Snowspelled - Stephanie Burgis

Paperback, 166 pages

Published September 4th 2017 by Five Fathoms Press

Series: The Harwood Spellbook #1

Alternative history fantasy novella

Own

My Thoughts

This is a novella so the end came really fast and was wrapped up in a tidy bow just like that. But eh, it works, how she came to the answer no clue.

Alternative history were there is magic and elves in England. The elves stays in their land and there is a truce, but Cassandra does come across one and it has ramifications.

Only men have magic, but Cassandra did have magic too, but not anymore, srsly, why not? What happened. Why are we not told?

Houseparty a la Austen with a mystery to solve.

It was light, delightful and fun. I will totes read more

Blurb

In nineteenth-century Angland, magic is reserved for gentlemen while ladies attend to the more practical business of politics. But Cassandra Harwood has never followed the rules...

Four months ago, Cassandra Harwood was the first woman magician in Angland, and she was betrothed to the brilliant, intense love of her life.

Now Cassandra is trapped in a snowbound house party deep in the elven dales, surrounded by bickering gentleman magicians, manipulative lady politicians, her own interfering family members, and, worst of all, her infuriatingly stubborn ex-fiancé, who refuses to understand that she’s given him up for his own good.

But the greatest danger of all lies outside the manor in the falling snow, where a powerful and malevolent elf-lord lurks...and Cassandra lost all of her own magic four months ago.

To save herself, Cassandra will have to discover exactly what inner powers she still possesses – and risk everything to win a new kind of happiness.

Audio: The Secret of a heart note - Stacey Lee

Narrated by: Nancy Wu

Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 04-30-19

Language: English

Publisher: Tantor Audio

YA fiction

To review

What can I say, YA fic is just so fun in audio. Light, fun and they tend to be shorter. Perfect.

In this one we meet Mimosa, an aromateur. She spends her days mixing "potions, and taking care of flowers. And now she is even in High School.

Brief sidetrack. How on earth do they stay a float if they do not charge people?

And then her mum leaves on an assignment, and Mimosa makes a mistake fixing two people up. And meets Court, and falls in love.

But love witches can't fall in love, if will destroy their nose, and without a nose you can not work.

Also, no wonder there are not that many around, I am sure the stake took a lot.

I enjoyed it. Mimosa was nice, there was romance, drama, but all in good amounts.

Narration

The narration was well done and I easily fell into this world. She made me scent the flowers. She did well with different voices and made the story come alive

Sometimes love is right under your nose. As one of only two aromateurs left on the planet, 16-year-old Mimosa knows what her future holds: a lifetime of weeding, mixing love elixirs, and matchmaking - all while remaining incurably alone. For Mim, the rules are clear: falling in love would render her nose useless, taking away her one great talent. Still, Mimosa doesn't want to spend her life elbow-deep in soil and begonias. She dreams of a normal high school experience with friends, sports practices, debate club, and even a boyfriend. But when she accidentally gives an elixir to the wrong woman and has to rely on the lovesick woman's son, the school soccer star, to help fix the situation, Mim quickly begins to realize that falling in love isn't always a choice you can make.  

Audio: The flatshare - Beth O'Leary

Narrated by: Carrie Hope Fletcher, Kwaku Fortune

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 05-28-19

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Romantic fiction

To review

This was sure one strange arrangement. They share a bed, but have never met! He works nights, she works normal hours so they never meet. But they share the same flat, the same bed. A start to a new fun friendship.

Tiffie needs a place to live, and fast, so she goes for this. She has recently broken up with her boyfriend, he is already engaged to someone else and she had been living with him up until now. Yes he sounds like quite the charmer. She is colorful, fun and with a smile on her face. I liked her at once. She also starts writing notes to the flatmate she has never met.

Leon is more of an introvert. He works nights to pay for his brother's lawyer and he needs even more money. 

They interact through notes. Everywhere in the house. They get to know each other. She coax him out of his shell. And other things happen.

Like his hunt for someone a patient used to know.

Her realising that she does not need her ex.

And them falling in love.

It was a sweet story with heart, but also a lot of depth. There are realisations to have and they dealt with a lot of emotional heartache.

Narration

 I wonder how they did the notes in the book. Here it does work well when they just read them out loud. There are also phonecalls and they work too since they use some kind of muffler? They narrate well and the story really flows through their narration

After a bad breakup, Tiffy Moore needs a place to live. Fast. And cheap. But the apartments in her budget have her wondering if astonishingly colored mold on the walls counts as art.  
Desperation makes her open-minded, so she answers an ad for a flatshare. Leon, a night-shift worker, will take the apartment during the day, and Tiffy can have it nights and weekends. He’ll only ever be there when she’s at the office. In fact, they’ll never even have to meet.  
Tiffy and Leon start writing each other notes - first about what day is garbage day, and politely establishing what leftovers are up for grabs, and the evergreen question of whether the toilet seat should stay up or down. Even though they are opposites, they soon become friends. And then maybe more.  
But falling in love with your roommate is probably a terrible idea...especially if you've never met.

Audio: Cowboy stole my heart - Soraya Lane

Narrated by: Callie Beaulieu

Series: River Ranch Series, Book 1

Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 05-14-19

Language: English

Publisher: Tantor Audio

Contemporary romance

To review

Sam is a horse whisperer, and Mia has a horse that needs help. A perfect match.

Mia is a rich girl, who has made a path of her own. She is an accomplished show-jumper who tries to prove herself to others. Her weakness is her dead friend's horse, a demon that can not be tamed anymore.

Sam is the horse whisperer with scars of his own. Demons in his past and he has lost the will to love.

Mia, oh Mia. She really should have said everything at once. She put his life in danger. Idiot! I also found something that happened later on idiotic too. I wanted to slap her again. I got it at first, but then, why oh why? She does not deserve him. I am very I will slap you happy lately.

Ok so these two have their worked cut out for them. First there is the whole is she only a rich girl thing to get over. Then things heat up but they both do not want a relationship. And then there is more drama.

I must say that I was really curious about how Sam's sister ended up with his best friend. That must have been quite the story. Also Mia's brother seems up next and that looks to be promising too.

Anyway, yes Mia did have her spot of weakness, but overall it was a good book that felt fast. I liked their shared love of horses and they did seem like a great fit.

Romance, horses and drama.

It takes true grit to build a billion-dollar dynasty like the Ford family ranch. But when it comes to finding love, all it takes is one handsome cowboy to steal a woman's heart.  
She's riding solo.  
As one of the heirs to the River Ranch fortune, Mia Ford is practically Texas royalty. But that doesn't mean she's some pampered princess. She can saddle up and ride a horse as well as any man, even a hard-working cowboy like Sam Mendes. For years, she's harbored a crush on the strong, silent horseman. But how can she make a move when she's his boss?  
He's taking the reins.  
Sam Mendes is through with love - or so he thought. Still recovering from a breakup, he's doing everything in his power to resist Mia Ford. It's bad enough she's the kind of beauty who drives men wild with desire. It's even worse she's got him so worked up, aching to kiss her lips, when he's supposed to be working her ranch. Is this lovestruck cowboy willing to risk losing his job - and breaking his heart - to win the girl of his dreams?