Tea and Sympathetic Magic

Teacup Magic #1

by Tansy Rayner Roberts

There's nothing more dangerous than an eligible duke...

Every unmarried young lady of the Teacup Isles wants to marry the Duke of Storm, except Miss Mnemosyne Seabourne, who is quite content on the shelf, thank you very much. All she wants is a quiet life and a good book.

At a house party full of ruthless debutantes willing to employ sneaky sympathetic magic to win a husband of quality, Mneme joins forces with an enigmatic spellcracker to rescue the duke from being married against his will, and to find out who is responsible for his abduction.

Can Mneme save the Duke of Storm without becoming his bride? Will this caper ruin her reputation forever? Can teacups and hedgehogs be used as projectile weapons in emergencies? Why are attractive men more devastating when they roll up their sleeves?

If you enjoy Regency house parties, witty romantic banter and high society sorcery, you'll adore this magical comedy of manners cozy mystery novella.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Novella, Historical, Magic, Historical Fantasy, Short Stories

72 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

Tansy Rayner Roberts is a fantasy and science fiction author who lives in southern Tasmania, somewhere between the tall mountain with snow on it, and the beach that points towards Antarctica.

Tansy has a PhD in Classics (with a special interest in poisonous Roman ladies), and an obsession with Musketeers.

You can hear Tansy talking about Doctor Who on the Verity! podcast. She also reads her own stories on the Sheep Might Fly podcast.

Reviews

[Intisar Khanani · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful and lighthearted romp through a regency-feel fantasy alternate reality (maybe not regency? Apologies, I really don't know my British eras, but you've got house and garden parties, okay?). When I say lighthearted, though, I don't mean that deeper issues aren't touched on; there's just such a lovely, whimsical feel to the story overall. A quick, fun read!

[Lata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mnemosyne "Mneme" Seaborne is so over the Season and her mother's frantic and determined efforts to bind her to Meneme's cousin the Duke. Meneme would far rather be back at her home with a good book. Unfortunately, Mneme must attend a house party, and while there, she notices the Duke's Spellcracker, the interesting and interested Mr. Thornbury, hard at work breaking love charms created by other ladies vying for the Duke.

I liked this a lot. Mnemosyne is terrific, funny, sarcastic, and a reader! Also, the setting and supporting characters are great, with a really nice mix of historical detail, humour and magic giving the Teacup Isles a nice Regency-like realism, but with spells.

[Suzannah Rowntree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty, beautifully written gaslamp fantasy novella that was a hoot from beginning to end.

[Emma Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread in March 2021 - enchanting, it's already a comfort reread.



--- Original review in January 2021
WHAT IS THIS. Oh my gosh, wow. Why am I only hearing of this now? This was utterly perfect.

Mneme, is a bookish young lady in a magical version of Regency England, she adores books and libraries and she's had enough of picnics and magical croquet. One day, the Duke is captured through a portal so she teams up with the man in charge of the Duke's protection, Mr Thornbury, whose job it is to ensure that the Duke marries for love and not because he's been given a love potion.

This is a novella that's so divine and has everything I want in a story that I immediately wished this was a novel. I can see myself rereading this all the time, it was SO fun, with teacups, enchanted wedding cake, sympathetic magic (through letters), libraries, a terrific proposal and cosy fluff. If you love Sorcery and Cecelia, get your hands on this. Wow, what a gem.

[AStar Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Anna Hepworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantasy, magic, politics, romance, intrigue, and a happy ending -- this is an adorable book. I love the world-building, the writing style, the characters, and the beautifully paced plot. There is a villain, but one that can at least be understood and sympathised with, because yes, the strictures of a faux-regency society on the behaviour of women make life difficult.

This is a very quick read, so I did so when I got my hands on hard copies of this and the sequel (which I promptly started as soon as I finished this one).

[Sadie Slater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tea and Sympathetic Magic is a Regency-romance-with-magic-and-more-liberal-social-values novella by Tansy Rayner Roberts. It's set in the Teacup Isles, where the main pursuits of fashionable society are garden parties, house parties and magically-enhanced croquet, all pursued as part of the quest for every eligible young woman to secure a good marriage. Mnemosyne Seabourne, however, would prefer to be at home with a good book, and, whatever her mamma might want, has no interest in marrying her cousin the Duke of Storm. When the Duke disappears from his own house party one night, she and Mr Thornbury, the spellcracker whose job is to find and dismantle the charms deployed by the female guests to win the Duke's affections, find themselves leading a mission to rescue him from a forced elopement.

