Magic in the Stars

Unexpected Magic #1

by Patricia Rice

As an astrologer, Lady Azenor Dougall sadly realizes her stars are a danger to her beloved siblings and has banished herself from her Scots home. As the Malcolm family librarian, she dutifully creates zodiac charts for her often eccentric and mysterious relations—until the day she realizes a dire conjunction of planets spells a fatal threat in a distant branch of the family.

Lord Theophilus Ives, heir presumptive to the Marquess of Ashford, Earl of Ives and Wystan, is a dedicated astronomer who has perfected a telescope capable of seeing beyond Saturn’s moons. Living in an all-male family that distrusts the women who regularly abandon them, Theo is undaunted by the tumult of his life—until the day the luscious Lady Azenor arrives to warn them that the marquess is in danger.

Can Aster, the Prophetess of Doom, convince a laughing disbeliever of peril? And what are the chances she can escape the fate her stars predict if she lingers too long in Lord Theo’s enthralling company?

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Ebooks

293 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 29, 2016

About the author

With several million books in print and New York Times and USA Today's bestseller lists under her belt, former CPA Patricia Rice writes emotionally-charged contemporary and historical romances which have won numerous awards, including the RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice and Career Achievement Awards.

Her books have also been honored as Romance Writers of America RITA® finalists in the historical, regency and contemporary categories.

A firm believer in happily-ever-after for good reason, Patricia Rice is married to her high school sweetheart and has two children. A native of Kentucky and New York, a past resident of North Carolina and Missouri, she currently resides in Southern California, and now does accounting only for herself.

She also writes under the pen name Jamie Quaid

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Magic in the Stars by Patricia Rice is a 2016 Book View Café publication. I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


Occasionally, a mood will strike me, and I will start to crave something unusual, fun, quirky, and most of all original. After reading a few darker toned novels, this book was exactly what I needed.

An astrologer and an astronomer? Well, stranger things have happened. Aster goes about predicting, based on her zodiac charts, dire gloom and doom, earning her the moniker of “The prophetess of doom”. When she realizes the king and the Marquess of Ashford are in danger, she feels it is her duty to warn the family.

However, the only Ives brother around is Theo, the presumptive Marquess, and he basically shrugs off Aster’s warnings. But, when Theo’s brother, Duncan, barely survives a horrible accident, Theo wonders if perhaps he should take heed to Aster’s charts, after all.

Suddenly burdened with all of Duncan’s duties, Theo believes finding a wife to help him organize his estate and lands, a task he apparently can’t seem to get a handle on, is just want he needs. So, he goes to Aster for advice, and she agrees to help him find a suitable match. But, this task proves to be a monumental undertaking, made even more difficult by Theo’s wish to marry HER.

I actually, had a lot of fun with this story, enjoying the whimsical quality to it, and all the quirky characters, and of course of all those animals, especially the spaniels!!

However, I do have to be completely honest, and confess this book does have a few issues. There was a loss of control a few times, what with too many threads going on at once, and the burden of introducing the cast of characters we hope to follow as the series progresses, which made the story a tad too busy at times. This is a problem many ‘first in a series’ books grapple with, but usually by the third installment, the stories have become much more cohesive. So, even though it was a little uneven and rocky on occasion, I enjoyed it, and intend to proceed with the series.


Aster is more complex than one might think upon first glance. She believes she is doing the right thing for her family by staying away from them, and by avoiding marriage and children. She has resigned herself to this lot in life, dedicating her time to helping orphans and speaking out against child labor, and studying her charts. But, underneath her light, slightly flaky demeanor, is a sad person who believes herself responsible for every bad thing that happens to those closest to her.

Theo, a socially awkward, introverted scientist, finds himself way out his element, having to deal with people and cows, and potential brides, and struggles mightily with the responsibilities that have been thrust upon him, but with Aster’s help and advice he manages to get by. But, his biggest challenge is in convincing Aster she is not to blame for everything that goes wrong, and that the two of them belong together.

I loved Theo, his tenacity, his refusal to give up on Aster, no matter how exasperating she could be, and his common sense. He may seem a little unorthodox for a hero, but I thought he was pretty darned sexy. His determination solves the mystery of why his family has been so ‘accident prone’ and opens the door for Aster to make peace within herself.

