Snowspelled

Written by Stephanie Burgis

Narrated by Emma Newman

In nineteenth-century Angland, magic is reserved for gentlemen while ladies attend to the more practical business of politics. But Cassandra Harwood has never followed the rules . . .



Four months ago, Cassandra Harwood was the first woman magician in Angland, and she was betrothed to the brilliant, intense love of her life.



Now Cassandra is trapped in a snowbound house party deep in the elven dales, surrounded by bickering gentleman magicians, manipulative lady politicians, her own interfering family members, and, worst of all, her infuriatingly stubborn ex-fiancé, who refuses to understand that she’s given him up for his own good.



But the greatest danger of all lies outside the manor in the falling snow, where a powerful and malevolent elf-lord lurks . . . and Cassandra lost all of her own magic four months ago. To save herself, Cassandra will have to discover exactly what inner powers she still possesses—and risk everything to win a new kind of happiness.



Note: This audiobook includes a bonus novella, Spellswept.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 21, 2019
• ISBN: 9781400121212

Stephanie Burgis

Stephanie Burgis grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, but now lives in Wales with her husband and two sons, surrounded by mountains, castles and coffee shops. She writes wildly romantic adult historical fantasies (including The Harwood Spellbook) and has had over forty short stories for adults and teens published in magazines and anthologies.

Reviews for Snowspelled

[Sam Ashish · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great read /Listen as always, full of magic and interest

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This novella sets up a new adult series by the author. It is fantasy of the "Jane Austen with magic" variety. I very much enjoyed this story about Cassandra Harwood who decided to become a magician despite the fact that magic is the realm of gentlemen while women focused on politics. She had the strong support of her brother who chose to be a historian rather than a magician. Her parents, however, were not so sanguine. Her mother held a high place among the ruling ladies and always intended that Cassandra would follow her path. Her mother has now passed away and Cassandra can no longer do magic.In an attempt to prove that she was just as good as the male magicians, she tried a spell that was too hard for any magician to do alone. Now, she knows that doing any spell could possibly kill her. She is grieving her loss of magic and the loss of her fiance Wrexham. He is a gifted magician and she broke the engagement so as not to be a burden to him. He, however, is not willing to let her go. Nor are her brother and sister-in-law willing to let the engagement end.Cassandra finds herself at a country weekend house party with her ex-fiance, a number of political ladies and their magician husbands during an unnatural snowstorm. The goal of the party is a ceremony to reaffirm the human's peace treaty with the elves. Unfortunately, when searching for a lost party of young ladies, Cassandra and her ex-fiance run into a troll and a scheming elf lord and Cassandra make a promise that could cost her life to keep and also break the treaty.She has one week to find the magician who caused the unnatural snowfall or become the prisoner of the elf lord. Cassandra, who had lost her life's purpose when she lost her magic, now realizes how much she still has to live for. She and Wrexham need to find the magician and outwit an ancient elf lord.This was an engaging story. I loved the historical setting. I loved the magic. The writing was smart. I loved the touches of humor and the romantic tension between Cassandra and Wrexham. The only thing I didn't like about the story was that, according to the author, more in this world won't be available for me to read until "sometime in 2018."

[Jillian · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The writing isn't bad, but for a novel set in a magical Regency Era England equivalent, the introduction of a lesbian couple was jarring. It was so obviously an agenda and attempt at pandering that my eyes rolled so far back in my head I couldn't finish the book.

[florenceart · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an involuntary re-read. It was a FaRoFeb freebie, but it became clear to me almost immediately that I had already read it. In 2021 apparently. I’m not sure why I didn’t follow up on this series. Probably because I was already busy pursuing a couple of excellent series, and this one didn’t grab me enough at the time to leave a lasting impression. Also I’m not crazy about worlds based on Victorian England. I have to admit though that the world building is pretty good, and the story was enjoyable. I think I will pick up the next one this time. I like how in this world, gender roles are, not fully reversed but leaving more power to women, and yet they are just as rigid and stifling as those of Victorian England.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Set in a world not unlike our own in a period that's somewhat like the regency period but where the women have the political control and the men have magic. Cassandra has magic and wants to wield it but she can't get proper training and she has burnt herself out trying for control, burning some bridges behind her in regard to other women also engaging in magic. Now she frets around her limits while her ex-fiance Wrexham eyes her from a distance. There is a lot of yearning in this one, for a future that they both want and for each other. Resolving this to the best that they can is what they can hope for and I enjoyed this read, which was a quick and fun read.

