strange and random happenstance

Frostgilded by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Five Fathoms Press
Publication Date: September 18th, 2020
Format: Kindle, 28 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
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Perhaps it was folly to think that she could juggle her in-laws, her students, and her anniversary all during the holidays, but no one could say that Cassandra Harwood wasn't ambitious. Of course they might call her foolish as well. But she is determined that after two years of helping her with the school and putting her first over his own job that her husband, Rajaram Wrexham, will have the best anniversary possible. Of course it's not like their wedding anniversary which is public knowledge. No one's supposed to know she compromised her future husband at Cosgrave Manor two years ago. So it's a "secret" anniversary. Yet it seems as if every single person within the walls of Thornfell has something Cassandra has to help them with. It's almost as if they're purposefully trying to delay her. And the the ancient fey in the woods has to get in on it too. Is it just the holidays that have gotten everyone worked up? Because the stress of her in-laws alone, whom she is convinced hate her and blame her for Wrexham not living up to his potential, is enough to break her. Every single obstacle is just one more thing to make her question if it's all worth it. But by the end of the night she will learn how much it truly is worth.

Frostgilded is just a wonderful little coda to the Harwood Spellbook. Nothing big, nothing groundbreaking or earth-shattering happens, we just get to see a day in the life of Cassandra running the Thronfell College of Magic, but turned up to eleven because it's the holidays. It's a final goodbye. All these characters we've come to love over the previous five volumes all make an appearance. But it's not maudlin or mawkish. This isn't like some prime time TV stunt, this is just a slice of life where you get to see this amazing life these people have built together. The school is chaotic but thriving, the students are happy and value their headmistress, and they all love and care for each other. This is so evident in the end when it proves that everyone was purposefully waylaying Cassandra so that Wrexham could surprise her with the perfect anniversary. She was just too harried until the very end to see that all these people she had brought together had come together to give her something back. It's just a big hug and an aw of an ending. More series should end like this.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anniversary, Cassandra Harwood, Chosen Family, Compromised, Cosgrave Manor, Frostgilded, Harwood Spellbook, In-Laws, Magic, Rajaram Wrexham, Regency Magic, School, Stephanie Burgis, Thornfell College of Magic

Spellcloaked by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Five Fathoms Press
Publication Date: February 3rd 2020
Format: Kindle, 18 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
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As a young woman Honoria Fennell was an ambassador to the elves. The atrocities she witnessed when she was at their court have haunted her all the days of her life, as has the love she found there, a married elf, Sylvana, who, if the affair was discovered, would have faced the brutality of her husband. That secret is what actually brought about her fall from the Boudiccate. Not many people know what happened at Thornfell College of Magic, only that since that time Honoria has sequestered herself in Cosgrave Manor deep in the elven dales. She has sent the staff away, as for her husband? He left of his own free will. Theirs was, after all, only a marriage of convenience. She is disgraced and alone. Her ambitions of protecting Angland from the tyranny of the elven court is no more. But at least Sylvana is safe. Or at least she hopes so. Honoria can't be sure her blackmailer didn't enact her threats before she was no longer able to. And then a figure steps out of the dales, a figure that asks piercing questions. A figure that has the ability to pierce her heart.

Because of her iron backbone and unwavering stances on the Boudiccate, Lady Honoria Cosgrave has been the antagonist of the previous volumes of the Harwood Spellbook. Therefore it's an interesting conceit to take a rather unlikable character, strip her down, all the way, take away the wealth, the privilege, the position, and make her not just relatable but worthy of her happily ever after. You can understand where she's coming from but what I find truly interesting is that Honoria had a dream, she wanted to protect her people and Sylvana, but she forced herself to work within the system. That is why I think she took such a strong dislike to Cassandra Harwood. Cassandra didn't play by the rules and in Honoria's world that just isn't how it is done. Yet times change, attitudes change, circumstances change, and Honoria realizes that "she had never allowed herself to dream hard enough." That right there is where this story got me. Make your dreams big. Make your love possible. Change the world! We all know if could use some help.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Angland, Blackmail, Boudiccate, Cassandra Harwood, Dream, Elven Dales, Elves, Harwood Spellbook, HEA, Lady Honoria Consgrave, LGBTQIA+, Regency Magic, Spellcloacked, Stephanie Burgis, Thornfell College of Magic