If you are looking for a light, humorous, slightly quirky, historical romance, with a slight paranormal tint, something a little off the beaten path, with a zany cast of characters, then look no further. I for one found this one to be a refreshing reprieve from the standard historical romance we see far too many of today, and I applaud the author’s very vivid imagination.

This series has a lot of potential, and I’m excited to see where it will go from here. I think Duncan deserves some face time so hopefully his story will be next.

Overall- 3.5 rounded to 4

[Barbara Rogers · Rating 3 out of 5]

** I received an eARC of this book from the author in return for my honest review **

I'm sure it was just me, but I couldn't get into this book. It was well written and the characters were well developed -- I just couldn't identify with them. The heroine, Lady Azenor Dougall and the hero, Lord Theophilus Ives, come from distant branches of the same very eccentric family. Everyone in the family has some sort of 'gift' -- hers is astrology -- his is astronomy.

Actually, I really liked Theo -- he reminded me of the movie 'The Absent Minded Professor' (the original one). His single focus was astronomy and everything to do with it -- until he met Aster -- then it was lust at first sight. Over a month or so that lust developed into love.

Theo lives with his older brother -- Marquess of Ashford, Earl of Ives and Wystan -- and is the heir presumptive. The ramshackled residence is also occupied by other brothers, bastard sons and no females. They just can't seem to keep females in their lives. The dogs run wild inside, the roof leaks, the windows leak, the carpets are threadbare, etc. It isn't from a lack of money because they have plenty. It is just that they are all occupied with their own pursuits and see no reason to spend time making the residence habitable.

The book opens with Azenor (Aster) racing through a wild, stormy night to deliver a warning to the Ives household. Her astrological charts have shown her that Duncan (the Marquess) is in grave danger and must take precautions. However, she expects that nobody will believe her because nobody ever takes her 'science' seriously. True to her beliefs, she isn't taken seriously and the Marquess is gravely injured and left blind.

Theo is left to try to run the varied interests of the marquesate because Duncan shuts himself in his room and won't allow anybody to see him but his immediate family. Theo has no aptitude for running the marquesate and looks for a wife with 'management' skills so she can run things and he can go back to studying the stars.

Aster believes her 'gift' is astrology, but nobody can duplicate her astounding accuracy with predicting what will happen. We are lead to believe that maybe her real gift is the intuition about people to be able to predict the future for them. She is known as the Prophetess of Doom because so many of her dangerous predictions come true -- many of which include her immediate family. So, she believes she brings harm to anyone she loves and thus she tries to keep apart from them. She believes she can't marry and have children because of that.

Somebody is out to harm the Ives family. They deliberately caused the accident that caused Duncan's blindness. They were trying to kill him. They instigate all kinds of mischief and mayhem around the estate because they want to separate the Ives family and cause them to lose influence and wealth.

Seeing Aster and Theo overcome their problems, remedy the problems on the estate and come to love each other was a nice read.

[LOVEROFBOOKS · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such a chore to get through. The main problem I had with the book (although there was more than one) was the reader is constantly bludgeoned, on almost every page with doom and gloom and CONSTANT talk about the stars and planets not aligning. The heroine is obsessed with reading her and her family's charts and evading disaster. This leads to an over-importance of her role in the universe/peoples' lives and she lives daily in fear.

The other problems, just as bad, was the chaos of the story. Disaster everywhere, whether it's from the luddites, people or animals, including goats parading through the house and people arguing. I sit down to read a romance book to relax and enjoy but this book stressed me out. Way too much going on and way too many people introduced in the story. I kept wanting to abandon it but also kept hoping it would get better. I started to like the book at around 60% through on my Kindle.

She seems like a great writer and teller of stories but this particular story was just not my cup of tea at all. I DID like the last part of the book and the ending.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a slow start, this book found its stride and made me remember why I loved the first Malcolm-Ives series so much.

