Miss Amelia’s List by Mercedes Lackey

TL;DR: A bit slow, but a truly cozy Regency fantasy.
Source: Netgalley, thank you so much to the publisher!

Plot: Amelia and her cousin head to England from America for business and to possibly find a match!
Characters: I genuinely came to love all of our primary characters, especially Amelia and her cousin. By the end I was sad to see it end and went looking hoping the next book would follow them again.
Setting: A lovely and cozy Regency setting – it felt very true to old Regency books I’ve picked up in the past.
Fantasy/Historical Setting: The magic in here is pretty in depth considering the setting and attention to detail that the Historical facts had. It was very well researched and I learned a few fun things!

Thoughts:

I didn’t expect what I got with Miss Amelia’s List and it took me a long time to figure out what this book was doing. This felt very much like a cozy, Jane Austen inspired regency romp with a hard core of fantasy inside. This is the 17th book in the Elemental Masters series, though I would argue it can be read on it’s own (I’ve not read one since perhaps the 4th or 5th?). Amelia and her cousin have moved to England from the States to assist in setting up their family business ventures and possibly find some husbands. Of course a few small things occur, but overall the story just follows their day to day.

Possibly my favorite part of this was the attention to detail. The first three quarters of this book we just follow Amelia and Serena setting up in England, meeting their new neighbors and Elemental Mages and Masters, and doing things like getting clothes made. Mercedes Lackey put in some effort to research and represent what it might have been to do this mundane things and we got it in this. The little bit of action we get is in the last 15% and that was of course a lot of fun. But until that point it’s a slow book, slow but cozy.

If you’re looking for something fast paced and action driven, this isn’t it. But if you’re a fan of Regency novels and cozy, very slow paced ones? Try this. It’s easy, but slow. We get commentary on the period from the characters as well, something I appreciated and overall I was happy with my experience.

4 out of 5 Stars