In 1941 at the Villa Air-Bel*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during For the Love of Book Clubs (February-August 2024)
In 1941 at the Villa Air-Bel in Marseilles Aleister Crowley's disciple Jack Parsons channels the objective chance of the refugee Surrealists living their into a device that Jack hopes he can use against the Nazis. He had originally planned to travel to Prague and raise the golem, but travel to that city is impossible and he thinks that this new plan will work. Only he doesn't have a chance to try it out as the device is stolen and taken to Paris where it explodes. What comes to be known as the S-Bomb detonates at Les Deux Magots changing the face of Paris. Soon Surrealist paintings, sculptures, drawings, even ideas, the very dreams of the movement have come alive and are walking the streets of Paris. The manifs destroy all in their path except for those who are aligned with the beliefs of their creators. La Main à plume before the S-Bomb was a collective created by friends of André Breton that distributed their published manifestos, but now, with the advent of the manifs, they are the leaders of the resistance in Paris. Main à plume IS the resistance! The Nazis do not take kindly to the manifs and Main à plume. Their control of Paris wavers and the battle limps on. When the S-Bomb was detonated Thibaut was only fifteen years old. Shortly thereafter when the Nazis rounded up and killed his family he saw his first manif. As an acolyte to the ideals of Surrealism he was in awe. Now he is twenty-four and disillusioned by the war. He has worked his way up in the ranks of Main à plume, but devastating losses have been too much for him. He plans to get out. Even if it kills him. And that's when he meets Sam. She claims to be a photographer who has entered Paris to document "The Last Days of New Paris" and she wants to see it all. She has ulterior motives, and it might involve the exquisite corpse he's travelling with. But Thibaut realizes, even if she does he wants her ersatz book to exist. Even if he has to write it himself. Though Thibaut is troubled. When he met Sam she was being attacked by manifs that the Nazis seemed to control. That has always been the Nazis goal, their own manifs. But they have never succeeded. With the help of Alesch, the traitor-priest, and Mengele, the Nazis first raised demons from the very pits of hell to have creatures capable and competent enough to take on the manifs. Now they might have created a hybrid. Something so dangerous that the very denizens of hell have sent someone to stop it. Can Thibaut save this dreamlike Paris that is his home from the enemy, or will it fall to the ultimate Nazis weapon?
This book makes me feel sad and stupid. Sad because I remember when I first read this book my friend Sarah was in Paris and I was talking to her about it. I thought she'd enjoy it because she was walking in the footsteps of Thibaut and she could have my copy when she returned home because at the time I never planned to read it again. She died in July of 2020. She was only thirty-two. Stupid because instead of providing us context China Miéville just namedrops, but not logically, he does it in the way Mark Z. Danielewski does in House of Leaves, just lists and lists of names, both people and places. I should not need an episode of Drunk History and a miniseries about Varian Fry I just happened to watch on Netflix to actually understand anything of what is happening. Almost all of his characters are real people but how is the reader to know this? What makes it a thousand times worse is that I'm not a neophyte. I have a degree in art, albeit not in art history, but I took five art history courses and three of those specifically covered this period in art and I was just lost. So who exactly is this book written for? Not for those ignorant of Surrealism, because they'd be totally lost. Not for those familiar with Surrealism, because they'd be totally lost as well. So did he just write this book for himself? With the occasional pretentious art history professor at some painfully small liberal arts college thinking it's genius because of that one trip they took to Paris thirty years before and they've made it their entire identity. Because that's all I've got. And there could have been something here, some alchemical combination of Jasper Fforde and R.W. Chambers if only the world had been expanded and explained. For example let's take what an exquisite corpse is. Everyone has played this game even if they never knew it by name. I remember doing it in first grade so obviously my teacher wasn't going to mention it's rather grotesque nomenclature. As MoMA states, it's a "game in which each participant takes turns writing or drawing on a sheet of paper, folding it to conceal his or her contribution, and then passing it to the next player for a further contribution. The game gained popularity in artistic circles during the 1920s when it was adopted as a technique by artists of the Surrealist movement to generate collaborative compositions." This is information vitale to the plot of the book but it's only badly explained by Surrealist Simone Kahn in the footnotes and not explained at all in the story. I mean, explain just one thing Miéville, just one! And for the love of all that is holy, stop going all meta! YOU did not need to be in this book! In fact, my recommendation is to just go watch Strange Angel on Paramount+ and Transatlantic on Netflix and never read this book. It was really a waste to read it a second time....more
I’m a huge Cullen Bunn fan and I got an email about a Kickstarter campaign for special editions of this series. I didn’t want to sink money in withoutI’m a huge Cullen Bunn fan and I got an email about a Kickstarter campaign for special editions of this series. I didn’t want to sink money in without knowing something about the series and so I set out to read it. Of all his graphic novels I’d say that this is the closest stylistically to Harrow County. It’s got a very similar voice only a broader canvas. I’m intrigued by the story of six weapons that will bring about the apocalypse but I don’t think I’m Kickstarter interested. ...more
Lynette Binns was raised in care and has *Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during London Calling (July-September 2023)
