With comps of ACOTAR and Bridgeton, I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me. I do see the comparisons to these popular series, and I think there are some things people will really connect to (the chronic illness representation was my favorite aspect of the book and felt very authentic), but I couldn’t get past the fact that disliked the main character and felt like she was an unreliable narrator - which only furthered my lack of trust in the insta-romance (which felt like a core component of the story given the comps).

So with a MC I disliked and a romance I didn’t buy, I got about halfway through before I realized I just didn’t care what happened, read a few reviews addressing some of my frustrations, and decided to set it aside.

I still think it is worth trying for others, specifically for the representation, and since everyone connects with different voices. But I would go in with tempered expectations.

I didn't really like the fmc but other than that it was a solid fantasy read. Nothing new and nothing special, could guess the plot within the first 100 pages.

This story begins with Gemma Ashbourne, a beautiful woman from a family of magic royalty. But Gemma is different from her anointed family, magic makes her physically sick and she feels she is neither strong nor talented like her sisters, Mara and Farrin. Gemma carries a heavy weight of guilt and shame on her shoulders and it isn't until she meets Talan that things begin to change...

I think this story had a lot of potential. I really enjoyed the depth of Gemma's personality that was explored and the realistic portrayal of mental health issues and how they aren't always overcome. However I thought her motivations behind her actions, especially at the beginning were loosely defined. I found the first half of the book very slow and not overly compelling. In some ways the various characters and scenes felt disjointed. The "hierarchy" of beings seemed to be a convienent explanation for many characters' actions. There were also some convienently placed plot devices (secret corridors and curse breakers) that I thought could have been incorporated more smoothly. I enjoyed the final action scenes and the way Gemma and her sisters' relationships developed. Overall this was an interesting book and had a lot of potential but a few things were lacking.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for this book in exchange for my honest review.

More of a 1.5 read but I'm rounding up because, at the very least, I was able to finish it.

A lot of reviewers that I've seen have made some points that I will be repeating here. This book was not only much too long, I would also say it struggles knowing what type of book it even wanted to be in the first place.

You've got a little Bridgerton, you've got a little ACOTAR and you've got a lot of cringey dialogue. The spicy scenes especially were full of lines that had me making faces, and not the "this is uncomfortable to read in public because it's sexy." No, this was "oh no, stop saying these things. I don't like it at all."

All of the crazy plots merging into one besides, the characters were unpleasant. Being in Gemma's heads was not a fun place to be and she really had no growth throughout the entire book.

Overall, this is a book no and if it hadn't been a NetGalley ARC, I very likely would not have finished it. Though, as I said, I have DNF'd a NetGalley before and I didn't this time which is the only reason it's not a literal 1 star review.

“A Crown of Ivy and Glass,” by Claire Legrand is a new adult romantic fantasy that may be of interest to fans of Sarah J. Maas’, “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” and, “Crescent City,” series, as well as Stephanie Garber’s, “Caraval,” series. Brimming with magic, political intrigue, romance, and betrayal, this book seems to have it all. And, while I found myself, by the end, rooting for the main characters, I had a hard time getting to that point. This title had immersive, atmospheric descriptions of people, places, and clothes – it’s a book dripping in detail, which is lovely. However, at times, it feels as if the dedication to the smaller details outweighs the plot taking place. When the book began, I found myself admiring these small details as a part of the overall world-building, but as the book continued, I wished that fewer of these details would make their way onto the page, and instead the story would focus more on the actions of the characters.

Speaking of characters – I never did fully come to like or admire the main character, Gemma, in this book, nor did I particularly like her love interest, Talan. Personally, I am not a fan of the insta-love trope in books, and I think this has something to do with my feelings on these characters. Gemma starts out unlikeable and unrelatable, in my opinion. The only thing that seems at all relatable is her chronic pain. Otherwise, she seems entirely focused on her appearance, from her clothes to her looks, to how others view her and her family members. She even tries to get her sister to dress differently to suit her own tastes, and to show off her family’s wealth and influence. She seems like the perfect caricature of a spoiled, rich woman. Please note that, while this is our first impression of Gemma, it is not the lasting impression of her. While I still wouldn’t classify her character as a favorite, over the course of the novel, we do come to know Gemma better – to realize that her vanity acts as a coping mechanism for her chronic pain and lack of magic, and is essentially the armor she dons to protect herself in a world where she does not fit in. She does eventually come to realize that there are many different types of strength, and though I still don’t love her character, I was able to finally respect her by the end of the book.

