Huh, I've seen this book recced a number of times but never picked it up, but oddly this review is making me want to read it, possibly because you're giving me a much better idea of what I'm getting myself into! (Also I want to see the depiction of LMH, where I am sure Grace would have found all sorts of unconventional women.) I am resigned to semi-historical fantasy-ish fiction where the characters are largely modern people in period clothes - I found an awful lot of that when I went looking for recent murder mysteries in the Golden Age style too. The fantasy elements and plotting and nicely done canon m/m sound like fun, and thanks to your warning I can be braced for the other stuff.