Snowspelled
Author: Stephanie Burgis
Reviewer: Una
Rating: A
What I’m Talking About:
Snowspelled is a delightful and intriguing short introduction to a fascinating world. The Harwood Spellbook series has hooked me, and I eagerly await the next story.
Though only a novella, I was thoroughly captivated by Cassandra and the world she lives in. Angland is an interesting twist on a historical England. The rigid roles of men and women – the social rules – all beautifully contrasted with a stubborn and oddly magical woman, Cassandra. In this world, men have and wield the magic while women are the political juggernauts. However, it’s not only the politics of people they have to worry about, but those of the Fae as well.
I enjoyed watching how Cassandra tries to balance the threat/promise to the Fae Lord, her conflicting emotions concerning her ex-fiance, Wrexham, and her own meddling family. The characters were delightful, and I loved the contrast between feelings and decorum. I really enjoyed the juxtapositions between male and female roles as compared to our own historic understanding.
Snowspelled is a delightful and gripping introduction to the world of the Harwood Spellbook series. I eagerly look forward to following more of Cassandra’s adventures as well as the romantic conflict with her and Wrexham. If you like an alternate historical fantasy with mystery and adventure, studded with wit, you should pick this series up.
My Rating: A, Loved It
About the Book:
In nineteenth-century Angland, magic is reserved for gentlemen while ladies attend to the more practical business of politics. But Cassandra Harwood has never followed the rules…
Four months ago, Cassandra Harwood was the first woman magician in Angland, and she was betrothed to the brilliant, intense love of her life.
Now Cassandra is trapped in a snowbound house party deep in the elven dales, surrounded by bickering gentleman magicians, manipulative lady politicians, her own interfering family members, and, worst of all, her infuriatingly stubborn ex-fiancé, who refuses to understand that she’s given him up for his own good.
But the greatest danger of all lies outside the manor in the falling snow, where a powerful and malevolent elf-lord lurks…and Cassandra lost all of her own magic four months ago.
To save herself, Cassandra will have to discover exactly what inner powers she still possesses – and risk everything to win a new kind of happiness.
A witty and sparkling romantic fantasy novella that opens a brand-new series for adults from the author of Kat, Incorrigible, Masks and Shadows and Congress of Secrets.
Release Date: September 4, 2017
Publisher: Five Fathoms Press
Series: The Harwood Spellbook #1
Genre: Fantasy, novella
Format(s): E-book
Book Source: Publisher/NetGalley
Purchase Info:
Amazon