This took me a while to get into. I probably picked it up about 20 times before I felt like things started flowing a little more smoothly. While I do love fantasy, it’s not a genre I pick up frequently, so the world-building part can take awhile for me to get into. I would feel like I’d been reading forever and I’d only made 2 percent progress. I also feel like too much of the world was inferred, and it was a little difficult to grasp at times.

That said, I ended up liking the story overall. Dellaria “Delly” Wells is our MC. She’s a “gutter” fire witch looking for work in Leiscourt. She answers an ad for a female bodyguard, and finds herself as part of a team of women paid to protect a soon-to-be bride from potential assassins.

I love that this book centers on a group of strong, competent women. I loved seeing the relationship between Delly and Winn evolve and flourish. I liked that there was a lot of humor mixed in with the story. While at first I was v creeped out by Buttons, he actually grew on me a lot! It seems like the door is open for a sequel or possible series, and I’d be open to reading more about these characters. Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for an eARC of this title.

"Sparks fly in this enchanting fantasy novel from the author of Unnatural Magic when a down-and-out fire witch and a young gentlewoman join forces against a deadly conspiracy.

Dellaria Wells, petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch, is behind on her rent in the city of Leiscourt - again. Then she sees the “wanted” sign, seeking Female Persons, of Martial or Magical ability, to guard a Lady of some Importance, prior to the celebration of her Marriage. Delly fast-talks her way into the job and joins a team of highly peculiar women tasked with protecting their wealthy charge from unknown assassins.

Delly quickly sets her sights on one of her companions, the confident and well-bred Winn Cynallum. The job looks like nothing but romance and easy money until things take a deadly (and undead) turn. With the help of a bird-loving necromancer, a shapeshifting schoolgirl, and an ill-tempered reanimated mouse named Buttons, Delly and Winn are determined to get the best of an adversary who wields a twisted magic and has friends in the highest of places."

Magic! Magic magic magic magic magic!

I loved this! Delly was a such a wonderful complicated disaster of a heroine and the story, romance, and found friends all made me happy.

This was a fun jaunt into an alternate earth with magic. Quite enjoyable love story within as well!!

I couldn't make it through this one.  I tried.  The premise of this sounded so good.  I'm all for fantasy set in another world, but there seemed to be a made up language too.  It was too much for my brain to handle.   And there were too many tangents and possible stories introduced in an early part of the book.

My overall rating was that this book was just 'okay.' There are many of this type--gaslight blending historical with the fantastical. This story line was interesting but could have added more physical action. What makes this unique is the LGBTQ+ addition to the narrative.

I was really excited for this book going into it. The first chapter, we meet Delly, a drunk fire witch who can't seem to get through life without trouble knocking on her door. But, when she gets an opportunity to act as a bodyguard for a rich young lady preparing to marry, things look like they're going to turn around.

The first chapter had me rolling with laughter. In fact, the whole book had this edge of comedy that I really liked. I can really appreciate when a fantastical book can also be comical. It helped lighten up the mood, especially with any scene containing Button, the skeletal, spirit infected rat. But one thing that really hindered my reading was the extremely long chapters.

I'm not sure what it is about adult fiction, but there's no reason for me to read 10% of the book in some cases in one chapter. It dragged the book along, even during intense action scenes, and it felt like everything was going on with no break.

Excluding the pacing issue, I loved the plot, I loved the characters, and I really liked the humor. I think that's the biggest thing that saved this book because each moment had me grinning or laughing throughout. Without it, I feel like I would have been sucked into the endless chapters and gotten lost amongst the onslaught of events happening all at once.

If the chapters were just a little shorter, I think I would have loved this book! But, I have to give it a 3 // 5 stars for the dragging pace and slow plot.

Of all the books I’ve read so far this month Dellaria  is my favorite character. She’s a thief of questionable morals, fun, vulgar, a fast talker, caring, compassionate and a Fire Witch.

Dellaria has hit rock bottom. Not only is she late on her rent but also needs to find her mom a place to live before she succumbs to the drip living in abandoned buildings with a bad crowd. She answers an ad to bodyguard a high society young woman who is facing death threats leading up to her wedding day. Not particularly fond of risking her life, she manages to stick to the job and before you know it she’s invested.

The Ruthless Lady’s Guide To Wizardry by @cmwaggoner is a wonderful entertaining story involving a group of female bodyguards each with their own unique skill, a budding queer romance and twists, a mystery filled with adventure and magic.
The pacing and writing style took a bit to get used to but once I got acclimated to the clever writing style it was a smooth read.