Gemma’s main love interest, Talan, is another story. I didn’t like him when he was first introduced, I didn’t like him when he and Gemma began their relationship, I didn’t like him during what might be called their, “courtship,” and I still, after finishing the book, don’t like him. I can’t even fully articulate why I harbor this strong dislike for him, other than that he is a suspicious character from the very beginning and, even after all he and Gemma go through, by the end of the book I STILL find him to be incredibly suspicious. I liked him more by the end of the book, due to his loyalty to Gemma, but I didn’t feel he was a character with much growth, beyond falling in love with Gemma, and I hope in the sequels to this book we will see more character growth from him.

Now, Gemma’s sisters were, personally speaking, the more interesting characters, and I wish we had gotten to see more of Gemma’s relationship with each of them, as well as more of their childhood together, before and after the events that made their family the way they are in the book. If the sequels follow each of her sisters, I think the story will only continue to get more interesting.

As for the overall plot – I’m still not entirely sure what it is, but I’m not yet convinced that’s a bad thing. Hear me out – in Fantasy, much of the first installment in any series is dedicated to a fair amount of world-building. “A Crown of Ivy and Glass,” is no exception. Gemma may be the character whose perspective we follow in this first book, while we get acquainted with the world and characters, but she is getting a lot of her information about the strange happenings of the Mist and the divide between the “old world,” and her own from her sister’s, one of which belongs to a secret society dedicated to protecting their land from the nightmares of old, and one of which is set to become the next head of their family, and whose power is rivaled only by their father’s. With the revelation at the end of the book about the three sisters, I believe we will begin to see a much more detailed, nuanced plot taking shape over the course of any future books, as they begin their true fight against the forces rallying against their land, and as they come into their own, both individually, and as a family.

This book is marketed as being a mix of, “Bridgerton,” and, “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” and I think the influences from these two series’ are quite obvious. Gemma’s affinity for fashion, romance, and gossip is very reminiscent of several “Bridgerton” characters, while the series following three magical sisters does evoke thoughts of, “A Court of Thorns and Roses.” Gemma even has some phrases later in the book that are almost word for word the same as SJM’s Aelin from her, “Throne of Glass,” series. There are plenty of other comparisons I could make between the series, but as I don’t want to spoil anything, I will refrain for now.

Overall, this book wasn’t a 5-star read for me, but I thought this was a good introduction to a new fantasy series, and I will likely pick up future installments to see where Legrand takes her characters, and the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the advanced copy of this book!

This book is marketed towards fans of Bridgerton and A Court of Thorns and Roses, and while I see aspects of those books in A Crown of Ivy and Glass, I think that may be misleading to some people. There are balls and romance in this fantasy world full of magic, but I feel like it's more focused on the plot than the romance. It took me a minute to understand the main character, Gemma, but after learning about her family and her chronic pain caused by magic, the book sucked me in. Of course there is a good romantic interest, a hot guy named Talan who is the only person left in his family after a demon destroyed them. Talan wants to regain family honor while hunting for the demon that ruined his family. He asks for help from Gemma and offers to help her destroy their family nemesis, the Basks. Talan thinks the feud may have been caused by the same demon that hurt his family. Magic, demons, undead, necromancers, and the mystery of the Middlemist make this book standout from other fantasy romance novels. I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.

Rating: ⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

"That selfish cowardice was my deepest, most terrible secret." - Gemma

If this book hadn't been an ARC, I don't think I would have finished it. I consider my time pretty valuable and as much as I don't like leaving something unfinished, after the first couple of chapters I would have hightailed it to a different book.

The premise, the cover, and the blurb were all 10/10 in my eyes, this book had so much promise! I was excited to be introduced to a new world, and fantasy romance holds a special place in my heart. Unfortunately, the execution left something to be desired and this book just wasn't for me.

I hated Gemma by the first 10 pages, and my feelings about her only went downhill from there. Her holier "I am rich, popular and everyone wants to be me" attitude was stuffed down the reader's throats and I couldn't for the life of me understand how I was to feel any sort of interest or sympathy for the character. She was such a brat, so self-aware of her selfishness but absolutely unwilling to change, and really, her crippling chronic pain was kind of deserved based on her awfulness.

"When a girl has condemned her sister to a life of servitude, that girl does not much relish the times when she must look said doomed sister in the eye." - Gemma

Was I hoping a monster would eat her? Yes, yes I was.

"Self-pity and hatred and the bitter bite of shame - these were the feelings I knew most intimately. What a pathetic creature I was." - Gemma

Talan was another hot mess of a character entirely, and the insta-love was not very convincing or comprised of any chemistry. By the time we moved on to any sort of romance, intimacy, or sexual encounters I was cringing. The back-and-forth I don't trust you, I love you, I hate you but I forgive you drama was all over the place, as was the pacing of their relationship.

