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tessisreading2 's review for:
Tea & Alchemy
by Sharon Lynn Fisher
Fisher is very good at writing cozy, well-researched Victorian-era fantasy romance, and this was another great one. Unlike Victorian-esque alt-universe romantasies, this is set in our world, or one very like it, where magic exists but is hidden and disbelieved. Our hero, Harker Tregarrick (yes, I could have done without that name, too), is an alchemist, isolated from the world around him (including the Cornish village near which he makes his home) because of his terrible secret and his own guilt. Our heroine, Mina Penrose, is a simple village girl who lives at home with her heavy-drinking but beloved brother (who works in the clay pits) and works part-time at the local tea shop. If those two names, Harker and Mina, don't give you a clue as to Harker's terrible secret... well, then I won't spoil it.
Fisher does a great job with setting and characterization; the village manages to feel realistically Victorian and Cornish while being generally full of well-drawn and well-intentioned people. Her take on the folklore and myths she's using here is fascinating and definitely kept me invested as Harker and Mina work to uncover terrible truths. That said, there's some occasional clunkiness, as when Mina doesn't know the word "detective" but seems perfectly comfortable with "parasite" - Mina feels generally more like an archetype of spunky, self-educated nineteenth-century romance heroine than an actual nineteenth-century villager, if that makes sense. But that's in keeping with the vibe of the whole book, really, which is cozy and gently affectionate; despite the mystery and the murders it is engaging without being stressful or terrifying, which made it a really nice light read.
I received an ARC for free but these are my honest opinions.
Fisher does a great job with setting and characterization; the village manages to feel realistically Victorian and Cornish while being generally full of well-drawn and well-intentioned people. Her take on the folklore and myths she's using here is fascinating and definitely kept me invested as Harker and Mina work to uncover terrible truths. That said, there's some occasional clunkiness, as when Mina doesn't know the word "detective" but seems perfectly comfortable with "parasite" - Mina feels generally more like an archetype of spunky, self-educated nineteenth-century romance heroine than an actual nineteenth-century villager, if that makes sense. But that's in keeping with the vibe of the whole book, really, which is cozy and gently affectionate; despite the mystery and the murders it is engaging without being stressful or terrifying, which made it a really nice light read.
I received an ARC for free but these are my honest opinions.