Lynette Binns was raised in care and has a deep suspicion of government and bureaucracy. She has created a life for herself and her family. She's a librarian, her husband is a respected cop, her daughter is the light of her life, and her dog, well, he might just be a dog but she loves him. Then one day lightning arcs out of her body destroying her kitchen. The Checquy swoop in. They tell her she has dangerous powers, but they can help her learn to control them. She's not really given an option. She is back in the system and attending school with children on a remote island while her family thinks she's fighting for her life with some rare disease. Well, at least they're right about the whole "fighting for her life part." But surprisingly she learns control, she becomes strong and powerful. She likes the new Lynette, the Delouser. And yes, it's best not to ask about the nickname. Oh, how she wishes it was cooler. She works hard at her new life and just when she thinks everything will work out a report crosses her desk. Someone is killing criminals in London, someone whose signature matches her own. Because whenever she uses her power she leaves behind a double circle. The Checquy have assured her that all powers are unique and that if anyone uses their power for nefarious purposes the policy is to shoot first and ask questions later. Knowing that she has been handed her own death warrant, she goes on the run. If she can find the real killer before the Checquy catch up to her perhaps she has a chance of holding on to her new life, or any life for that matter. Little does she know that her problems are linked to a string of deaths that happened during the Blitz. Bridget Mangan and her two best friends, Usha and Pamela, were on the tail of a Nazis whose plane Pamela downed. If it hadn't been bad enough that Pamela broke the rules, the Checquy is to avoid escalating the war at all costs by using their powers, the fact that there was a surviving witness who could identify them is catastrophic. A surviving witness who happens to have powers. But they can't tell the higher ups. They have to find the powered Nazis while also going about their day to day assignments, and for Bridget that means finding out how certain artifacts have gotten into public hands when they were safely in the Checquy vaults. An assignment that brings her into the orbit of the criminal madame, Tillie Murcutt. The problem with Tillie is she knows more than the public. She knows about powered people. Which means, could it be possible she knows about the Nazis?
Blitz is an odd entry into the Checquy Files because it feels like it's suffering from a split personality disorder. It can't decide if it wants Lynette Binns to be the heroine or Bridget Mangan to be the heroine. Which means it can't decide if it wants to be about the present or the past. Daniel O'Malley's workaround to this problem was to make the book about both of them instead of thinking what would best service the narrative. Which, given his writing style of stacking infodumps like nesting dolls and letting his book run to blunt weapon size, wasn't unexpected. And yes, I can see the appeal of Lynette, an "older" woman joining the Checquy and having to navigate this strange world, and I won't say that Daniel O'Malley wrote this entire book just to get some quality boarding school scenes in, but I think it's pretty obvious that he did. Also, the truth is, Lynette's story does have heart, and a connection to Bridget, it's just that it wasn't enough of a connection to justify her story. Because honestly, the only reason to have a modern section is to include our previous heroines, Myfanwy Thomas and Odette Leliefeld. Which he did. Barely. I think Myfanwy has two lines, Odette a few more. And just getting glimpses of them might actually have been more painful than if they hadn't shown up at all. Which is why this book should have been entirely set during World War II. On the whole I tend to avoid historical fiction or historical fantasy set during World War II because I feel that it's an overused time period. Enough is enough already, there were other wars! But Daniel O'Malley did the impossible, and through unique characters and their highly unique powers, made me actual embrace World War II after many years of avoidance. The more a thought about Blitz I likened it to when Torchwood showed us what it's third iteration was like during the Victorian Era with Alice Guppy and Emily Holroyd. I really enjoyed that dip into the past to see how the organization developed over time. And just like Torchwood, here we know about the present day power structure, so we didn't need Lynette, we just needed Bridget. We just needed a terrifying and delightfully different romp through the Battle of Britain. Because during the War, I might not have had Myfanwy, but I at least had Tillie Murcutt. And Tillie Murcutt is one in a million....more
France is on the brink of revolution. In a smal*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
France is on the brink of revolution. In a small room in Arras Maximilien Robespierre has a dream. The dream is of the worst night of his life. His mother was taken away by the Knights Templar because she was a necromancer. The truth is more complicated. She might have had the magic in her blood but she actually is taken away to the Bastille to face execution because Robespierre was the one who, in his childish innocence, brought his pet bird back to life, and she is protecting her child. Only this time there's a stranger in his dream. A man who will become his benefactor. He will amplify Robespierre's powers, help Robespierre to mesmerize his audiences with his oratories on how the aristocracy is using their power to destroy their fellow man. How magic, which could save lives, is punished when used. And Robespierre's audience listens. Once he gets to Paris he and his friends, Camille Desmoulins and George Danton, light a fire in the population. They storm the Bastille, they form a new government, they fight for the rights of man and magician. While across the water in England William Pitt the Younger and his dear friend William Wilberforce are also fighting for the rights of man after formative years consisting of drinking cheap wine in a seedy hostelry in France. While Pitt hopes to one day live in a world where those with magic aren't punished, he sees what's happening in France and knows now is not the time. Whereas Wilberforce has more specific rights he wishes to fight. He wants to end the horror that is the slave trade. Magic is used to bind and control slaves. They can't even move a muscle without being told to. They are trapped within their own minds and can't even scream. Wilberforce views the end of slavery as his purpose on this Earth. A noble cause. A noble cause that catches the eye of Robespierre's benefactor. But then, the benefactor is interested in anything to do with France and William Pitt. And Wilberforce's abolitionist ideals could threaten the French colony of Saint-Domingue. A colony that is soon to rise up. And one slave, Fina, will hear the voice across the water and be called. And the voice she hears is Robespierre's benefactor. What could this voice want? From William Pitt's perspective it looks like he wants the world to burn.
