A young lady with no income—and shortly no home—must be in want of a wizard husband.

Pen Novak has two weeks to find someone to marry. Otherwise, she’ll be spirited off to live with her awful uncle. Fortunately, her town’s omnimancer is on the market, and he plans to choose someone at a ball in thirteen days.

Unfortunately, he’s not the type to appreciate cleverness, persistence or anything else Pen has to offer.

Enter the wizard’s intriguing assistant, who makes her a bargain: a magical brew that could virtually guarantee her selection, in exchange for a favor. Which he won’t specify. Nor will he tell her his name.

Of course she shouldn’t accept. Especially as she starts to notice his fine eyes and tempting lips.

But with all the job openings in town meant for men only, what other choice does a young lady—or, rather, a not quite so young lady—really have?

INTO THE BARGAIN is a fairy-tale-inspired fantasy romance set in the Clandestine Magic world, shortly before the events of the trilogy that begins with SUBVERSIVE. This quick read (21,000 word) novella is a standalone story with an HEA, perfect for fans of gaslamp fantasy, feminist awakenings and slow-burn romance with some steam.

Fantastic novella set in the world of Clandestine. No need to read the Clandestine series in order to understand, but I greatly enjoyed seeing characters pop up from that series. One is such a wonderful character, and the author did an amazing job making her seem well rounded, despite the short story. I felt for Pen’s situation and I enjoyed travelling through her story, getting more information about her as the tale continued.
Such a lovely novella that introduced new characters and mentions old ones. I can’t wait to see if we will have a continuation of Pen’d story in the future.
I received a complementary advanced readers copy of this novel from the author and am leaving this honest review voluntarily.