Tea and Sympathetic Magic is charming, funny, and just the kind of cosy fluff that you might well want to read given the state of the world right now. I particularly liked that (with the exception of the villain of the piece) everyone is nice and even the various rivals for the Duke's hand are happy to work together when needed rather than sniping at each other. The ebook is currently only available to Roberts' Patreon subscribers, but is due to be released for general sale later this year.

[Ozsaur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light fluff. Had the start of some cool world building, but wasn't long enough to explore it. Likeable characters, and a silly action scene. Perfect rainy day story.

[Erika Ensign · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borrowed from my Recently Read podcast and blog review:

If anyone had told Miss Mneme Seabourne that she should grow up to be the sort of person who was bored of garden parties, she would have declared then and there that growing up was off the table.

That's the first sentence of Tea and Sympathetic Magic by Tansy Rayner Roberts.

After a rough week (let's face it, a rough year) and after reading some dark and tragic books, I decided to treat myself to one of my friend Tansy's novellas. Tea and Sympathetic magic did not disappoint. It was an hour of my time well spent that cheered me greatly at a time I really needed it.

And if you happen to be listening to this podcast before June 20, 2021, check out the show notes for a link to where you can get this story for free from bookfunnel. (No, that's not how I got it -- I'm a subscriber to Tansy's Patreon, so I got it via my patronage there, and I just happened to read it right before it became available for free. Lucky for you! Unless you're listening in the future, in which case, I hope it's nice there!)

Anyway, regency-plus-magic isn't a genre I've really dived into before, and I guess I still haven't because this isn't technically a Regency setting. I'm pretty sure "The Teacup Isles" don't exist, nor does the kind of magic that will allow you to enchant a whole wedding full of guests using spells cast on desserts, but this setting *feels* very Regency.

Miss Seabourne is forced to attend yet another garden party where her marriage-pushy mother hopes she'll snag the eye of the Duke, but she wants nothing more than to retire to the library with a cup of tea and a good book.

The fellow who does catch her eye is the Duke's "spellcracker" -- the person hired to find and dispel any love charms or potions the marriageable ladies may have brought to the gathering. It's very important, after all, for the Duke to choose his own wife.

If that little bit of information doesn't hook you, then this story won't be your bag. If it's intriguing, I highly suggest you brew your own cup of tea and settle in with this delightful book. By the end, you may want to skip the accompanying pastries though.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella, coming in at fewer than 70 pages in my copy, seems more like part of a story, or an episode, introducing a Regency-era like society where privileged young women, although some like the main character, feel put upon with society commitments during 'courting' season when time could be better spent in a library. Magic is added to the mix and even in this setting, gentlemen are permitted to use quick magical transportation while ladies are not. I guess this guarantees lots of women in the marriage market since options are limited without marriage. With the short length, there's more describing the settings and introducing the characters than any in depth character development. My rating is 4 stars for a light-hearted (at least on the surface) magical mystery that's solved by the end of the tale.

[Laura Bang · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was delightful! Very much looking forward to more!

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a cup of tea, forcibly applied to a powerful piece of magic, will have little to no effect. It is, however, a rare spell that is powerful enough to withstand several dozen full teacups of hot tea, thrown with gumption."

[Gordon]

This is cream-puff of a novella is quite knowingly silly (almost enough to have been written on nitrous oxide) but somehow its wittiness and warm-heartness are quite good fun. The regency-fantasy genre seems to have exploded lately and a lot of it is desperately earnest, so a book that giggles at that earnestness is not at all a bad thing.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun short story. Very Pride and Prejudice-esque with magic.

The author is Australian not British, but she nails the cheeky British humour here which I really enjoyed. The characters are fun and the story - although very brief at just 79 pages - moved along at a fast pace with plenty of excitement. I enjoyed this story.

[Katharine (Ventureadlaxre) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another re-read. I love everything in this so much!

[Fred Langridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Total fluff; regency-romance-style fantasy novella. A pleasant way to pass an hour (or possibly less than an hour.)

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why on earth does this have an average of four stars!?!?!? I was going to give it 1.5 but felt generous and rounded it up to 2.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, whimsical treat

[Clarissa Gosling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of fun. I loved the main character. It felt a bit rushed in places, especially the end, but the great banter more than made up for that!

[Nicole (bookwyrm) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really fun fantasy-of-manners which mirrors the Regency romances we know and love... but with magic, tea, and croquet. This is a short tale (novelette length maybe?) but a really enjoyable one. Perfect for fans of Stephanie Burgis.

[Mel]

A frivolous, frothy sort of fantasy of manners. Bite-sized in length, perfect for tea and petit fours.

In an alternate Regency period, with magic portals and enchanted croquet, eager ladies are armed with charms and poppets to secure an eligible Duke.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and frothy - and I'm pleased to hear there's a sequel coming soon, as I so want to read more set in this world!

I got this ebook as a Patreon reward.

[Catherine Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun combination of Regency England and magic wielders.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick (68-page) gaslamp fantasy confection. Your standard alt-19th century British Isles setting, portal and poppet magic, and garden and house parties at which young well-bred ladies are thrown (with or without their consent) at eligible dukes. Our heroine and the aforementioned duke’s handsome spellbreaker must save the duke from an unwanted marriage. The romance is more of a subplot here.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

When people ask me about auto-buy authors, I always name the same ones. However, I should really be thinking about adding Roberts to that list. As soon as Bookspout lets me know that there is an ARC available, I click download. I don't read blurbs, I don't care about deadlines. I'll just make time! And today I didn't really feel like reading much after dinner, so I needed a quick and short read and all of a sudden I remembered I had this book on my iPad.

And what a lovely short story is this then! The atmosphere in this story is absolutely perfect and in a way also hilarious. Without info dumping or over-explaining Roberts manages to show us a lot of this society, its customs, its rules and the things that seem to be really important to those people. And even though there is an entire new world full of magic introduced to us, we have to discover the rules and what's what through observation. I love it.

On top of that there was quite a nice plot that helped demonstrate this world and its magic. Although it's only a short story, I never had the feeling that the plot moved too fast or that too much was crammed into too few pages. I quite enjoyed the pacing of the story. It skipped the parts that were not important or simply more of the same, but it took its time to show us the parts that were quite influential on our characters or our world.

Speaking of those characters. They were without a doubt my favorite part of this story. Of course, I haven't seen too much of each character and yet I already like how unique and different they all are. On top of that I already start to get quite attached to them. Especially our main heroine and the guy who might have captured her heart are quite enchanting and easy to like. Mostly because they are not simply following the rules, but are willing to challenge them when needed.

I would really love to see more of these awesome characters in this awesome world in the future!

[Isa (Pages Full of Stars) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so lovely! A historical fantasy set in a re-imagined regency era (I assume), where magic exists but the social rules stay pretty similar. It reminded me of Stephanie Burgis' books and I enjoyed it just as much :)

It's a very short read (too short, if you asked me!), but it's long enough to get to know the characters and have a well developed story. It's full of humour, but I also appreciated that the main character was a big bookworm :) And of course, the magical setting! I adored the idea of the islands and all of the descriptions were lovely.

I'm excited to read the second book and I hope it will be as good!


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[Raj · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's very little to this short novella of an eligible young lady trying to not get married to the most eligible bachelor in the land, and teaming up with a handsome spellcracker to save him from kidnap and being magicked into marriage. It's very fluffy, but a lot of fun. It's part of the magical Regency romance genre but very knowingly pokes fun at that genre.

I'm not sure I can take any book that's set in a place called the "Teacup Isles" seriously, but then the author doesn't really take it seriously either. Although despite it all, the book never mocks the genre but lovingly sends it up. I like that because it's in an alternate world, although it liberally borrows from the British Regency period, it isn't bound by it, and so things that don't fit in that period (for example, same-sex relationships) are present and don't feel out of place.

Great fun, with a protagonist I liked. A great antidote to 2021.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awwww, this was a delicious cup of hot chocolate in book form. Short and frothy, with dry humour underpinning the whole - from the list of Dramatis Personae at the start, to the final matter-of-fact proposal scene at the end.

After a moment's consideration, Mneme decided she could risk being compromised, just a little. If it was ever going to happen to her, she wanted it to be in a library.

The concept of each noble estate being its own tiny island, all of them together making up the Teacup Isles was super fun.

I loved that at every instant where secrets could be kept, the heroine cheerfully told people what was going on and recruited ever more ladies to the cause.

Everyone here is having a fun time, including me.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, Tansy! This book is a meringue. Light, fluffy, sweet, and deeply enjoyable when done well. I always appreciate when people with a deep fondness for how ABSURD regency romance can be just decide to take it on and run with it.

[Cara (Wilde Book Garden) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved, loved this! Clever writing, fantastic main character, great romance subplot, and a top-tier girlsquad. And I’m always a fan of magic used for social commentary 👏

CW: Threat of forced marriage and incest (similar to kissing cousins, but not)

[LiB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun fantasy novella. There was some interesting world-building, so I hope there will be more of the Teacup Isles to visit.