Reading: Thornbound

Thornbound is the second in Stephanie Burgis's Harwood Spellbook series, following along from Snowspelled. In it, Cassandra Harwood has married the love of her life and is about to open the first magic school for women in the country of Angland, but all is not as rosy as it could be; her husband has been so busy at work she hasn't seen him since their wedding day, the government has sent an inspection team to try to find a reason to close the school down, and then she discovers evidence that someone on the premises has made a bargain with the fey that could spell disaster for everyone at the school...

Like Snowspelled, Thornbound is a fun, frothy fantasy with an interesting take on the problems with rigid gender roles in a very different society (in Burgis's alternate England, Angland, women hold political power while men are magicians). I read it quite slowly during a couple of extremely busy weeks at work that left me with very little time and energy for reading, and it was a lovely gentle read to soothe me through a stressful time.