BOOKS | Review: A Honeymoon of Grave Consequence by Stephanie Burgis

Name: A Honeymoon of Grave Cosequence (The Unexpected Adventures of Lady and Lord Riven #2)

Author: Stephanie Burgis

Publisher: Five Fathoms Press

Date published: September 2025

Genre: Fiction, adult, fantasy, romance, vampires, historical

Rating: 5/5

Thank you to the author for sending me an early review copy of this book! 

Margaret, Lady Riven, never expected to find herself married, much less enjoying a honeymoon with her vampiric husband. Obviously, they’ve only agreed to stay married for logical, practical reasons, but Lord Riven has kept his promise to supply her with excellent tea and even better company as they travel together across the continent. Unfortunately, her newfound notoriety has traveled along with them - so she’s delighted when they arrive at a secluded inn deep within the Black Forest, far from high society.
However, the inn is full of lethal supernatural creatures who find Margaret’s arrival anything but welcome - and for all of Margaret’s academic prowess, she’s infamously inept at making friends. When a new threat appears in her own mirror, she realizes that the greatest danger is to her heart... and she’ll have to rely on a remarkable assortment of newfound allies to help her save the immortal vampire who holds it.

- From Goodreads. 

This was a very heartwarming and charming follow-up to A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience, I really enjoyed that this story was a little longer and we got to spend more time with Lord and Lady Riven and see how their relationship was developing. It was also fun to explore a new location and meet quite an eclectic set of new characters! There was an intriguing mystery to solve, some exciting confrontations and of course more delightful romance.

Margaret and Lord Riven's relationship is definitely my favourite part of these books, they work so well together, have such great chemistry and obviously care so deeply about each other. Every scene between them is so wonderful to read.

If we ever get more in this world, I will definitely be reading it, I would love to see more of Lady and Lord Riven's adventures, and I'll certainly continue to read more from Stephanie Burgis as she has a very engaging and clever writing style. I would recommend this series for you if you love other fun and charming fantasy romance series like the Emily Wilde trilogy by Heather Fawcett, or the Love's Academic series by India Holton.

BOOKS | Review: Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis

Name: Wooing the Witch Queen (Queens of Villainy #1)

Author: Stephanie Burgis

Publisher: Tor Bramble

Date published: February 2025

Genre: Fiction, adult, fantasy, romance, witches, cosy

Pages: 304

Rating: 5/5

Queen Saskia is the wicked sorceress everyone fears. After successfully wrestling the throne from her evil uncle, she only wants one thing: to keep her people safe from the empire next door. For that, she needs to spend more time in her laboratory experimenting with her spells. She definitely doesn’t have time to bring order to her chaotic library of magic.
When a mysterious dark wizard arrives at her castle, Saskia hires him as her new librarian on the spot. “Fabian” is sweet and a little nerdy, and his requests seem a little strange – what in the name of Divine Elva is a fountain pen? – but he’s getting the job done. And if he writes her flirtatious poetry and his innocent touch makes her skin singe, well…
Little does Saskia know that the "wizard" she’s falling for is actually an Imperial archduke in disguise, with no magical training whatsoever. On the run, with perilous secrets on his trail and a fast growing yearning for the wicked sorceress, he's in danger from her enemies and her newfound allies, too. When his identity is finally revealed, will their love save or doom each other? 

- From Goodreads.

This was just such a delightful book. The writing was perfect for the genre, with a humourous narrative voice that was really fun to read. The world building was just the right amount of detailed, with some fascinating backstory about the world, not too much that it would have bogged us down in exposition, but still enough to leave me curious enough to learn more about the world in future books in the series.

The characters were just brilliant, from the main characters right down to the crow companions that lived with Saskia in her castle, I loved everyone.

The romance between Saskia and Felix was truly wonderful. The build up of both their feelings and attraction growing for each other was done perfectly and you could really feel the tension between them. I really liked the dynamic of Saskia being the more confident, dominant and fearsome character, while Felix was more nervous, quiet and gentle. I think they really complimented each other and brought out the best in each other. 

Overall this was just a lovely romance that I sped through quickly as I enjoyed it so much. I will definitely continue to read more from Stephanie Burgis and continue on with this series.

BOOKS | Review: A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience by Stephanie Burgis

Name: A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience (The Unexpected Adventures of Lady and Lord Riven #1)

Author: Stephanie Burgis

Publisher: Five Fathoms Press

Date published: August 2024

Genre: Fiction, adult, fantasy, romance, vampires, historical

Pages: 72

Rating: 4/5

Margaret Dunhaven may have been forced into marriage with the sinister vampire lord of Shadowcroft Manor in order to fulfill a family obligation, but she's not about to stay trapped there for long. The beastly man doesn't even have any decent tea leaves in his kitchen!
However, when she realizes that she's not the only one who's been forced into this marital union, it's time to join forces with her unwanted new husband. If they can combine her scholarly skills with his ancient history, then, working together, they might just manage to reclaim her inheritance, break his curse, and find their freedom.
...Just so long as they don't fall in love along the way.

- From Goodreads.

This was very delightful and fun to read. The narration had a great, entertaining voice and the world was explained quickly in an understandable way which was good considering it was such a short story.

The author also did a good job of introducing us to the characters and giving us a good picture of who they were in a short amount of time. Margaret and Lord Riven were both very loveable characters and the romance that developed between them was very charming.

The only fault I did find with the story was that it could have been just a little longer to immerse us in the world a little bit more and to give us a bit more time to see the characters getting to know each other, I think just a little more could have been added while still staying within the constraints of a novella and it would have been perfect.

I would definitely recommend this if you love a fun vampire fantasy romance and want something quick to read, and if you like books like the Emily Wilde series by Heather Fawcett and Elise Kova's Married to Magic series, I think you'd like this too. I'll certainly be going on to read more from Stephanie Burgis, and I will be curious to see what her longer books are like.