Do You Believe in Magic?
June 28, 2026 by Alina K. Field in category Quarter Days by Alina K. Field tagged as Bluestocking Belles, fantasy, paranormal fiction, Regency romance, romantasy, Speculative FictionApologies if the post title triggers a Loving Spoonful earworm!
The Magic of Books
It’s Midsummer and I’ve been thinking a lot about magical stories.
Paranormal, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Romantasy, not to mention all the Star Wars-type stories. Have you read any? Do you have a preference?
My daughter is currently working her way through Rebecca Yarros’ Romantasy series. With a busy mom’s schedule, it’s been a slow go snatching time to read those lo-o-ng books.
Being an anglophile and writer of Regency-set romance, I like a familiar fantasy world, like Regency-era England, albeit populated with magical creatures and occurrences.
His Majesty’s Dragon, by Naomi Novik, is a speculative fiction story with talking dragons who fight for their respective armies in the Napoleonic wars. Not a romance, but fascinating and well-done. Another book I loved is Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett. The story world is not Regency England, but there is a romance angle and there are lots of magical beings.
Among my Regency romance writer friends, Barbara Monajem has some beautiful stories with ghosts and paranormal creatures; Meara Platt has a Regency Dragon Shifter series; and Jude Knight has just launched Unexpected Magic, the first book in an alternative Regency world Romantasy series.
Magic in the Works
Precognition has played a role in my Macbeth series, but this fall I’ll be releasing my first actual ghost story, The Duke, the Diamond, and the Ghastly Ghoul, appearing in Moonlight Madness, a Bluestocking Belles Collection. I’ll tell you more about that in my September post here.
There’s more magic coming from the authors of the Bluestocking Belles. We’ve launched a multi-author series called Forevers in Fenwick, a stand-alone romance arriving each month (except for the months when we release a collection of stories). All of the stories take place in the fictional town of Fenwick on Sea, which was the setting for the Storm & Shelter collection from the Belles. And there’s magic, or at least a rumor of it: a fae blessing upon the well water leads to finding one’s true love.
The talented Elizabeth Donne starts off the series with The Legend Begins.
After this year’s Moonlight Madness collection, the Belles have more stories coming in June 2027, all set in a magical part of England, the Lake District. I’ll tell you more about that later in the year.
Dragons or Fairies?
What’s your preference? Do you have a recommendation? Tell me about it in the comments!
Until next Quarter Day, happy reading, and enjoy the rest of the summer!
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A Review of Merry Belles: A Bluestocking Collection with Friends
December 29, 2025 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Book Reviews tagged as A review, Alina K. Field, Bluestocking Belles, Christmas Stories, new release
Merry Belles:
A Bluestocking Belles Collection with Friends
Published by Bluestocking Belles
Print December 7, 2025
Ebook: December 20, 2025
ISBNS:
Print: 978-1965509067
Ebook: 978-1965509050
Authors: Caroline Warfield. Elizabeth Donne, Cerise DeLand, Alina K. Field, Sherry Ewing, Jude Knight, and Rue Allyn
This lovely collection contains seven short Christmas stories set in Regency England. The stories are all entertaining and perfect for a lunchtime or an after dinner read. I appreciated that several of the stories had older heroines and had common people like doctors, housekeeper and soldiers at their centers.
My two favorites were Lady Loughton’s Last Wager by Alina K. Field and Maggie’s Wheelbarrow by Jude Knight. Lady Loughton featured an older widow and a younger rake. I loved how she dealt with her male children (and friends). Maggie was a war bride with two children and little money looking for her soldier husband. Ms. Knight did a good job with amnesia part of the story, which I appreciate as a family member suffers from both retrograde and anterograde amnesia. Many authors don’t take such care and that can make reading amnesia stories difficult for me. I really enjoyed her story.
If you enjoy regency romances, you will absolutely enjoy Merry Belles.
Other Books by Alina K. Field
Love’s Perilous Road: A Review
November 15, 2025 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Book Reviews tagged as A review, Alina K. Field, anthology, Bluestocking Belles, new release, Regency romance
Love’s Perilous Road
A Bluestocking Belles Collection with Friends
Ebook ISBN 978-1-965509-03-6
Print ISBN 978-1-965509-04-3
ASIN B0DZPKDMXV
Publisher: Bluestocking Belles
October 31, 2025
Regency Romance
I’ve been a fan of the Bluestocking Belles’ anthologies for years, probably since Alina K. Field first joined them. I’ve been a fan of Alina K. Field since she first published Rosalyn’s Ring and it won the 2014 Book Buyer’s Best contest. (It absolutely lived up to its reputation.)
So I was pleased to read and review Love’s Perilous Road, a collection of ten Regency Romances all centered around the mysterious highwayman, Captain Moonlight. All the characters have an encounter with the man, and there are brief journal entries from The Casebook of the Principal Office Robert Pierce who is planning Captain Moonlight’s capture—even if he leaves his ill-gotten gains in the chicken coops of young widows with children to feed.
As with all Bluestocking Belles Collections that I have read, all the stories are well written and very entertaining, which is not always the case with anthologies. I appreciate the care the authors take with their stories, adding in the clues to Captain Moonlight’s true identity.
Having said that, I still had my favorites: Charred Hope by Caroline Warfield in which an honorable man returns a miniature and finds a future. Sir Westcott Steals a Heart by Alina K. Field: Sybil Dunsford disguised herself as a boy to protect her brothers but, of course, Sir Westcott Twisden follows her, and hijinks ensue and they get locked in barn overnight. A Duke in Peril by Meara Platt: Lady Florence Swann rescues a wounded soldier from the side of the road near her home. But he’s more than just a soldier.
