RogerBW's Blog

Claws and Contrivances, Stephanie Burgis 11 July 2024

2023 fantasy romance. Rose Tregarth is a born organiser, and being lodged with her cousins after her parents' ruin and death hasn't been too bad for her. But now valuable dragons are appearing at random in the neighbourhood, and the Mysterious Sinister Neighbour is getting involved…

As with Scales and Sensibility this gets very emotionally harrowing at times. There is a romance, of course, but it originates in a fake engagement, so there's plenty of opportunity for each party to assume that the other doesn't really want it, even once they start developing Feelings.

Since Rose is living in a basically friendly household, rather than Elinor's poor-relative desperation in Scales, this book can be much more of a romp than that one's bouncing between least-bad options. Rose has allies other than just her new beau, which to my mind allows both the plot and the relationship to unfold in different and more interesting directions.

Most romances are comfort reads, this one very much so, but it gets there by talking about real people solving real problems. Recommended.

[Buy this at Amazon] and help support the blog. ["As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases."]

Previous in series: Scales and Sensibility | Series: Regency Dragons

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