Sorcery & Cecelia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer

I received a galley of this novel from NetGalley for review. This in no way affected my opinions.

A delightful historical fantasy tale that I expect to come back to in the future.

Told in letter form, Sorcery & Cecelia is the correspondence between cousins Kate and Cecy. Kate is off enjoying a London season while Cecy is stuck at home in the country. However, there is no lack of things for her to do, as she soon finds out. Both cousins find themselves thrust into some sort of magical feud.

It's no fun and games. Both cousins have found themselves in the devil of scraps, that they were lucky to get out of with all their limbs.

The writing was witty and fresh. I love historical fantasy done right, with just enough fantasy not to overwhelm you. And my favorite kinds of historical fantasy are the ones involving magic. Kate and Cecy are very amusing. This book was originally a letter game between the two authors, but they soon realized that they had something here. How fun, a letter game! I'd like to try that with someone.

This had been on my wishlist for ages, and was so happy to see Open Road reissuing it, and I scooped up a galley as soon as I saw it. It was all I was hoping for and more. I wasn't expecting a book written in entirely letter form to be so engaging, but I soon realized I had trouble putting my nook down to stop reading. After just a few letters, I was thrust into this magical and exciting world. I loved how the magical bits just crept in when you weren't expecting them. For example, Kate was at the Royal College of Wizards, and opened a door and found herself in a mysterious garden... with a odd woman who tried to poison her with a chocolate pot. That came out of nowhere, and I found it clever.

Enchanting, whimsical... I'm running out of adjectives. I don't know how else to describe it. If you like magic in your historical fiction, and don't mind epistolary novels, then I highly recommend this.