Looking forward to the second book!
#theruthlessladysguidetowizardry
#netgalley #berkleybuddyreads #berkleywritesstrongwomen

This is so boring and I'm not hooked on the voice after 30%. Some books just aren't for everyone, unfortunately. DNF.

When I read the book title, I was immediately thrilled to read this book. And after reading the book summary, I knew that I was going to love it because I always love reading about empowered women falling in love or building their dreams. 
So I had expectations when I started The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry. And boy, I have a lot to say. I do not want to bash but I was very disappointed when I finished this book. I immediately thought I could not finish this book. It was a struggle from the start. I don't know why but I just could not connect to the character at all. Like I was trying my hardest in any way but I could not. And from there, it went downhill. And the romance was barely there. Next time, I need to lower my expectation when I start discovering new books from their titles or covers.

not my cup of tea. the writing is very cutesy and quirky, which is just not my flavor of historical fiction that I like to read. i know several people this would appeal to, so i might return to it in the summertime when i am usually in the mood for lighter reads.

I just enjoyed the hell out of this book. That’s it … C. M. Waggoner is officially on my auto-buy list!

Set in the same world as her first book, Unnatural Magic, this was an excellent return to a world full of magic, wizards, thieves, necromancers, trolls and assassins. Excellent world building, and character development makes this charming book a must read.

Our main character ‘Delly’ is a delight. Tough talking, but also incredibly kind, the author makes her a very well-rounded individual. She navigates the world struggling with the specter of a lifetime of poverty, and the terrible insecurity that comes of dealing with a drug addicted parent. She’s charming, funny, foul-mouthed, impulsive, annoying and you can’t help hoping every one of her dreams come true, even though the life she’s lived so far barely allows her to imagine a better life.

That she finds such a wonderful potential love match is a delight. I love the way that same-sex relationships exist in this world without issues. No one ridicules them, no one harasses them. It’s lovely.

If you read the first book by Ms. Waggoner then you will love this one too. Like I said, I can’t wait to see what else she comes up with. I feel like she left the door wide open for sequels to this novel in the future and I’m hoping that’s what we get.

Song for this book: A Better Son/Daughter – Rilo Kiley

Taking place in the same universe as CM Waggoner's 2019 novel, Unnatural Magic, The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry is all about a group of female magic users that band together to take down a drug dealer while solving a crime. At the center of the story is Delly Wells, a self-described "gutterwitch" who has a drip-addicted mother and can't seem to climb out of her own bottle to better her circumstances until an opportunity comes up: use her firewitch powers to protect a high-profile bride-to-be. As part of the magic user guard contingent, she meets Winn, a troll magic user from a comfortable clan; she and Delly have chemistry together, and Delly figures it can't hurt to be a kept woman after the job is done, right? But things go awry, and the group is left to hunt down a murderer. CM Waggoner's gift for worldbuilding and characters who are hilarious and conflicted makes this a fantasy pick for readers who like strong female characters and medieval fantasy settings. An undead mouse is laugh-out-loud comedy relief.

DNF at 30%

I like the idea of this book and appreciate what it is trying to do, but I didn't like the execution. Delly is abrasive and her character was hard to like. I don't know if it was just me, but it felt more like this book was set in the old west rather than the Victorian era. I did like the romance that was developing though.

This was just a personal thing though, and I'm sure others will love both the book and the main character.

Thank you, Ace and Netgalley for giving me an ARC copy of this book for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings expressed are my own.
 
I found myself struggling to get through this one.  I loved this book in the beginning it was a Victorianesque story with magic. However, the pacing was super slow and it took forever for anything to happen.  Maybe I just expected it to move at a faster pace because of how it is described but I think there was more about them eating than action.    
 
I am a character-driven reader so I have to be able to at least tolerate the characters.  Delly our main character evolution is like a rollercoaster. Every time I started to like her she would do something that made me just not be able to stand her again.  Winn is wonderful but there comes a point where I just wanted to shake her and say open your eyes. Then you have Abstentia Dok who in the beginning I never would have thought I would like her and at some point (around 70%) I realized she was the only one that I really liked. 
 
The story isn’t bad it just did not jive with me.  If you like slow-paced stories I say go for it.

