Tag: Margaret Rogerson

This Chick Read: Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson

A sequel novella to the best-selling A Sorcery of Thorns, Mysteries of Thorn Manor gives us a peek into the manor, er courtship, between Elisabeth and Nathaniel. Thorn Manor’s wards seems to be under a magical attack and Elisabeth and Nathaniel must solve the problem before they’re due to host the city’s Midwinter Ball. Investigating this mysterious manor reveals all sorts of secrets of current and past inhabitants and when they find out it’s those inhabitants who are creating the problem their relationship takes a turn.

The beautiful cover perfectly matches this author’s fantastical style of writing. It’s been a little while since I read A Sorcery of Thorns, but it all came rushing back in the first few pages. The author weaves a tale between Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas that leaves me feeling like Elisabeth may have more than one beau. What that just my imagination? There seems to be a lot of hand kissing and declarations of affection. If so, then Elisabeth will have one busy future! I will admit, once my brain went in that direction I did start to question things. Regardless, it was certainly interesting!

Just in case you were unaware, a novella is a short story. This one was about 188 print pages or 105 on my kindle, which is quite short. The story didn’t feel short though, it was very well rounded and quite complete. I just took a look at it on Amazon and I do feel like the kindle price may be a bit expensive for what you get though. This is a light-hearted bit of fun and unless you’re a super-fan, you may want to wait until it goes on sale.

If you are that super-fan and have been jonesing for another Margaret Rogerson story then jump on this one. It will give you a quick fix that will leave you wanting more. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review and it was honest.

Click this link to purchase this book!* Mysteries of Thorn Manor

Copyright 2023 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this novel through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

Artemisia is in training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass, but Artemisia also has a special talent…she can discern the different types of spirits in one of the highest orders and this talent changes her future. When possessed soldiers arrive and attack her convent, Artemisia takes up the relic of a fifth order revenant and allows it to possess her in order to save the other nuns. The story of her fight sweeps the countryside and her history is rewritten. Vespertines are priestesses who can wield a high relic, but how they do that has been lost and Artemisia turns to the revenant inside herself for the knowledge to beat the evil that is sweeping the country.

Once again Margaret Rogerson has created a really interesting world. This story is much darker in feeling which is portrayed really well by the cover. Artemisia is a rather dark soul even before a revenant takes residence inside of her body. Possessed by an ashrim, an evil spirit, when she was a child, her parents kept her locked in a shed for years. It was only by burning her hands in a fire that she removed the spirit, but the horrors of her past have left scars, both internal and external. I really liked her evolution from solitary scared girl to a young woman who decides to fight instead of surrender to evil.

Written during the pandemic I drew a parallel between the spirits ravaging Artemisia’s world and the virus which is ravaging our own lives. Artemisia stepped out of her comfort zone, her solitariness, and leaned on the people around her and trusted in others to help her fight her battles. In comparison, I wish our real world chose to fight the virus together instead of skirmishing individually about vaccinations and masks. However, unlike my world and all that’s going on within it, it was nice to see her conquer evil. The way the novel ended I felt like the author may have left the door open for another book? I kind of hope so. I am now invested and would love to see where these characters lead us next. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest.

Click this link to purchase this book!* Vespertine

Copyright 2021 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

Friday YA: Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

When one of the most dangerous grimoire’s in Austermeer seeks to escape the Great Library, foundling apprentice, Elisabeth, finds herself blocking it’s path. She must keep it from reaching the village where it could wreak havoc and kill many. Despite her humanity, Elisabeth manages the impossible, yet what should have been a victory turns her into a suspect and she’s sent off in the hands of sorcerer Nathanial Thorn and his demon servant, Silas. They soon discover that that’s not the only grimoire to be set free and they must find out who is behind these treacherous acts, or die trying.

I loved Enchantment of Ravens, Margaret Rogerson’s previous novel. It was as gorgeous on the inside as it was on the outside. I did like Sorcery of Thorns but it felt like it was trying to hard to be as good as the first. Elisabeth was a fun character. She was smart, energetic, and fearless. Growing up as a foundling of a Great Library she has a love for books and specifically the grimoire’s rustling voices. Hearing those voices is as supernatural as Elisabeth gets, she’s more smart than magical. She is wary of Nathanial at first because of all of the horror stories she was told as a child about all of the sorcerer families, but as she enlists his help to find who is releasing the grimoire’s there’s an undeniable attraction. I’m not really sure why because he seems pretty arrogant, but growing up an orphan in a library she doesn’t have a lot to compare him to and is dazzled.

I like their interaction with each other and as Nathanial’s back story is introduced it helps him become a little more sympathetic, but for me the more interesting relationship is Nathanial with his demon servant Silas. Nathanial’s parents die when he’s just entering his teen’s and it’s Silas who essentially raises him. A demon is not supposed to have feelings for a human and that relationship has more depth and emotion than the one between Nathanial and Elisabeth.

Sorcery of Thorns is a fun action adventure novel with just a hint of romance. A complete fantasy, it was easy to get lost in the characters and see where the story was leading. I enjoyed myself reading this novel, but didn’t quite enjoy it as much as Enchantment of Ravens. Sorry, I couldn’t help but compare the two! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase!* Sorcery of Thorns

Copyright 2019 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase the book through the above link, I receive a small stipend.

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads3 Comments

This Chick Read: An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

An Enchantment of Ravens is a fairy-tale fantasy about a girl named Isobel who is a portrait artist to the fair folk. In the town of Whimsy, the fair folk come and purchase craft from the artisans. In return they exact payment in the form of spells. Isobel has learned at the tender age of seventeen to be very exact in her negotiations because the fair folk are not honest in their negotiations and what seems an innocent wish for true love may become an obsessive infatuation. When Rook, the Prince of the Autumn lands comes to have his portrait painted Isobel see’s something in his eyes that she must paint on canvas. Unfortunately what she paints is a humanity that the fair folk do not wish to see, and Rook spirits her away to stand trial for her error. During this journey she and Rook come to an understanding finding friendship and love which is against the fair folk’s laws.

I was captured by the charm and spirit of this novel. The author painted her words so they flowed lyrically across the page. The melding of commonly heard folk tales such as the fae can’t speak a lie, with a new fair folk history made the story both familiar and foreign, making it easy to huddle into my blanket on the couch and immerse myself into this enchanted land.

Isobel for being a seventeen year old girl, was wise beyond her years. She was essentially the adult in her household, responsible for her two sisters and her aunt. When she is spirited away by Rook, she gives in to the adventure, worrying about her family, but also seeing new shapes and colors in every hill and tree opening her eyes to the world as a whole rather than Whimsy’s summer colors and sounds. I loved how her emotions were painted in colors.

Rook was an interesting hero. He was one of the fair folk and his glamour was beautiful, but underneath that glamour was a reality that contrasted with that beauty they all wanted to portray. That contrast between fae reality and glamour was found throughout the story giving this a real fairy tale feel, more Grimm than Disney. He and Isobel’s love ran a similar juxtaposition from her innocent first love to gritty heart wrenching pain. I loved how this novel ran from one spectrum to the other in a rainbow of colors from light to dark and back again. The story and the feelings all those colors imbued captured me completely.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase! An Enchantment of Ravens Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads2 Comments