A Crown of Ivy and Glass is a great fantasy with interesting world building and a unique heroine. 

Lady Gemma Ashbourne isn’t a typical fantasy heroine. She’s not a badass or the chosen one or the most talented magician. She’s the only member of her powerful aristocratic family who doesn’t have any magic. And not only that, she’s basically allergic to magic. Whenever she’s around too many magic users or has to use magic created by others, she is violently ill and has to spend days recovering. She also suffers from a panic disorder and has debilitating panic attacks.

Claire Legrand does an excellent job of examining how a chronically ill person might live in a magical fantasy world. In addition to her illnesses, Gemma also great guilt because her older sister took her place as a fighter at the Middlemist, the barrier between their world and an old world filled with monsters.

I won’t get into the plot too much to avoid spoilers, but there are a family rivalry, a burgeoning romance, things breaking through the Middlemist, and family secrets. The plot takes a sharp left turn at about 60% into the book, which was totally unexpected and really well done.

This book is 558 pages and although I often struggle with long books (attention span issues), but I tore through it and it never felt too long.

Clare is brilliant and this book has so many potentials. I’d definitely pick up the next book. The sisters are so intriguing and the smut was fine but i needed more heat and i need it to be more spicy. The villains and the mystery of them had me screaming

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the advance reader copy of A Crown of Ivy and Glass!

A Crown of Ivy and Glass is the first in a trilogy of the story of Gemma Ashbourne, the third daughter of an Anointed family engaged in a feud with another Anointed family, the Basks. Before the gods died, the Anointed several families with high magic to protect the world in their stead. Most Anointed families only have two children but the Ashbornes have three. The last daughter is always sent to the Warden to protect the Middlemist but Gemma's middle sister, Mara, volunteers to go in her stead. Mara's magical abilities are as a Sentinel, like their father, who are skilled warriors. Gemma is constantly sickly as not only does she have no magical abilities, but being around magic causes her extreme pain. Gemma's father has a guest come to stay, Talan, who completely changes Gemma's life.

I really enjoyed this book! The world building and magical system is incredible. Gemma is so completely unlikable as a character at the beginning of the story that I thought I would not enjoy the book but I was completely drawn in by the end of the book. So many things happen throughout the story but it is easy to follow and the characters and magic are so well developed that it was so much fun to read.

I so wanted to love this book. Claire Legrand is a legendary fantasy writer, so I had very high hopes. Unfortunately, I just could not get into the book. The main character, Gemma, was a brat and not in a fun or interesting way, and Talan fell very flat for me. I found myself struggling to understand what was happening, but I wasn't interested enough to keep trying. My library has purchased this title, and I hope that someone enjoys this book.

I was very interested in the world building but after a while it seemed a bit slow and predictable. I got a lot of From Blood and Ash vibes. So, if you enjoyed FBAA, you might enjoy this one. It was a bit slow and I found myself having difficulty picking it back up.

Pros:
- interesting world building, once they dug deeper into that aspect I was hooked
- full cast of characters with interesting personalities

Cons:
- aggressively trying too hard to be like ACOTAR with the title (also I don’t think the title even fits the book imo)
- don’t care for MC and her love interest
- the book feels disjointed between the first and second half. The first half took me months to get through and for the second half I was actively looking forward to see what was happening

Overall, wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend this book, but also wouldn’t tell someone not to read it. I think if the description sounds incredibly interesting to you, then go for it, but just know it probably won’t be the best thing you’ve ever read. Undetermined if I’ll read the second in the series.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book! I have to be honest and say that I've struggled with it. The beginning chapters are simply not engaging enough and I kept putting the book down and coming back to it only when I saw it on my kindle. It wasn't a win for me, but I do enjoy Claire's writing overall, so this was just not a book that worked for me.

I wanted to love this book so much. It is touted to be a cross between Bridgerton and ACOTAR but honestly, I didn't find it truly resembled either books... Maybe some super watered down similarities with ACOTAR but that's it.

