The Grand Tour: Or, The Purloined Coronation Regalia

Written by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer

Narrated by Lucy Rayner

Two young Regency ladies with special powers must save the monarchy

Kate and Cecy and their new husbands, Thomas and James, are off on a Grand Tour. Their plans? To leisurely travel about the Continent, take in a few antiquities, and-of course-purchase fabulous Parisian wardrobes.

But once they arrive in France, mysterious things start to happen. Cecy receives a package containing a lost coronation treasure, Thomas's valet is assaulted, and Kate loses a glove. Soon it becomes clear that they have stumbled upon a dastardly, magical plot to take over Europe.

Now the four newlyweds must embark on a daring chase to thwart the evil conspiracy. And there's no telling the trouble they'll get into along the way. For when you mix Kate and Cecy and magic, you never know what's going to happen next!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jan 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781541439085

Patricia C. Wrede

PATRICIA COLLINS WREDE was born in Chicago, the oldest of five children.  She attended Carleton College in Minnesota, where she majored in biology and managed to avoid taking any English courses.  She began work on her first novel, Shadow Magic (1982), after graduation, though it took her five years to finish it.  Ms. Wrede enjoyed a successful career as a financial analyst, but she always made time to write.  Her published books now total more than a dozen.

Reviews for The Grand Tour

[ca8bookwyrm · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Not quite as good as the first, but I still love it!

[wealhtheowwylfing · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The sequel to [b:Sorcery and Cecilia] is significantly less charming than its predecessor. I had a hard time remember which character was which, and who was married to who. I had an equally difficult time caring about the plot. From Kelly's review of the third book, it doesn't look like the series gets much better. Save yourself the effort and reread Dealing with Dragons or Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell.

[wunder-62679 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

If you really, really loved Cecilia and Sorcery go ahead and read this. Otherwise, give it a pass.

Things that helped in the first book turn out to be problems in this one. When the girls are in different cities, the feeling that they are almost the same person connects the two halves of the story. When they are together, I kept stopping to remember who was married to whom. Oops. And so on.

[elenaj-147457 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Starts out slow, gets better in the second half. It's never as good as the first book in the series (Sorcery and Cecilia), though -- or perhaps I just prefer falling-in-love stories to honeymoon stories.

[tldegray-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm taken with the Cecilia and Kate books. I adore epistolary novels, and I also happen to adore magicians who reside in Regency Europe, so this series makes me very happy.

[phyllis2779 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel may have been a little slow but I really enjoyed it. It is a sequel to the The Enchanted Chocolate Pot which I also really liked. There is humor, mystery and romance. Just up my alley. The book may have neem geared to YA but I liked it anyway.

[pussreboots · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I finally finished reading The Grand Tour (the sequel to Sorcery and Cecilia) and I enjoyed it thoroughly. As the four main characters are together in their adventure this time the story is far more coherent. The characters are allowed to interact from the get go rather than waiting for the details to slowly filter through the back and forth letters. This time the story is told in diary form (again from Cecy and Kate's POV's) and all I can say is that Cecy and Kate are far better diary writers than letter writers! I also found the plot stronger. I'm glad I made it through the first book so I could appreciate the second book. Readers who haven't read Sorcery and Cecilia, will be able to enjoy The Grand Tour.

[swampygirl-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I thought it was a serious let down after The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. The story just isn't as interesting, and neither is the fact that it's a diary rather then letters.

[norabelle414 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Kate, Thomas, Cecelia, and James go on their honeymoon together - the "Grand Tour" of Europe. However, trouble of a magical nature seems to follow them wherever they go, and none of them is the type to sit back and not fight against bad guys, whether they be power-hungry magicians or Bonapartists.The same things that made Sorcery & Cecelia so great are the ones that make this sequel fall a bit flat (comparatively). Kate and Cecelia have complementary personalities, which is great! And they fell in love with and married men who have complementary personalities to themselves, which is also great! However, it results in Cecelia being a lot like Thomas and Kate being a lot like James, and they end up having a lot of conversations with and spending time alone with each other's husbands. It is both a) confusing and b) a little weird. Also, the epistolary format that was so spectacular and original in the first book is just awkward when the girls are physically together for the majority of the novel.However, the writing was good, the plot was good, and the ending was excellent, so I'm eager to read the next installment.

[yona-414000 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Still love these characters. The "newness" of getting to know them can't exist in a sequel, of course. This gets extremely exciting now and then as the first one did and the authors still do the more mundane in an entertaining manner.