Theo and Aster were a charming match-up. Neither really appealed to me at the beginning, Theo with his single-minded focus on astronomy and his tendency to bodily drag Aster places and Aster with her intense drive to be alone to avoid catastrophe was hard for me to relate to. However, as the story moved along, I came to really enjoy how they operated together. The run-down hall littered with dogs, Ives of all ages, and the occasional Malcolm women that Aster couldn't force to stay away comes alive as Aster rallies the troops, Theo overlooks Aster's fears, and the family begins to patch itself back together.

Rice has a quirky, rambling, and utterly charming writing style that perfectly suited this story. There were a few typos but I was able to overlook them for the sake of the story. This was one of her first self-published novels so I'll be curious to see how the series progresses from a polish standpoint. I'll definitely be checking out the others.

[J. W. Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

When astrology meets astronomy and their love lines intersect, will it bring joy or disaster?

Rating: MA: mature audience: sexy men, lusty thoughts described, graphic sex scenes, token mention of m/m love, violence but not graphic, murder attempts, etc., the usual. This was a free offer through Amazon. Paranormal element: the family members have specific gifts or abilities. No magic spells.

Lady Azenor Dougall [Aster]: Her job? Make order out of anarchy. Her gift? Reading the stars by charting the planets, thus allowing her to make predictions and prophesies. One question she had for our astrologer hero… what is Uranus? Don’t laugh, it was a legit question. Women didn’t have access to the published works or pamphlets of the Astronomical Society. Aster had been working from ancient charts, calculations, and any scientific bits of information she could find. She was aghast to learn there was another planet and possibly more. She now wondered how this heavenly body, she didn’t even know existed, would affect the charts for her future and that of her family?

Lord Theophilus Ives [Theo, the spare—heir presumptive to the 3rd Marquess of Ashford]. As an astrologer, his philosophy was ‘one cannot mathematically chat the fates.’ As a man of science, he didn’t cotton to this witchy stuff. Oh, Aster would have plenty to say about that.

This was my first time reading this author. I’ve since read blurbs stating that she’s ‘known for writing whimsy, humor, and mayhem.’ OMG! My kind of books. Like any first book in a series, Rice had the arduous job of introducing EVERYONE and establishing the who, what, when, and where that was the foundation for our love story and those that follow. Many of the introductions were slight [a mere walk-on, so to speak] but were necessary as these characters will be featured in future books. I know, I peeked at the series list.

This was maddening at first because everyone was related and you know what happens when the family is confined in one location? Let’s just say… I gave up and just relaxed and enjoyed the chaos as our heroine wrangled her family and her astrological charts against the stubborn astronomy science of our hero. I figured it would sort itself out, and it did.

Iveston Hall: a madhouse of layabouts and dogs, dark corridors, numerous unoccupied wings, attics [a treasure trove of relics from the past], puppies everywhere, Ives brothers everywhere [bachelors all, which begs the question, why do these Ives men keep losing their women?], mechanical equipment/inventions thrown about, half-brothers, telescope on the roof, numerous bastards, gaslight antics, tipsy housekeeper, astrological charts scattered across the floor [predicting love, death, success, danger, hidden enemies, rain, and more rain], an angry Marquess [injured and refusing to leave his room], twins, an uncle, more twins, an impromptu tea party [a house full of ladies, perfume, lace, and silk all looking for husbands], a visiting Scottish Earl, fireworks, … yeah, it was an exciting time at Iveston Hall.

This was hilarious and completely crazy… I mean laugh-out-loud crazy. I couldn’t help but like these guys. Bless their hearts. This was a house full of brothers, half-brothers, bastards, and uncles all focused on their own unique areas of interest and completely ignoring what was happening right under their noses. The house was a wreck, the housekeeper was drinking in the pantry, one brother was breeding rescue dogs that were running amuck. The cook left, the tenants were revolting [literally], the maids ran off, the roof leaked, two women tenants were fighting over a cow [or was that two cows pulling hair over the hedge… whatever], riots, Luddites, machine wreckers, superstitious town folk, murder attempts, and jealousies from the neighboring landowners who didn’t like change. I highly recommend this for those who like to read something fun with a little paranormal thrown in and completely crazy.

