Book Review: The Lady Jewel Diviner by Rosalie Oaks

The Lady Jewel Diviner
Author: Rosalie Oaks
Series: The Lady Diviner Series (Book 1)
Publication: Parkerville Press (January 11, 2021)

Description: Diamonds, Death, and Devonshire tea… in a magical Regency England

Miss Elinor Avely's proper upbringing cannot prepare her for the tiny, spinster vampire who crashes into her sitting room and demands to be fed with a sheep.

Elinor already has enough troubles without having to catch ruminants. First, her secret gift for divining jewels has landed her in scandal, exiling her from London society. Second, a nobleman of dubious repute wants her to find a cache of smuggled jewels, hidden somewhere along the Devon coastline. Last – and worst – she is invited to cream tea at the local manor. And while the autocratic and magnificent Earl of Beresford might be there (and perhaps the jewels themselves too), Beresford is the last person Elinor wants to meet over cream tea.

When a dead body is discovered along the cliffs, of course, such delicate considerations become secondary. Fortunately, Elinor now has a small vampiric chaperone – even if said spinster has a habit of appearing stark naked – and together they are ready to risk the hard questions.

Where are the jewels hidden? Who killed the smuggler? And just when is the cream tea being served?

My Thoughts: THE LADY JEWEL DIVINER was an engaging historical fantasy. Elinor Avely finds herself exiled to the Devon coast after a scandal during her season in London. She was caught with a missing jewel on her person, turned down the Earl of Beresford's impromptu marriage proposal, and fled to a friend's cottage with her mother and brother. 

Elinor meets a vampiri named Miss Aldreda Zooth who can turn into a bat, has been hibernating for 80 years in the local church, and who can help Elinor with her magical gift of finding jewels - particularly diamonds. Elinor's gift is one she is most usually accustomed to hiding since it isn't really socially acceptable. However, with a cache of missing jewels stolen from French aristocrats fleeing Napoleon somewhere in the area, Elinor needs help to find them. Aldreda could also use her help finding a missing pearl necklace her previous mentor hid.

Elinor needs to deal with the confusing Earl of Beresford who is handsome, intriguing, and maddening and also good at keeping secrets of his own. She is also being pressured by another London aristocrat who is demanding she find the missing jewels for him. 

With the help of her vampiri chaperone and a rather handsome young selkie prince, Elinor has lots of adventures on her quest to find the jewels. 

I bought this one July 20, 2026. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley by Mercedes Lackey

The Silver Bullets of Annie Oakley
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Series: Elemental Masters (Book 16)
Publication: DAW (January 11, 2022)

Description: The sixteenth novel in the magical alternate history Elemental Masters series follows sharpshooter Annie Oakley as she tours Europe and discovers untapped powers.

Annie Oakley has always suspected there is something "uncanny" about herself, but has never been able to put a name to it. But when Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show goes on tour through Germany, Bill temporarily hires a new sharpshooter to be part of his "World Wide Congress of Rough Riders": a woman named Frida, who also happens to be an Elemental Master of Air. Alongside this new performer, Annie discovers that she and her husband, Frank, are not simply master marksman, but also magicians of rare ability.

As they travel and perform, Annie must use her newfound knowledge and rare skill to combat creatures of the night scattered across the countryside, who threaten both the performers and the locals. Annie's got her gun, and it's filled with silver bullets.

My Thoughts: This Elemental Masters story takes place in Europe - mostly Germany - and follows the adventures of Annie Oakley. Annie is the star of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. She and her husband Frank are hard-working performers. 

A new performer comes to the troupe with her husband especially to meet with Annie.  Frida and her husband are elemental masters who have recognized Annie's talents as being more than just a very skilled shootist. Frida is an Air Master who is convinced that Annie is one too. She convinces Annie to take training to use her gifts. Annie is skeptical, not because she doesn't believe she has gifts but, because she doesn't want to spend her life hunting and killing monsters.

