Brockway, Connie - So Enchanting

Francesca Brown was half of a husband-and-wife team of spiritualists, but after Lord Greyson Sheffield exposed her as being a fraud, she retreated to a small town in Scotland to watch over young Amelie Chase. Several years later, Grey makes his way to Little Firkin with his nephew Hayden in tow. Amelie and Hayden promptly fall in love as Grey tries to reconcile the emminently practical, sarcastic, and skeptical Fanny Walcott with the fey creature he knew before.

I was so disappointed when I first heard about this book: Yes, Connie Brockway was returning to historicals (yay!), but the book was set in Scotland with magic. Never a good sign. But I found it on the library shelf and figured I could always chuck it at something if I hated it. Lucky for me, because this is incredibly charming and funny. There are no mystical Scottish powers, no macho Scottish lairds, and despite the back cover trying to bill the book as a thriller-type adventure ("unseen enemy," "danger and desire" what?), it is a romantic comedy through and through. It reminds me a great deal of Brockway's The Bridal Season, albeit with even less angst.

That said, I am bothered by the portrayal of the residents of Little Firkin; we don't see much of them, but they are largely consigned to being broad comic relief, continuing that wonderful romance tradition of only allowing upper-class characters to be fully fleshed. Of course, if you are lower class and you are the hero or the heroine, you may get good characterization, but only because you are marrying "up," and quite frequently because you have secret upper-class blood flowing through your veins. Because, you know, blood always runs true...

I'm slightly mollified because it is a comedy and because Grammy Beadle is awesome, but YMMV.

While Grey and Fanny have a little angst, most of the book is about their verbal sparring, which delights me. It is actually funny! I actually like both of the characters! I can actually see why they're attracted to each other! It is sad that this is fairly rare in romances for me. I also love the portrayal of Amelie and Hayden, both of whom are very young and very much in love. They're your more standard romance novel protagonists, and it's great how Brockway and Grey and Fanny poke fun at them, even as we get to see how Amelie will most likely grow up to be a very cool woman.

Overall, everything is so charming and funny and cute! Even the threats on Amelie's life! I'm so glad I picked this up. It completely lives up to the title.

The excerpt on Brockway's website gives a very good idea of the overall tone of the book.