My Five Word TL:DR Review : Good Things in Small Packages

Stephanie Burgis is an author who never lets me down and I have to give a little shout out for her Regency Dragons Series which I absolutely love, Scales and Sensibility and Claws and Contrivances.  She’s a wonder at quirky comedy of manners type series and combining period charm with fantasy elements.  I couldn’t wait to tuck into A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience and discover her latest concoction involving a vampire and his new wife.

Set in the Victorian period (I think, my knowledge of such is sketchy so feel free to correct me) which feels fitting given that the hullabaloo surrounding vampires seemed to really boom around that time, the story brings to us two very easy to like characters.  Lord Riven of Shadowcroft Manor, the said vampire of our story, finds himself married, in a very hasty fashion to Margaret Dunhaven, who has equally been pushed into this most unlikely arrangement – she’s furious and the fact that a decent cup of tea is impossible to locate, well, tempers are frayed to say the least.

Margaret and Lord Riven, soon discover that although, on the face of it, their marriage seemed imperative, it now appears that they both may have been duped and once the outrage simmers a little they set out on a little adventure in search of freedom.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot.  What worked for me with this particular story was the two central characters.  Margaret is a forthright, speak your mind, woman and an academic constantly in search of knowledge whose hustle and bustle creates some crazy situations.  Lord Riven is a long lived vampire who has a very interesting backstory surrounding a gem known as the Rose of Normandy, not to mention he has an almost inexhaustible supply of patience which does come in very handy.

This is a little gem of a story.  Beautifully written, captivating and with a budding romance slowly steeping between our two main characters.  My only real complaint – like Oliver, I would like more please.  I’m rather hopeful that this is a precursor to something else coming our way.  This world and these characters could easily blossom into their own full length novel or maybe a series of adventures combining Margaret’s smarts and Lord Riven’s knowledge of history.  Please lets make it happen.

I’ll end this here – this is a short story and a little dinky review – the length is certainly not a reflection of my feelings for the story – this is a gem.

I received a copy courtesy of the author for which my thanks  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4 of 5 stars