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This is a sweet Regency romance featuring Russell Parkinson a well educated gentleman chemist whose recipe for boot-blacking has left him comfortably well off and thus able to follow his exploration of the early days of chemistry as a science. A friend arranges for him to be given a baronetcy specifically so that Russell can take a seat in the House of Lords where his scientific and forward-thinking attitude will help those seeking reform. As in the title, he's reluctant to do this, but is persuaded anyway.
Selina needs to marry and produce an heir to save her family estate. She's at a disadvantage on the marriage mart, being scarred from an attack of smallpox which killed most of her family. She has a potential suitor, but she really isn't all that smitten with him... and then she meets Russell. But her potential suitor isn't quite what he seems to be, and there's a side plot about him, his brother and their strange uncle.
All in all it's an interesting plot, the characters (most of them anyway) are well drawn and the main romance plot is engaging. The whole baronet thing is played down but the chemistry comes in handy.
This book has a gorgeous cover that tempts you in right away Harper is a Tarotmancer with the gift of divination tied to her reading of the Tarot cards. Red is the infamous Reynard the fox, shapeshifter, trickster and with a lot of crimes to answer for. When Red is dragged back to the magical Vale to answer for his crimes, Harper is taken there too. But there’s a darkness worming its way into all aspects of the Vale – called the Rot. Harper and Red must fight it if they are to save each other. There’s an intriguing magic system and some interesting twists.
Sylvia Ashe, ex journalist and now a librarian in the years following the Great War, knows little of her own background, her late mother having refused to discuss either her absent father or family of any kind. Her brother (killed in the war) has left a diary which indicates they might be descended from magicians – specifically silver magicians - and directs her to seek out a prominent magician. Instead, she ends up meeting the magician’s son, Gabriel Glass, a consultant for Scotland Yard and currently working on the theft of a magical painting. Gabe is a bit of a celebrity, since he served throughout the Great War without so much as a splinter in his finger. Having been instrumental in Sylvia losing her job, he gets her another one in the Glass Library of Magical Books, and she becomes involved in his case – and, unwisely, with Gabe himself. Is there a slow-burn romance developing? Magic is talked about but not really seen in action… unless it is, but concealed. This is a good start to what looks to be a series. It’s well-paced, with engaging characters and intriguing plot twists. I haven’t read the Glass & Steel books (I believe this is a spin-off) but I didn’t feel as though I was missing out on any information.
In some ways the opening of this book reminds me of the Scholomance. Basgiath War College weeds out the weak from the strong by killing the weak. Once you enter there's no way out other than graduate or die. Twenty year old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to become a scribe, but the tough commanding general, Violet's mother, orders her to become a candidate in the elite Navarre dragon riders. Violet knows it's a death sentence, her bones and muscles are weak. She's the sort of fragile human that dragons incinerate. The other cadets are as dangerous as the school's challenges, several want to kill her, just to get her out of the way. A few have personal grievances including Xaden Riorson,, 3rd year student and wing leader of the Fourth Wing. His father killed Vi's brother, her mother executed his father. But Riorson doesn't make any attempt on Violet's life, in fact he helps her to be a better candidate. There's sizzling sexual tension between them and a few steamy (explicit) scenes. This is the story of Violet's first year at the kill-or-be-killed college and there are surprises and plot twists that I don't want to spoil. All I will say is read it. Bing on the next one please. Highly recommended.