[spiritedstardust · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5

Regency fantasy where traditional gender roles are reversed.
This was fine; everything was rather mild. The plot and danger - mild. The romance, also mild.

I’d probably classify it as cosy fantasy.

[lexilewords · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

SUCH A DELIGHT.

And a great way to kick off reading for this holiday season since it's not about Christmas at all, but set around it with snow.

Cassandra was resourceful, stubborn and clever in her thoughts and words. I did side eye the miscommunication element between her and her ex-fiance, but Wrexham being utterly open about his feelings on the matter helped.

I do wish we learned a bit more about him - serious minded, driven, stubborn, intelligent, hard working...we saw much of this on display, but for the life of me I can't remember a single hobby or leisure activity he enjoyed? Or how he proposed to Cassandra? We're thrown into the middle of their history together with a lot of lamentations and 'just don't understand why' conversations.

Otherwise I quite enjoyed the secondary characters, as much as this was Cassandra's book, they had lives and histories and lessons to learn as well. The good natured teasing from her older brother and his wife, the way too candid Mr. Samson and the convinction of Miss Bell to fight for a brilliant future for her and her girlfriend...it was all engaging.

I wonder though if Cassandra will be quite so eager to make rash promises in the future...

[tikimoof · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I normally hate Regency-style novels, and I'm not very fond of romances. I have hated many books that I am pretty sure are supposed to be better than this (the list of shame includes Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, the Parasol Protectorate, Servant of the Crown, and Sorcerer to the Crown, just to give an idea of how widespread my distaste is).

The modern writing style is definitely a factor in this enjoyment, and so was mixing up where prejudices lie. I really appreciated that Burgis didn't eliminate all prejudice and make the world completely anemic.

The romance was super cute, I liked that I could be invested and not be concerned for the long-term mental or physical health of either character. Except for them both being a bit fatalistic, but that's the only way to make their lack of communication work out, I think.


Anyway, I finished and mostly liked this! Take this as praise or condemnation as necessary!

[jsabrina-219220 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Charming and engaging. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

The heroine is smart and resourceful, her ex-fiancee appropriately stalwart, perceptive, and well-matched to her, and the challenge of finding the cause of a magical snow storm which threatens the renewal of the peace treaty between "Angland" and the elves an intriguing one. Burgis packs a great deal of character development, world building, and mystery into a relatively short tale.

[terriko_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A winter storm, a stormy romance, and unwise bargains with the fae. This was a delightful and magical story and I'm looking forwards to the rest of the series!

[strider66_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Pros: interesting politics and worldbuilding, fun romance

Cons:

Cassandra’s first social event after losing her ability to work magic and breaking up with her fiance starts off poorly. A carriage of ladies has been stopped by trolls and forced to walk in the snow, getting lost. While helping look for them, Cassandra’s ex shows up just as she wakes another troll and makes an unfortunate promise. Now she has a week to find out who’s cast an impossible weather spell or be imprisoned by an angry elf lord.

This is a fun novella with romance and fantasy elements. The setting is an England where Queen Boudicca ran off the Romans and her descendants made a peace pact after warring with the elves. Politics is a woman’s game, and the pact demands rituals be performed perfectly.

Cassandra was the first female magic practitioner, but after a mysterious event, she can no longer use magic. She’s a headstrong character that you can’t help but sympathize with, who learns a few lessons about her own privilege even as her life hasn’t turned out as she planned.

The romance is fun and engaging.

Magic is sparingly used, but interesting when it comes up.

This is the start of a series but can be read as a standalone.

[liscarey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In 19th century Angland, Cassandra Harwood has pursued the contrary course of studying magic, despite all resistance from a culture that says that magic is for the more emotional and creative gender--men. Women, being more pragmatic and more stable, are expected, if they are of the upper classes, to pursue politics.

Cassandra has been successful, having gained admittance to the premier school of magic in Angland, the Great Library, graduated top of her class, and becoming betrothed to her only real competition there, Rajaram Wrexham.