[Tin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Patricia Rice's Magical Malcolms series -- I love the idea of two families who are so ideologically different in that Capulet vs. Montague way (minus the tragedy), and, yet, every so often, will have their sons and daughters meet, find common ground, and fall in love. I was so pleased to see that she is revisiting these two families, and moving them a few generations forward.

Magic in the Stars is the first book of Patricia Rice's Unexpected Magic series, and features Lady Azenor Dougall and Lord Theophilus Ives. Like her Malcolm forebears, Azenor (or Aster, as she prefers to be called) shares the same magical talents -- in her case, she is very, very accurate with reading the stars, allowing her to understand people's characters based on their birthdays, and charting their futures. After not heeding her own readings, which resulted in tragedy, she's learned her lesson -- and she's on her way to Iveston, despite the distance, inconvenience, and the weather, to warn the current generation of Ives men of the impending doom that she has read in their charts.

Instead of finding Malcolm Ives, the current Marquess, Aster comes face to face with Lord Theo, Malcolm's younger brother and heir. Aster already knew that convincing the Ives men of what she has read would be difficutl: Malcolm magic and Ives logic have never, in so many generations, agreed on anything.

What's interesting is that both Theo and Aster are interested in the same area: the stars, but they approach it from different disciplines: Theo is an astronomer, and is working on creating a telescope with a greater (and clearer) lens to prove the existence of more planets. He's been trying to get funds to build an observatory, so he could prove the existence of Uranus and of other planets beyond.

Aster is into astrology, and uses the same maps and charts -- the same findings from the Royal Astrological Society, but it is to understand human nature and to predict and prevent catastrophe. There's an instant recognition of shared interest, but an equally instant recognition for the differences in their world views.

After Aster shares her readings of his brother's charts, Theo is skeptical, but also curious about the passion and persuasion that drove Aster to travel by herself to Iveston to tell them of what she read in the stars. Aster is also very, very beautiful -- and, for the first time in a very long time, Theo is interested and attracted.

When something does happen to Malcolm and he becomes incapable of managing the Ives' estates, Theo is thrust into the limelight -- and he understands that he needs to work to secure the succession -- unwanted, unwished-for territory for him. He enlists the help of Aster, to help find him a wife who would understand the Ives temperament. It's, honestly, ironically clear from the beginning that Aster and Theo belong together -- and Theo realizes this. So does Aster -- but Aster has long believed that she brings doom and destruction to anyone who dares get close to her.

This is one aspect of Aster's life that I couldn't quite accept: did her family really believe that Aster brought doom and devastation to those who dared to live near her? I really felt bad about how she had to live away from her family, and how she had to make sure her companions didn't stay with her for longer than a few months at a time. I know that the Malcolms are an eccentric family, but, surely, they would not allow one of their own to be so isolated from her family? This is one of Aster's major hang-ups, which defines how she views the world. Theo isn't really the best partner, but, because he is willing to stay with Aster, despite of the danger, Aster is willing to compromise (and set aside her doubts and misgivings) to be with him.

Theo doesn't seem to know why he wants to be with Aster. In the beginning, I could see that he recognized a kindred spirit -- someone who stood calmly in the midst of the Ives chaos. But, his stance slowly changes, and he leans on his physical attraction to Aster when he is confronted by Aster's idiosyncrasies. For a man who is challenging astronomy, by saying there are planets beyond those that have been found, I couldn't understand why he couldn't see the value of what Aster does.

Here lies my problem with this story: I didn't like that he would dismiss Aster's concerns as hoaky. I didn't feel there was enough conversation between our hero and heroine about finding a middle ground, or finding a bridge between the world of astronomy and astrology. Instead, the author created a pattern: something bad would happen, Aster believed it was because of her, and Theo would distract her with kisses. This carries through to the end, when, Theo's problems at the Iveston estate are resolved, but Aster's is all up in the air.

I enjoyed reading this story, but there were a lot of gaps and questions that keeps me from loving this book.

[Sharyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this free from the author for an honest review. I read it over several days. This is the start of a series, so it was slow to start as there are a HUGE number of characters and I had a difficult time keeping track of everyone, The Malcolms and the Ives. Loved the hero, Theo Ives, an astronomer who only wants to look at the stars and invent better telescope lenses. Due to an accident Theo must stand in for his brother the Marquess. It seemed this should have been a second book, as the backstories were VERY confusing. Enter the heroine, an astrologer who believes she is the cause of much death and disaster, and truthfully, she drove me crazy. How ever, the last few chapters got very exciting, was able to finally sort everyone out. There is a huge amount of information about astronomy at the time, but William Hershel the astronomer is mentioned and he dies in 1822. Also a lot of information about the changes in farming and how the Luddites were opposed to any agricultural changes. So a lot of interesting historical facts. I am planning to read the next in the series now that many of the characters have been sorted out. I presume we will learn about many of Theo's brothers, legitimate and illegitimate. Also, the book had an excellent ending when the heroine finally quit dithering around.

[BigComfyChairBookReviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the mix of Regency and Magic!!! There were lots of minor characters being introduced in this book to be used later since it is the first in a series. It gets confusing so I just started ignoring them so I could focus on the main story. This story is pretty humorous. The book is a little dragged out. As others have said the beginning is confusing with lots of names and astrology and astronomy hooha all being thrown at you, but it settles down. I enjoyed the chemistry of Aster and Theo. Aster is rather eccentric and at first, I found her annoying but I grew to love her and just laugh at her. I did find it annoying she kept pushing for her astrology to be accepted as a science when she knew (or should know) that it was her Magic that gave the charts mean anything. I think she can want to be taken seriously by Theo without needing her gift to be deemed science.
WARNING: there is sex in this book, it is not erotica, but enough to be a steamy & hot adult romance. Please do not read if you are looking for something PG.
Romance-5/5 Steaminess-2/5 Explicitness-2/5

[Mela]

I don't want to discourage you. I think that if you like to read fantasy/magic in Regency/Victorian era, at least from time to time (like I do) you should try it [if it would be for free or price-cut again, I wouldn't buy it for $8].

But, I decided I don't want to read it anymore.

It was written rather well. I mean, I can see Patricia Rice isn't an amateur. I can even tell that I liked characters. It was even a bit funny and enjoyable.

But sometimes there is something that makes me read even "1-star" book to the end and sometimes this "something" isn't there.

[Debrac2014 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was a bit hard to get into! Aster sees danger in her stars! Theo needs a wife and Aster decides to help him. Many mishaps occur and Aster feels she'a a danger to Theo and his zany family. The story line was funny at times!

[Barbara "Cookie" Serfaty Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic in the Stars: Unexpected Magic Book #1

The love story of Theo and Aster. The story start off very slow and you may want to stop but if you read on you will find if funny, action pack, and romantic. Aster is an astrologist and Theo is astronomer, they both love the star. She run from family and love and he ignores them. Can they find love?

[Cathy Geha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lady Aster, an astrologer and prognosticator of the future, has been creating astrological charts of family for many years. One of per predictions is that something horrible will happen in the Ives family, shirttail relatives of hers, so she sets off to warn them. They, of course, do not believe her. Something bad does happen and she is called in to help out. There are many Ives brothers in the family with Theo, the astronomer, deciding to set his sights on Aster.

There is much to do to set Iveston to rights, many charts to consider, some stargazing through telescopes and evil to be thwarted. The evil doers may raise their heads in future books and Ives brothers will no doubt meet women and settle down in those books.

This is not an easy book to get into unless you are into astrology. The idea that Lady Aster truly believes her charts and lets them dictates her behavior is a bit mind boggling but perhaps true of the times and of her. Her family is descended from the Malcom family of a previous series and the marriage ceremony harks back to some traditions of that series. I enjoyed this book once I got into it. I loved the scenes that occurred in the bathroom and the bed set up for the wedding night. The Ives family was interesting and fun to get to know. They definitely were a handful!

There is much that can be done with this series and this book sets the groundwork for all of the brothers to end up with their own happily ever after. It will be interesting to see who each of them end up with since they are all so very different. Some of Lady Aster’s relatives were mentioned as potential wives but could also meet other than Ives brothers and have stories of their own in this series.

Thank you to the author for the ARC of this book to read and review.