However, the monsters don't feel the same way. Annie had an encounter with a werewolf when she was a child who cursed her and who has never forgotten about her. Now, he has followed her to Europe and is trying to claim her for his pack. Annie, Frank, Frida and her husband also confront other monsters during the winter season in Germany. Sometimes they have to kill them. Other times, Annie is able to use persuasion to make them stop their evil ways.

This was an entertaining episode in the Elemental Masters series. I liked the setting. I liked the mythology. I liked the worldbuilding. 

I bought this one November 18, 2025. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Miss Amelia's List by Mercedes Lackey

Miss Amelia's List
Author: Mercedes Lackey

Narrator: Zura Johnson
Series: Elemental Masters (Book 17)
Publication: DAW (December 24, 2024), Tantor Media (February 18, 2025)

Length: 13 hours and 7 minutes

Description: The seventeenth novel in the magical alternate history Elemental Masters series follows Amelia Stonehold and Serena Meleva as they navigate property acquisition, marriage proposals, and other ancient horrors in Regency England, but with the help of elemental magic

The year is 1815, and an American, Miss Amelia Stonehold, has arrived in the Devon town of Axminster, accompanied by her "cousin" Serena Meleva. She’s brought with her a list to tick off: find a property, investigate the neighbors, bargain for and purchase the property, staff the property and...possibly...find a husband. But Amelia soon finds herself contending with some decidedly off-list trouble, including the Honorable Captain Harold Roughtower, whose eyes are fixed on her fortune. Little does Amelia know that his plans for her wealth extend far beyond refurbishing his own crumbing estate — they include the hidden Roman temple of Glykon, where something very old, very angry, and very dangerous still lurks.

But Roughtower isn’t prepared to reckon with the fact that neither Amelia nor Serena are pushovers. And he certainly isn’t ready for the revelation that he has an Earth Master and a Fire Mage on his hands — or that one of them is a shapeshifter.

My Thoughts: This seventeenth Elemental Masters fantasy takes place in 1815 and stars Amelia Stoneheld and Serena Meleva. They are young Americans from South Carolina who have come to England with a list. They are eager to connect with other elemental masters, find a property for their brother to extend the family business of textiles and dies, and maybe find spouses. 

Amelia is an Earth Master and a channel while Serena is a fire mage and a shapeshifter whose second form is a leopard. They are welcomed by the same family already hosting Amelia's brother James. The are also elemental mages and eager to introduce the two young women into society. 

The girls are rather between classes. While Amelia's father owns substantial land in South Carolina, he is also in trade. This means that they aren't acceptable to the haut ton but there is a large society of tradesmen and another of elemental mages for the girls to enjoy. There are typical young women who enjoy parties and fashion.

They have arrived in England at a very difficult time. Napoleon has escaped and is causing panic in England while running roughshod over Europe. But, even worse, a huge volcanic exposition in the south seas has caused dangerous weather changes. It is the year without a summer and with a very hard winter in the future. A lot of the story has to do with preparing for the upcoming weather changes by gathering supplies and stockpiling winter clothing. 

The girls have been befriended by Lord Alderscroft who is the head of the hunt in England. His patronage should make fulfilling their goals, and checking things off Amelia's list, easier. He's found them a rental property in Axminster to be their base as they try to check off the rest of things on their list. The only bad thing about the move to Axminster is that they will be in close proximity to fortune hunter the Honorable Captain Harold Roughtower and his friend Mr. Phillip Nightsmith whom Amelia overheard making very rude comments about her.

This was an engaging story, but the pacing was odd. All the danger and action seemed to have been packed into the last chapter. After a story that had almost no action, things ramped up very quickly. I like the worldbuilding in this series. I like the way Regency manners combine with hidden magicians and magical creatures. 

I bought this one on Kindle June 16, 2025, and audio on May 12, 2026. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Jolene by Mercedes Lackey

Jolene
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Series: Elemental Masters (Book 15)
Publication: DAW (December 1, 2020)

Description: The beloved Elemental Masters series moves to America for the first time in a rich retelling of The Queen of the Copper Mountain, set against the backdrop of Tennessee coal country.

