Regency Years

It's been a decade since Kate and Cecelia foiled Napoleon's plot to reclaim the French crown. The cousins now have estates, children, and a place at the height of wizarding society. It is 1828, and though magic remains at the heart of the British Empire, a new power has begun to make itself felt across England: the steam engine. As iron tracks crisscross the countryside, the shaking of the locomotives begins to disrupt the workings of English magic, threatening the very foundations of the Empire.

Miss Valencia Ravensdale was only supposed to observe the festivities at her aunt’s masquerade ball on New Year’s Eve, 1814, but when the handsome Colonel Robert Clayworth sees her holding up the walls, everything changes. Valencia finds herself falling in love with the Colonel, but he only has the one night in London before he has to rejoin his troops in France.

Alistair Forsythe, the 12th Earl of Reardon, is the most sought-after man in the ton this Christmastide season. Handsome, of good character, and possessing a large fortune, he finally intends to do his duty to his title after being in India for years. In the market for a wife, he can now easily have his pick of any woman, yet none of them have snared his interest—not since Carole, but she is beyond his reach.

Ruby Spencer is spending one year living in a small cottage in a tiny town in the Scottish Highlands for three reasons: to write a bestselling cookbook, to drink a barrelful of whisky, and to figure out what comes next. It’s hard to know what to expect after an impulse decision based on a map of Scotland in her Manhattan apartment—but she knows it’s high time she had an adventure. The moment she sets foot in Thistlecross, the verdant scenery, cozy cottages, and struggling local pub steal her heart. It doesn’t hurt that Brochan, the handyman, keeps coming around to repair things at her cottage.