A Riddle of Wizards Series: Ravencroft Hall #2 Published by Kat Ross on May 22, 2026
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / Action & Adventure, Fiction / Fantasy / Contemporary, Fiction / Fantasy / Cozy, Fiction / Fantasy / Humorous, Fiction / Fantasy / Romance
Pages: 271
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Reading Challenges: All booksCloud castles, curses, and cinnamon cakes.
With its mercurial lord back at Ravencroft Hall, England’s most faerie-infested village is safe once more.
After a lonely upbringing as the ward of a non-magical earl, Richard Ravencroft has finally embraced his wizard heritage. He’s found his true love, Kitty Boot, and just wants to live the quiet life of a country doctor-slash-amateur sorcerer.
So when he’s summoned to the Riddle, a conclave of the most powerful wizards in Western Europe, his first instinct is to refuse.
Richard’s spells still go wrong more often than not—sometimes with disastrous results. Besides which, he doubts anyone has forgotten his parents’ embarrassing treason to the Crown.
And yet…
The Riddle might be the only chance to break the enchantment on his friend Layla’s father—and redeem the Ravencroft name.
It’s held at a remote alpine castle, culminating in a grand ball on Feenacht, when the doors to the Otherworld open wide. Layla insists on coming too, along with Kitty and Richard’s charmingly rakish cousin Adrien.
Together, they find new hope, surprising allies, and excellent German pastries. But when the Riddle comes under attack by a malevolent force, Richard’s own bargain with the Court of Silver Shadows is threatened—along with the fate of the woman who holds his heart.
Mixing adventure, humor, and low-spice romance, A Riddle of Wizards will delight fans of the Emily Wilde books.
Curses, Chaos, and Cozy Fantasy
A Riddle of Wizards is cozy fantasy, but not in the “everyone quietly drinks tea, and nothing happens” way. This is cozy fantasy with chaos. There’s whimsy, magical disasters, fae weirdness, high-stakes wizard nonsense, and a protagonist who is doing his absolute best while the universe keeps saying, “That’s cute, here’s another crisis.”
Richard Ravencroft is not your polished fantasy hero. He’s awkward, messy, carrying emotional baggage, and somehow keeps ending up in situations way above his magical pay grade. Watching him navigate a conclave of powerful wizards while being one misfired spell away from catastrophe is honestly half the entertainment. He has that lovable “sir, please get it together” energy that makes you root for him even when everything is very clearly going off the rails.
And the VIBES? Elite. Remote alpine castle? Magical ball? Dangerous fae forces lurking in the background? Weird wizard politics? This book feels like a cozy fantasy got dressed up for a dramatic winter vacation and accidentally invited chaos to dinner.
What I really liked is that this book balances whimsy with stakes. It’s funny and charming, but it doesn’t feel weightless. There’s danger under all the magical sparkle, and Kat Ross knows how to keep that tension simmering without losing the cozy heart of the story.
The found-family energy, magical mishaps, fae drama, romance simmering in the background, and general “this is probably going to end badly” tension all worked for me. And yes, the pastries somehow deserve their own honorable mention because this book really said magical peril, but makes it delicious.
If you like cozy fantasy with humor, magical disasters, fae shenanigans, and a protagonist who is one inconvenience away from a breakdown, A Riddle of Wizards is a ridiculously fun time. Soft chaos, wizard panic, alpine magic, and pastry-fueled fantasy nonsense? Sign me up.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