Much like the small groups of friends going from their formative years to integral figures in history this book starts as a small ember and bursts into a conflagration. It interweaves real history with magic in a dizzying Dickensian detailed tome. H.G. Parry has not just created a fascinating alternate historical fantasy but a believable magic system. But then she outdoes herself by creating an entirely new mythology for vampires that works within the framework of her magic system due to blood magic. Which means I get to add this book to my vampires shelf. And of course I have a vampires shelf. Though the vampirism is perhaps my main sticking point in A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians. Not it's existence but the way Robespierre's benefactor who is a vampire turns Robespierre into his Renfield. This makes me question again and again if H.G. Parry is somehow trying to redeem Robespierre. Here's the thing, yes, Robespierre in actuality, like in the book, has the best of intentions and believes in rights for all but does that really matter when your actions lead to the death of seventeen thousand people? Sure he might have started out on the right side of history but he ended up firmly on the wrong side of history. Seventeen thousand dead proves my point. Oh, and let's not forget killing his monarchs. Here his benefactor is egging him on. Animate one corpse or I won't help you. Kill the King or I won't help you. Form an army of the dead or I won't help you. And time and time again Robespierre bows down to the demands because he really believes that the ends will justify the means. Here's the thing, they don't. They really don't. Each time he agrees his way to hell is paved a little further. But the problem is his benefactor. By having him push Robespierre it's taking away Robespierre's accountability. The mob hold him accountable but we as readers are meant to feel something else. That perhaps he was just a pawn. Yes, in real life, perhaps the mob mentality pushed him to his evil acts, but here it was a vampire. And I don't know if I'm OK with questioning my feelings towards him. But that's what A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians does time and time again, it makes me question weighty issues from slavery to abolition to accountability to basic human rights. There may be magic but you won't find a more human novel out there....more
After Cassandra Harwood's felicitous meeting wi*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
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....more
As a young woman Honoria Fennell was an ambassa*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
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....more
Cassandra Harwood had everything. She was the o*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
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....more
Amy Standish's life has gone to plan. Sure, she*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
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....more
When freed many of the rowankind took the Fae's*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
When freed many of the rowankind took the Fae's offer to return to their homeland, Iaru. Yet there are those that stayed behind in Britain. They have made lives for themselves and have no desire to return to a homeland that they've never known. The humans though don't feel safe. They have treated the rowankind worse than slaves for hundreds of years and now those slaves have the power to fight back. And they are. In retaliation the humans are killing the rowankind. Reports of mass executions happening all over the country have reached the ears of the Fae and they want to take revenge. But Ross and Corwen beg the Fae council to let them attempt a diplomatic approach first before razing all of Britain. A major problem though is in educating the Fae that the world has changed. They have cloistered themselves in Iaru for so long they don't understand that being King isn't as powerful as it once was. The King has to answer to Parliament and they have to answer to the people. This will not be an easy fix and yet the Fae expect it to be. They expect Ross and Corwen to just walk up to the King and get him to make his subjects behave. In order to stop more bloodshed the couple are willing to attempt the impossible. And it really looks like it shall be impossible, George III isn't well, and the reason shocks Ross when she discovers it, the King has magic. Magic he isn't using. Much like Corwen's brother denying his wolf half, the King is denying his magic and it's making him very ill. Yet once contact is made Ross really hopes that they can reach some sort of agreement. But the Fae think they are taking too long and start demonstrating what they are capable of. If the populace was scared of a few rowankind with not much magic how are they going to feel about the Fae turning their beer into water and bringing about a blight to their crops? If everyone would just behave and trust each other for one minute perhaps everything will work out and Ross and Corwen can have their happy ending. Perhaps.
