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

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This just might be my favorite book of the year. I’ve read some pretty great stuff in the last month, but I really think this book was written just for me. Reader friends, we are given a foul-mouthed, whip-smart, magical badass who has to survive by her wits and ability to manipulate others, and of course, succeeds. 

Please don’t comment on my misuse of commas. It’s a quirk. It’s charming. I promise. 

Dellaria is short on her rent, her mother’s rent, and needs a job fast. After having a “hard promise” put on her by her landlady, Dellaria must come up with rent or risk having her face covered in magically applied pustules. When a shady card game leads to her arrest, Dellaria falsely claims she is expected at an interview for a powerful and wealthy family, and is completely surprised when a Lady from said powerful and wealthy family comes and retrieves her from the jail for her supposedly fake interview. Turns out, Dellaria is a pretty powerful fire witch and would make an excellent bodyguard for a wealthy woman if Dellaria can only keep her focus and not run off to have drinks and shenanigans with the local men. When Dellaria’s employer is attacked through magical means, Dellaria and her fellow bodyguards discover that they are in far more danger than they were led to believe. Now, Dellaria is caught up in the mystery of who wants to attack Dellaria’s employer, how that connects to the rising drug problems in the area, her growing attraction to one of her wealthy colleagues and should she pursue her for love or the possibility of wealth and safety. The Ruthless Lady’s Guide to Wizardry is an engaging and thrilling adventure full of humor and action. It has a delightful cast of characters, nearly all women with magical abilities and all incredibly interesting. Dellaria develops what seems to be her first set of real friends and she really struggles to learn how to accept help and positive encouragement. The world found within this story is very interesting. While it appears to be set in old-timey England, with its social classes and fancy dress shops, it’s actually quite progressive. Those with money and social power can “household” another person which I took to mean a relationship similar to marriage. I could be wrong, but that’s how I understood it. These household relationships don’t have to be male-female. Same sex relationships are completely ordinary, happen all the time and it was just so nice to see it treated that way. Slight spoiler-when Dellaria finds herself in the position of potentially be householded, she is all flirty eyebrows and waggly eyebrows and her potential partner is all, slow down girl, we have all the time in the world and Dellaria is just floored! Who turns down Dellaria’s advances? There are some references to a prestigious school for magically gifted children that would make an excellent prequel. Fingers crossed that this book is written as well as many, many more in this world.

I swear a lot. A lot. It’s a miracle that my son’s first word was “dog” and not an f-bomb. Dellaria has at least two swear words in every sentence and it never feels performative, it’s just truly her personality. But even with all of her swearing and questionable grammar, Dellaria is still a smart and empowered character. She really does believe in herself and her worth and she works her butt off throughout the entire book. Everytime that she should just give up and give in, she rises to the occasion and pulls through. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks of it. I loved the world, the magic, the characters, it’s all just so good! If you would like to add this amazing book to your collection, you can get ordering information here:

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.  This post contains affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases.