The Sweet Rowan

One of the best romantic novels I have read in along while!
I loved everything about this book, the plot, the characters, the writing - it is all so very good. Even some twists and turns in there!
There is a reason Keira Dominguez books get 5 stars- they earn every one. I've found a new favorite author!
Aside from some minor grammatical and spelling errors, it is solid, I cannot find anything negative here.
Highly recommend!

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Fantasy and Regency Romance combined, sign me up!

Due to an unexpected accident, Penny Thornton has lost her magic. She used to have the power to fly into the air, but now she’s earthbound and at a loss. When a letter from her old governess comes laden with magic, Penny is determined to find the source to try to restore her own. Stealing her governess’s identity, Penny heads off to the wilds of Scotland to try to find a way to reclaim her lost magic and finds a broken family in need of more than she is prepared to give, instead.

I was prepared for this to be far more gothic in nature than it was, but it actually has the pacing and lightness of a novel from the Regency era. If you like Jane Austen and want more of the same gentle sort of story only with modern language and writing style, this book is for you. It’s most like Persuasion in that it is very reflective and focused on small details that add up to something larger, small incidents and small kindnesses or slights that seem very important and strongly felt. It also reminded me a bit of both Anne Bronte’s Agnes Grey (a story about another governess facing extreme challenges) and Charlotte Bronte’s Villette in tone, but again, with totally modern language.

I would actually classify this far more like sweet romance than the fantasy and SF that it came up with as a category on NetGalley. The magic is a major driver of the plot, but the relationships among the characters are what make this book work so well. And people who are here for magic shouldn’t be driven away by the romance aspects because there are a couple of smooches and that’s it. It’s all slow-burn unresolved sexual tension and well done at that.

Dominguez is wonderful at characterization. The relationships in this story seem earned. Nobody is an obvious stereotype, even the person who turns out to be the villain of the piece, and it’s a wonderfully subtle sort of villainy, too. Kudos. The children, who are often grating in this sort of story, are actually well-rounded human beings and not just plot devices. They are all given moments to shine as individuals and reasons for us to care for them.

I’ve read a lot of books and I saw a lot of the plot of this coming a mile away, but I still enjoyed the journey to get to the dénouement and that speaks to the author’s skill. Penny is very young and you enjoy watching her figure it out even if you already have.

The one thing that is really bad about this book is the editing. There are egregious errors in the text, including continuity errors with character names, spelling, punctuation, paragraphs, and other really obvious things that should have been caught by any competent editor. Things that would have been caught by spellcheck or a run through any online editing tool. Just pony up for the pro version of Grammarly and you wouldn’t have had 90% of this. If your publisher doesn’t have your back or doesn’t employ editors with the skill set to find comma errors, spelling errors, and continuity errors, it’s up to you as author to give them a completely clean manuscript. The issues were so frequent that it kept pulling me out of the story and that’s a shame because the story is terrific.

If you’re not a former English teacher like me, you probably will be less annoyed with the errors and will enjoy this book even more than I did. I will look for more of this author’s work.

I have absolutely no idea why I requested this book from NetGalley but I’m so glad I did. It was a sweet historical romance in a fabulous Scottish setting with subtle, understated magic which charmed me down to my toes. I’ve already bought Dominguez’s two other novels, set in the same universe, and I can’t wait to read them.

----'Crusty Scots Widower Requires English Governess with a View to Matrimony.'----

The year is 1816 and Penny Thornton is eighteen. She describes herself as an Englishwoman, a traveler, a wearer of silks and a wielder of sky magic. After an accident, though, her magic is lost and she’d do anything to get it back, including assuming her governess’ identity and jumping on the next boat to dreary Scotland. It’s unfortunate that she doesn’t really like children, but needs must and magic promises.

----"I’m in hell.” “No, miss. You’re in Scotland.”----

Malcolm Ross is twenty-nine, four years widowed, and father to three children: Ewan, eight, Robbie, seven, and Kathleen, four. Master of Coille na Cyarlin, he does his best for his land and his dependents, but both seem to be suffering no matter his efforts.

----"You didn’t pack enough twine or tea to be prepared for our wild ways.” “No one could be prepared,” she said, turning her neck and glaring at the schoolroom door. “Have the children put you off teaching?” Her look was direct. “I’m not sure they haven’t put me off children.”----

After a rocky start, Penny finds herself alone, shunned by her charges and distanced from both the masters and the servants of the household. The weather is dreary (it isScotland after all) and there’s barely a hint of magic to be found. But children have a magic of their own, particularly children who tells stories like Robbie, and Malcolm, with his easy smile and his propensity to act play-frame, is hard for even the hardest of hearts to resist.

----"You must be prepared to step into my shoes if my energy flags. You’ll be my…What’s the word I want, Malcolm? Proxy? Secretary?” “With that look on your face?” he chuckled. “The word is victim.”----

Charming children and handsome masters aside, I adored the historic, rural, Scottish setting and the frequent reference to the uneasy alliance between Scotland and England. I, myself, hadn’t fully appreciated the stark differences between the countries until I spent four years at university there and fell in love with the Scottish brogue and the Gaelic culture. I laughed every time Robbie made up a new ‘Scots Gaelic’ word or pretended to spit at the mere mention of England and the English. We really are a lot of pansies by comparison.

----'Robbie had her transcribe what he claimed was an old Scots proverb, Sasse hour vestige ur a mslain Sasse, which he declared meant, “An Englishman fried in butter is still an Englishman.”’----

The magic included in the story was…well…magical. It was a small and subtle thing, as magic tends to be in magical realist books, and perfectly suited the historic setting and the characters involved. In this world, few know of magic or can wield it. Penny’s sister has magic and so does she. Hers allowed her to rise, rise, rise into the sky - not to fly, but merely to float and to wallow in the simple pleasure of doing so. Without it, she feels lost - not herself. Penny’s search for her magic, as though it were a corporeal thing, reminded me fondly of Peter Pan’s search in Wendy’s drawers for his shadow - a slightly ludicrous image but utterly compelling.

----”’Welcome to the village of Slinch Bickey. Cottages to let.’ Lord, I’ll be a laughingstock.”----

My one disappointment/frustration was that Penny was rather blind when it came to the antagonist and her motives but that’s a minor thing really and can be forgive in the grand scheme of things.

Would I recommend this book to others? Absolutely, though I would warn that it’s more historical romance than fantasy. Would I read it again? Yes, whenever I needed something warm and comforting. Would I read more by Keira Dominguez? Well, I’ve already bought her other books so I guess that’s a solid yes.

Despite the books not being linked as a series, I think they'll be better understood when read in order.

This is Penny's story, who was introduced in the first book, Her Caprice. Following a fire accident, she loses her powers, and is desperate to get them back. When she accidentally touches a letter from Scotland, she becomes convinced she must go there to retrieve her magic.

When she meets Malcom, she mistakes him for her an employee when in fact he's her employer. He's the widower with three children in need of a governess, and his late wife's mother lives with them too.

At first, the children and their grandmother don't want to like Penny since she's English, but they slowly learn to like her when they see who devoted she is. Penny fumbles a lot, as she doesn't any training, but she learns to love the children and genuinely wants the best for them .

As for Malcom, he holds back from trusting her, but the more he sees how she cares for his children, the closer he wants to get to her.

It's a clean Regency with subtle magic. The historical and geographic setting are very well done, and the villain was truly perfidious.

Very sweet ending.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley and his is my honest opinion.