MandyM's review said it all.

The universe is a blend of 19th thru 21st century, with added common use of magic. That, and the fact that homosexuality isn't an issue, reminded me a lot of Megan Derr's fantasy universe (which I adore).

This story is full of descriptions. But most elaborate are descriptions of food, clothing, jewelry, and magic. I enjoyed the ones of magic, and had drooling trouble with the ones of food, and it was charming all around, but after a while it became a bit tiring. Though the action/mystery bits in between teas and breakfasts, and the glimpses of Alex's world and magic were enough to keep me reading on and having fun!

Re-read March 2019
( )

I hope the author forgives me for my speculations, but I am just sharing my personal impression of the book.

It seems to me the story was started some time ago, like a decade or two. When the author came back to it, tho, she did with gusto and somehow propelled the time period from regency or maybe even early 20th century to 2013 without a single glance back. All that I like had ended with Chapter 12. Chapter 13 welcomed us with a very sudden and very vicious addiction to cell phones, texts, voicemail and turning the damn thing on and off. Energy bars, credit cards, modern technology and modern jargon (started with "dunno") is suddenly all over the place.

Everyone is high on caffeine and sugar, hence, I assume, all the giggling, chuckling, laughing, smiling and so on (thesaurus was thoroughly exploited in this story). MC did a 180 and turned into a complete gigglepuss by 60%.

Then, there is all that food and clothes. The author is like a vice, she latches onto a subject and can't let go even after a new shiny pops up :(

Consort/Master dynamics, inappropriate and overused crude dirty jokes appeared to be all wrong to me. Maybe I am overly PC, but I cringed most of the time when Julian stepped in to discuss his responsibilities as a consort. Why is he even male? O.o Alex's "mounds" got pretty old and overused pretty fast; several characters managed to come off as sexist as**oles.

I started the book looking forward to a mystery. I got over my disappointment on that matter very early in the book and decided to enjoy fantasy of manners, magic and The Courtship instead. Chapter 13 (yes, I know, I already mentioned it), disappointed me again. The Courtship stopped. The old charm disappeared. Modern world and modern jargon with multiple new inane characters, whose names mostly start with J, took over.

Means of communication: first it was just a messenger or an occasional phone call, then it was cell-cell-cell, and t-h-e-n, because Alex/Julian relationship is not cheesy enough, we got Horace, The Messenger bird, who carried Alex's and Julian's letters in his chest where its heart supposed to be.

I did enjoy bits of a story, finding the courtship and magic fascinating, too bad it was given up for clothes, food, drinks and endless empty banter. Is ever a revised, well edited version comes out, I will give it a second chance. For now I can only give it one star. ( )

mystery, murder and romance

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book; the world building was solid, the characters engaging and the plot tight. I liked that the book was long enough for the relationship between Alex and Julian had time to grow and develop, it never felt rushed. I loved Alex, he was such a wonderful MC, cranky and sarcastic on the surface, but a warm, loving man underneath. The magic system Ms. Crook created was truly fascinating - Alex hearing magic and using tuning forks in his spellwork was unique. I look forward to reading more from this author. ( )