I’m looking forward to the Bluestocking Belles next collection.
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Stand and Deliver!
September 28, 2025 by Alina K. Field in category Quarter Days by Alina K. Field tagged as Alina K. Field, Bluestocking Belles, historical romance, new release, Regency romance, Romance CollectionsI’m back with another Quarter Days post!
Smugglers, Ghosts, and Highwaymen
The Bluestocking Belles and Friends have put together a collection of interrelated stories set near Brighton, England in 1817, and what fun we had researching and developing these tales. From the Devil’s Dyke to Brighton, love and adventure are in the air.
When Principal Officer Robert Pierce, of the Bow Street Magistrate Court sets out on the Brighton road he encounters more than the notorious thief he’s hunting:
From the casebook of Robert Pierce
It seems that I am off to the seaside. Larcenous Lucy, as some of the wits here at
the Office have taken to calling her, is working the London to Brighton road.
I’ve been told to look into a highwayman problem while I am there. There’s
someone plaguing both the main highway and some of the lesser roads. The local
dignitaries have posted a reward, so that would be a nice bonus.
My colleagues have also been joking that smugglers and ghosts abound in the
region, and that I might collect some of those while I am there. I told them, I
shall leave the smugglers to the excise officers and ghosts to the duly authorized
ministers of the church.
Love’s Perilous Road, a Bluestocking Belles Collection with Friends
Travel, houseparties, smugglers, spies, a ghost–and a mysterious highwayman. Who is the infamous Captain Moonlight? And how many lives will he change–for good or for ill?
It’s the autumn of 1817 and Sir Peter Somerville and his lady are hosting a house party at their estate near Brighton, while a pesky highwayman plagues the surrounding byways.
Love’s Perilous Road features stories by Jude Knight, Sherry Ewing, Carolyn Warfield, Cerise Deland, Rue Allyn, Elizabeth Ellen Carter, Alina K. Field, and friends of the Bluestocking Belles Mary Lancaster, Meara Platt, and Barbara Monajem.
My contribution to the collection is Sir Westcott Steals a Heart
Sir Westcott Twisden didn’t know he wanted to marry until the tallest lady he’d ever met crossed his path. Unfortunately, the lady in question shrugs off his overtures. Curious when a local smuggler shows up to visit her, Wes follows her into trouble.
Sybil Dunsford will do almost anything to protect her brothers and their home, even disguise herself as one of her brothers to fend off demands from the local smuggling boss who holds her mortgage. But when her night of shifting contraband goes awry, and Sir Westcott appears to rescue her, they’re locked in together. Will romance follow?
Release Day is October 31, 2025
Pre-order your copy here: https://books2read.com/u/mqx0W6
Happy Reading! I’ll be back on December 28th with another Quarter Days post!
0 0 Read moreMore Holiday Reading
December 28, 2023 by Alina K. Field in category Quarter Days by Alina K. Field tagged as Bluestocking Belles, historical romance, Holiday Romance Collections, Regency romanceHow is your Yuletide shaping up?
This autumn I managed two extraordinary (for me) writing accomplishments:
1. Some butt-in-the-chair speedy writing for a last-minute holiday collection of stories put together during a time when I was attending two different week-long writing events, and
2. Writing short (8000 words). Which of course, helped me meet the deadline. Ideas for developing secondary characters came to me later. When the rights revert to me in a few months, I just might work in some changes.
Christmastide Kisses
My story, Twelfth Night Treasure is set among some longer novellas. The tales in this collection put together by four of us Bluestocking Belles plus author friends Ruth A. Casie and Aileen Fish will help brighten your holidays:
- A beleaguered uncle whose wards have run off every governess–what he needs is a wife, if only he can persuade the latest applicant
- A country solicitor who becomes an earl and then finds a secret that changes everything
- A very proper clergyman who battles very improper urges when he and a lady with a murky past find themselves snowbound
- A viscount whose search to unearth generations-old family secrets kindles the fire of love for his lovely search partner
- A former army captain who wonders if the best friend of his ex-fiancee is the woman he should have married
- A vicar with a misspent youth and the duke’s daughter who brings out the best in him
Six gentlemen and the ladies with whom they discover the power of a Christmastide Kiss.
A Villainous Vicar Reforms
The hero of my story is a clergyman who happened to be something of a villain in the my 2022 Christmas story, Flowers for His Lady. He had a whole year to reform since he almost ruined his sister’s chance at happiness last year. I’ve done my best to redeem him. If you read the story, let me know if you think I succeeded!
Happy Rest of the Holidays!
Besides taking time for holiday reading, be sure to grab a kiss under the mistletoe if you can!
I’ll be back in March for another Quarter Days Post.
0 0 Read moreFeatured Books
MERRY BELLES: A Bluestocking Collection with Friends
Seven charming holiday stories from award-winning and best-selling authors.
More info →
MRS. JEFFRIES AND THE MIDWINTER MURDERS
Mrs. Jeffries and Inspector Witherspoon should be checking off their Christmas present list but instead they're listing murder suspects . . .
More info →
ONCE UPON AN ENCHANTED FOREST
The autumnal equinox is a celestial event that brings together harvest and celebration, symbolizes magick and transformation, and welcomes a balance of light and darkness. It’s a time when those who honor the changing seasons rest and reflect.
Or reap what they’ve sown.
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THE OBLIVIOUS BILLIONAIRE
How can you know where you're going if you can't remember where you've been?
More info → MEDDLERS OF MOONSHINE
Something is rotten in the town of Widget, and Rags-n-Bones knows it's all his fault.
More info → 
