Hey Bookworm friends! It’s time I get back into the swing of writing and posting reviews. Let’s start with my first book of 2025 which is Miss Amelia’s List.
Thanks to Netgalley and DAW Books for the ARC; All opinions are my own.
About Miss Amelia’s List
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Genre(s): Historical Fantasy, Romance
Series: Elemental Masters, #17
Publisher: DAW Books
Format Read: E-ARC
Pub Date: Dec 24, 2024.
Cover Artist: Jody A. Lee
Content Warnings
Graphic: ❌
Moderate: Slavery,
Misogyny, Sexism
Minor (Mention):❌
Pace: Slow, Character-Driven Plot
Tone: Lighthearted, Relaxing
Review
The magical Regency vibes are vibing but unfortunately, the plot is nowhere to be found.
I’d only read one other Mercedes Lackey book and hadn’t heard of the Elemental Masters series before now. So it would be fair to wonder why I’m suddenly writing a review for the 17th installment. DAW Books kindly asked if I wanted to read Miss Amelia’s List because it’s similar to other historical fantasy romances I’d read. I quickly looked it up and saw it was a magical alternate history set in the Regency period and that it functions as a standalone. Naturally, I immediately said, “YES PLEASE”!
It’s 1815 and two young American cousins, Amelia and Serena, arrive in England armed with a list of tasks. They’re here to help set up their family business and to do so they’ll need to find a property, get to know the neighbours, purchase a whole new wardrobe, and hire staff. Oh, and potentially find husbands all while dodging fortune hunters and hiding their magical prowess from the non-mages in town. As the name of the series would imply, the story is set in a world with Elemental magic—Amelia is an Earth Master and Serena is a Fire Mage and a shapeshifter.
There’s something really cozy about Lackey’s writing style where she goes into the minute details of the everyday life of her characters. In the first one I read, it was the details of how to care for a baby dragon but in this one, it was setting up a new life in a new city and everything that comes with that. We spent a long time going dress shopping and altering clothing, but I didn’t mind as I was awash in visions of Regency gowns! Then we followed our characters to assemblies, balls, dinners, and on their morning calls as they figured out how to blend into English society. And I was having the best time, especially as Lackey took the same care to dive into how the magical community operates and the certain duties that come with the cousin’s different powers. I love that stuff! Meeting the house Elementals and watching Serena Shapeshift are memorable moments.
However, at about the 60% mark, I started to question whether the book did work as a standalone after all. More than halfway through the book they hadn’t even begun to deal with most of the items on their oh-so-important list. Instead, the story introduces two new external issues that seem like they would lead in intriguing directions only to be irrelevant in the end as the author never followed them to any sort of conclusion. Eventually, the plot dragged, and despite all the moving to new cities (London then Axminster), it felt like we were going nowhere very slowly.
Then, with about 10 or 20 pages left of the book, Lackey suddenly remembered to include some action! Hurray, you might think, but nay, it was at this point that I realized there couldn’t possibly be enough time to resolve everything satisfactorily. And I was right. Within one bizarre action scene, everything conveniently wrapped up. I say bizarre because the source of the last-minute drama was so out of left field that it didn’t fit with the rest of the story. Maybe it fits within the wider world of the series, but having entered here at #17, I don’t know. In some ways, it doesn’t feel like a standalone, and I wish the story had a part 2 to do it more justice. Overall, the enjoyable elements of this world and the writing style make me want to find book #1 and give this series another try!
Quote
And she immediately created a mental list of “men we wouldn’t marry if they were next in line for the throne.”
Let’s chat in the comments!
Have you read Miss Amelia’s List or any of the “Elemental Masters” books? Or, if you had to make a to-do list right now what would be the first item on it?
As I said elsewhere I checked this out as soon as you first mentioned it thanks to that irresistible cover. It’s a shame to hear that the plot, or lack of one, was such an issue. How frustrating. I love the sound of those cosy vibes and love fantasies set within the regency era (I’ve not read many but the combination of high society and fantasy is so intriguing). I think, like you, I’m still going to give book one a chance sometime. With this being book 17 in the series maybe it’s lost its way over time and the earlier ones will be more plot centric. Or it could just be a weaker addition I suppose, some series seem to have them. So here’s hoping we’ll both get on better with the first book 🤞
That cover is just stunning but I looked up the artist’s website and everything they do is SO pretty and they do a lot of covers for Mercedes Lackey!
Yeah, it was a bit of a bummer, but at least it had the first half that I loved so much. Could have been worse, I guess. I love fantasy mixed in with novels of manners too, such a fun combination!
Yeah you might be right, and it seems like each book in the series is also a loose retelling of a fairy tale so maybe by that point the fairy tale aspect is a bit too diluted, who knows! Yes, indeed 🤞🏽!
