I absolutely loved this book. Highly recommend for libraries serving teens where fantasy romance is popular.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the advanced audio copy of this book.

That was a fun story! It started off pretty cliche and honestly, most of it was. But I had a ton of fun reading this. I loved the setup and the large ensemble. While I found the two main characters a tad insufferable, I adored all the side characters. The plot and many twists in it weren't hard to predict but the reveals were beautifully done. I also find it interesting how Smith handles the time-traveling aspect of it as well as the other unique and exciting magic systems. Overall a fun book with endearing relationship dynamics that span generations.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

DNF @ 40% I almost dnfed this one so many times, but I kept giving it more chances, hoping it would get better. Unfortunately, it did not and I'm moving on.

This was so disappointing. I was really looking forward to this as the description - Moulin Rouge!!?? - had me hooked. I was hoping for something a bit like Caraval.

Unfortunately, while the writing style was pretty and the magic interesting and well-thought out, the plot was a bit iffy and the characters were the cardboardiest of cardboard cutouts. There was not a single character I was even remotely interested in, and the main characters were unfortunately the least interesting of the bunch.

And where was the gorgeous prohibition/1920s detail? We get a tiny bit at the beginning and then it's just vague and nondescriptive. "A new dress" instead of describing the flapper dress is just so wrong. There could have been so much atmosphere and immersion and honestly that could have saved it for me. But alas, it was all generic. Very few things were described (except the grandma's cleavage. That got probably too much (repeated!) description).

Also the plot can be summed up by 75% love triangle. Seriously. It started pretty much instantly and just consumed the plot. Now, I can understand that somewhat, because that's a bit like Moulin Rouge. Although, in Moulin Rouge, it's not so much a triangle as a secret relationship and fake relationship with no emotions involved in the fake relatiosnhip on the part of the fmc. Here, it's unclear whether feelings are involved in the fake relationship or not, making it more of a true love triangle.

Now, granted, I generally despise love triangles. They can be done well, but this is not really one of those exceptions for me.

While this fell flat for me, primarily because I'm a character-driven and atmosphere/vibes-driven reader who does not like love triangles, plot-driven readers who do enjoy love triangles might enjoy this very much.

Thanks to NetGalley, HarperCollins Chilren's Books, and Balzer + Bray for providing an early copy for review.

On the drive to Missouri from Texas, we started this audio book in the car. I had tried to start it multiple times before over the last few months with a physical copy, but it just was not catching my interest.

We got through 14 chapters on the drive and it absolutely grew on me. The author does such a great job of leaning into all of the 1920s with themes, names, and references that were fun to catch.

Chapter 20 (I think 20) and to the end had my heart on a roller coaster of emotions. I laughed, I cried, I got angry. There were definitely a few things I predicted, but not to the extent that they truly were.

This was a really great read. The only reason I would not put this at 5 stars is that I had a really hard time wrapping my head around the time travelling aspect and how it worked. That may just be me though.

Thank you NetGalley for the initial free copy. I am so glad that I did not quit on this book.

This book was so beautifully written! I feel bad for putting off my review for so long because this book has been on my mind since I read it! I wanted so badly to be in this world and to see the Revelles perform. I loved reading about each person/family's different abilities. Magic and time travel are two favorite genres I love to read and in this book, it brought all my imagination right to life. It was made even better by the time period it was set in. Jamison was my favorite character but I will say that this author had a way of making all the characters suck you in. From my understanding, this book is a stand alone but I would absolutely love to see more from this author set in this world!

🎪 REVELLE ⏳

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5)

Summary: Luxe Revelle tries to seduce wealthy mayoral candidate Dewey Chronos in order to secure the future of her family’s circus act. She has to battle multiple assassination attempts from time travelers, her growing attraction for another man, and her waning source of secret magic to prevent her family from becoming destitute. A YA retelling of Moulin Rouge set near 1920s Prohibition era New York on the fictional island of Charmant.

Review: I didn’t have high expectations going into this book with it being another retelling, but this was shockingly good. I’ve started watching Moulin Rouge, and this book definitely follows the main plot points in the beginning, but it quickly evolves into its own story. The chapters alternate between Luxe and Roger (her main love interest), which allows you to get the magical world-building from both an insider and outsider to the society, and also creates some dramatic irony and excellent plot twists. About halfway through this book, everything you think you know about what’s happening gets turned upside down, and it was very hard for me to put down the book after this point. I audibly gasped at least six times with all the plot twists! If you’re looking for a young adult novel that has high stakes, acknowledges the nuance and complications of its fantasy world, and has likable characters, pick up Revelle! I really enjoyed it.

