Scales And Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis

Synopsis:

Sensible, practical Elinor Tregarth really did plan to be the model poor relation when she moved into Hathergill Hall. She certainly never meant to kidnap her awful cousin Penelope's pet dragon. She never expected to fall in love with the shameless - but surprisingly sweet - fortune hunter who came to court Penelope. And she never dreamed that she would have to enter into an outrageous magical charade to save her younger sisters' futures.

However, even the most brilliant scholars of 1817 England still haven't ferreted out all the lurking secrets of rediscovered dragonkind...and even the most sensible of heroines can still make a reckless wish or two when she's pushed. Now Elinor will have to find out just how rash and resourceful she can be when she sets aside all common sense. Maybe, just maybe, she'll even be impractical enough to win her own true love and a happily ever after...with the unpredictable and dangerous "help" of the magical creature who has adopted her.

A frothy Regency rom-com full of pet dragons and magical misadventures, Scales and Sensibility is a full-length novel and the first in a new series of standalone romantic comedies

  • Stephanie Burgis is the first book in the author’s Regency Dragons series. It is set in a regency world where the latest fashion is to have a small dragon carried around on one’s shoulder. Our main character is Elinor Tregath who has been separated from her family after her parents’ death, taken in as the poor relation by her cousin Penelope’s family. There she is treated much as the staff, forced to witness Penelope’s preparation for her debut in society and the careless way she treats her pet dragon.⁠

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    When Elinor can take it no longer, she dragon-naps the poor creature and strikes out on her own, only to find herself back with the family under rather unusual circumstances. There are secrets to uncover about the dragon in her care and a family to protect. Entering into the mix is a man who arrives to court Penelope (or at least her dowry) though he and Elinor are more drawn to each other.⁠

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    I found this a very easy read (and the audiobook was really well done also) and the overall writing was well done. There were a few places where I would have liked the characters and the lore of the world fleshed out a bit more. Still, it was an enjoyable read for the most part if not one I was fully invested in throughout. I would be happy to pick up the audiobook for the next installment of the Regency Dragons series.
    https://www.instagram.com/p/CnpWZGFLDLE/

  • https://youtu.be/PkqaeUJcGqo

  • Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis

    Want an over the top historical romance with a dragon well this is exactly what you get with the book. While there were several times where I was rolling my eyes (especially the end) I don’t regret reading this book.

    So what worked for me?

    Writing: The writing was enjoyable and pretty well done throughout the novel. I feel like it was a perfect style for this type of over the top story.

    What did not work for me?

    Plot: The plot was focusing more on romance and historical rice people shenanigans where I was hoping for more of an exploration into the dragons and the dragon magic.

    Similar Media?

    I mean I assume it is based on Jane Austun…enough said probably haha.

    Score: 7/10

    Character: 7

    Plot: 6

    World-Building: 7

    Writing: 8

    Enjoyment: 7

  • I enjoyed this book!

    I thought that the plot was pretty fun and the dragon was interesting. I loved seeing the petty drama and shenanigans that the characters got into. I felt like I was a fly on the wall for a lot of scenes and I loved that!

    However, I did not care about the romance at all. Because this is primarily a regency romcom, the romance should have been important to me, but I just didn’t feel the chemistry or tension between the live interests. All of my enjoyment came from the drama and dragons.

    I also think that there were quite a few side plots that distracted a bit from the main plot, and perhaps I’d the side plots were tightened up a bit, there would have been more room for the romance to develop. OR more room for even more dragon content.

    I also wish that the ending was more satisfying. Some characters were so horrifically insufferable, which is how the author intended them to be! But, I wanted them to face more consequences. I was forced to put up with them being annoying for the whole book, I want the satisfaction of them getting punished!!! Lol.

    Overall, an enjoyable regency rom com with dragons, that had a couple issues holding it back from being more than 3 stars.

    For context, I tend to find historical romances very boring, and I did not think that this book was boring. I would recommend this book to historical romance readers and to cozy fantasy readers!

  • https://youtu.be/yrOI9-DgnLQ

  • https://youtu.be/R6cVYShxAow

  • I was very surprised by how much fun I had reading this. And I think if you too are looking for just a fun time set in regency England you'll enjoy it too.

    This book sets out to be exactly what it wants to be. And for that I commend it.

    Now we have issues with insta love and if this is classified as a romance our main characters did not interact enough for me. But I enjoyed the plot we had. The fun of the lap dragon. And the extremes of character personalities.

    If you want to know more of my in depth thoughts I did read it for my SPFBO 8 finalist reading vlog!

    https://youtu.be/ahEh6DSSDQM

  • This is a bit of an odd one for me, and I will start by saying it is absolutely not the usual sort of book I would read. I am reading all of the SPFBO8 finalists however, of which this is one.

    Everything about this book – the cover, the title, the synopsis – screams that this book is not for me, and although I went into it with an open mind, I was not surprised to find that I didn’t enjoy it at all.

    As I am most definitely not the target audience of this book, I’ll refrain from saying anything about the specific contents, as it’s obvious that they do not work for me, however there was one thing that I definitely appreciated. The writing itself was very good, and where I was basically forcing myself to read this, the pages were flowing quickly enough because of the writing, even if I wasn’t actually enjoying it as I went.

    If you like this type of book – if you are the target audience for it – I think there is a good chance you will have a good time with this, it’s just not the experience I had!

  • https://youtu.be/Dx1GXp_JGmw