Tressport Magic #1

ARC/ALC provided by NetGalley and LibroFM

Author: Bita Behzadi

Narrators: Samara. Naeyemi and E. M. Wylde

Thanks, @bitabehz, @netgalley and @libroFM for the copies.

1905. Tressport. Meet Josephine Pinova, a university scholar hopeful, bored to tears in her work as a typist while she prepares for the postgraduate application process in the study of Magic. She desperately needs a book that has been checked out forever by a ‘Mr Clarke’. She writes him a letter and that sets of an early 1900s ‘You’ve Got Mail”.  When she loses her job at the insurance company, the Fates intervene and she is hired at the local (and one of the last apothecaries), where broody and dismissive Aufidius Reed also works. When she crosses that door, she has no idea that he is Mr. Clarke. And he has no idea that the annoying Josie is actually the lovely ‘Miss Davis’. 

As days go by and they have to deal with numerous threats and hardships at the apothecary, they start to see a kinship and form a reluctant partnership, while Mr. Clarke and Miss Davis fall in love through the exchange of letters. 

The audiobook is beautifully narrated by two new narrators to me: Samara Naeyemi and E.M. Wylde. Samara’s expressive voice is wonderful and her performance is mesmerizing. EM has a warm, captivating tone that embodies all the turmoil in Reeds life. They are a joy to listen to and I will look for more of their narration work.

This book is sort of hard to categorize genre wise. It’s a cozy fantasy, witchy, paranormal, historical, closed door romance. It will definitely hook those looking for fantasy and those looking for a sweet, slow burn, delicate romance. There’s a lot of world building as is expected in a first in a fantasy series. 

What you get: secret identities, a sort of epistolary romance, whimsical and magical elements, a ‘historical romance’, a little dislike to love and a dash of mystery. 

Content notes (including but not limited to): mentions of loss of parents, complicated family dynamics, misogyny, betrayal, murder, fire

Story

Narration