Rowankind doesn't really bring anything new to the table with regard to this trilogy but it does satisfactorily tie up all the loose ends. And there are many, from rescuing missing men to reinstating Gentleman Jim on his island. And there is also much politicking. Because the merging of two worlds, with magical citizens living in a nonmagical world, needs policies. There need to be laws to protect their rights and their bodies from harm. And it's a sad day when fictional Fae end up having more rights than many people do today. But that's just the world we live, and proves once again why I want to live in books and in particular this series. But while the politics do take center stage along with several notable politicians of the day, that's not all this book is about. We get one last piratical adventure, another shooting of London Bridge, a final Walsingham showdown, some more family drama, and lots of happily ever afters. Because this is fantasy and that means the good prevail, the bad fail, and everyone gets to sail off into the sunset. Plus there's just this wonderful message of the healing powers of love and that love is love. Ross is able to find love again even though she thought she never would after the death of her husband Will. Her brother David finds love with a rowankind servant Annie. Her brother-in-law is able to tame his beast due to the love of his partner Roland. Her Aunt Rosie reunites with her lost love Leo. Even the servants get in on the love with her maid Poppy marrying Yeardley. And, now that I think about it, this whole series is about finding your family, those who you love with your whole heart and soul. You don't have to be related by blood, I mean look what Ross had to do to her brother.... It's about finding your tribe. Be they pirates or pixies, when you find your people the world is so much better because they are there for you in good times and in bad and most importantly, they will fight for you and even help you burying the bodies. So here's a shout-out to all my family, I love you like I love books, and you know how much that is....more
Will's ghost has been laid to rest and Ross fee*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
Will's ghost has been laid to rest and Ross feels like her life with Corwen is about to begin. And when you entwine your life with another you entwine yourself with their family as Corwen well knows after his escapades with Ross's family. Corwen has been estranged from his family, the Deverells of Denby Hall, Yorkshire, for many years. They couldn't come to grips with the fact that he turns into a wolf. Yet he always made sure they could contact him. And they finally have. Though perhaps a little later than they should have. A lot has changed in six years, his little sister Lily and his twin brother Freddie both turned out to be shapechangers as well, and in December their eldest brother Jonathan died resulting in their father having an apoplexy. Freddie should have stepped into the breach left by Jonathan's death but instead he fled to friends in London and now hasn't been heard from in four months. There's been no one to hold the family estate together and there's trouble at the mill. But first things first, the widow Rossalinde Sumner must be introduced to the family as Corwen's fiance. Which is an oddly joyous greeting and homecoming, with only some minor recriminations. Perhaps Corwen's father regrets how they ended things? With very little ability to communicate their problems might never be resolved, but Corwen can at least show his family that he is up to the task at hand. First there's the mill, which is being unscrupulously run, which Lily takes into hand. Then there's the bigger problem of Freddie... He was trying to reject his true nature, a dangerous undertaking. When they arrive at his lodgings in London they can see something bad has happened. With the rowenkind free and wild magic on the loose Walsingham has risen from the ashes to harness this new threat to his own advantage. Can they save Freddie from Walsingham's clutches? And if they do can they then save him from himself?