[murphy4jacobs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another bit of frothy fun, this time with a tour of Europe just after the Napoleonic wars to add a little interest. What can be said about a book like this? It's pure fun, and if it isn't something you like -- occasionally I do want to shake our two young heroines before I recall that they are, indeed, written to be not even 20 yet, so I just let the book rollick along -- then nothing I say will convince you. A good antidote for grey days, colds, and a perfect accompaniment to a comfy chair, cup of tea, and plate of cookies.

[carlyrose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed the portions from Kate's diary/commonplace book more. Of course a private diary would have more personality and depth than a deposition, so no big surprise there. But it did make the book feel more uneven--we get more peeks into Kate and Thomas's relationship and James and Cecy seem more distant in comparison.

[zjakkelien · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't like this book as much as number 1. There are no letters, instead there's a deposition by Cecy and a diary by Kate. Kate writes annoying reminders in her diary, such as to remember to hem a dress. These remarks are distracting. It was still difficult to know which one of the two was talking, particulalry with their changed names. But also because Kate and Cecy sound the same. The main difference is that Kate gets down and tired from hardships, Cecy is more awake and actually does things (like magic). The story itself was fun enough, but towards the end I was getting bored. It seemed like I was watching a chess game and was just waiting for the players to array their pieces to an inevitable win. Overall, it was enjoyable enough, but not as much fun as book nr 1.

[madamepince · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Couldn't get into it!

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's not bad. Fluffy, and I'm sorry they stuck to the gimmick - the diary was marginal (too much focus on details that later became important) and the deposition was way too good. She could not possibly have remembered that sort of stuff so much later. It also made it a bit difficult to tell who was speaking, since both portions were written (of course) in first person - usually I figured it out by which girl was referred to by name (and that was the _other_ one for that section, of course). The coincidences were humongous, the plot was weird and highly convoluted (even in the original form)... Overall, the most enjoyable parts were the trifling ones, where Kate discovered she loved opera or Cecelia expanded her magical repertoire. Or their interactions with their respective husbands. And that's another problem with the gimmick - Kate can put in the personal details, since she's supposed to be writing for herself. Cecelia's part has much less of those enjoyable details, since she was supposed to be writing an official document. Not bad, overall, but slight at best and hobbled by the epistolary gimmick. I probably will read it again - not soon nor expecting marvels, though. Still, it's better than I was thinking - if I regard it as amusing fluff rather than something marvelous, it's quite pleasant. And it is nice to see more of Kate and Cecelia, Thomas and James.

[bluesalamanders · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed both this and Cecelia, my only problem being keeping track of which girl was writing which part (letters in the first book, journal entries in the second) and which characters are which. Even though the girls were written by two different authors, the styles were not so distinct that I could easily tell them apart, and Thomas and James were such similar characters that I frequently got them confused.

[the1butterfly · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This one didn't read quite as quickly as "Sorcery and Cecelia", and took a bit longer to have the same pull. There was a mystery, however, that came together in pieces. The cousins and their husbands were still interesting, and I especially liked details like the use of the wedding ring as a focus. The ending was also particularly well put together.

[keely_chace · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This sequel to Sorcery and Cecilia loses much of the magic of the first. It could be due to the fact that Cecilia and Kate are on there wedding journey together, and therefore, are not intimately entertaining each other with their letters over a distance. Instead, we get Kate's recording of the strange events of the trip from her commonplace book, and Cecilia's from her deposition to authorities. What's more, the two of them are such contented newlyweds that they lose most of the girlish sneakiness and defiance that made them such fun characters in the first book. Even so, it's still a pleasant read, and the action gets pretty thrilling in the last 60 pages or so.

[mabrown2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the sequel to "Sorcery and Cecelia" and I have to admit it wasn't as good as the first. Still, it was nice to read about these characters again. We got a little more development for Kate and Thomas but poor Cecy and James were left to the imagination in many instances. The action took a little while to build up and for some time I was a bit bored by their travels. It got more exciting as the story progressed though. Not bad but not great.

[francescadefreitas · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first one. While each couple was sweet on their own, they were tedious together, and it was difficult to tell the men apart.Telling the story through depositions and diary entries took away the charm of the original story, and it also led to a great deal of repetition. While it was occasionally played for laughs, for example, varying opinions on the opera, this book lacked the chaotic sense fun I had hoped for. I will read the third book, but my expectations have been lowered.

