{stand-alone/ omnibus Good Neighbours 1-4; fantasy, magic, necromancy, romance, light & fun}(2022)

Told in the first person, this is a collection of short series about Mia (who has metallurgical powers, hitherto unknown in this world) who lives, with her dad, next door to the unfairly attractive, outrageous necromancer Leander Fabian. A light and fun fantasy romance.

This reads as obviously a collection rather than a novel even though the chapters follow a timeline because information is reintroduced at the beginning of chapters. In spite of that, it works fairly well as one narrative, which is how I read it; usually I rate individual stories in a collection individually and then average out for the book but I'm rating this one as one story.

1- Good Neighbours

Mia and her father have, despite the friendly warnings from the locals who are suspicious of spellcrafters (not realising that Mia has magical powers), recently moved next door to a necromancer's castle. But Mia has secrets of her own and is happy to leave her neighbour alone and be left alone - until he sends his undead minions to her home.

This was fun and it looked like Burgis had fun writing this story.

2- Deadly Courtesies

Mia perforce agrees to accompany Leander to the Necromancers' Ball to be his second in a duel, accoutred in a metal dress of her own design. And maybe her new ally will turn into something more than just an ally ... if she'll let him.

Not quite as light-hearted as the first but Mia proves she's no damsel in distress, even if she has to create her own magical dress.

3- Fine Deceptions

Mia's dad and Leander's mentor find an excuse to send them to the other side of the country together - everyone seems to know how they feel about each other except Mia herself. Once there, they find the city even more prejudiced against spellcrafters than anything they've yet experienced, to the extent that the local magic wielders are living in hiding in fear of their lives.

A little bit more serious but still fun.

4- Fierce Company

The prejudices Mia and Leander encountered in their last adventure follow them home to roost. And, more scarily perhaps, Mia meets Leander's family.

Also deals with serious issues but fun and with a happily ever after ending.

(January 2024)
3.5 stars ( )

I had already read the short story “Good Neighbors”, but this also contains “Deadly Courtesies” and two novella-length stories, Fine Deceptions, and Fierce Company, following the romance between inventor Mia and her necromancer neighbour Leander.

I liked reading these stories but I guess I was, perhaps unfairly, hoping they would tick the right boxes to be comfort rereads like Snowspelled and they didn’t. (Which isn’t to say they wouldn’t be comfort rereads for someone else.) ( )

A warm cozy fantasy of a metal mage moving in next door to a necromancer, and forming a little community of misfits in a world that would do away with them all. I read this last year when Burgis released it to her Patreon, and read it again as soon as it was formally published. I am holding out hope there will be more in the future. ( )

This is a fun grumpy/sunshine pairing of a couple (spoiler: the necromancer isn't the grumpy one) which combines the best bits of friends to lovers with friendly monsters and just a dash of misunderstanding to create a magical fantasy romance romp. This was a super enjoyable read, and you can tell that the author had fun writing it. It just feels like reading happiness.

I would tend to place this as an adult book, though it's perfectly chaste. I wouldn't hesitate to give it to a teen if they were interested. The only possible issues that I saw in the book were memories of a fire (arson), emotionally abusive parents, and a town that was hateful of anyone "different"—but it was all handled so gently that I don't know that they would be triggers at all.

I highly recommend this book, whether you are a fan of fantasy, romance, or just happy stories. There is actually depth to the story, even though that's not what I focused on and you can mostly ignore everything deeper than the obvious plot points if you just want the fun bits. There is diversity, too; though I don't know for sure about skin color, the variety of "other" types of people in the magical community is plenty varied enough, and LGBTQ+ characters are accepted by (most of) the community for who they are. Burgis wrote in the end notes that she might write a companion piece to this set in the future, and I hope she does! I'll be first in line to buy it. ( )

I received this story collection from the author, in exchange for an honest review.

It’s always a welcome surprise when Ms. Burgis so kindly asks me to read and review her new works, because I know that I will always discover delightful stories where a thread of magic is woven with one of romance that even this grumpy old curmudgeon cannot find fault with ;-) (as a matter of fact, I quite enjoy these light-hearted forays into romantic territory…)

Magic is indeed a focal theme in this collection of stories set on a parallel version of 19th Century England, one where this element is commonplace, as in Ms. Burgis’ equally engaging Harwood Spellbook series, but with the difference that here magic is not an integral part of society: anyone caught with such abilities or marked as “unnatural” is either ostracized or wiped out, depending on the mood of the neighborhood.

Young Mia, the main character, is an inventor with a special knack for metal to which she can apply her peculiar kind of magic, but her skills have already exacted a heavy toll when her former fellow citizens discovered her true nature and turned against her and her father, burning their home to the ground and grievously wounding the man. Now that the two of them have found a new place to live, Mia is firmly set in keeping her abilities well hidden, but she did not take into account the persistence of her next-door neighbor, necromancer Leander, whose misshapen undead minions she keeps finding on her doorstep…

Given the shortness of the four stories that compose this collection (Good Neighbors, Deadly Courtesies, Fine Deceptions, Fierce Company) I don’t want to dwell any longer on the actual plot, which despite its light, humorous tone is also able to touch on some very serious themes like the fear of anything we perceive as different or the double standards of people in power. I can however concentrate on the character of Mia who, like many of Stephanie Burgis’ heroines, presents a captivatingly grouchy disposition on the outside that hides a generous, selfless soul ready to help those in need - be they human or otherwise. Previous events - and the consequences they visited on her father - made Mia quite wary of outside contact and a virtual recluse, which forces dashing Leander to launch a well-organized campaign to tear those barriers down and turn the two of them first into allies and then into… well, something else. And he has a lot of ground to cover because, in Mia’s own words:

I was not some fluff-headed flibbertigibbet who could be flustered by a bit of close darkness and a handsome, teasing necromancer.

While the first two stories, which are also the shorter ones in the collection, remain on the light side, the longer third and fourth deal with some quite dramatic issues concerning the frame of mind of the so-called “good citizens” of a nearby town (I always shudder whenever the word “purity” is used as it is in this instance) and Leander’s harrowing past. There is clearly a thematic progression here that moves from the introductory stories where the characters are presented, to the more complex, more layered study of the world they live in, a world in which “normal” people feel threatened by supernatural creatures for no other reason that they are different - and no matter how much fanciful humor is laced throughout the story, there are several thought-provoking issues here that belie the apparent lightness of the collection.

These four short stories were previously presented on Stephanie Burgis’ Patreon between 2020 and 2021 and are now collected in a single volume that will be available from February 2nd, 2022. My hope, after reading them, is that the author will write some more to expand both on this intriguing world and on Mia and Leander’s story. I will look forward to them. ( )