When the average reader thinks of Regency England they think of Jane Austen. More well read readers might also throw in Georgette Heyer and Julia Quinn. But these women all wrote about a very specific echelon of society. Everyone is, for the most part, financially secure, or at least has the prospects to be secure. In other words, it doesn't really reflect society as a whole it was a very specific slice of Regency life. It would take authors like Dickens and Gaskell to actually shine a light on the working class and the poor. And yet the Industrial Revolution which is so associated with their works was already underway. Which is why I so love this second volume in Jacey Bedford's Rowankind series, because it doesn't just draw on the drawing room aspect of society that was so often written about. In fact I would more associate this book with Elizabeth Gaskell than with Jane Austen. I couldn't help compare Silverwolf to Mary Barton and North and South. Very favorably I might add. We get to see the plight of the workers, the treatment of the rowankind, and an actual effort made to improve the lives of those who are dependent on the Deverell family. This volume is Downton Abbey meets Elizabeth Gaskell, or, because it's all about family drama in Yorkshire, this is Jacey Bedford doing her Barbara Taylor Bradford Emma Harte saga! I never wanted this book to end. But more importantly I could have just stayed at Denby Hall forever. I do love a big country house and a family business and compassionate people, but so many times they are a pale carbon copy of something truly original. And yes, for as much as I love Downton Abbey, it's just Upstairs, Downstairs in Yorkshire with a nicer house that's actually not in Yorkshire. Downton Abbey literally lifts plot points left and right. This world that Jacey Bedford has created is just so original and new. Old themes seen in a different light. And I just think I talked myself into re-reading this volume again. I seriously loved it so much, plus if someone were to ask what I was reading I could respond "trouble at t'mill" which everyone who's anyone knows that that's the start of Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition Sketch. And if there's one thing I love as much as family sagas, it's Monty Python....more
Ross Tremayne hasn't seen her mother since Ross*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
Ross Tremayne hasn't seen her mother since Ross eloped with Will. What happened that night on the docks was because of her mother. Ross's father had promised Ross a ship, and she and Will took the Heart of Oak. It belonged to them. Her mother saw it differently. Seven years is a long time to hold a grudge and life doesn't turn out as you expect, just ask Will, dead these three years. Yet Ross comes to her mother's deathbed. She felt compelled to stand before the woman who called her a pirate's whore and prove once and for all that the woman who bore her no longer has power over her. Turns out the dying lady had a few surprises left aside from insulting Ross's sartorial choices. Not only is Ross's brother Philip dead in a duel, she bequeaths Ross a winterwood box, an inheritance and a curse in one. As Ross and her right hand man, minus a hand, Hookey, attempt to leave Plymouth, word has gotten out that Redbeard Tremayne is back and the Kingsmen are looking for "him." Their escape blocked they head back to the family home in hopes of "borrowing" some horses, only to find the house engulfed in flames and her mother's remaining rowankind servant, David, in need of an egress as well. The only place the three travelers can escape to is the dangerous Okewood. There the Green Man and his Lady hold sway. But they seem in a giving mood. The Lady imparts Ross's mother's biggest secret, David is actually Ross's half-brother. As for the winterwood box? That was forged in the time of Good Queen Bess to enslave the rowankind by taking away their memories of their homeland. It is Ross's destiny to right this ancient wrong. But there are forces in the Mysterium who want to stop Ross at any cost. The mysterious Walsingham is working with her brother Philip, who is very much alive, to retrieve the box for themselves. And they aren't playing by the rules. But Ross isn't fighting this battle alone, her loyal crew, the Fae, Will's ghost, and a mysterious man named Corwen are all willing to help her. But at what cost?
Growing up in the eighties, girls were basically told they fit in one of two categories, princess or tomboy. But as we all know no one fits perfectly into any category. Because I wanted to be a princess but also wanted to be a pirate. And if I was forced to choose I would have chosen pirate, obviously a subcategory of tomboy much like horse girl was a subcategory of princess. My mother was very much against me ever becoming a horse girl. Which brings me to Winterwood. I love this book. I love this book so much I can barely form my thoughts. But what I love most about this book is that it shows that a girl can dress elegantly and perform magic and meet the Fae while also being a pirate, the scourge of the high seas. Ross doesn't let anyone categorize her which is why it's hard to categorize this book. Yes, Winterwood is Historical Fantasy, but it's so much more, it's like Jacey Bedford looked at all the different kinds of Regency Magic that exist and thought, but why can't I have it all AND the kitchen sink? And that's what this book and this series is. It's everything! Sure there's Austen, but there's also Du Maurier with heavy Jamaica Inn vibes. Do you want high Fae fantasy? Well that's here too? Do you what a wolf shapechanger? That's here too, but be careful never to call him a werewolf, he is definitely not moon called but does kind of have a Geralt of Rivia vibe. So yes, this is over the top, this is magnificent, but I don't want you thinking it's just all fluff. Because with the plight of the rowankind and also how the society controls magic through the Mysterium, we're getting deeper issues of free will and the fight for equality. The rowankind's plight mirrors the abolition of slavery that was growing steam at this time in England. As this book is set in 1800 it was still seven more years until the slave trade was abolished, and make note, the trade alone was abolished, not the owning of slaves, that took until 1838. But the rowankind are an interesting conundrum. Their magical origin and their status means fight for their independence relies almost solely on Ross's shoulders. A task she doesn't take lightly. But it's a worthy fight that will play out over the course of this trilogy....more
When her parents lost everything and promptly d*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
When her parents lost everything and promptly died Elinor Tregarth and her two sisters had to rely on the kindness of their relatives. But no one household could be expected to take on three penniless orphans so they were separated across the length and breath of England. Elinor ended up at Hathergill Hall to be a dogsbody to her cousin Penelope. Penelope under normal circumstances is hard to deal with, leading up to her debut she's a nightmare. She is making everyone, in particular Elinor, suffer. But Elinor never knew there'd be a breaking point but the tantrum Penelope throws when she hears her mother's friend Mrs. De Lacey isn't coming would destroy anyone's resolve. It's the fashionable thing for all young ladies to have a dragon, to be nothing more than an accessory, an inanimate object on one's shoulder. So of course Penelope's father got her the best dragon money can buy. Though poor Sir Jessamyn Carnavoran Artos has a nervous disposition and Penelope's treatment of him breaks Elinor. She snaps at her cousin and flees Hathergill Hall with Sir Jessamyn, her meager belongings, and her four shillings and sixpence she has diligently saved. Only to be promptly run over by a carriage, losing all her savings to dirty ditchwater. The carriage belongs to one Mr. Cornelius Aubrey, who is a scholar and dragon expert, so he instantly is more interested in Sir Jessamyn than Elinor, his companion is Mr. Benedict Hawkins, who hopes to be Penelope's future fiance, as his father lost all his money in the same scheme that wiped out Elinor's parents. For the first time in Elinor's life she thinks, if only she could be the type of girl to attract someone like Benedict Hawkins, or if she'd admit it to herself, Benedict Hawkins. The four travelers spend the night in a local inn. Before she falls asleep Elinor wishes she could be rich and beautiful, like Mrs. De Lacey, she could win the heart of Benedict and be able to care for Sir Jessamyn as he deserves. And that's when something magical happens. But everyone knows dragons can't do magic! Yet the next day Elinor is glamoured to look like Mrs. De Lacey and she has to put on the performance of a lifetime to save herself, her sisters, and her heart. If only fairy tales could come true.