Anna May Jones is the daughter of a coal miner, but a sickly constitution has kept her confined to the house for most of her life. Hoping to improve her daughter’s health—and lessen the burden on their family—Anna's mother sends her to live with her Aunt Jinny, a witchy-woman and an Elemental Master, in a holler outside of Ducktown.

As she settles into her new life, Anna learns new skills at Aunt Jinny’s side and discovers that she, too, has a gift for Elemental magic that Jinny calls “the Glory”. She also receives lessons from a mysterious and bewitching woman named Jolene, who assures her that, with time, Anna could become even more powerful than her aunt.

But with Anna’s increasing power comes increasing notice. Billie McDaran, the foreman of the Ducktown mine, begins to take an interest in Anna and her abilities—even though Anna has already fallen in love with a young man with a talent for stonecarving.

If she wants to preserve the life she has come to love, Anna must use her newfound powers to oppose the foreman and protect those around her.

My Thoughts: The fifteenth Elemental Masters fantasy retells The Queen of Copper Mountain and uses Dolly Parton's Jolene to do it. 

Anna May Jones is the daughter of a coal miner in the coal mining town of Soddy. She's sickly. Her mother sends her to live with her Aunt Jinny who lives in a holler by Ducktown. Jinny is an earth elemental master. She soon discovers that Anna could also be an earth elemental master with some training. 

Just getting away from the mines has made Anna healthier. Her health improves still more as she learns to use earth magic with her aunt. Anna falls in love with Josh who is the eldest son of the family down the road. He's a gifted stone carver with a little bit of earth magic of his own. 

This was a lush fantasy set in the hollers of Tennessee. It was filled with local culture and magic. I liked that Anna had the opportunity to learn from Jolene who is a very powerful elemental and that she was able to learn from some Cherokees who managed to hide out when the Removal happened. I liked the romance between Anna and Josh.

There were some things I didn't care for. While I enjoy colorful idioms and regional speech, I don't like dialect. I mean I really don't like dialect. Sometimes the text was almost impenetrable unless I read it out loud. Second, I'm not sure that the climactic scene when Anna needs to rescue her Josh from Jolene should have been humorous. But I couldn't help hearing the tune for Jolene as I was reading about Anna begging her not to take her man. 

Third, the pacing of the story seemed off. There was an incredibly long buildup of Anna learning from her aunt and falling in love with Josh and then with just a few pages left there was a climax and a resolution. There was some foreshadowing of what the climax would be, but it still felt rushed to me. 

I bought this one November 18, 2025. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree

Brigands & Breadknives 
Author: Travis Baldree
Series: Legends & Lattes (Book 3)
Publication: Tor Books (November 11, 2025)

Description: Return to the cozy fantasy world of the #1 New York Times bestselling Legends & Lattes series with a new adventure featuring fan-favorite, foul-mouthed bookseller Fern

Fern has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller’s life for decades, but now, in the face of crippling ennui, transplants herself to the city of Thune to hang out her shingle beside a long-absent friend’s coffee shop. What could be a better pairing? Surely a charming renovation montage will cure what ails her!

It turns out that fixing your life isn’t a one-time prospect, nor as easy as a change of scenery and a lick of paint.

A drunken and desperate night sees the rattkin waking far from home in the company of a legendary warrior, an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware, and an absolutely thumping hangover.

As together they fend off a rogue’s gallery of ne’er-do-wells trying to claim the bounty the goblin represents, Fern may finally reconnect with the person she actually is when nothing seems inevitable.

My Thoughts: This third book in the Legends & Lattes fantasy world stars rattkin Fern who has come to Thune to open a bookstore next door to her friend Val. She has been a bookseller for years but has been looking for a change of pace. 

Unfortunately opening another bookstore isn't the thing she needs to cure her boredom. But she doesn't know what she really wants from life until she wakes up hungover and far from home in the cart belonging to Astryx, Blademistress, Oathmaiden, etc. who is ferrying a goblin thief to a faraway town to collect the bounty on her. 

