"a very enjoyable book - I loved the use of magic"
It actually doesn't concern Wiccans but a family of
sorcerers descended from Merlin. The daughter of the
family, Miranda, is the oddball, quite without power.
Because of this no male mage has wanted to marry her. She
was presented to the ton, but because of rumors
about her family (and one unfortunate occurrence between a
forward gentleman and her mother's familiar), the "normal"
men are wary of her also. Then along comes Adam, Lord Brand. Subject by his father
to all sorts of fake mediums and magicians from an early
age, he has learned all their tricks and he takes it upon
himself to expose all their fakery. Miranda is also very
good at figuring out how the fake mediums work,
since she knows how it's really done. Because of this he
likes her even though he thinks her family is a group of
charlatans who have led their daughter to believe some very
silly things. Only, strange things start happening when
he's with them that he can't quite explain away. And he
starts feeling the very real magic of love. I loved the use of magic in this book. The characters were
so matter of fact about it that it seemed very real. It
also followed a pattern; no one suddenly had powers to pull
everyone out of a dangerous situation. The dialogue is
sharp and witty. The descriptions of spiritualists from
this period is wonderful (though I'm not sure they were
really this popular in the Regency period; seems like more
of a Victorian thing to me). The heroine is smart and
independent, though a little slow on the uptake about
Adam's feelings. That was natural though since her family
had been inadvertently designating her as a second class
citizen for many years. It was a very enjoyable book. And
there's a sequel, about Miranda's brother Damien who is a
very powerful mage (Lord of Illusions). Shelly Raines /April, 2001
Copyright © 2001
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted June 7, 2002
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