The world building and descriptions of things in this book were good. I was curious to find out what was behind the FMCs illness and felt invested in the story at the start. I also liked the chronic pain and anxiety rep. That being said, I couldn't connect with the characters - some side characters were nicely written but the FMC was so selfish and kinda hateful and her love interest was 2D in my opinion. I wasn't feeling their chemistry and the romance felt so rushed. This book is an adult fantasy but many aspects of it felt very YA, including the romance and character feelings.

My biggest gripe however is the pacing. Some parts of this story were rushed, while other things dragged on and didn't amount to anything. As a result, this book felt much too long for nothing.

I hear this author has written other books that people love, so I will check those out but this one was just not it for me.

Content warnings: Self harm, suicidal thoughts/suicide, panic attacks/disorder, death, grief.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Netgalley for the ARC for review. All opinions are my own.

A Crown of Ivy and Glass is a complex romantic fantasy starring deeply flawed characters still trying their best to follow the right path. I liked Gemma’s femininity and imperfections, but readers should be warned that there is a lot of suicidal ideation in this book. I also didn’t love Talan as a love interest. He exhibits a lot of markers for an abusive partner, and while some of that gets explained in the narrative, the romantic aspects of this book make me anxious. Fans of Fourth Wing might like this novel, but to me it has a very different tone.

DNF @ 25%

The writing is juvenile given that it's supposed to be adult fantasy romance. Book was boring. Would not recommend

A Crown of Ivy and Glass is Claire Legrand's adult fantasy romance debut. I was excited to read it, but ultimately it left me scratching my head.

Lady Gemma Ashborne has everything she could wish for--except magic. Despite her wealth and beauty, she is deeply sad, and the magic of others attacks her body like a poison. Her sister Mara has been sent to guard the Middlemist, and her eldest sister and father are embroiled in a blood feud with another magical family.

A handsome young man, Talan, arrives and takes an interest in her, but all is not as it appears. Dangers, including demons and other nightmares, are closer than she imagines.

For me, personally, I feel like the author tried to cram too much in. It felt like all the tropes from all the recent fantasy romances were shoved into a plot blender and this complicated, meandering, convoluted book was the result. I'm no stranger to fantasy; it's one of my favorite genres, but I found this one to be difficult to follow. Sometimes less is more, and I think this book could have benefitted from some paring down. It will be interesting to see how the world-building and the plot develop in the next installment,

Thank you Sourcebooks Casablanca and Netgalley for my ARC.

TLDR: Pretend you never read the Empirium Trilogy and the focus of the book is on family and not the romantic interest.

Like many others, I went into this ready to have my world absolutely rocked my world like Legrand's Empirium Trilogy did. Her ability to create incredibly morally gray characters who OFTEN choose to do wrong things (we love women's wrongs) is what drew me to reading this book. It is pitched as Bridgerton meets fae, which was very exciting. I like this book but left it mostly confused from about the 60% mark on.

My main issue with Gemma and Talan is their instalove and the fact that they are surrounded by an incredibly more interesting cast who I wanted to get to know. If her next books in this series follows Gemma's sisters, I will gladly read the sequels. The only other thing I didn't completely vibe with was the large sideplot involving the Villa as I couldn't see the through line of the two plots.

I actually think if you take Talan out of the story, it becomes a much more compelling story. This story should be judged based on the chronic pain and mental health representation while being rooted in a story (likely the overarching one) about sisters. Legrand crafts incredible women and her women in this book shone and I wanted to know more about all of them as character.

I am excited to see the next book in the series. I received an ebook ARC from Netgalley and never get paid for my opinions.