"'I hate you,' I whispered, 'and I always will, for offering me this thing I cannot possibly refuse.' Talan looked away, his jaw working. 'For the chance to avenge my family and help yours as well,' he said quietly, 'earning your hatred is a price I will pay not happily but willingly.'"

Many other reviewers note the YA feel of this book despite being classified as an adult fantasy romance, with which I fully agree. Curse words and sex scenes do not make an adult novel.

I was more interested in learning more about the world and its magic system than I was in any of the characters. From the author's other successful series, I know a great series is possible, can we get a do-over? This one didn't work for me.

*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you, NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the opportunity.

Overall I was a bit underwhelmed by this title. The story took quite a while to pick up and I found the main character to be very similar to many I have read recently. The characters took longer than expected to flesh out. There were some interesting twists but I would rate this title around 3/5. I find the trope of traumatized angry heroine to be overdone recently.

Not for me, unfortunately. This book seemed like two books smushed together and I wasn't quite sure which one was the right direction.

1.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!!

For some reason it’s become a trend where I decide I don’t need to finish a book, but then I get bored and finish it anyway, only to be mildly surprised when it doesn’t get better.

Okay, that’s only happened twice in two days, but still.

I don’t like the main characters. Especially Gemma. So, being in her head for the entire book was really eugh. She starts out annoying and whiny and talks about how great her life is, but then also hates it, but also would rather have her life than her sister back from the Order of the Rose or her mother. See: “I was breathtaking and wealthy and beloved, and I wouldn’t have given up any of that, not even if it meant bringing Mother and Mara back.” Okay, Gemma, whose actual name is Imogen. (Why not just have her name be Gemma? Or Imogen? Why do we need two completely different names? I digress.)

The plot intrigued me, and then the more I found out, the less interested I became. I can barely tell you the answers to the questions in the beginning, because this book veers so off track. There was a switch with necromancer nature-y women and at that point I was just kinda like what.

Again, Gemma is annoying. But Gemma is even MORE annoying when she’s with Talan. Since he’s the love interest, this unfortunately annoyed me quite a bit. Their relationship was very instalove and lacking any type of development. They didn’t trust each other for good reason but I was supposed to believe they were in love. Talan screws up a few different times and every time Gemma forgives him instantly because he had some type of explanation. It made me grit my teeth and think “Talan go away you can’t leave and waltz your way back in” and considering I didn’t like Gemma, Talan was annoying indeed. Gemma is never mad at Talan no matter what, which actually took away from the angst.

The side characters were fine. I didn’t particularly like or connect with any of them.

Illaria, darling, you deserve so much better than being in this book stuck as Gemma’s best friend. (Gemma treats her like trash and she never leaves. Illaria, come be my friend instead.)

This book started off so strong. Immediately, I was drawn into the story of a noble family, in a world of magic, whose youngest daughter has no power of her own. A little more than halfway through the story seemed to lose quite a bit of momentum. The end was worth that little lull, and I'm interested in seeing what will befall the sisters in the next book.

this was a great start to a trilogy. i must admit, i was nervous to read it because i saw other peoples reviews saying it wasn’t their favorite, but this just shows that reading is so subjective because i had a great time! i thought it was an amazing fantasy read and loved the high society aspect of it also.

the blurb seemed very intriguing and I couldn't wait to read it. Unfortunately I didn't care for the character that I found a bit too juveniel.
The world building is well done
I want to read the next book as I'm curious if the characters will grew up.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

Thank you for this ARC copy of this new series. I enjoyed this book - took me a while to get into because of my own little bump with reading.

Legrand’s book has an interesting plot and a complex structure based on lore. She eases the reader into her world building (fantasy world: gods gave some humans magical powers, a god chosen queen with infinite lifetime, a mist that creates a boundary between the human world and demon world), but there are just too many elements to the world that create mystery. They begin to feel almost ridiculous since known of the problems get resolved, just more are created.

Ultimately, the only redeeming aspects of the novels were the Basks and Farrin. I loved their mystery and it was so clear to me that Ryder was more important than anyone knows.

The writing was good- I wish I could put my finger in it- but the love between Gemma and Talan just wasn’t believable enough

This book really wasn't for me.

I struggled most with liking Gemma herself. She struggles with debilitating anxiety, guilt, self-hatred, and suicidal thoughts. These things should make her somewhat sympathetic, but unfortunately she mostly came off as prideful, selfish, insipid, and downright stupid at times. I took it upon myself to make some notes about her while I was in the middle of the story:

1. Lust, lust, and more lust
2. Freaking the Heck Out
3. "Guess I'll die"
4. She's a strong, independent woman...
5. ...who don't need no brain cells

I don't recall any other personality traits. She runs into situations without thinking, she uses her emotions and her senses to make decisions for her . She's entirely unrelatable also - she's gorgeous and rich, and most of her affirmations from the first half of the book consist of "I'm Gemma Ashbourne, everyone wants to be me." It got to be exhausting to read her inner thoughts, and I'm left feeling completely unsympathetic towards a character who has a lot to be sympathetic for.