Thornbound by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Five Fathoms Press
Publication Date: February 14th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 204 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
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After Cassandra Harwood's felicitous meeting with Miss Juliana Banks at Cosgrave Manor Cassandra's life has purpose again. Miss Banks showed Cassandra that despite losing her own magic she could help those who wished to follow in her footsteps. Cassandra could teach the next generation of female mages because Miss Banks, much like Cassandra before her, has a dream. Miss Banks wants to become a mage so that she can marry the love of her life, Miss Caroline Fennell. Miss Fennell has ambitions to join the Boudiccate, like her cousin Lady Honoria Cosgrave, but a politician must be married to a mage. Therefore Miss Banks intends to be that mage. And Cassandra will help her. After all Cassandra was finally able to marry the love of her life, Wrexham, so why shouldn't Miss Banks? Thus Thornfell College of Magic was born. Thornfell is the dower house on the Harwood Estate and hasn't been used since the family's infamous recluse and amateur botanist Romulus Harwood planned to live there prior to his sudden death. Cassandra's spent six months fixing the house to her exacting specifications. This school will be perfect. It has to be. Because the Boudiccate is sending an inspection party and if they say so the school can be shut down immediately. Of course they were supposed to arrive in a day or two, not at the same time as the students. But at first Cassandra is hopeful, the assigned mage, Mr. Lionel Westgate, is her husband's boss, Lady Honoria Cosgrave is reasonable, and Miss Caroline Fennell obviously wants the school to succeed, but Mrs. Annabel Renwick is a different story. She was the tormentor of Cassandra's youth. With Annabel present there is no chance of a fair inspection. Thornfell College of Magic is as good as done. Especially once a dangerous fey contract is signed in the middle of the night on a sinister alter in the library. Then a member of staff disappears. Once Annabel goes missing there looks to be no way that Cassandra can save the school. Now she's fighting for the lives of her students not just their right to an education.

This is what it's all about people! Thornbound is my jam. While I very much enjoyed Spellswept and Snowspelled I view them now as mere background to this awesome volume. This was our final destination and it is magical, in more ways than one. There's dangerous fey, old grudges, and even older secrets to be revealed! This book has everything I could ever want in a Regency Magic story. But what I really latched onto was this idea that Cassandra creating a school was a selfish act. The education of others, becoming an educator, is perhaps the most selfless thing one can do. You are concentrating on teaching the younger generations all they need to survive. But Cassandra is being told she is selfish. Mr. Westgate tells Cassandra that her decision to open the school has negatively impacted her husband's career. Wrexham is being overworked and forced to do the worst jobs as some sort of punishment for his unconventional wife. Likewise the Boudiccate hint that the school is hurting Cassandra's sister-in-law's political chances. Amy has always wanted to be a member of the Boudiccate, but every since her heart fell for Jonathan Harwood her chances have been slim. But the Boudiccate hints that if Cassandra were to give up her foolish venture then perhaps Amy could be slowly reintroduced to their political way of life. It's like the powers that be are gaslighting Cassandra. They are telling her she's a horrible selfish person because she isn't thinking about the great good. But what is the greater good? Is it what is good for the whole of society or what is good for those who maintain an iron grip on their power by not letting change happen? In fact isn't change really what is the greater good and therefore shouldn't Cassandra's school be embraced? I really felt this deep in my bones. I have been called selfish when I wasn't at all, it only looked as such from someone on the outside looking in. But is it selfish to go after your dreams, especially when encouraged by those you love, even if they get hurt? Perhaps if they are willing to make the sacrifice you should be willing to believe in them? Dreams and change are hard, but Thornbound shows how very important they are.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Boudiccate, Caroline Fennell, Cassandra Harwood, Change, Fey, Harwood Spellbook, Juliana Banks, Rajaram Wrexham, Regency Magic, Snowspelled, Spellswept, Stephanie Burgis, Thornbound, Thornfell College of Magic

