This one took me a little longer to get to than I’d have liked, but I wanted to make sure that I read Mortal Follies before I started this one. I didn’t realize that it was the second in the series when I requested it.
Thankfully I really quite enjoyed Mortal Follies, and so I was excited to move along to this one afterwards.
Thanks to the author, as well as Random House/Del Rey for the review copy!
The year is 1815, and Mr. John Caesar is determined to orchestrate a successful coming-out for his younger sister, Mary. Despite his best efforts, he is thwarted by the various interventions of a ragtag regiment of soldiers, a mysterious military cult, and a malicious fairy godmother.
When Mary is cursed by the fair folk, the dandyish Mr. Caesar is forced to work with the stolidly working-class—yet inescapably heroic—Captain James to rescue her. While Mr. Caesar is no stranger to dallying with soldiers, until now he’s never expected one to stay. Or wanted one to. But even if the captain felt the same, there’d be no chance of anything lasting between them. After all, he and Mr. Caesar come from different worlds.
And lately, other worlds are the last thing either of them want to be dealing with . . .
This is the story of John Caesar, who is trying to help his sister Mary have a successful debut. When she is cursed by fairies, he works with Captain James to rescue her, and many shenanigans come to pass along the way.
Mortal Follies took me a little while to get into because I wasn’t sure that I liked the narration by Puck, but this one grabbed me and had me giggling from the very beginning. Even the dedication “My Lord Oberon, I don’t know how much longer I can take this” made me giggle, and that was before the story even started.
I loved the character of Captain James, because just his manner of speaking made me laugh at times. He is a soldier through and through and as such is rather crass, compared to Mr. Ceasar’s more refined gentleman’s speech. I also really enjoyed how the relationship between Mr. Ceasar and Captain James evolved almost without either of them realizing it. At least, that’s what it seemed like to me. It was adorable. The Irregulars were also a great part of this story for me. I especially liked Sal and Kumar.
To be honest, this series isn’t my favorite by Alexis Hall but it’s definitely worth reading, even for the often silly narration by one Robin Goodfellow. I’d definitely say pick this one up if you’re a fan of historical romance. 4/5 stars!~
superstardrifter 
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