive qualities - she is vain and proud and longs to be served again as she once was - yet she is compassionate and ballsy and sympathetic, too. Erris, on the other hand, is a character we don't get to learn very much about. This might be due to the fact that, for most of the novel, he communicates through a piano, which makes deep conversations decidedly difficult. Although Dolamore does a good job of creating a sweet and simple romance, I got the idea it was because of sympathy on Nim's part, and longing to be real again on Erris'. But maybe I'm just a cynic. 
 One character I really enjoyed reading was Hollin. I've seen other readers and reviewers describe this guy as creepy or weird - yeah, he is a bit. He's basically like an adorably pathetic Mr Rochester. He's the only character in the novel that I wasn't sure if I liked or not, and wasn't sure whether he was going to turn out good or bad - the ambiguity was refreshing and fun in an otherwise black and white story. 
 For all it's sweetness and charm, Dolamore does do a very good job at creating a sense of jeopardy through the novel, and likes to up the stakes a lot towards the end, which is only ever a good thing. One gripe, which I don't make very often, is that it's a little too short, the ending a bit sudden. I'll probably read the sequel, Magic Under Stone, but I wonder if the whole story could have been bundled together in a single standalone novel.