eARC Review: Regency & Regicide by J.J. Fischer
Release date: 15 August 2024
Rating: 5/5
Synopsis: Regicide at Four. Supper Strictly at Eight.
When aspiring young novelist Miss Diana Crewe falls asleep on her manuscript in early nineteenth century England, the last thing she expects is to wake in the middle of the world she’s created…a world in which, she’s horrified to discover, she’s both venerated as a goddess and decried as a villain. Pulled into the story alongside her is her closest childhood friend and rival author, Ignatius (Nash) Sinclair, who has spent the last year keeping Diana at a distance, seeming to prefer the company of his abolitionist friends.
But when the dream doesn’t end as expected and the tumultuous world around Diana and Nash proves to be all too real, the friends must put aside their differences to find a way home…even as Diana’s budding attachment to the dashing outlaw Locke Moray rapidly erodes her desire to leave. But not all heroes are as they seem, and when the characters of Diana’s imagination overstep their bounds and threaten her very life, Diana is forced to realize that the resolution she so deeply desires might have been right in front of her this whole time…
Regency & Regicide is a standalone romantic historical fantasy adventure in which Jane Austen's Emma meets Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. J. J. Fischer is the award-winning author of Calor, which won the 2023 Realm Award Book of the Year and the Realm Award for Best Fantasy.
Review
I believe I’ve read a wide enough sampling of Fischer’s works to safely assert that anything she writes will probably be a 5-star read for me. Fischer’s writing style is nuanced while remaining accessible, and I love that when I pick up her books, they always meet my expectations for content, humor, and swoony romance. Her characters face hardships, tough battles, and immense development; yet by the end of the book, I know they’ll come through it all at the other end, as will I, safe and changed for the better.
Regency & Regicide gives readers a taste of Emma with a dash of Ivanhoe (I’ve read both—I can confirm this) but with a portal romantasy framing. Diana Crewe writes adventure stories, and she finds herself falling asleep and waking up in one of her stories—a very meta and fleshed out version of all kinds of writer anxiety, which I felt profoundly. Her childhood friend, Nash, also wakes up in this world with her, and we all know shared dreams don’t occur without some magic.
As with all of Fischer’s books, the romance is well developed and heartfelt. Diana and Nash have to grow as people as they grow together. The two love birds don’t sacrifice their morals in order to get with someone they’re lusting for, as we can find with most of the mainstream fantasy romances today. The landscape is dangerous, they don’t know whom they can trust, but they each still steer through the present catastrophes and find one another.
What a perfect book to put on a pot of tea to, settle down in the cozy fall air coming up, and relax into a dreamy state of being. I absolutely loved every word of this story and highly recommend it to every adult reader.
My sincerest thanks to J.J. Fischer for the eARC, for which I willingly and heartily give my own, honest opinion.
Readers can get this wonderful Regency-era fantasy from Amazon here (not a sponsored link) or wherever books are sold!
Comments