[Margaret Sholders]

I was a bit surprised when I started to read this book. I thought it would be a Fantasy type of book. It didn't take long to realize it wasn't and on I went. Patricia really did a lot of work on this story line. Spoiler. Her characters are spot on as they pull you into this story! Aster lives alone from her family. Spoiler. Lord Theo focuses on his telescopes for his star watching. Spoiler. Aster is an astrologist and believes it shows the future. Theo believes in mathematics so they tend to bang their beliefs together. This is the time of change for new thoughts and machines. Problems turn up. Spoiler. This is full of all kinds of spoilers. Some are good and some bad. Once started I fell for this story. It was hard to put down and I needed a few tissues. I hope you trust me to ask you to choose this book. You won't regret it. Enjoy reading this story! I have this book for as honest review for NetGalley.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Zodiac and Astrology theme seemed a bit far-fetched to me, so I didn't enjoy this one as much as the others in the series. Lady Aster and Theo are an interesting contrast. I like the way the man is so fascinated by the woman in these series, and Theo does a good job of honing in on Aster and ignoring everyone else. In spite of the fact that Aster is very outgoing and Theo is an introvert, they manage to concentrate on the more important things and make a great couple, where one's weakness is the other's strength and vice versa.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strange but satisfying read. Theo and Aster are a perfect match. Short but worth the read.

[Kebby Shropshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute

This was a nice story, and at times the writing sparkled. Aster studies astrological charts and sees what she believes to be danger for the hero's family. She is convinced she is a figure of doom and cannot allow anyone close to her. Her prediction comes true and the oldest brother, the one who holds the title, is injured and left blind.

Theo, the hero in the story, is an astronomer and he doesn't believe in her charts - but he is mighty attracted to her. The injured older brother insists Theo take over the running of the estate and that he find a wife.

She winds up staying at the estate and trying to make the place presentable - and she will bring young ladies for Theo to meet. The brothers had no interest in keeping the place looking good. There is stuff piled in the rooms and dogs, kittens and a goat running free. Seems some of the males had children by women they hadn't married, and the children were pretty much left to raise themselves. Both Theo and the older brother had been engaged but the women called it off after spending any time at the house.

The story revolves around Theo getting Aster to marry him. She keeps throwing up roadblocks - she is dangerous to be around and he doesn't believe in astrology. But she is attracted to him as well.

For me there were too many characters, too many animal involved scenes and too many discussions about astrology. Aster's charts were out of date - there were planets she didn't know about until Theo told her.

You do get a HEA.

[Crystine Fujimoto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this book.

This was an emotionally intense and interesting read. I found the longer length of this book very satisfying. I do love a good Historical Regency Romance and this was excellent. I have read and enjoyed Patricia Rice before but I just can't remember the titles. I loved the way the family interacted and how clueless the men were. I found it interesting that they were raised in a household with no female/motherly figures and didn't know how to interact with "Polite Society". The men were living in a household that was close to a madhouse with dogs, untrained puppies, goats, leaking roofs, filthy conditions and a billiard table in the foyer. Like Theo said, 'he was surprised that the women didn't run from the place screaming'.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Historical and Regency Romances.

[D Call · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is it really magic, though?

I have no experience with astrology, so this book was hard to understand, to the point I started ignoring that part. And I don't see how she has magic, other than reading charts well. The characters have very little history, so some of their actions are confusing.

Sex: wedding night, other hints, all post wedding
Language: 0 F words, 1 Lord's name in vain, 0 S words
Violence: carriage accident; attempted murder; almost tavern brawl; arson; threat of arson, destruction, kidnapping
Cliffhanger: not really. We don't know who the head bad guy is, nor if she presents to the Astronomy Society.
Do I need to read books before this one: no
Would I read more of the series: maybe

[Rainelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this book a 4 star rating. The reason for this rating is that this book was an easy read that kept me entertained. This writer has great promos with her books. I believe as she continues to write her books will be sought after in the historical romance area. I laughed a little while reading this book.
I found the characters very strong and pleasing as I read the book. The action was great and brought the intensity to the book. Marquis Duncan was well written. I truly loved his character. Although there were many Characters in this book, I was able to hold my own as to who was who.
But as to who was related to whom that’s where it went down hill. There was not much detail in this area.