Ooh really? I saw that you’ve included their name so I’m going to look them up later 🥰
That’s true, at least parts of it were enjoyable. And they go together so well. I’m definitely going to have to pick up more of them.
Ah right I didn’t realise that. You could well have a point though, especially as some fairy tales probably offer more in the realms of retelling possibilities than others.
Yes, I think you’ll like their art style! 🙂
I agree, I’m gonna have to pick up more too.
Yeah, like if I didn’t know that from the description of the series I never would have thought it was fairy tale based just from this read.
I looked just now (I know I’ll forget if I leave it until lager again 🙈) and I actually saw one of the cover designs on someone’s post the other day and it caught my eye then too. Being another Mercedes Lackey book I really should have made the connection 🙈 some of their designs would make fantastic puzzles 😍
Let me know if you find any good ones.
I’m not surprised based on what you’ve said. It’ll be interesting to see if the connection is more obvious in the earlier books.
Oh wow that’s cool. yeah those covers are really eye-catching. They weirdly remind me of a less dark Anne Stokes in a way. & I agree they would make excellent puzzles!
okay 🙂
yeah It’ll be fun to see the fairytale inspo more clearly.
I totally get where you’re coming from as that’s why I mentioned the puzzles as it made me think of designs like hers, Victoria Francis, Cris Ortega & Melanie Delon.
Ahaha we’re on the same wavelength! 😛 OK OMG you know i’m gonna be looking up those names right away!
I hope you like their artwork 😊 I’m actually thinking about doing a post about some of them one day. I know it won’t really be bookish – besides the fact that Cris Ortega has a comic book – but I love their art and am addicted to jigsaw puzzles in those styles.
I did like their artwork, I looked them all up when I saw your message 😀 I think that’s a wonderful idea! it might not be directly bookish but it’s certainly book adjacent, fantasy readers and those who like cozy hobbies will most certainly be interested too I think! 😀 Interesting, looking Cris Ortega comic book up right now!!
I’m glad you liked it 🥰 aww thank you 😊 that’s a good point about the fantasy link. And I’m sure you’re right that some other people are also into jigsaw puzzles. Plus you can always appreciate the pictures regardless.
Lol I don’t blame you 😂
Yes, exactly, there’s some great crossover there 🙂 & pretty pictures by real artists are always appreciated!
It does sound like a book in the middle of a long series. Too bad it didn’t have more of a structured plot. I don’t think I’ve ever read Mercedes Lackey, but will look elsewhere if I decide to😁
Yeah for sure, it’s just so hard to keep up a constant level of quality so deep into a series, standalone or not. and yeah I would definitely recommend starting elsewhere if you try Lackey 🙂
I haven’t read any but I love your post layouts! It’s so customized and clean looking!
Thanks, Athena. I really appreciate that since I’ve been wanting to simplify my review posts, I changed themes and have been struggling to find out what looks best with the new theme. I’m glad to hear it looks nice from an outside perspective 🙂
I’ve only tried one book by Lackey till date, and felt for that book that “we were going nowhere very slowly” (I think it was called “Fire Rose”). Is there any other book by Lackey that you would recommend for giving her work another go? Thanks!
The Fire Rose is *technically* the first of the Elemental Masters series, However, it was published by a different publisher, and so it isn’t *officially* part of that series. I did enjoy it, though it was much slower paced (until the climax) than some of the other Elemental Masters books. If you liked the worldbuilding and magic of that one, maybe try my favorites in the series, the official first two books: The Serpent’s Shadow and Phoenix and Ashes. (Though neither of them are “perfect” books, either. I just find them fun reads.)
If you want something different, then perhaps try Lackey’s 500 Kingdoms series (book one: The Fairy Godmother). That was a really fun series, too.
For talking horses, you can try the Valdemar books, though enough of those are problematic in one way or another (lots of issues of sexual abuse) that I hesitate to recommend them these days. But teen/early 20’s me devoured them back in the day.
Oh wow, thanks for all of the great info Nicole, I really appreciate that 😀 Good to know about the Valdemar books because those are the main ones I want to try and I really prefer to know those types of TWs going in!
Ah okay, I see. I’m new to Lackey’s works in general. The only other one I read was Joust and it was the same detailed slow type of plot but I liked it more generally and didn’t really have the same issues with it. Though check out Nicole @ BookWyrm Reads’ comment below, she gives a lot of good info regarding this series in general and also for other Lackey books, I’m gonna note some of those down for myself 😀
Pity this one didn’t work that well. I had been considering trying it, since I loved the early Elemental Masters books. But lately I haven’t been enjoying the newer installments, so I guess I’ll just go back and reread the older ones when I feel like reading one. Thanks for the review!
Aw yeah that’s too bad but at least the early ones are good and worth rereading then 🙂 My pleasure and thanks for reading it 🥰!!