Whisper of Magic
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Patricia Rice weaves magical love stories” - Mary Jo Putney, NY Times Bestselling Author
Discover the second book in NY Times bestseller Patricia Rice's Unexpected Magic historical romance series!
The death of Celeste Rochester’s father on the voyage from Jamaica to London leaves her and her young siblings nearly penniless in a foreign country. Forced to battle lawyers for her inheritance and the roof over their heads, Celeste has only one weapon: her mysteriously compelling voice.
Having become a barrister to fight injustice, Lord Erran inexplicably incites a riot with his first impassioned speech. Barred from the courtroom, he acts as solicitor for his brother, the Marquess of Ashford. His first job for Ashford requires moving tenants from his brother’s townhouse—a simple task until Erran meets the uncommon beauty living there and realizes she is under attack.
Erran cannot heave Celeste’s desperate family from their home, even though his blind brother needs the property. Nor can he sit back and watch unseen enemies do the job for him.
Can Celeste trust him to defeat their foe? And if Erran succeeds in saving the lady with the intoxicating voice, can he bear to evict her—when she alone understands the turbulence ruining his life?
Praise for Whisper of Magic:
"With unconventional recurring characters, passion, and a bit of danger, this is a compelling reader from a master of whimsy, mayhem, and laughter." - RT Book Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The second volume of Rice's Unexpected Magic series (after Magic in the Stars) cannot be accused of lacking scope. Colonialism, slavery, capitalist oppression, and even the vagaries of 1830s Chancery Court are bested by the intermarried clans of magical Malcolms and scientific Iveses. Lord Erran Ives, tinkerer and aspiring lawyer, adopts the cause of three siblings from Jamaica who have rented his family's townhouse. He wants them to yield the lease to his brother but hesitates when he learns their plantation inheritance has been seized by a usurper. Not only that: the eldest, Celeste, has, like Erran, a magical gift a voice that can compel obedience. The trick is handy for thwarting quickly escalating threats from the usurping nobleman. But the thrills are tainted by troubling race dynamics between Erran and Celeste. His first observation is that she has "brown skin," and he dismisses her as a servant. That description evolves to "sun-browned" and then her assertion that "my ancestors had Spanish blood."Only after "her lovely complexion had grown pale" can Erran treat her as a romantic partner. This blatant colorism makes it very difficult to enjoy the rest of the book.