I have always strongly identified with Elinor from Sense and Sensibility, so to have a similarly named capable young woman as the heroine of Scales and Sensibility, I couldn't be happier than Sir Jessamyn with a plate full of pheasant. Everything about this book just brought me joy. My love of dragons, happily ever afters, the Regency, house parties, revenge, true love, wait, I'm going a bit William Goldman there... This book at first sounded a little absurd, not that I don't like absurdity, but a world with dragons and no magic? I thought maybe it wouldn't work. But Stephanie Burgis does such a credible job grounding her fantastical tales. Everything makes sense with her worldbuilding. With her Harwood Spellbook "British" society being run by women was historically linked to Boudica. Here the way dragons were discovered was more along the lines of Mary Anning and her hunt for a living fossil. In the last two years I have become more than a little Mary Anning obsessed, I've even read The Essex Serpent twice as well as watching the miniseries to follow Cora Seabourne's desperate attempts to follow in Mary Anning's footsteps. Therefore a world in which a living fossil, a dragon, without magic, without anything other than just being a reptile that is named a dragon makes such sense. Of course there turns out to be more to Sir Jessamyn than meets the eye, but the point is, I loved this realistic grounding. What's more the whole financial scandal that lost Elinor and Beneidct's families their fortunes, The Great Brazilian Bubble, was common with banks and investments during the time period and had a real world counterpart, the South Sea Bubble, which, while earlier, was used to great effect in Andrea Penrose's Regency novel, Sweet Revenge and therefore makes me link the Regency more with the scandal than perhaps it ought. As fairy tales always have their grounding in reality, being written to teach a lesson that would otherwise go unheeded, so does fantasy. And really good fantasy builds it story on a bedrock of truth, and that's what this book is and does, now I need to go find me a dragon, because I now know they're out there....more
Robespierre meant to change the world, and he d*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
Robespierre meant to change the world, and he did with his death. The Concord has been broken and magic is once again unleashed on the battlefields of Europe. Commoners are now allowed to wield their powers, so long as it is in the service of England. In France they have a new savior, a young Corsican, Napoleon Bonaparte. He relies on men of flesh and blood and his animal magnetism instead of reanimated corpses, but like Robespierre before him he has a secret benefactor, enhancing his mesmeric abilities. Unlike Robespierre, he knows that when the time comes he will not be a victim. His benefactor will never see him on a scaffold. The day they break will be the greatest battle of Napoleon's life, but until that time they will tentatively work together. The British pride themselves on their navy, therefore that will be their first strike. Napoleon summons a kraken from the deep. They haven't been seen in hundreds of years but they reduce ships to kindling in an instant and send fear through the British fleet. Though this isn't the only magical creature that the French plan to utilize. Napoleon has always dreamed of Egypt, whether this was planted there by his benefactor or not makes no difference, because either way that's how he gets a dragon. Another creature out of the depths of time to decimate their enemies. And their enemies are at a loss. Because while Napoleon is gobbling up Europe Pitt knows that the real enemy is in the shadows. Pitt's health is failing, much as he views he is failing the British people. As his friend Wilberforce acknowledges; "This conflict has become less and less a war between nations and more and more a war between two vampire kings." The enemy is in their dreams and in the heads of British politicians. He is steering the government away from abolition. But the question remains why. Why put so much effort into something unless it's somehow more important than krakens and dragons? The trade in human souls seems to matter to this vampire and Pitt realizes that for too long he's been letting the enemy dictate the battlefield. Therefore he does what must be done. All vampire wars end in a duel. Let that duel be now.
