I’ve had the first of Stephanie Burgis’s Regency Dragons books, SCALES & SENSIBILITY, on my shelf for over a year. I admit I’ve been kind of afraid to read it because I was afraid it would trigger an overwhelming urge to work on the sequel to MAGIC & MANNERS, and I haven’t had time to do that. But this summer she sent me the sequel, CLAWS & CONTRIVANCES, for an early read because I was having a very bad week, and she hoped it might cheer me up. So obviously I then had to read SCALES.
Which I did, and then read CLAWS, all inside a day.
They’re both sweet, funny, light-hearted, charming magical Regency romances, and I enjoyed them immensely. They were, in fact, exactly what I needed.
If you’ve read MAGIC & MANNERS, they’re not *nearly* as pastiche-y as that book (this is not a criticism, just an observation), but the two books have featured heroines obviously but loosely based on Eleanor and Marianne Dashwood (from Sense & Sensibility), to pretty great effect, honestly. Elinor of SCALES is the plainer, more sensible sister; Rose is more Marianne post-heartbreak, which is where her story begins and which affords her a different footing from Marianne as she embarks on her own adventure. They have a younger sister around whom the third book will be presumably be based, and who will presumably be Margaret from S&S, although her name is Harriet.
Which is fascinating to me, because I’m pretty sure I’ve named the Margaret character in SORCERY & SOCIETY (the partially written sequel to MAGIC & MANNERS) Harriet, too…
I’d imagine if you liked M&M you’ll like these; they’re lighter and fluffier and probably easier to read (also not a critique! M&M DOES has a lot of ridiculously long sentences!), and I think they’re wonderful reads for a little pick-me-up and a lazy afternoon. <3 Oh, and it did not, in fact, trigger a compulsion to work on SORCERY & SOCIETY; the Regency Dragon books are different enough from my world that I was able to just enjoy them without feeling like I should be working on my own book. :)