Frostgilded by Stephanie Burgis
Frostgilded is a novelette in Stephanie Burgis' "The Harwood Spellbook" series of romantic fantasy/fantasy romance short novels and novellas. In fact it's billed as an epilogue to the series. Unsurprisingly, this is not going to be for you if you haven't read the rest of the series - but as someone who read the series in incorrect order and really loved its sweet enjoyable take on fantasy romance, it's an absolute joy to read - which is something I really in 2020.
More after the jump: This will be a short review because this is a shorter story than I usually review. You can purchase Frostgilded from this universal link in most formats by the way.
Plot Summary: Cassandra Harwood is now midway through her 2nd year of teaching aspiring young women the arts of magic, but with the Winter Solstice here, she has less business and more pleasure on her mind: for this date will mark two years from the date she and her husband Wrexham consummated their renewed relationship in the snow - and she intends to give Wrexham the anniversary the two of them have never had before. If she can just sneak away to prepare her surprise for him that is....
Thoughts: The Harwood Spellbook has never been a series much about surprise, with plots that have nearly always been predictable, and Frostgilded is no exception: you'll guess where things are going fairly early on in this already very short novelette. But the series has been so enjoyable, so fun, and so charming because Burgis makes the predictable so lovely to read, with characters you want to succeed and to find love, and again, this is no exception, even with there being no big bad or antagonist to face off with this time around. Instead we see Cassandra keep getting sidetracked as she tries to plan her romantic surprise, and along the way get to check in with the series' other couples: Amy and Jonathan and Miss Banks and Miss Fennell (who is now working as Amy's assistant in a really nice touch) especially. And even the potential antagonists you might think of, Wrexham's parents, are absolutely lovely after all, adding to the pleasant experience.
It all adds up to a charming epilogue to this series, where everyone is happy and can have romantic happy futures in this magical genderflipped version of Angland (England) - and isn't that something special? It was for me.
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