Unfortunately I decided to dnf this book at the 20% mark. This book didn't do anything inherently wrong, I just personally did not mesh with the writing style. I thought this book had a lot of important themes around social status and gender and had amazing casually queer representation. But despite the there being so much action in this first section, I felt like the pacing was odd and I didn't have time to get to know the characters. I'm more of a character driven reader and this was very plot heavy from what I read. I was highly anticipating this book and am really sad that it just didn't work out for me. But I truly believe this is a more a fault of my personal preferences, than the book itself.

The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner is packed with adventure, magic, intrigue, and humor. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The chapter titles are exceptionally clever. 

Dellaria Wells is a gutter witch doing anything she can to pay her rent and keep her mother out of trouble. She can put on fine airs and wheedle out of (or in to) most anything and manages to talk herself out of jail and in to an actual bodyguarding position at the same time by using her magic to set her own skirts on fire. Unfortunately, the job is not the cushy one she’d expected, and there’s a brutal murder. Chaos ensues, as does the lure of even more money and a chance at financial freedom for both Delly and her mother. There’s also the risk of death and imprisonment, along with heartache and prison.

I wasn’t quite sure what to think of this book to begin with. It has a very unusual point-of-view. Dellaria Wells is what I’d call an uneducated poor girl who has studied very hard to appear educated and rich. This gives her a very prim-sounding dialogue… until she becomes upset. Then the colorful language pops up. In both cases, she throws in a few imaginary words that sound impressive but are not in any dictionary. When called out on this fact, she ignores the jabs. It’s all very hilarious.

Another benefit of this narrator is that she’s highly unreliable. She’s a liar, a drunk, a lock-pick, and certain to set herself or others on fire if startled. She’s always one step away from ending up homeless or in jail. Yet her main motivation throughout the book is to rescue her mother from drug addition and homelessness, with the goal of one day having enough money to send her off to a country home to live out her days in comfort. She’s a compelling character with depth, and watching her grow throughout the book is heartwarming.

The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry by CM Waggoner is a magical Victorian fantasy. 

Delly is having a hard time, she in debt struggling with drinking too much and a mom that is involved with drugs. When she sees an add to protect a rich lady about to be married she jumps on the opportunity. She joins other women that are hired as well and together they fight off mythical creatures. The strong female characters in the story make this one to love. The authors use of her own made up words are a little difficult to get used to at first but then it seems to flow. This is a great book to escape into. It just released this week and is available now 😊. 

Thank you @berkleypub for the eArc in exchange for an honest review. 


#berkleywritesstrongwomen

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry is filled with spirited characters, an exciting plot all set in a charmng historical fantasy setting and is such a fun ride!!!

We follow Delly, who is quite the force of nature, as she decides to get a job guarding a high class lady in order to earn some money to help her mother, who is a drug addict and in quite dire straits. Delly is a great character, she has so much fiery spirit and is proud of her heritage of being from essentially the slums, but she is also after a 'prospect' and money. She sets her sights on Winn, a fellow bodyguard who is such a ray of sunshine. she is half-troll and from an important family so Delly is very interested in persuing a relationship. Watching Delly and Winn's affection for each grow throughout the book was so adorable to watch, I love historical romance type relationships, it just adds a whole extra layer of yearning hehe. I also liked how supportive Winn was of Delly, even when she made some questionable life choices haha. I also really loved how sex positive the book was, both in terms of sexuality and have sex with multiple partners not being stigmatised.

The plot of the book becomes so much more than just the guarding of Lady Weixin on her way to her wedding (they are trying to protect her from assasination), it eventually progresses into a sort of drug ring conspiracy and I loved how this tied into Delly's struggles for her mother and caring for someone with addiction. I also loved the group dynamic between the guards, both Delly and Winn and some of the other characters are all such icons.

The tone of the novel is also so light and humourous, I was often smiling while reading, as well as laughing out loud sometimes. The writing is over the top sometimes but I feel like this just suits the tone of the novel, feeling very period drama and austen-esque. It also kind of reminded me of Bridgerton, which I have recently become obssesed with. 

Altogether a really strong story, with characters who are very loveable, an adorable sapphic relationship and cracking dialogue.

3.5

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry is extremely successful at what it sets out to do (be a historical inspired fantasy comedy about a lowborn street witch trying to do the right thing while maybe falling in love with a classy lady half troll) so I definitely enjoyed the overall ride, but dear god was it a trudge to get into. I understand that the writing is stylized on purpose for both atmosphere and comedic effect (and once I got used to it, it was actually really funny! much laughter!!) but it took me like 35% to really feel like I had my footing.

Overall, a fun story with a very cute romance but a writing style that makes it more slow going than it needs to be.