Revelle came out on 2/14 and is available wherever books are sold. Many thanks to @harpercollins and @netgalley for allowing me to read and review a digital ARC of this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Look, this is not my typical book, but I can’t believe there’s not more hype around it! The angst, the romance, the drama? This has all the things the internet loves right now. Revelle is a Moulin Rouge! inspired fantasy that takes place on an island near New York in the 1920s. Our main character, Luxe, must use her magic to charm a wealthy bootlegger and mayor hopeful into marrying her. This plan goes awry when she ends up falling for Jamison, and accidentally enchanting him as well. Jamison is an orphan who is desperate to learn more about his past, and this plotline is interesting, but the Luxe chapters are JUICY. The villain/the man she must marry is so nasty, and is such a great and creepy antagonist. At first you might think there’s a love triangle but we pretty quickly realize how unpleasant this dude is. I found myself really feeling for Luxe and wondering why her uncle was making her do all this. I had fun with her story and thought it was intense and well-paced, but I am so sick of YA fantasy protagonists whose only character trait is being self-sacrificing. Luxe, we get it, you love your family, but you are literally about to die so maybe come up with a plan B. That being said, I wish every character was a little more developed. Jamison and his friends had potential, and I liked Roger, his bestie and Luxe’s cousin. I also adored Trevor, who deserved better! Ultimately, this was fun, but not amazing. I just needed a little more.

Lastly, I wanted to say that there is some heavy hinting at sex work in this that is often uncomfortable. It fits with the Moulin Rouge! vibe but doesn’t always work for YA. There is one scene between Luxe and the antagonist this is pretty tough to get through. Be warned if this is triggering for you. This definitely isn’t a YA book I’d feel comfortable recommending to junior high kids too.

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Overall: 3.5 Stars

Main Points:

Moulin Rouge themes

Dual POV!!

1920s, however the time period isn't highly incorporated

New, thoughtful, incredibly intriguing magic system

Mediocre Romance (With insta love)

Somewhat flat characters

Twisty, surprising plot

Review

With dual POVs, an intricate, well designed magic system, a surprisingly twisty plot, and major Moulin Rouge themes, I did end up enjoying the book overall.

The plot hooked me, filled with some surprising twists and a feeling of suspense throughout the novel. It was logical, and while the growth of the characters made sense, the characterization felt flat overall. They didn't have much dimension, and that translated over to the main romance. The characters didn't seem to have much chemistry, and it was essentially insta-love, which I don't tend to enjoy. I feel like it can be done well on occasion, but this was not a case in which that was true.

Being set in the 1920s, I had high hopes for the worldbuilding, and was unfortunately disappointed. While there were flappers and prohibition, didn't really go into much detail with actually using the time period within the story. But the magic system more than made up for it. It was something I'd never really seen before, and I was immediately intrigued. The main character in particular, Luxe, had a rather powerful ability. I loved seeing all the different possibilities in the system as a whole, and thoroughly enjoyed reading about it.

I found myself significantly more invested in everything that wasn't the romance. Simply put, it wasn't for me. I didn't really have any sort of desire for the characters to need to get together , and didn't care much for their relationship. The villain felt somewhat predictable, however the plot ended up working out in ways that I didn't entirely expect. The ending did seem to tie everything off with a bow, leaving it fairly closed. Overall, while I would recommend for you to try out this read, as it is likely very enjoyable to fantasy readers, it wasn't necessarily a favorite of mine.

This book was good, but it did have the ability to be great.

I loved the magic system, and I believe many readers will love it too.


It falls short in the following areas:
-atmosphere/setting: it is set during the prohibition era, but the book misses the mark. the world building is minimal, where even some more description of clothing would've greatly added to the "feel" of the time.
-the love interest might as well have been a cardboard. I don't hate insta-love, when done well it can be fascinating, but in this story it just falls flat. The MC and love interest just weren't a couple I could find myself invested in.

However, I do think that some teens will enjoy this, especially if they want something that doesn't require you to invest your heart into the characters.

I liked the idea of magic in the prohibition era. It's a time frame that I find compelling in and of itself. The bright lights, the jazz and party culture, and hard looks at race and gender roles. This one is really more about power, desire, and responsibility. Who has power in a relationship and what they do with it. When your responsibilities to your family override your own desires. And what makes a person "good". I like the complex structure of the magical families and their powers. Enough interesting details for a read.

set on an island off the coast of 1920s new york, revelle is a glittering YA fantasy about two rival magical families and the girl caught between them. luxe revelle is the star of her family’s show, but prohibition has taken its toll; beneath the glamor, the revelles struggle to make ends meet. when the eldest son of the wealthy chronos family offers luxe a deal—the support her family desperately needs in exchange for a fake relationship and her family’s support in his campaign for mayor—she can’t refuse.

i was intrigued by the premise—a prohibition-era historical fantasy inspired by moulin rouge—but underwhelmed by the execution. while the plot has potential and i liked the concept of each magical family having their own unique power, the setting and romance fell flat. i wanted more 1920s vibes and world-building and the romance is just bland. luxe and jamison are instantly attracted to each other, but i didn’t believe in their connection so i was never invested in them as a couple. satine and christian they are not.

also, the conclusion made no sense according to the vaguely defined rules of this magic system and cheapened the rest of the novel.

in all honesty, i think caraval is a more accurate comparison than moulin rouge. i would recommend it to readers looking for something with similar fantasy circus vibes.

I was so excited for this one. It was so pretty with the copy that I got from Owlcrate. But sadly the execution of this one was not for me. I found the story stagnate and boring for the most part. It just felt so underwhelming that I ended up DNFing it around 50 pages.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an exchange of an e-arc for a my honest review.

I’m giving this book a 3.5 because I find the plot interesting as well as how the magic work and the different magic between families. I really enjoyed how the time traveling works as well as the price for magic. Another thing I really liked is how the city was divided. It was interesting learning about the night and day.

Now, although I liked everything that I mentioned above, I still have to say that I know that other night enjoy the time period this book is set in but I’m not a fan. That is one of the main reason why I didn’t fully enjoyed the story. Another one is the FMC I didn’t really like her and I know that others might enjoy the idea of someone being completely desirable and people wanting to be over her all the time but that is not my favorite and the way it was played here did not make it enjoyable for me.

Although this was not my cup of tea, if you love stories set around the prohibition time that involves magic and politics, you might enjoy this one

I LOVED this story! The lush is wonderful and the romance is perfectly swoony and forbidden. This is an author that will be going on my auto-buy list!

This was a fun lush read!!! I’m so glad the publishers was willing to share an early copy with me. I loved the romance, the setting, all of it! This was amazing

This book had me in total chokehold and it stressed the hell out of me. LITERALLY. 

Set in a vibrant island called Charmant, 5 big families with different kinds of magical ability coexist: The Revelles, Chronoses, Edwardians, Strattoris, and Effigens. But the biggest influences are the Revelles and Chronoses, since the Revelles are the entertainers who attract tourists and make Charmant prosper, and the Chronoses govern the Island.

The Revelles can make one of your fantasies come true if you give them jewels. And it has to be given willingly. But Luxe Revelle can control people’s emotion without jewels, hence her Uncle made her the star of the shows. One day she was arranged to meet Dewey Chronos and charm him until he agreed to make a nice liquor deal for the Revelles, because their business depends on it. In return, Dewey wanted Luxe to endorse him in the upcoming election. Sounds fair, right? But is it really that simple, though? OF COURSE NOT. Suddenly everything took a turn for the worst.

What a dazzling debut. the Roaring 20s vibes, the magic, the characters, the dynamics, the setting, the tension, perfect. I've had high hope since Emily Thiede–another author whose debut I adored, mentored Lyssa for this book. It definitely met my expectations and more. Lyssa managed to introduce the magic systems in a short but efficient manner: how they work, what are the terms, limits, and consequences. So even though there’s 5 different kinds of magic, it's not confusing at all.

I don’t give this book a full 5⭐ because multiple first person PoV feels confusing for me sometimes. This book has 2 PoV and since mostly these 2 characters appeared in the same scene, I needed to stop from time to time to recall who’s currently talking. This wouldn’t be a problem if I listened to the audiobook, but since I only read the e-book, it’s a bit disorienting.

Other than that, as I said before, perfect. I devoured this in a day because I couldn’t stop reading and my heart was constantly racing. I had no idea where it was going so the plot really surprised me. If you love Caraval and Moulin Rouge, this book is for you!

4,5⭐️

I really loved this book. It had me hooked. If you are a fan of Caraval or Hotel Magnifique, do not pass this one up. I love a good magical book, and this one delivered in spades. Love, betrayal, time travel, family, and good friends. I'd love to see stories of Trys and Roger ♡

The Revelle family are the magical showrunners of the Night side of Charmant. They are quickly bleeding funds but need to continue to run the show to survive. On the Day side, the Chronos family time travels and are wealthy. When the younger Chronos son strikes a deal with Luxe Revelle so that they can have an unlimited supply of booze for the show, no one knows how much is at stake. Jamison is one of the things Luxe believes she has to sacrifice in order to help her family. The book touches upon family, familial love, love as a weakness or a strength, found family, belonging and perceptions. It was a captivating read.