A Touch of Magic
Grade : B-

I have heard comments from some readers who say that while they enjoy Regencies, they sometimes get a little tired of the same old setting. You know the one - Lords and Ladies at play in London during the Season. One aspect in favor of A Touch of Magic is that it's not typical - most of it is set on a farm in Exmoor.

Lord Adam Cresswell is the second son of the Duke of Bellmont. He has been fighting in the Peninsular Wars and has come home to find his father insistent that he marry some silly little chit. He is weary and angry at how the government is treating former soldiers less fortunate than he, yet is powerless to lend them aid. And, Adam is suffering from guilt. He won the deed to a farm from a man while playing hazard (which is not a card game, by the way) and the man later killed himself. Adam decides to go to the farmer's widow and return the deed.

Larkspur Farm is owned by Fiona Haines. She is the illegitmate daughter of one of the infamous Derry women (a woman made pregnant after an passionate affair with a nobleman who then left her and the child on their own). Fiona is the first of the Derry women to marry in generations. It was her husband Buckley who lost the farm to Adam - a fact of which Fiona is unaware. When Adam comes to her house, she thinks he is an unemployed soldier and offers him a job as a farm hand. Adam, who is struck by her beauty, accepts.

Adam and Fiona make a good team. She is intelligent and full of curiousity about the world and listens with great pleasure to Adam's tales of London. He enjoys the farmwork and his skill with horses serves them well when he and Fiona take the Exmoor ponies to the fair to sell them.

Adam feels a growing attraction for Fiona and at first thinks about offering to make her his mistress, but as he grows to know her better he realizes that she is fiercely proud of her respectablity. Fiona is the first respectable Derry woman in generations and will not give that up even though she is beginning to feel a grand passion for Adam. Also, as Adam falls more and more in love with Fiona, he realizes that there are real obstacles to a marriage between them - Duke's sons do not marry farmer's widows especially if they are illegitimate.

There was a lot I liked about A Touch of Magic. The rural setting was described beautifully, especially the scenes at the fair. Both Adam and Fiona were well done and engaging characters. It was a revelation for Adam to meet a woman of the "lower classes" who was intelligent and interesting and could engage in a serious conversation, unlike the suitable but silly girl his father wanted him to marry.

However, the book ended too abruptly. There were developements that led to conflicts, and then, just as things were getting interesting, there was the happy ending. This is one book that could have benefitted from a few more chapters.

If you are looking for a Regency Romance that is a bit out of the ordinary try A Touch of Magic. Despite its too abrupt ending, its interesting characters and unusual setting will appeal to readers who are looking for something Regency, but different.

Reviewed by Ellen Micheletti
Grade : B-
Book Type: Regency Romance

Sensuality: Kisses

Review Date : April 30, 1999

Publication Date: 1999

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Ellen Micheletti

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