Being broke and far from home, Fern decides to go along and finds herself having all sorts of rather dangerous adventures which she writes about to Val in letters that all seem to start with "I'm sorry." Fern learns about herself on the journey and makes friends and enemies along the way. 

This cozy fantasy is a bit more violent than the earlier books as Astryx and her talking sword Nigel try to keep the goblin Zyll from many who have violent grudges against her. And Fern is tagging along and providing some timely help along the way with Breadlee, a "greatsword that has experience diminishment" and ne\ow is a breadknife. 

This was a fun story with some depth as Fern tries to figure out what it is that she really wants for her life. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

"F**k!" cried Fern, ducking back inside the carriage a whisker before a clawed and scaled hand sailed past. 

Friday 56:

Saved by a bunch of penitents, she thought. Then, Too bad I'm out of the bookselling business. I bet they could really use some filthy romances. The thunder of a distant avalanche swallowed up the sound of her delirious laughter.

This week I am spotlighting Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree. This cozy fantasy is the third book in the series and is from my review stack. 

Here's the description from Amazon:

Return to the cozy fantasy world of the #1 New York Times bestselling Legends & Lattes series with a new adventure featuring fan-favorite, foul-mouthed bookseller Fern

Fern has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller’s life for decades, but now, in the face of crippling ennui, transplants herself to the city of Thune to hang out her shingle beside a long-absent friend’s coffee shop. What could be a better pairing? Surely a charming renovation montage will cure what ails her!

If only things were so simple…

It turns out that fixing your life isn’t a one-time prospect, nor as easy as a change of scenery and a lick of paint.

A drunken and desperate night sees the rattkin waking far from home in the company of a legendary warrior, an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware, and an absolutely thumping hangover.

As together they fend off a rogue’s gallery of ne’er-do-wells trying to claim the bounty the goblin represents, Fern may finally reconnect with the person she actually is when nothing seems inevitable.

Book Review: Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis

Wooing the Witch Queen
Author: Stephanie Burgis
Series: Queens of Villainy (Book 1)
Publication: Bramble (February 18, 2025)

Description: In a Gaslamp-lit world where hags and ogres lurk in thick pine forests, three magical queens form an uneasy alliance to protect their lands from invasion…and love turns their world upside down.

Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the empire next door. For that, she needs to spend more time in her laboratory experimenting with her spells. She definitely doesn’t have time to bring order to her chaotic library of magic.

When a mysterious dark wizard arrives at her castle, Saskia hires him as her new librarian on the spot. “Fabian” is sweet and a little nerdy, and his requests seem a little strange – what in the name of Divine Elva is a fountain pen? – but he’s getting the job done. And if he writes her flirtatious poetry and his innocent touch makes her skin singe, well…

Little does Saskia know that the "wizard" she’s falling for is actually an Imperial archduke in disguise, with no magical training whatsoever. On the run, with perilous secrets on his trail and a fast growing yearning for the wicked sorceress, he's in danger from her enemies and her newfound allies, too. When his identity is finally revealed, will their love save or doom each other?

My Thoughts: If there is such a genre as cozy romantasy, WOOING THE WITCH QUEEN definitely fits there. It is the first of Burgis's The Queens of Villainy trilogy.

Queen Saskia is a very powerful sorceress who has finally managed to overthrow her evil uncle, but now she has to rule even though she wants to spend more time in her laboratory finding ways to keep the evil emperor out of her country. 

When a masked dark wizard comes, she hires him to organize her library which was neglected in her uncle's reign. But the dark wizard isn't one at all. He's Archduke Felix and he's been under the abusive control of his father-in-law for years. Now that his wife has passed away from a fever, Felix feels that he has nothing more to lose and runs away hoping to gain sanctuary with his country's greatest enemy.

The two gradually fall in love throughout the story. And Felix, now called Fabian, learns about magic as he organizes the library. He also learns that Saskia is the evil queen his father-in-law decided she was. 

This was cute, romantic, and filled with magic. 

I bought this one April 1. 2025. You can buy your copy here.