1.5 stars Warning! There will be spoilers for the plot in this review – because I have to pick apart the mediocre plot to fully get my scathe on. Lord Tristan Knight has come into the Earl of Ellington after his estranged father died unexpectedly in a carriage accident. As the late Earl blamed his son for the death of Lady Ellington, stabbed to death by an East End bandit, Tristan has been absent for a long time. His younger sister Emily was left alone […]
The viscount and the playwright
Margaret “Maggie” Delamere makes a comfortable living as the popular playwright of the most successful burlettas (because the theatre doesn’t have an official licence, every line of all the plays has to be sung by the actors) at the Imperial theatre. In the past, she’s never had any problems getting new ideas or getting her plays finished on time. Now, with the Imperial’s board of directors and the audience clamouring for the sequel to her most popular play yet, Maggie is suffering from a terrible […]
A delightful fantasy debut
4.5 stars Bought and liberated as a child, and later adopted by the esteemed Sorcerer Royal, Sir Stephen Whyte, Zacharias Whyt now has the honour of being the first dark-skinned Sorcerer Royal of England. In a time when English magic is waning due to some mysterious restrictions from the Faerie courts and the country is still facing threats from Napoleon on the Continent, Zacharias is also facing personal challenges, with a seeming majority of the members of the Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers (gentleman magicians) […]
A historical romance with a refresingly realistic approach to class differences
Daniel Balfour, Earl of Ashford, marches into the offices of the Hawk’s Eye, demanding to speak to the owner. He is surprised when he discovers that E. Hawke is not a man, as he was expecting, but a comely young woman named Eleanor. She owns, edits and is the head writer of the gossip paper, and the nighttime pursuits of the Earl of Ashford is one of the most popular topics the paper covers. Daniel proposes to take Eleanor along with him while he goes […]