Snowspelled by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Five Fathoms Press
Publication Date: September 4th, 2017
Format: Paperback, 168 Pages
Rating: ★★★
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Cassandra Harwood had everything. She was the only female magician in Angland. She was betrothed to Rajaram Wrexham, the best magician in Angland, after herself that is. But things weren't going to plan. Letting her have an education was all well and good, but giving her a job? No, that wasn't the done thing. What was all that work for if she's not allowed to do something? So she felt the need to prove herself as she'd been forced to time and time again and things did not go well. She over-extended herself. Her old life is no more. No magic and no Wrexham. Two months ago she felt she had to drive him away to save them both. Though she's the only one who believes this. Her sister-in-law Amy is convinced that Cassandra and Wrexham just need a chance to reconnect and what better opportunity than at a week-long house party in the elven dales? Cosgrave Manor will be filled to bursting with bickering magicians and ruthless lady politicians as the Boudiccate prepares for their Winter Solstice Ceremony to reaffirm the human's peace treaty with the elves. There will be more than enough alcoves to compromise Wrexham in if Cassandra would just admit how much she misses him. What could be more romantic than being snowbound with the love of your life? More importantly it will get Cassandra out of the house where she's become a recluse and out of the rut she's worked herself into that's half pity half self flagellation. But things don't go according to plan. The weather is abysmal, snow so thick it's almost unnatural, and when they arrive at their destination their hostess, Lady Honoria Cosgrave, is worried about her young cousin's party. Miss Fennell and Miss Banks should have arrived by now but are missing. Cassandra agrees to help in the search, which was her first mistake. Her second was walking on a troll. Her third was accidentally making a binding promise to an elf-lord. So now she has to figure out who is behind the unnatural weather or forfeit her future to the elves. And all this just when she'd finally found something to live for again, and Wrexham is only part of that future.

Snowspelled wasn't the book I was expecting. When I read "trapped in a snowbound house party" I got certain ideas in my head. Ideas that are much more common in locked-room mysteries. So I'm not here damning with faint praise, I'm here going, this will be a book I will be glad to re-read with my expectations in check. Expectations that aren't typical of my usual holiday fare. I seriously read too many murder mysteries around the holidays. I wanted more country house party less protective heat bubbles with people wandering about in bespelled snow. Seriously, they were outside way too much for being "snowbound." But once I got past my own expectations I found myself falling in love with a wonderful story about finding your path after your old path was taken away from you forever. Oh and evil elves. I seriously love evil elves. Haven't we all had dreams that have come shattering down? We've worked and worked for years and then, just like Cassandra, there's that over-extension and the horrible burst of pain and disbelief and crushing reality. This heroine's journey is atypical and therefore actually made it all the more relatable. Because not everyone gets all their dreams. We have to settle, we have to search, we have to find a new path. One that works with what we are capable of doing. This book is so much more hopeful than traditional fairy tale stories because there it's all laid out until the HEA. Here there's no guarantees. And I have to admit, a fully powered and cocky Cassandra would not have been a good look. I don't think I would have liked her. A humbled Cassandra is relatable. She's able to find a HEA with how her life has turned out. It might not have been how she expected it in the least, but the managing of expectations is a powerful lesson. Find your HEA in your own way. In a way that you can handle. Don't let anyone tell you you aren't worth it no matter how many setbacks you've faced. Everyone deserves happiness.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Angland, Cassandra Harwood, Elven Dales, Elves, Harwood Spellbook, HEA, Heroine's Journey, Locked Room, Magician, Mystery, Rajaram Wrexham, Regency Magic, Snow, Snowspelled, Stephanie Burgis, Winter Solstice