[pagemistress · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Kate and Cecy are back, in fine form, and every bit as wonderfully entertaining as in their first adventure. Wrede and Stevermer have dispensed with the epistolary form of the first book, instead reuniting the two formidable cousins for a tour of Europe and allowing each lady to testify directly to her observations and experiences. With a plot that includes magical mysteries, missing crown jewels, and highway robbery, this sequel has a little something for everyone, and is at least as good as, and possibly better than, its predecessor.

[sunnysd_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fine follow-up to Sorcery and Cecelia. Kate, Cecelia and their new husbands get swept up in a plot to do what Napoleon couldn't: conquer all of Europe. Replete with fleas (well, one, although the repeated absence of many is much mentioned), a canal dunking, an Alp crossing, mysterious packages, secret knitted codes, Roman ruins, and lost gloves. Although missing some of the charm of the first installment's letter exchanges, Wrede and Stevermer's use of a day journal and Cecy's deposition following the novel's events is still quite entertaining.

[vegaheim · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

part II of "sorcery and cecilia", funny, caroline stevemer is a great writer and so is patricia c. wrede (dealing w/dragons, searching for dragons, calling on dragons,talking to dragons)

[montano_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I loved Cecelia (the first book of this series) but this one failed to hold my interest.

[nikkles_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Grand Tour is a solid book. In parts it is absolutly fabulous, but at other times it seems to lag a bit. While this book is amusing it is not as good as the original of the series, however, it was great to revisit the characters. I feel this lacked some of the suspense of the first book. Thomas and James also got to dominate too much of the action. All and all a pretty good sequel.

[rocalisa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cousins Kate and Cecy, along with their new husbands (Thomas and James respectively) set off for a honeymoon "Grand Tour" of Europe as this book begins. Thomas' mother, Lady Sylvia, is accompanying them as far as Paris. But their adventures start the moment they cross the Channel into France, when a strange woman leaves an equally strange parcel for Lady Sylvia. This turns out to be the Sainte Ampoule, a piece of the (now unnecessary) coronation regalia of France. Soon after, their party is attacked by highwaymen and the Ampoule is stolen away. This leads to the discover that Lady Sylvia was once (and still is) a member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel and that this in unlikely to be the quiet honeymoon that was planned. Visiting a local ancient Roman Temple, Cecy encounters young Theodore Daventer and his tutor, the unpleasant Mr Strangle who appeared in The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. Mr Strangle appears to have performed some equally unpleasant magic ritual and when this is only the first such encounter, all the newlyweds become further suspicious of Mr Strangle and his charge. On reaching Paris, General Wellington informs them that the Ampoule is not the only piece of European coronation regalia to have been stolen recently and charges them, under the guise of continuing their honeymoon tour, to find out just what is going on. Soon the four are getting caught up in magic, both new and ancient, a possible plot to restore Napoleon and, of course, discovering what marriage is all about. Like its predecessor, this book is written in sections by Cecy (Patricia Wrede) and Kate (Caroline Stevermer). Kate is writing in a personal journal, but Cecy is supposedly writing a disposition about their adventures for the (magical) authorities. For something that is supposed to be a report, it is very, very full of personal thoughts and descriptions that really shouldn't be there (I don't think the readers will really want to know every mundane, or even just personal, detail). She also discusses at great length what she is going to use as a focus for her magic. This is supposed to remain a secret so that an unscrupulous magic user cannot take advantage of the knowledge (as happened to Thomas in the first book). Of course, if it really was a stolid report, it would be very boring for the reader. Still, I feel perhaps Wrede should have chosen a different medium for Cecy. The plot of this book is more convoluted that the first one, but it is also well thought out and very clever. I didn't pick up what was going on until the gang discovered it all (in a singularly easy way, I felt) and I certainly didn't pick out who the chief villain was or what their dastardly plan was. Once again, the magic has been woven neatly into this near-history and done very cleverly. Kate's first attempt to build a focus in rather spectacular, given a good explanation of why things didn't go exactly as planned, and is important at the resolution of the story. And if you very want to have great adventures like this, it might be a good idea to learn to knit. All in all, another enjoyable story by Wrede and Stevermer. It isn't likely to change your life, but it is a very nice way to while away a few hours.

[libraryofus · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

(Amy) The long-awaited sequel to Sorcery and Cecilia, and well worth the wait. Our heroines are, with their new husbands, off on their wedding trip. But of course things cannot go so smoothly as that...