Bewitching Season

Bewitching Season, by Marissa Doyle

In 1837 London, young daughters of viscounts pined for handsome, titled husbands, not careers. And certainly not careers in magic. Shy, studious Persephone Leland would far rather devote herself to her secret magic studies than enter society and look for a suitable husband. But just as the inevitable season is about to begin, Persy and her twin sister discover that their governess in magic has been kidnapped as part of a plot to gain control of Princess Victoria. Racing through Mayfair ballrooms and royal palaces, the sisters overcome bad millinery, shady royal spinsters, and a mysterious Irish wizard. And along the way, Persy learns that husband hunting isn't such an odious task after all, if you have the right quarry.

This was one of those books to which I had had been looking forward for quite some time. I had to wait all summer before it came to my turn in the queue, and I could pick it up and read it. So you might imagine my disappointment when I discovered that it wasn't quite all that. I'm a big fan of both regency teen novels and magic novels, and any combination thereof (see further Sorcery and Cecelia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot; also Amaranth Enchantment). Perhaps it's because I've read too many of these, but Bewitching Season did not strike a chord for me. It starts off with an excellent premise - two young magical twin sisters, about to embark on their Introduction to Society, have to navigate young men as well as nefarious wizards - but about a third or halfway in, I just found myself wanting to shake the main character, Persy. And that didn't go away.

Persy is ostensibly the wallflower and the less attractive of the two sisters because she's less vivacious (we know this because she mopes about it for the first three chapters). An old childhood acquaintence, all grown up and handsome, re-enters their drawing room, and clearly has eyes for her, and Persy for him, and yet we must suffer through the entire course of the book as Persy goes back and forth on he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not, managing to hit every cliche on her path to true love. Thinking that you don't deserve his love because you are the "plain" sister? Check. Believing that because your sister is talking to him (because you are too shy to do so) means that they love each other, even though you are the only person they discuss? Check. Trying to cast a love spell on him even though he is clearly already head over heels? Check. Assuming that all his behaviour after said love spell is just an indication that your magical skillz are too strong for his willpower? Check. Rejecting him to save him from your own heedless attempts to ensnare him? Check. Not to mention, of course, the usual burning touch of hands, breathless glances, etc. etc.

I might have had more patience for this had Persy had other redeeming characteristics - but she kinda doesn't. Maybe it's a facet of being a teenage girl that I've forgotten about, but her behaviour is both rude and selfish, by refusing to confide in her sister because of her own jealous antics and "noble" mindedness. That's really what I disliked the most - her rejection of her sister means the book isn't really about friendship and sisterly relations and adventure, it's about this wah-wah narrator who puts her family and friends in danger by not telling them everything she knows, then goes about refusing to listen to advice and decides the best way to solve everything is to run away. Persy's misguided martyr mindset is inappropriate and irritating when everyone around her just wants her to succeed.

The "main" plot, that of the missing governess, is solved with, really, very little fanfare. Most of the book is taken up with fruitless searches for her, which (while realistic in their futility) are pointless, as in the end, the bad guys bring the girls to her anyhow. So that they could have done absolutely nothing and still found her. Gosh this review sounds bitter. Bewitching Season is really not that bad - inoffensive and harmless, at the very least. I just wish that the relationship Persy has with her little brother was actually between her and her sister. And that she wouldn't whine so much. To paraphrase Love, Actually: "Get a grip, people hate sissies. No one's ever going to like you if you cry all the time."