Spellswept by Stephanie Burgis
Published by: Five Fathoms Press
Publication Date: April 30th, 2018
Format: Paperback, 88 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Amy Standish's life has gone to plan. Sure, she was passed from relative to relative and never really had a family or a true home, but her political ambitions are about to pay off. Her goal has always been to be a ruling member of the Boudiccate. These powerful women protect Angland with their mage husbands by their sides, just as Boudicca herself did when the Romans tried to invade. Amy's first step was to become Miranda Harwood's personal secretary. Ten months previously she started to work for the famous politician and member of the Boudiccate. And tonight, tonight she will propose marriage to the mage Lord Llewellyn and her ascension will be complete, minus a few details. Because tonight is the Harwood's annual Spring Equinox ball held in a legendary underwater ballroom situated in the Aelfen Mere at Harwood House that Miranda Harwood's husband created for her as a wedding gift three decades earlier. And what could be more perfect than to announce her engagement to Lord Llewellyn at the end of a ball she has organized down to the very last detail? Because Amy's life is about the details and her plan. Nothing will steer her off course, not even Miranda Harwood's son Jonathan. Jonathan Harwood is rather notorious. He did not follow in his father's footsteps and in fact refused to study magic. It was quite a scandal for the family that he didn't take up his place at the Great Library of Trinivantium but his family still loves him, and so does Amy. But he's not a mage and no one has ever become a member of the Boudiccate without a mage husband. If only Jonathan had studied magic her life could be perfect. Though life isn't perfect, no matter how hard you try to make it, and despite Amy double checking every single detail something dangerous could be about to happen in the underwater ballroom. It's not just the lives of the visiting dignitaries but the way the world works. Amy is about to be let in on the Harwood secret and she realizes why Jonathan has never studied magic and how she could perhaps find purpose, love, and a family, if she's only willing to reach out a grab it and it all hinges on Jonathan's thirteen year old sister, Cassandra.

When most people think of scholared magicians and wizards one thinks of men, of those great bearded wizards as made immortal by Terry Pratchett. And that's the world this book takes place in, except that it's not. In this Angland while men have the magic, they also have the emotions. The women wield political power and can compromise men. I just love this idea. It's turning the world on it's head but at the same time it's working within the framework of British history. Think of all the great women leaders from Boudicca to Queen Elizabeth, now what if their political power wasn't just an exception to the rule but the rule. Women are the political power because they are better built to handle it, and that's a concept I totally agree with. We are. But at the same time there's an interesting commentary that Spellswept underscores with Jonathan and Cassandra, that any society that has strict gender roles isn't a truly equal society. Yes, women, whom have historically been relegated to childrearing and the home, might cheer to think of a society where they have all the political might, I know I did, but is it fair to make every woman a politician and every man a mage? No it's not. People should be able to choose who and what they want to be not based on proscribed gender roles but based on talent and inclination. We see here that the most terrifying, yet the most liberating idea is what if anyone could be anything? Because then Amy wouldn't be forced to marry a mage she didn't love just because she did have political ambitions. And as for the reveal regarding Cassandra? It's an interesting situation. There is an agreement that she is allowed to be exempt from the rules as long as she's the only exception. Going back to my previous example of Queen Elizabeth, is it good to have people who are exceptions to the rules? Shouldn't there be equality in the world in all things? Well, one thing is certain, even in a world with magic you aren't guaranteed an easy life.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Amy Standish, Boudicca, Boudiccate, Cassandra Harwood, Equality, Harwood Spellbook, Jonathan Harwood, Mage, Politics, Queen Elizabeth, Romans, Spellswept, Spring Equinox Ball, Stephanie Burgis, Terry Pratchett

I started my blog in May of 2009. In the early days it was a haphazard affair. I didn't really have any theme other than, this is what's going on in my head at the moment; here's a TV show I'm watching, what about this book everyone loves that I hate, here's an actor whose awesome and would be perfect in an adaptation, you get the idea, in fact you can go back and read it if you wanted, I don't think I can cause of the cringe factor. I wasn't alone though, there seemed to be a lot of people doing book blogs that were a mishmash of ideas. The content creators of quite a few of them are still my friends but many blogs have gone by the wayside. Rest in peace book blogging craze of the late 2000s. There were quite a few authors who were debuting around that time and reaching out to the blogging community and they were getting a lot of buzz and Stephanie was one of them. Her debut, Kat, Incorrigible, was coming out in 2010 and it was all anyone was talking about. I really don't know if she knew this was going on, but those of us who are Regency mad couldn't wait to get our hands on it, I even found this really old blog post I did. Plus the US cover is so delightfully Disney with a dash of Coraline how could anyone resist? She also was one of the first authors I knew of who really used the web to engage with her fans. I remember I'd get up every day and get ready to blog but I'd stop by her website to see what was going on with her first. Over the years I've become more and more of a fan of her work and was beyond honored that she participated in my inaugural year of Regency Magic. I feel as if Stephanie and I have gone through this crazy book journey of the past fourteen years together, her writing books and me promoting them and adoring them in my little way. And I really mean little way, what I do is content, what she does is magic with pen and ink. And the magic she has been creating in recent years is once again set during the Regency, so how could I not ask her to participate again? So I'll be here gushing about her Harwood Spellbook series and her Regency Dragons series and probably her cat Pebbles, because she's just so adorable. I hope you'll join me and Stephanie!

