Month: March 2025

The Magician’s Diary by C.J. Archer

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Historical Mystery, Historical Paranormal/Fantasy, Part of a Series, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

The Magician's Diary (Glass and Steele #4)

Barbara’s rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Series: Glass and Steel #4
Publication Date: 9/5/17
Period: Fantasy Victorian London
Number of Pages: 338

If you are reading the series in order, you know India, Matthew, and their friends finally found Chronos at the end of the last book. Will he and India be able to repair Matthew’s life-giving watch? Is Chronos India’s grandfather? If so, why did he disappear all of those years ago and allow his family to believe he was dead? We get answers to all of those and more in this fast-paced book.

Yes, their quest to repair Matthew’s watch continues because Chronos’s magic, even when combined with India’s is not enough. They learn they need to find a diary kept by a magical physician who has been deceased for almost 30 years and a living magical physician. The diary contains the original spell used in the creation of Matthew’s watch, and the magical physician must then speak the spell.

The hunt begins with trying to solve the 30-year-old murder of Dr. Millroy who kept a diary where he had written the spell – and by solving the murder, they would find the diary. The twists and turns of their hunt will keep you glued to your seat – and the revelations will knock your socks off. There is a particularly interesting twist toward the end where the murderer is revealed.

As seems to be standard in this series, we are left with a cliffhanger. Did Matthew find the location of the magical physician? We’ll just have to wait for the next book to find out who and where he is. I was happier with the plotlines of this book because Aunt Letitia and Willie have less on-page time. By this time, I was hoping for a resolution to the watch issue and the romance between India and Matthew, but we are still spinning our wheels on both. While the stories are interesting, the series isn’t exactly taking the path for which I was hoping. I hoped the romance and the watch would be resolved within the first three books and the remainder of the books in the series would be the two of them working together to solve mysteries. If some or all of that isn’t resolved within the next book or two, I will probably discontinue reading the series. Perhaps, for those next two books, Matthew could quit Purring and Growling as that is evidently what he does best – and the cousins and Matthew’s uncle can just crawl under a leaf somewhere. Oh! And Sheriff Payne needs to join the rest of Matthew’s family under that leaf. We’ll see.

At any rate, I think this was a good read with an exciting, fast-paced mystery – and I can recommend it as a good read.

A Gentleman’s Offer by Emma Orchard

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Historical Rom-Com, Regency Era (1811-1820), Standalone Title, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

A Gentleman's OfferA Gentleman’s Offer by Emma Orchard

Tracy’s Rating: 2 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone Title

Release Date: March 22, 2025

When Miss Margaret “Meg” Nightingale, the estranged daughter of Baron Nightingale, receives notice from her aunt that her recently betrothed identical twin sister, Maria, has gone missing, she agrees to come to London to take her place until she is found. But Meg is not one to stand idly by and let someone else take charge, she makes it her mission to find Maria. She informs her sister’s betrothed, Sir Dominic De Lacy of the situation and demands that he assist her in finding her sister. She is attracted to Dominic and he to her, but until they find Maria and learn why she bolted, they won’t be able to act on that attraction. When they found Maria and learned why she left should make it easier for them to be together, but finding Maria only makes it harder.

Sir Dominic De Lacy, known to the ton as Beau De Lacy due to his manners and personality, has been a happy-go-lucky bachelor, but when his mother tells him of a promise his late father made to Baron Nightingale, he agrees to marry Maria Nightingale, and after just two supervised meetings, he proposes, and she accepts. He is not really attracted to her, but since he never expected to marry for love, he accepts that this will be a typical arranged marriage and only hopes they will get on better than his own parents did. However, when he sees his betrothed at their engagement ball, he is stunned at his reaction to her and a bit relieved when he learns the truth. He agrees to help Meg find her sister but makes it clear that he won’t be marrying Maria. The more time he spends with Meg, the more he knows that she is the woman he never expected to find and the only Nightingale he will marry.

The blurb for this book, hooked me hard and reeled me in, but sadly, it failed to deliver the story I was expecting. The story has a lot going on including a twin swap, estranged families, secrets, lies, blackmail, slow-burn romance, and finally a HEA for almost everyone. I wanted to love the book, but I found Meg annoying and Dominic a bit too beta for my taste, add to that the ridiculous plot and the very wordy dialogue that caused the story to drag, and unfortunately, this book just didn’t work for me.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *