Tag: romance

3 star, YA

ARC Review: A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

In this romantic fantasy of manners from New York Times bestselling author Allison Saft, a magical dressmaker commissioned for a royal wedding finds herself embroiled in scandal when a gossip columnist draws attention to her undeniable chemistry with the groom.

Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland. 

But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible. 

Transporting readers to a Regency England-inspired fantasy world, A Fragile Enchantment is a sweeping romance threaded with intrigue, unforgettable characters, and a love story for the ages.

Overall Recommendation:

A Fragile Enchantment had a beautiful premise with all the vibes of Regency era England and a forbidden romance with a prince. I wanted to love it but my expectations weren’t quite met. This is far more a romance than a fantasy with less worldbuilding and substantial plot than I would’ve thought. However, the characters were cute and the read was still somewhat enjoyable.

Publication Date: January 2, 2024

A Fragile Enchantment was my first foray into Allison Saft’s novels and I came in with high expectations, perhaps a little too high. Set in a fantastical version of Regency era England with allusions to events that actually occurred in Ireland, this romantic story both fulfilled and disappointed at the same time.

Niamh is a dressmaker who can imbue magic into her garments. The exact workings of this magic isn’t fully explained but that’s okay. The memories and emotions she’s feeling, especially if they’re strong enough, can be transferred into the clothing while she is making it. For example, feeling invisible or in the background can lead to a garment that sometimes makes you actually invisible while wearing it. That’s cool but it’s one of few magic present in this world. It seems magical bloodlines run in the nobility circles more as they like to keep it “pure” in their bloodline to pass on like a legacy. The other forms of magic that aren’t explained much either seem to take the form of natural element control, whether the forces coming from the sky (ie. Lightning and rain) or growth from the ground (ie. Flowers and vines).

The extent of the world building kind of ends here. We get an explanation there are a few different kingdoms and political marriages to foster allies. Some of the relationships between kingdoms are rocky but it never brings into the story any actual political strife that occurs. The main political tension arises from social class inequality which I enjoyed as Niamh’s own countrymen were seen as secondary people in a way in Avaland. I just wish there was a little more focus here along with the mysterious gossip columnist (a la Bridgerton vibes) that was pushing for reform.

At the heart of this story is the romance between Niamh and Kit. I love a good forbidden romance. I will admit there were cute banter scenes and some tension in places, but sometimes it felt the transition to love was a little quick before I felt truly invested in them. Maybe I had too high of an expectation, but when it’s the main focus of the story, it’s kind of hard not to expect something. However, I will contend that this may just be an issue for me, in this particular time of reading, and their chemistry may in fact be sufficient for other readers to absolutely adore them.

My last little gripe I wanted to learn more about is Niamh’s white streak of hair. It is said to represent her fragility as the streak grows with the use of her magic, and it will one day be the cause of her death. It’s a big plot point that drives her to always put others first and seek her own happiness last because she doesn’t know how much time she may have. I don’t know if this was resolved in the story as it ups the stakes but doesn’t fully explain it. I mean, everyone is technically dying all the time. Why does her magic alone cause such a demise? It felt like a little loose thread I’m just pulling at right now but I am curious as it ties deeply into Niamh’s arc.

Overall, it was a fun story to read but I definitely came into it with some expectations that weren’t fully met. If I had known this was mostly a romance but just set in a fictional version of the Regency era, I might’ve come into it a little differently. There may be some loose threads but the story stands alone well enough to make romance readers relatively happy.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review

4.5 star, YA

ARC Review: Stay With My Heart by Tashie Bhuiyan

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

From the author of Counting Down with You  and  A Show for Two comes a new YA contemporary about a girl who accidentally sabotages an up-and-coming local band and falls for the guitarist while secretly trying to make up for her mistake.

Liana Sarkar lives and breathes music, hoping to follow in the footsteps of her A&R coordinator father. Maybe if she succeeds, he’ll finally give her the time of day instead of drowning himself in work to distract from the grief of her mother’s passing.

When Liana accidentally sabotages an up-and-coming local band, Third Eye, she makes it her mission to steer them towards success—without them discovering her role in their setback. But as she gets closer to Third Eye, especially their enigmatic leader Skyler Moon, it becomes harder to hide the truth.

With both her heart and their futures on the line, will Liana be able to undo the damage she’s caused?

Overall Recommendation:

Stay With My Heart is full of musical references and a romances that sweeps you off your feet. Liana was a well-fleshed out protagonist to sympathize with as she embarks on this secret mission to make the band, Third Eye, into a great success. I loved the realness of her struggles, the songs she connected with, and her growing relationship with each of the boys in the band. The romance was so organic even while the impending blow up over her secrets hangs overhead. I couldn’t put this down, and Tashie has slowly secured a spot as a writer that just gets what I want in a love story.

Continue reading “ARC Review: Stay With My Heart by Tashie Bhuiyan” →
4 star, YA

Review: House of Marionne by J. Elle

Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Series: House of Marionne #1

Rich is the blood of the chosen

17 year-old Quell has lived her entire life on the run. She and her mother have fled from city to city, in order to hide the deadly magic that flows through Quell’s veins. 

Until someone discovers her dark secret.

To hide from the assassin hunting her, and keep her mother out of harm’s way, Quell reluctantly inducts into a debutante society of magical social elites called the Order that she never knew existed. If she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she’ll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever. 

If caught, she will be killed.

But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there’s more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and— assassin in training. 

When Quell uncovers the deadly lengths the Order will go to defend its wealth and power, she’s forced to choose: embrace the dark magic she’s been running from her entire life or risk losing everything, and everyone, she’s grown to love.

Still, she fears the most formidable monster she’ll have to face is the one inside.

Overall Recommendation:

House of Marionne takes us to the exciting world of magical boarding schools where students learn more about their magic in order to integrate into their magical societies. So basically an older version of Harry Potter, right? I loved the introduction to the Houses and the various magic that can be learned. Quell’s overall journey to magic while hiding all of who she is kept the pace fast and tense. While the romance has yet to truly captivate my heart, time will only tell where it goes from here. This was a nice introductory book 1, but I really want book 2 now.

Set in the modern world where magic is hidden from the ordinary people with no magic in their blood, Quell is one of the unfortunate people born with dark magic, known as toushana, that only knows how to destroy, not create. I thought this overall arc tied the whole story together from the beginning when she was on the run with her mom to her journey to her grandmother’s House for magical training. Although the settings change and sometimes the outward focus of things in Quell’s life feels disjointed – I mean, she’s taking etiquette classes one moment and hiding from the Dragun on her tail the next – I do feel at least there’s an invisible connection between all things so nothing felt like weird and unnecessary filler.

The tension to hide Quell’s innate magic always gave me this sense of urgency and worry that kept the book pace elevated even during more mundane scenes. The info dump wasn’t too severe either as Quell was as unfamiliar to this world of magic as we were. I enjoyed learning alongside her the different trials she’d have to perform to bind fully with her magic, and the different Houses present in this magical society. I did wish in part that the learning aspect was both longer and more interesting. Etiquette classes just make me want to snooze, even with intriguing scenes with her mentor Jordan. I wouldn’t have minded more action packed magical learning instead.

Speaking of Jordan, the romance was okay. I know, not a solid raving about the romance? Am I feeling okay? I suppose I didn’t connect with Jordan enough to love him as a character yet. He’s the stereotypical brooding male love interest who is both wary of Quell initially but reluctantly falls in love with her over the course of mentoring because he somehow knows she’s different. He never did anything unpredictable. I knew what he’d feel or maybe even do when, not if, he found out about her magic. Quell’s own feelings towards him didn’t feel particularly strong in a way that made sense from their briefly intense/emotionally charged moments together. I will wait to see if my feelings about them grow in book 2.

However, a person who was more three-dimensional was Yagrin, this unknown individual who was off to the side of the story but had his own POV chapters here and there. His perspective of this society and his role was a fascinating insight into the overall direction the story and series is moving towards as well as giving more depth to the world. I would love to see more of his perspective in the future also.

For the things I did wish connected me more to the story, I overall loved the flow and direction of this book. Having read it as an audiobook probably also helped. My pickiness on minor things is surely based on my own feelings around reading at the moment and perhaps may change in the future if I were to reread this again. I do look forward to seeing where Quell’s journey moves next.