Question: When did you first discover Jane Austen?

Answer: My dad read me Pride and Prejudice when I was eight years old, and I fell head-over-heels in love! I ended up devouring all of her novels, and I've re-read almost all of them many times since then.

Question: What do you think Jane Austen would think of her impact with so many literary offshoots, from parody to pastiche?

Answer: I'm sure she'd be pleased by her success, although she might wish she had gotten paid better for the books at the time she originally published them...

Question: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Answer: All of my books feature families, not just solitary characters, and that definitely comes from my own experience growing up in a big, noisy, loving family. As for the rest of it - the setting of my first Kat book, Kat, Incorrigible, was based on Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire, where my husband and I used to go almost every weekend to soak in the atmosphere and walk our dog. Walking around Georgian House museums all across the UK was really, really helpful. And the second Kat book, Renegade Magic was directly inspired by my many trips to the city of Bath, and particularly by the wonderful Museum of the Roman Baths, which is amazing. I highly recommend a visit to anyone who ever gets the chance!

Question: What makes the early 19th century mesh so well with magic?

Answer: It's recent enough - and popular enough - to feel accessible even for people who don't generally read historical fiction, but it's also distant enough from our own time period to feel exotic and a bit like a fantasy setting in itself! I think the fact that we accept so many different social rules and expectations when we're reading Regency-era novels sets us up as readers to accept different rules of magic/reality as well.

Question: The world building and system of magic varies greatly in the regency fantasy genre, how did you go about creating yours?

Answer: I've loved playing with lots of different kinds in my different series, from the secret-magic-rumbling-behind-the-real-historical-world setup of my Kat, Incorrigible series to the slightly-tweaked alt-history of my Regency Dragons trilogy (in which no one believes in magic but oops, dragons just got rediscovered!)...all the way to the flat-out, totally-different-history of my alt-19th-century Harwood Spellbook series (in which Boudicca kicked out the Romans centuries ago and 19th-century Angland is ruled by a Boudiccate of powerful, hard-headed women politicians who leave the more irrational, emotional magic to the gentlemen). There are so many different possibilities to explore!

Question: If you had to choose between writing only period literature or only fantasy literature, which would win?

Answer: Fantasy would have to win, for me. I've published lots of contemporary fantasy short stories in various magazines, and the MG novel I'm working on right now is set in a secondary world that's only loosely based on early nineteenth century Germany. But I would never want to give up writing historical fiction, either! I have a historical fantasy novel for adults coming out next year, Masks and Shadows, which is set in a real eighteenth-century palace in Hungary, full of intrigue, magic and romance. It was delicious to get to play with another rich historical setting as I wrote that book. I can't imagine giving up writing historical fiction!

Question: Be honest, have you ever dressed up in Regency clothes just to pretend for a moment you are in the past?

Answer: Ha! No - but only for lack of opportunity. I would loooove to dress up in a real Regency outfit just to feel it for myself instead of having to guess exactly how those gowns really feel on my characters.

Biography:
Stephanie Burgis grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, but now lives in Wales with her husband and two sons, surrounded by mountains, castles and coffee shops. She writes fun MG fantasy adventures and has had seven published so far, most recently The Raven Heir. She also writes wildly romantic adult historical fantasies, most recently Good Neighbors. She has had over forty short stories for adults and teens published in various magazines and anthologies.

Stephanie's Social Media:
Website
Instagram
Twitter
Goodreads

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Authors, Bath, Book Blogger, Boudiccate, Cats, Content Creation, Coraline, Fantasy, Harwood Spellbook, Kat Incorrigible, Pebbles, Pride and Prejudice, Regency Dragons, Regency Magic, Renegade Magic, Stephanie Burgis