Outcrossing (Mysterious Charm #1)
by Celia Lake
My Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Historical Cozy Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f
Blurb:
Enjoy this kind and gentle 1920s historical fantasy romance series set in the magical community of Great Britain.Ferry found freedom as a governess.
Born and raised to be an obedient daughter of the upper class, Ferry refused to marry the awful man her parents chose for her. Instead, she took a position as a governess in a country house deep in the New Forest.
Now spring has come to England, she can finally spend time in the nearest village and explore the magical, mysterious, and possibly dangerous forest around her chosen home.
Rufus has great power and no future.
The Great War changed everything for the worse. Rufus came home terrified of being buried alive and without the magical training he desperately needed. Now he’s lost all of his family and any hope of building a better life.
Rufus is down to his last few coins when he saves one of Ferry’s charges from a cranky New Forest pony. She’s grateful, but she’s also kind, the first kindness he’s known in weeks.
When a local smuggler offers him a lifechanging amount of money to do just one job, he knows there must be a catch. But it’s the only way to have a future, never mind one with Ferry. She comes from a different world, and Rufus has the sense to know it.
When the smuggler’s demands, interference from the newly returned local lord, and the remaining scars from World War I all tangle together, Rufus and Ferry find themselves in grave danger.
Outcrossing is the first novel in the Mysterious Charm series. All of Celia Lake’s Albion books exploring the magical community of the British Isles can be read in any order. Full of magical creatures, New Forest ponies, village life, and first love, Outcrossing is a gentle romantic fantasy with a swirl of sex set in 1922 with a happily ever after ending. Enjoy!
My Review
When I first heard of this author I was so excited as her stories sound exactly like the type of books I want to read. I didn’t know where to start as she has a huge backlist, but luckily her website has a lot of good information and eventually I decided to start with Outcrossing. I am glad I did as this felt like a good introduction to the world and I really enjoyed it.
I had a great time reading this one. I liked both Ferry and Rufus. Ferry grew up in one of the upper class families and is expected to marry well, she doesn’t like that and takes a job as governess in the New Forest. While Rufus has lived his whole life here, he’s struggling financially and has trouble finding jobs after the war. He has a lot of magical power, but little knowledge on how to use it. I liked seeing these two meet and grow closer. They both felt like very real characters and I liked how they talk to each other about what they know about magic and the forest and this way me as the reader also grew to understand more of the world.
I liked their romance, it does develop rather quickly and heats up after a few meeting, but I thought it worked here. I could feel their connection and enjoyed seeing them grow closer over the course of the book. I liked these two together, the way they interacted and figured things out together. I also like the way they team up to deal with some danger regarding smugglers.
There are some interesting side characters as well like Lord Carrilon and Ferry’s best friend Pross. I looked up early on to confirm they both get their own romances. The dialogue was a bit unusual at times with it reading very much like spoken speech, but I actually kinda liked it as it really conveyed the vibe of their conversation and it felt pretty real. I do sometimes struggle a bit with historical settings and they can take me a bit of time to get used to, but I got into this book rather easily.
One of the things I enjoyed most besides the realistic and interesting characters was the world building and magic. I really got a good feel for the vibe of the world and the way magic works, despite also feeling like I’ve only seen a very little bit of what’s possible. And the whole magic system just was so fascinating, the way it worked and got used. It was quite different from most books I read and I liked it. There are these scenes for example were Rufus steadies the bogs and makes the ground steady for a bit. The magic could be quite practical. There also are magical creatures, a magical police, magic school and a sort of magic related to a place and how both characters know they belong in this village. It was all fascinating and I can’t wait to read more of the stories set in this world.
To summarize: I had a great time reading this book. It’s a great introduction to the author’s world. I quickly got into this story and enjoyed reading about Ferry and Rufus, they were both interesting characters and felt real. I liked seeing them grow closer and figure things out and also deal with some dangerous smugglers together. I liked seeing them team up and work together. There’s a bit of steam in this one as well. I liked them together and enjoyed seeing were they ended up. I also really liked the world building, it’s all very fascinating and fun to read about and I enjoyed learning more about it from the characters conversations and things they did and encountered in this book. This was such a solid start to this series and I can’t wait to read more!
That sounds like a good one.
It really was, I am glad I picked it up 🙂