Bewitching Season

Author: Marissa Doyle
Status: Library Book
Grade: I'm giving it a C -- but I'm not firm on that decision, LOL!
Tea: There are books that call for Earl Grey. This is one of them.

Persephone and Penelope Leland, Pen and Perse to friends, are the young daughters of Viscount Lord Asherton. It is the year of their "coming out" and the two girls have been hard at work learning all they need to know for the season -- dance, conversation, etiquette and magic? Even though being a witch or wizard is still a burning offense in the Kingdom, young witches and wizards are tracked and trained quietly by existing wizards and witches. It is all very hush, hush but the training ensures that young, untrained magical folk don't accidentally give the existence of magic away to the general public.

Miss Allardyce, governess extraordinaire, who has been training the girls in magic as well as decorum goes ahead of the Leland family to their London townhouse to get it ready for the Season. While there she is to begin ordering the girls gowns and accessories, as well as visit her own family who owns a very special bookshop. The girls are fond of "Ally" as they call her and when they learn she has gone missing after visiting her family they involve themselves in trying to find her as well as carrying out their own duties as members of Society during the Season.

The book had a bit of a feel of "Sorcery and Ceceila" by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. The world building was the same, although this one takes place in the early Victorian Era. While "S & C" is an extraordinary work by two talented authors this work is much sketchier than that effort.

The book is mostly about Perse, the shyer sister who really just wishes she was a boy who could retire to the country and study magic and Greek. She has little clever conversation and so is surprised when her ability to smile and simply say yes! and how interesting! make her extremely popular with the young men of the Season who are actually more anxious to talk at her than with her. Soon she is juggling several beaux as well as desperately working to gain the attention of the handsome Lochinvar and find her missing governess.

Several times I almost didn't finish the book. Perse could act very young and it was more than a little disconcerting to think she would be married soon. She just didn't have a clue what that meant. She was also more than a bit careless with others feelings. Not to add careless with using her magic in a climate that was supposedly hostile to it. It's not that I disliked her so much as she came across as just very, very immature. There were plot twists that made little sense and I felt the author tried to include a bit too much. While I really appreciated that the history was far more than just back ground noise I wish she would have found a way to include it that could have been more naturally wrapped into the plot.

Overall the book just felt a bit too youthful and foolish for me to really enjoy it.