Then something happened. It's a while before we learn what, exactly, but it was bad. Cassandra can't perform magic anymore--it will kill her. And two months after that disaster, her betrothal to Wrexham ends, by her choice, for reasons she doesn't explain to anyone.

Two months after that, she's at a snowed-in house party, with Wrexham also in attendance, a variety of people who at best pity her for her misfortune, and much of the ruling council of Angland, the Boudiccate, of which Cassandra's mother had been a prominent member. When two other guests get lost in the storm on the way there, Cassandra is one of those who goes out to locate them. In the process, she encounters a troll, and an elf lord. This the beginning of a possible disaster for all of Angland, as Cassandra has promised to stop people bothering the troll, thinking the troll is only complaining about people tramping all over him, thinking he's a hill. That's not it, and the elf lord, who is not at all friendly, has heard her binding promise. She solves the real problem in a week, or the treaty protecting Angland from the elves is broken.

The real problem is that someone has used magic to create this awful snowstorm, and that's bothering the trolls and preventing the elves from their normal solstice-time pursuits.

So Cassandra is juggling her fraught relations with Wrexham, entangled in politics at the highest levels, trying to figure out who is the weather magician making this storm when no human magician is allowed to do that kind of weather magic, or indeed, able to, since the restrictions on weather magic mean that only the least capable magicians study weather magic at all.

I found it a bit slow getting started, but as I continued reading, I got drawn in. Cassandra, her brother Jonathan (who also defied convention by insisting on studying history rather than magic), and Jonathan's wife, Amy, who is a capable and ambitious politician, are a close-knit and devoted family. Wrexham proves to be far more interesting than the first descriptions suggested, and both the women politicians and the male magicians are shown to have real depth and complexity, not, as might have turned out, mainly egos. Even the ones who are possessed of too much ego are individual and interesting about it.

In the end, after a slightly rough start, I really enjoyed this book.

I received this book via BookFunnel, which means, probably as a free offering from the author's newsletter. I'm reviewing it voluntarily.

[herenya_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novella is a Regency fantasy set in a world in which only men are allowed to do magic and only women to enter politics. Cassandra Harwood is the first - and only - woman to study magic at the Great Library, and graduated with top honours, but her magical career has ended with humiliating failure.

At the instance of her sister-in-law, Cassandra attends a house-party, and is promptly confronted with her ex-fiancé, her limitations now she can no longer use magic, and a mystery about who is interfering with the weather.

This is a funny story with supportive family banter, a delightful romance and interesting dilemma (dealing with losing one’s magic). It is short and a little predictable, but that’s part of the appeal. I read this twice in row.

I yanked my gaze away from my ex-fiancé, breathing quickly. The room before me was a blur of colour and movement, but somehow, my eyes couldn’t focus on any of it.
“Oh come now,” Jonathan said cheerfully. “Don’t stop now! It’s better than theatre, watching you two moon over each other.”
“I am not—!” I cut myself off with a snarl as my wits caught up with me. Taking a deep breath, I blinked the room into clarity and said with great dignity, “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”
“We should sell tickets,” my brother told me. “It’s like watching an opera, but far better because there’s so much less tuneless shrieking involved. No, it’s all wordless emoting and high drama with you two, and—ow!”
“You deserved it,” I told him, as I pulled my arm free and he patted his elbowed side consolingly. “Amy would tell you so, too, if she were here.”
“Ha! Amy would volunteer to be stage-manager, and you know it.”

[humouress · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

{First of prequel +3 Harwood Spellbook series; fantasy, YA}

In a parallel universe where women are the politicians who rule Angland and magic is the preserve of gentlemen Cassandra Harwood has fought hard to forego following in her mother’s brilliant political footsteps and be accepted instead to the Great Library to study magic.

The story opens four months after, having graduated at the top of her class, she has made a tragic mistake that cost her all her magic and caused her to break off her engagement with Lord Wrexham. She finds herself talked into attending a house party with her brother and sister-in-law for the winter solstice even though she knows Wrexham will be attending too.