[Linda George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lady Azenor Dougall through her astrological studies has realized that she is a danger to her family and as a result has distanced herself from them. When she goes to warn a distant branch of the family of their imminent danger, she finds herself attracted to Lord Theophilus Ives. He is an astronomer and a scientist and disregards her warnings despite his instant attraction to her. When her predictions begin to come true and his older brother is severely injured and he must take up the duties of Marquess of Ashford, he calls on Lady Aster for help in finding a wife who can tame his household and conquer the chaos of the Ives. I really enjoyed this Regency romance and recommend it. The story of two people who are linked through the stars is appealing.

[monacia williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Stars have their say

This was not my favourite novel by Patricia Rice, there were too many sections that I had to skip because they seemed to be words put in to achieve the number of words required to make it a novel.
I must admit that this changed towards the end when the story picked up pace and I did not want to skip a line.
I found all the characters likeable, Lady Aster and Lord Theo were well developed main characters, the others, Duncan, William, Jacques, Erran and the twins had their own charm.

[Betsy]

DNF. It seems like the author is trying to do too many things here, and they aren't really fleshed out. Is this a book with magic? Maybe. Is this a book with science? Maybe. Are they in conflict? Who knows? That's put in a personal context and not fully fleshed out. Is this lighthearted? Yes, until the subject of a deceased sibling infant comes up repeatedly out of the blue. Is that fact a motivation for the character? Maybe. It's stated but not necessarily shown. In fact, there's a lot of telling vs. showing. Also, men are portrayed as uniformly unable to keep house. Ugh. Just not for me.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read

I picked up a copy of this book as part of a free offer. I figured I'd try out a new author, which, I believe, was the purpose of the sale. I'm glad that i did. I really enjoyed Magic in the Stars and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. From what I understand, this is a continuation series. That means that I have even more reading to do. I'm so excited!

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aster can read the future in the stars. She foresees tragedy for Duncan Ives and consequences for Theo Ives. So she goes to warn them. They don’t believe her but Theo is very attracted to the lady. When her prediction proves to be true Theo is being forced to wed and produce heirs for his brother’s title. Aster is searching her friends and relatives for a bride for him.
This is a highly interesting and amusing book.

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laughed Out Loud

I found this book to have absolutely marvelous parts and serious flaws. It was hard going at the beginning until I figured out what was happening and who was who. And the ending was disappointing; it seemed a chapter of wrapping up was missing. In between, however, the book.was delightful. The characters were endearingly quirky and the plot moved along in delightfully unexpected ways. In spite of its flaws this book is worth reading.

[Peggy Gaffney · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this and all of the books in the series. Waiting for the next. When I get depressed or exhausted with the stress of writing my own mysteries while trying to handle life in the world of Covid (I've had my shots and so has my son. Yay!!!!), my recipe when everything is too much is to curl up and reread a Patricia Rice book. Good writing is good for the heart, soul, and mind plus her books are so much fun.

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall this was an enjoyable book, a fun historical romance with some magical elements, but for some reason I kept losing interest as I was reading. Some of the dialogue felt repetitive, and I didn’t have much patience for Aster’s astrological jabber. I enjoyed Aster and Theo’s chemistry, though, and the ending included just enough interesting loose ends that I’d consider picking up the next in the series.

[Kyra Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic in the Stars =Magical Entertainment

As a lifelong Astrology Buff, this offering was sheer fun for me! I loved the crazy Ives men and loved what happened when the equally wacky Asta takes them on. I laughed out loud often. Theo and his lady general are wondrous. Can't wait for the next book in this series!!

[Cecily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good fun. The author has set out to write the characters with a light touch, but with a serious moral core to them despite the knockabout household of men and Aster's conviction that she is a danger to her family. It was a nice set up to the subsequent books and far enough away in time from the Magical Malcolms not to mind their absence on the earthly plane.

[Cheryl Adamkiewicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An almost wonderful book

Great characters, lots of excitement, and original extremely fast moving plot. However there is more than one dialogue sequence that just doesn't make sense apparently because no one took the time to proofread or the author wanted to confuse the reader. Either way it makes the book less than it could be.