The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner

Description from Goodreads:

A charming historical fantasy with a tender love story at its core, from the author of Unnatural Magic.

Hard-drinking petty thief Dellaria Wells is down on her luck in the city of Leiscourt—again. Then she sees a want ad for a female bodyguard, and she fast-talks her way into the high-paying job. Along with a team of other women, she’s meant to protect a rich young lady from mysterious assassins.

At first Delly thinks the danger is exaggerated, but a series of attacks shows there’s much to fear. Then she begins to fall for Winn, one of the other bodyguards, and the women team up against a mysterious, magical foe who seems to have allies everywhere.

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My Review:

I was so excited to read this book. The idea of female wizards was so exciting to me. When I finally got the notification from the library that it was my turn to pick up, I literally raced there after work.

So honestly, the book was hard to read the first couple of chapters. Only because I was not used to how the characters spoke. I am a naturally fast reader but when something happens that I am not used to it gets really hard to get into a flow. By the time I reached the fourth chapter though it was smooth sailing. Nothing against the writing style. I did thoroughly enjoy it once I got used to it, but this may be something that trips up other readers which is why I wanted to point it out.

I really liked Delly as a character. Normally I want a lot of character growth to happen but I liked that Delly was who she was from beginning to end. She is a thirfty slightly morally grey character that is just trying to survive. I enjoyed exploring her fire powers and her interactions with the other characters. Especially, Dok. I really liked seeing their personalities clash and how they grow on one another. I'll probably get some hate for this but I just wasn't a fan of Winn. I did enjoy her at first when she and Delly first got to know each other. I thought their growing crush was cute. However, Winn got very annoying for me. She became very one-dimensional. As if she was only there to be Delly's love interest and nothing else when she was also hired to take care of assassins. I also felt their romance was very rushed. It just took up more space than it needed to.

I really enjoyed the plot. I liked how there was a twist that changed the direction of the story while still allowing all of the girls to work together. I do wish the author added another twist though. I have another idea of who I think the villain should have been, but I will not say more as I do not want to spoil anything. The book does tend to drag a bit in the last third. I found myself skimming here and there as I just wanted to get to the good parts.

Overall, this book was a bit average for me. Not that romance is everything, but I would have liked for the author to have made more of an effort. If they had at least done more with Winn, then I probably would have felt better about it. I also wish there was an opportunity to learn about the different kinds of powers wizards can have. I would still recommend this book if you're looking for a casual read that is a bit different with a fun cast of characters. I would skip it if you're looking for a good romance or super in-depth plot.