Stephanie Burgis writes beautiful characters with clear motives and gives the importance of friendships and community their due. This book is no exception. The world appears to be populated with cruel, power-hungry uncles who have made everything worse while placing the blame on their niblings. Felix finally escapes his uncle and goes to the Witch Queen Saskia for shelter. Fortunately for him, she mistakes him for a wizard librarian who has come to organize her library. If she knew who he was, she would have killed him on sight, believing all the propaganda his uncle has put out into the world. This is a friends-to-lovers romantasy that was very satisfying because of Ms. Burgis's writing. She allows her characters to be people with flaws and fears and make mistakes because of them. This gives other characters the opportunity to be generous and kind. This author always delivers a story you can believe in.
Review by Linda B.
Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis
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?
"Stephanie Burgis is a fresh new voice and I can't wait to see what she does next." --Ilona Andrews , #1 New York Times bestselling author