Friday, May 16, 2008

Debut Showcase: Bewitching Season

Bewitching Season (UK, Canada)
by Marissa Doyle (website, blog, ClassOf82K page)
Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
Hardcover
Reader's Guide

Blurb:
In 1837 England, young daughters of viscounts pined for handsome, titled husbands, not careers. And certainly not careers in magic.

Twins Persephone (Persy) and Penelope (Pen) Leland are anticipating their first London season with mixed feelings. Pen can't wait for the balls and parties and crowds of handsome young men to flirt with, but Persy would far rather stay home with their governess, Ally, and continue her magic studies. The only thing drawing her to London is the prospect of seeing Princess Victoria, her and Pen's idol.

But then Ally disappears from a busy London street and the twins are drawn into searching for her...and find that her disappearance is linked to a dastardly plot to enchant the soon-to-be Queen. Persy also discovers that a good lady's maid is hard to find, that one should never cast a love spell on anyone after drinking too much brandy punch at a party, that pesky little brothers can sometimes come in handy, and that even boys who were terrible teases when they were twelve can mysteriously turn into the most perfect young men.

Squeal! This looks fabulous! A mixture of fantasy, historical fiction and good old fashioned teen romance! See, I'm still a girl at heart. And her blog, Ninteen Teen, looks like the kind of blog that I want to devour in one setting. It's about "being a teen in the nineteenth century." I'm planning a trip to the bookstore this weekend, and this one is on my list.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooh, this does sound fun. I've got a plane trip coming up soon and could use some good reading. I may need to take a trip to the bookstore myself!

Tia Nevitt said...

It's going to be hard to drop less than thirty bucks this next trip. :)

Kimber Li said...

Oh, yes, I want this one! I'm reading a YA Fantasy Historical right now too, THE RED QUEEN'S DAUGHTER by Jacqueline Kolosov. It's about the daughter of King Henry VIII's last wife's last marriage. So far, really good. There are a lot of good stories in this flavor of fiction right now.

Tia Nevitt said...

Ooh, Kimber; that one sounds good too.

I have been in touch with Elizabeth Bunce, the author of A Curse as Dark as Gold, about an interview. Her book sounds great as well.

Anonymous said...

I need to order this one. Thanks for the look.

Anonymous said...

Sounds great! I read 'Sorcery and Cecilia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot' a few months ago, which sounds like it's in a similar vein to this. I'll definitely be checking it out!

Tia Nevitt said...

I'm off to the bookstore to get it right now!

Tia Nevitt said...

I ended up purchasing this novel and THE NAME OF THE WIND by Patrick Rothfuss. I really wanted to buy HIS MAJESTY'S DRAGON by Naomi Novik, but they only had a boxed set of the first three volumes, which annoyed me. Everything else I was interested in was trade paperback, and I really wanted to keep this shopping trip under thirty dollars. So Doyle and Rothfuss it is. I imagine I'll want to do as-I-read-its for both of them.

Lisa Shearin said...

Ooo, that does sound good. Tia, when you finish reading it, be sure to let me know how you liked it. I'm always looking for something different.

Tia Nevitt said...

I'm reviewing this one as I read it, Lisa. It's gonna be a quick read.