I am so disappointed that this was my overall feelings towards this book as I went into it with such high expectations. I think my biggest problem was because of the length of this book, the pacing needed to be a bit more consistent rather than sluggish at some parts and then way too rushed at others. Also the main character Gemma was unlikable beyond the normal understanding that you are supposed to grow with a character and they are supposed to grow on you. It felt like everyone around her was doing something of importance yet she was too stuck within herself and her own vanity to really contribute in a meaningful way. Overall I love Claire Legrand as a writer, so I definitely think that this is just a case of wrong book for me.

Lady Gemma lives a privileged and sheltered life, her family are gifted with magic, she is rich and beautiful, but it is not enough. Years ago her sister Mara took her place to be part of those who guard the Middlemist, her mother left when she was a child, her family is in a never ending blood feud with the Backs, she has no magic, and the magic of those around her pain her deeply.

At one of her parties she meet Talin, he has also lost everything due to a demon, and they strike up a bargain, Gemma will help him restore his family's name, and he will help her destroy the Basks once and for all, but things are infinitely more complex than they expect, and their missions end up forcing them to take on powers more powerful than they could have every imagined.

This book was so complex, and at first I was a bit lost but when it picked up, IT PICKED UP. The romance in this one was to die for. The world building was so well plotted and thought out I was astonished. I also love a world where women are a focus, their strength, their bond, ad their resilience. The author packed so much into the pages, the history of the world, all the many powers and creatures, the creative magical system, etc. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

DNF @ Chapter 10.

The first, maybe, three or four chapters or so were interesting. Gemma's lack of magical abilities which makes magic toxic/lethal to her is a very interesting concept and I really enjoyed the interactions she had with her sisters.

Gemma is very self-centered, privileged, and behaves in a very entitled manner. I'm sure she gets her whole character arc and develops throughout the story but she's quite irritating in the first chapters I read.

I would've totally been super down with this book if it focused primarily on the family dynamics and the tantalizing drop that there's something very wrong with one of them. But, no, the story shifts to the ensuing romance between Gemma and Talan and the pacing drops to a crawl.

This is supposed to be Claire Legrand's first adult title but I have to agree with some of the reviewers that say this feels more like a YA novel. The only difference is that there's more spicier hints/scenes and that the size of the book is quite large.

Sorry, wasn't for me.

I enjoyed this one while I was reading and it was paced well enough to hold my attention but overall wasn’t super impressed. I found the plot super transparent and found myself not really caring what happened to these characters in the end.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC. I honestly really wanted to love this one. Based off of what it was being promoted as I thought I would love it. I just could not connect with the story. I just could get hooked and invested in this. While I can see why so many did love it I feel like I just couldnt connect with the writing style and the story.

I did not enjoy this and probably should have DNFed, but I chugged along and it did not get better. I was hoping that this title was just going to have a slow slightly unenjoyable beginning and then as the plot picked up, I would be invested, but that unfortunately did not happen for me.

I could not follow the world building. The early parts of the book were very slow and then all of a sudden the pace was moving so fast I couldn't keep up or process what was happening. Overall, this book did not live up to its pitch. You might disagree with me and in that case, carry on and enjoy!

Thank you Sourcebooks Casablanca and Netgalley for this ARC of A Crown of Ivy And Glass in exchange for my honest opinion

This was my first Claire LeGrand book and I very much enjoyed it. A science fiction, fantasy with magic, love, evil, royalty, betrayal, and fighting all rolled into a great story.

Gemma is born into an anointed(magical) family. While her 2 sisters and father all have magical powers, she has none. As a matter of fact, she has pain and panic attacks when magic is used around her. Her sister, Farrin, has the voice of an Angel. Her other sister, Mara, volunteered to take Gemma’s spot when she was chosen to help protect the land known as the Middlemist.

I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to follow these characters in future adventures.

I wanted to love this book, For me it was Ok. It was just so wordy. Things were very over detailed. Thought the storyline was interesting and new. I loved the idea of a demon curse I was lost in all the detail leaving me bored and not wanting to continue.
I like the regency feel of the world. The relationships that form are interesting. Just for this reader the delivery was not fitting.