There's a big plot twist about midway through the novel, but I was largely unsurprised. The parts that were unexpected were so not because they were surprising per se, but because they were unbelievable. No person is as transparent as Talan is. It made me so suspicious of him, even (especially?) after the plot twist, that it made it difficult to get behind their romance. There is an attempt at making love "the answer all along," but it didn't land for me, mostly because I wasn't entirely sure why they were so in love. They're definitely attracted to each other, and I suppose they share a struggle with suicidal thoughts, but otherwise I don't see how their personalities mesh. What do they have in common, aside from being rich, gorgeous, and traumatized? I'm old and bitter and have never been in love, so maybe this is accurate and my expectations are whack.

Some of the writing was really lovely, and it's clear Legrand knows what she's doing as far as execution is concerned. There were some descriptions of buildings in particular that stood out to me, and I don't recall having any issues with the dialogue. I think my biggest complaints stem from flaws in the planning stage. The plot feels disjointed and unevenly paced, the characters are one-note and entirely too obvious, and the worldbuilding feels haphazard. I imagine the next two books in the proposed trilogy will focus more on the main antagonist, but he was introduced so late, and I was so convinced that Talan was evil, that I feel ambivalent about him.

*I just saw that this is marketed as an adult fantasy, and I have to say this does not come through. The characters are adults, but behave like teenagers. The situations and their reactions were childish.

I have mixed feelings about this book. There were times I really enjoyed the characters and moments where they made me mad. The plot seemed everywhere, but I did enjoyed the action scenes. Gemma and Talan started out good but towards the end I'm not sure how I really felt about the them.

A Crown of Ivy and Glass by Claire Legrand is a story of Gemma and her sisters. They are members of the anointed- individuals anointed with power from the Gods, except that Gemma doesn't have any power, and in fact being in the very vacinity of magic makes her ill and weak. Gemma must work together with a mysterious stranger to save the family from a strange prophecy, fighting with her sisters to save what matters most.

A crown of ivy and glass's world is so easy to get lost in. It's easy to visualize the world of Edyn and the people therein, and the characters are so well explained and developed. I do wish that there was a little bit more world-building, I just felt like there were some unanswered questions and concepts that could have been explained better, and I think that the author is setting it up for a big reveal later, but it instead of it being intriguing it came across as more annoying and confusing.

While the setting of the book is great, and the scenes are mostly well explained, this book overall just left a lot to be desired from it. To be honest there was so much potential and I was so excited to read this book, and it just fell a little flat. Gemma struggled a lot with chronic illness, and it was so interesting to read about her struggle with it and I really wanted to root for her. But by the end of the book I was physically facepalming at some of her choices! She had the worst timing and priorities, and she comes off as exceedingly selfish whereas the author tried to write her to appear as this 'selfless hero'. For example, all of the intimate scenes are at the LITERAL WORST TIMES possible. Like instead of being sucked into the story and so happy for her in those scenes, I was just cringing and felt so so much anxiety the whole time.

Overall this book was a hit and miss for me, but an interesting world to be in, I could see it being made into a potential movie, and if it is, I hope that its better executed. Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca and Netgalley for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review!

Going to be a bit generous and give it a 4 star rating when it's about a 3.5 star book. I like the premise, characters, the spice, and the world the author is building but I was hoping for more. While it always takes time to world-build in a series I feel like we could have enjoyed a more fleshed-out version of this world with a better explanation of the gods who were unmade and a bit about how/when the mists became what they are. It took me quite a bit of the book to appreciate Gemma for who she is and why.

I'm willing to stick around and hope we learn more in the next book, especially if we can learn more about the queen, Gemma's mother (ancestors), Talan, and the Roses. I'm looking forward to learning more about Gemma's sisters and the Bask family who I hope will be tied into them by past events.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest opinion.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, and there were some parts that I definitely did, but it took a while for me to get in the groove of it. Honestly there was a lot of info dumping within the first chapters and it felt like I was tripping over myself trying to catch up to what everything meant.

For some reason it was also quite hard to distinguish the characters from one another for me. It could be that I found them too similar to one another. Overall I do think it's a good read for individuals who love ACOTAR in the sense that this book deals with fae as well, but be prepared to dislike the MC for a while.