Flawed and disgustingly cute but I don't regret reading it and might even continue the series.
I wanted to write that the humor is incredibly similar to R.J. Blain but it turns out this is actually a series-specific pen-name of her which explains a lot.
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More RJ Blain, under a different name. Fascinating setting - post magical apocalypse, and how people are handling things. I love Pat and Jessica. ( )

Having enjoyed every one of R J Blain’s Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) series, and the start of the Vigilante Magical Librarians series, I’ve now started on the books she writes as Susan Copperfield. They are just as brilliant, demonstrating how skilled she is at building characters with such depth that you just can’t help thinking about them and caring about them. Equally important is her skill at gradually revealing the hidden depths of each character so that you get surprises along the way.

This prequel to the series introduces us to an alternate USA which, following a second civil war, has replaced the presidential/governor structure with independent states each ruled by their own monarch.

The story takes place in Texas which, like other royal states, has a substantial underclass of people with minimal or no magical ability who have to do all the menial and unpleasant jobs required by society. They have virtually no job or financial security and no possibility of escaping the underclass. Out of this group of people comes our hero Pat. He has a minor talent as a horse empath and a major love for cooking, and he comes to the attention of the dangerously feisty Princess Jessica, heir to the throne of Texas ...

I won’t say any more about the plot except that I enjoyed it immensely.

Highly recommended. ( )