Claws and Contrivances

What makes it funny?

Rose’s carefully underlined Grand Plan stays blank while her relatives require help with everything else. Her aunt overlooks a toddler painting the wall with tea, then urgently requests advice about the heraldry of a fictional dark knight. The household can make a writing problem seem more pressing than domestic damage.

The comedy at work

Rose can tackle other people’s emergencies more readily than her own uncertain future. Her relatives apply practical concern to Gothic fantasies: when Rose wonders who would feed her if monsters bit off her fingers, Georgie volunteers because Beth would cry into the food and ruin the flavor.

Try this if…

An affectionate, disorganized household gives this Regency romance much of its appeal. Readers drawn to a determined heroine and an easily distracted scholar can follow their schemes as small dragons bring them together.

Good to know

This second Regency Dragons novel can be read on its own. Rose is grieving her parents and separated from her sisters; threats to pet dragons and a menacing human neighbor occur within the cozy setting. There is also a sapphic side romance.