“I should think,” she said now, as if idly, “that you would wish to show everyone how little notice you take of any gossip. After all, if we refuse this invitation, you know everyone will say it was because you were too afraid to see Wrexham again.”
My teeth ground together. “I am not afraid of seeing Wrexham.”
“Well, I know that,” Amy said, looking as smug as a cat licking up fresh cream. “But does he?”
Well. It isn’t that I don’t know when I’m being managed. But there are some possibilities that cannot be borne. And the thought of my ex-fiancé’s dark eyebrows rising in his most fiendishly supercilious look at the news of my cowardly refusal…
I drummed my fingers against the table, searching for a way out.
Behind my brother’s outspread newspaper, an apparently disembodied voice spoke. “Better leave early,” my brother said. “It’s meant to snow next week, according to the weather wizards.”

They arrive in the teeth of a snowstorm which the weather wizards had predicted wouldn’t start for several days, which is unusual even for such an imprecise art. And then Cassandra finds herself trapped by a rash promise which makes her realise she has even more to lose than she thought she had lost already if she doesn’t fulfill it by the solstice.

I liked the obvious affection between Cassandra and her brother and her sister-in-law and the romance was sweet and believable rather than spur-of-the-moment. Her romantic interest was tall, dark, handsome - and sensitive; that was one reason I enjoyed the story since Regency rakes usually lack that last quality. Burgis also turns the accepted norms of traditional Regency romances (of gender, race and so on) on their heads in the course of the first six chapters without rubbing your nose in it.

Enjoyed this one. Fun, light and sweet. Well crafted; but I did get impatient waiting to find out what exactly Cassandra had done to lose her magic.

4.5 stars *****

[heatherlinc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was such a frothy, enchanting read with delightful characters and humorous banter. Full of dapper magicians, lady politicians, angry trolls and elf lords, and with a mix of magic and Regency romance, "Snowspelled" had me under its spell from the start.

I loved Cassandra. She was feisty, intelligent and headstrong, and was struggling to work out who she was after losing her magic. Her ex-fiance, Wrexham, was an absolute charmer and their relationship was full of fun and mayhem. They clearly belonged together. I also loved Cassandra's studious brother, Jonathan, and his wife, Amy, who was stubborn, genteel and mischievous. While the characters weren't particularly complex their interactions always made me smile and the various relationships between the four of them were perfect. They were so caring and supportive of each other.

"Snowspelled "was an unexpected find which I thoroughly enjoyed and I am looking forward to reading the sequel.

[souloftherose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I picked this novella up because I needed something light and easy. It’s a Regency-esque fantasy romance story set in a world where women and men have strictly defined gender roles: women rule the country through politics whilst men can be magicians. The main character, Cassandra, is unusual in that she’s a woman who chose to study magic rather than get involved in politics but has lost her magical abilities following an accident. There’s a house-party, a mystery to solve involving the local elves and an ex-fiancee to avoid.

I liked this but didn’t love it (something I found with Burgis’ children’s story, A Most Improper Magick aka Kat Incorrigible) but I think I’ll continue with this series of novellas as I was happy to see that the story didn’t end with Cassandra regaining her powers and I’d like to see the sequels looking at her coming to terms with this (rather than her powers magically returning). I’m hopeful this might be the direction the author takes the story because I think the author suffers from a chronic illness and it’s still quite rare to find sff stories that examine this.

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Oh, lovely! Regency-like setting (tech and manners), but clearly a very different world - magic, elves, and trolls are the least of it. Women are the political rulers - men (and only men...until recently) do magic. Having a protagonist who until recently has been utterly focused on her own interests and ignored the rest of the world is an _excellent_ way to avoid "As you know, Bob...". It's a mystery, of sorts, and all the clues are handed to the protagonist and thus to the reader - but they're not obviously clues, they're just things she's noticing/discovering/having pointed out to her for the first time (or at least, the first time she's actually paid attention). It's also a romance, of the annoying "I must give you up for your own good, my love!" sort - but they get a rush of brains to the head before the climax, rather than waiting until the last minute. Very enjoyable (short, but complete), and another new author to hunt up all her backlist, yay!

[foggidawn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In a Regency-like setting, but with magic, Cassandra makes a dangerous promise to a magical being, and finds herself at the center of a mystery -- all while trying to avoid her charming ex-fiance.

This novella was a most pleasant diversion, part mystery and part romance, but mostly fantasy. I liked the setting, and will certainly read the next volume in the series when it is available.