A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians had one major stumbling block and that was Robespierre. I didn't realize how big this stumbling block was until it was removed. His death has freed the narrative as well as broken The Concord. Some of the underlining problems of Robespierre still crop up from time to time, in that H.G. Parry seems to want to absolve villains for their acts of villainy claiming they're "driven to it by circumstances." Yeah. Sure. Sometimes evil is evil even if you are seduced by it or like Wilberforce have some great need to forgive. In other words, I think H.G. Parry is pro Darkling. But moving beyond Robespierre is the best thing this series could have done because it brought us Napoleon. Now aside from the Darkling, I am not a fan of despots, but Napoleon is so fascinating. Right off the mark I fell for this version of Napoleon because he knew that he could take on a vampire and win. He didn't know it was a vampire, but he still knew he could win. He exudes a confidence. No more sniveling and begging that was exhibited again and again with Robespierre. Here we have confidence, here we have animal magnetism. I have always been drawn to the Regency period, which means one has to acquaint oneself with Napoleon. It's a given. That and the fact I had relatives who were his allies, but that's another story. There are so many "versions" of Napoleon out there, in fact I just recently watched the fascinating miniseries Napoleon and Love from 1974 where Ian Holm played Napoleon for the first time, he would reprise the role two more times in Time Bandits and The Emperor's New Clothes. So while I might always see Napoleon as Ian Holm there's one thing that all these portrayals have in common and that's this animal magnetism. You are drawn to Napoleon and I adored the fact that H.G. Parry used this commonly held belief about him to have him summon a kraken. It was just too too perfect. And that kraken, well, when it dies, that is when you get to the heart of what H.G. Parry is capable of. Time and time again she writes about grief and loss and death and each time she destroyed me. I was a sobbing wreck. "The force of that bewilderment broke her heart; somewhere distant, her own eyes filled with tears. It didn't understand." I am broken. In the best possible way....more
Perhaps it was folly to think that she could ju*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
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....more
Prudence and Josephine are the very best of fri*Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
Prudence and Josephine are the very best of friends as well as family. Therefore when Prudence heads off to London with their maiden aunt Amelia for her debut season it's no surprise that the letters fly back and forth between the cousins from the metropolis to Wiltshire. Josephine feels left behind and Prudence just wishes she were home. But Prudence knows the realities, unlike her cousin, she is penniless and therefore must make a great match. Which is complicated by what she and Josephine are about to uncover. The start of the season also coincides with Prudence's eighteenth birthday. Eighteen is a milestone birthday and she is surprised by her aunt with a box. Aunt Amelia claims it's full off nothing but rubbish but has been keeping it for Prudence as a bequest from her parents. Prudence knows next to nothing about her parents, she and her brother were orphaned at a young age, and to get a mysterious box and to be told they had a rare set of talents called the Inheritance, well, it makes her question everything she's ever known. But the box appears to be rubbish indeed, relics that are better off in the trash; an Elizabethan velvet overgown, a pair of elbow-length gauntlets missing a couple of digets, a stained wool cloak, a sword with a broken blade and a dented cross-guard, and a shining gold ring which needs repair. Despite their decrepitude Prudence keeps being drawn to them and even gets the ring repaired and takes to wearing it. She's wearing the ring in fact when her aunt agrees to accept an invitation from a Baroness Revelle. It turns out that Aunt Amelia and Lady Revelle have a history, as did Lady Revelle and Prudence's mother. Which might explain why Aunt Amelia wants to keep them apart. Lady Revelle claims to know about the ring Prudence wears as well as other things. Could Lady Revelle be the answer to the cousins' questions? Because Josephine has been dealing with magical artifacts of her own discovered in the attics of Greenbank Manor; a man's costume cut for a woman that must have belonged to her own mother as well as a pair of pistols. She's woken up more than once sporting the clothes and welding the weapons somewhere on the grounds of Greenbank. Plus, not that she likes to eavesdrop, but there's an encampment of troops in Wiltshire and she could have sworn that she heard Lieutenant Quimby talking about trolls to her father. Could all of this be related? Could magic really exist? And if so, Prudence and Josephine have been lied to by those whom they love the most and they need to know why.
