Miss Amelia’s List by Mercedes Lackey (to be published Dec 24 2024, DAW)
I received a free copy on NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
Set in 1815 London, the language of the opening captures the tone of Regency romances and novels of manners with wit and humor. Mercedes Lackey’s mastery with character does not disappoint. Two merchant-class elemental mages from America seek husbands, one of them secretly a shifter. I doubted the existence of the seven-story Belgravia mansion described until I found it for sale on mansionglobal dot com. The period terms are so well researched and archaic that you may need to Google a few like warping a ship into dock using ropes rather than FTL drive. For the first half of the novel, the challenges are distant, off-camera, and mild: Napoleon escaping exile and a volcanic eruption leading to two summerless years on the horizon. Nobody is ever really in danger, and most things are just handed to the main character. Indeed, the possible love interest and intense conflict doesn’t manifest until about 90 percent of the way through the novel. I give it 4 out of 5 only because the conflict is wrapped up so fast and conveniently.
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