Tempests & Tea Leaves by Rachel Morgan
380 pages • ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ • 🌶️ (purely vibes, not thrust)
The world is divided by race and magic status, and half-fae, half-human Iris Starspun is sitting firmly at the bottom of the social heap. At nineteen, her magic finally arrives and it is, allegedly, useless. She can fold enchanted paper. Origami sorcery. Party trick tier. Her parents, ever the opportunists, see it as their last chance to brand her as “wife material” during Bloom Season and marry up before the family finances crumble. Iris would rather spontaneously combust than marry for status.
What is a regency romance without its own Mr Darcy? Enter Lord Jasvian Rowanwood, heir to the most powerful fae family in the isles. He is stern, serious, and deeply unimpressed with Iris’s “parlor trick” magic or the way her tongue is both sharp and frequently deployed.
His terrifyingly competent grandmother runs The Charmed Leaf Tea House, an enchanted tea shop that functions as a full supporting character with its own personality. She promptly appoints Iris as an apprentice, which means Iris and Jasvian are now trapped in extremely aesthetic proximity.
On top of Iris’s half-human “lesser” status, her smart mouth makes her a pariah to the mean girls and a delight to anyone with a functioning brain cell, including Jasvian’s younger sister. The dynamic is very Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy. His taciturn, broody exterior is secretly and begrudgingly enthralled by her wit. Their magical letter exchanges are utterly charming and had me smiling like an idiot more often than not.
Sidebar, because I am who I am. This is a key tell of a MMC written by a woman. We know that a good man will adore a sharp, capable partner. The sad reality is that in the actual dating pool, those men are rarer than signed first editions. Spend five minutes near a red-pill “alpha,” and it’s obvious they don’t want a woman who can match them, they want an empty-headed, compliant emotional support blow-up doll who never questions them. Male fragility is a hell of a drug. Anyway.
Iris’s magic is much more powerful than anyone realizes, and it reacts with Jasvian’s magic in some quite explosive ways. Lady Rivenna, Jasvian’s grandmother and proprietress of The Charmed Leaf, becomes Iris’s sponsor, mentor, and quiet revolutionary. She nurtures Iris’s magic and nudges at the brittle prejudices that hold their rigid, hierarchical society together.
The worldbuilding and magic system are a treat, particularly if you have a soft spot for regency novels or an undying crush on Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. This feels like a very satisfying marriage of high fantasy and regency romance, blended into a world that is incredibly easy to slip into and stay inside.
There is a clear progressive undertone. Several characters are openly opposed to the anti-human and anti–half-fae prejudice baked into fae society. The story slowly chips away at classism and bigoted rhetoric while we drift through Bridgerton style balls, tea visits, promenades, and carefully chaperoned walks in the park.
Overall, I am thrilled to have found a book that stitches two of my favorite playgrounds together. The banter is everything. Iris is exactly the sort of saucy, Bennet-esque minx I adore, and Jasvian delivers that broody, emotionally constipated Darcy energy that makes every tiny crack in his façade feel like a religious experience. A brush of hands, a hand flex, a loaded look across a ballroom. Bliss.
Tempests & Tea Leaves is a delightful escape from reality. It is a no-spice novel, very in line with “proper” regency romance, so significantly tamer than Bridgerton, but with all the corsets, gowns, promenades, and tea you could want. Come for the vibes, the world, and the slow, simmering tension, not for the smut.
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