Many lovers of Regency Magic were first introduced to this historical fantasy subgenre through Caroline Stevermer and Patricia C. Wrede's Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. Released in the late eighties this epistolary novel is really the go-to recommendation for this subgenre. I see why historically, but there are so many better books out there that whenever I see the recommendation to read it I instantly want to horn in on the conversation and be like, "but have you read..." and start just listing books. I can actually do it for quite awhile. But now I specifically want to say "but have you read The Ill-Kept Oath?" And then avoid shouting in someone's face that it's Jane Austen but with trolls! The non-troll reason being is that The Ill-Kept Oath has the same basic framework, two cousins who are best friends separated because one of them is having her first season and magical things start to happen which they write to each other about. I mean obviously the Regency and epistolary novels go hand in hand because of how Jane Austen herself originally wrote Sense and Sensibility, but the epistolary format has limitations. You only get access to what the characters are willing to tell their correspondent, not what else is happening in their life or what they are excluding. The Ill-Kept Oath uses an expanded epistolary form, we get letters, but we get so much more. So while this is very Sorcery and Cecelia meets Les Liaisons Dangereuses with a heavy helping of Sense and Sensibility it is so wonderfully it's own unique voice that I fell in love with it almost instantly. What's more it gave me hope in books again. A renewed love of reading. My mood is effected by what I read and for the week it took me to devour The Ill-Kept Oath I was walking on air. I had so much work to do and when I head to bed if I'm tired I will forgo reading. But it didn't matter how tired I was, I had to keep reading. I had to know more. I had to know what Lady Revelle was up to, The Ill-Kept Oath's own Marquise de Merteuil. I had to know all about what Prudence and Josephine's parents kept from them. And right there I have to call out the brilliance of this book. Often when adults keep secrets from their children in books the reasons are often lame. I mean, if it was my kid I'd totally tell them. Here it actually made sense for Amelia and Lord Middlemere to keep quiet. Of course now I can't wait to read about the fallout of that decision... Oh how I long for the sequel....more
After a fraught beginning Thornfell College of *Special Content only on my blog, Strange and Random Happenstance during Regency Magic (April-May 2023)
After a fraught beginning Thornfell College of Magic is thriving. The school is opening it's doors for a night of dancing and magic. The first ever class plans to dazzle their guests with a demonstration of their magical abilities after a ball under the stars. As for the school's top pupil, Juliana Banks, she has other things on her mind, other things that she is avoiding through denial and hard work. What's really on her mind is Caroline Fennell. Caroline and her have been secretly engaged for quite some time. Caroline has been trying to establish herself as a politician so they have sacrificed their own happiness for the moment to achieve their happily ever after down the road. But ever since Caroline's cousin Honoria fell from power in the Boudiccate Caroline's letters to Juliana have seemed cold and restrained. Is their love in danger? Now that Caroline no longer has her cousin's protection might she view Juliana as a liability as well? All these thoughts are racing through Juliana's head as her classmates primp her in an effort to show Caroline just what she's missing. The problem is, Caroline knows exactly what she's missing. She hasn't stopped loving Juliana, she's been distancing herself from her in an effort to not let the taint of Honoria's crimes effect her. Because if there's one thing Caroline can see clearly it's that Juliana is thriving at Thornfell. She has new friends and is excelling in her studies. How can Caroline force her to keep their betrothal when there's this whole new world at Juliana's feet and Caroline's prospects have been destroyed? Why force her fiance to stick to the plan when the plan is no longer possible? It would be better to just have a clean break. Both women are willing to do anything for the love of their life, but it will take a dangerous confrontation with a fey to get them to bare their hearts.
Moontangled is a short and sweet love story based around a tragic misunderstanding. It's basically Stephanie Burgis's The Gift of the Magi by way of Emmet Otter. Because, let's face it, Emmet Otter is the perfect retelling of The Gift of the Magi once you realize that Emmet's mother is totally selfish and didn't need that dress. And yes, this review has gone off the rails but I think I can get it back on track. Caroline and Juliana are both willing to sacrifice that which is most important to them to make the other happy. Sure it's not watches and hair or washtubs and tools, but they love each other so much that they are willing to do whatever it takes to make the other person happy all without grasping at first that all that matters is each other. As Doc Bullfrog says, "it appears to me that what you needed was each other." Their love is true because they are willing to sacrifice their own happiness for the other's. Thankfully though neither needs to sacrifice anything because all that was needed was open communication. All people get in their heads too much. They overthink and overanalyze to the point where they've worked themselves into a corner. They think they know the truth because how could they not after they've spent countless sleepless nights working through all the permutations of how things could go in their head. And who among us hasn't been derailed by things going differently than we imagined? Even getting to the point where we're not sure what we've said in actuality or in imagination. But thankfully in Caroline and Juliana's case they have fey intervention. The centuries-old fey guardian of the Harwood woods has vowed to watch and keep Thornfell safe. As she had experienced heartbreak she knew she had to protect the hearts of the inhabitants of Thornfell as well and therefore she staged an intervention and the truth did will out. Caroline and Juliana will have their happily ever after after all.
Elizabeth (Miss Eliza)
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