In 1817, two English cousins take a honeymoon "Grand Tour of the Continent" with their new husbands and become entangled in a mysterious plot to create a magical Emperor of Europe.
Even though this is the second in the series, it's the third book I've read about Cecelia and Kate. I have to admit I enjoyed it somewhat more than [b:The Mislaid Magician|169872|The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After (Cecelia and Kate, #3)|Patricia C. Wrede|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172371060s/169872.jpg|164037] in part because it's closer in the time line to [b:Sorcery and Cecelia|64207|Sorcery and Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia and Kate, #1)|Patricia C. Wrede|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1276374483s/64207.jpg|505] so I had a better handle on who was who and how their prior experience fit into the current story.
Like the others, this is a quirky, fun, sweet tale. I enjoy these characters and I enjoy the way plots unfold. But in some ways this one seemed unbalanced. It's a regency romance, about two couples on their wedding journey and yet only one story has any romance in it. I understand that Cecelia's story was written as a deposition so personal thoughts along those lines would naturally be omitted. But the story should have been set up differently then, to frame her story in a way that made room for that sense of romance. And it's not that I didn't enjoy Cecelia's story, but it felt that it was lacking. Kate's story is very sweet and I enjoyed the novel overall.
