Mortal Follies is a cross between Bridgerton, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and a fantasy novel written with Alexis Hall's beautiful writing style. This book was fun, imaginative, and definitely unexpected with the lovely swoony moments. The book has Alexis's signature wit and witty banter and contained his unique writing, insight, and wonderful, intriguing characters. I really enjoyed the fantasy elements sprinkled into the Regency world. I love how everyone is free t be themselves and how accepting the world is of them.

I loved having Puck as the narrator, as I loved him in A Midsummer Night's Dream. He was definitely snarky and so much fun. It was a fun journey watching Maelys Nitchelmore and Lady Georgiana Landrake (Duke of Annadale) grow to care for each other.

I truly loved this book and definitely recommend it! The cover art is absolutely gorgeous!

ARC received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 10% I did not like the way this story was told, which was 3d person, like fly-on-the-wall but with so many characters and no true connection to anyone because of them, I just kept getting confused, and having to reread sentences as well. I think the writing style was not for me either. I really wanted to like this because the synopsis is that of a book that was tailor made for me.

Absolutely loved it! Alexis Hall can do no wrong

Thanks you to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy

This book is maybe 150 pages longer than it needed to be. And it is something that I have felt from other books by them. Once the mystery of why she was cursed is solved, that felt like a more natural end of the story. However adding that the other main character is also from a cursed home multiple chapters after felt like repetition that was not needed. Some of the walks and chats also didn't really add to the narrative and didn't add to the love story that this was supposed to be. The narrator, hobgoblin-Robin, who I was calling Bobgoblin in my head, and Miss Bikle were great characters. I think I liked them more than the main characters, they added comedic relief to a story that might not have been funny if not for them. Overall, I don't think this story was for me, but I can see how people would enjoy it.

This was my introduction to Alexis Hall and I can say - I will be devouring more. In an attempt not to spoil anything - I think the story follows a very relatable love story although the narrator POV is something, I believe I am still trying to process and maybe that is because It is new to me. This will definitely be a re-read once I process a bit more but I have tossed this out to many of my fellow book lovers and the consensus has been consistent!

I love the playfulness of this charming comedic Regency fantasy romance. It is quite literally a fairy tale, as the story is told by none other than Robin Goodfellow, whom you might recall as Oberon’s mischievous jester. It took me a bit to adjust to Robin’s opinionated narrative style and helpful asides, but I soon fell in love with this whimsical tale.

Miss Maelys Mitchelmore falls under a curse and must rely upon the assistance of the wicked Lady Georgiana Landrake, aka The Duke of Annadale, who rumor suggests may have used magic to murder her family. Maelys and Georgiana must fight their complicated feelings for each other, society’s aspersions, and multiple curses and magical attacks on their way to a happy ending.

I loved all of the mythology and folklore weaved into this story, and all of the quirky characters were a delight. This was a lot of fun, and I recommend it to fans of queer romance, historical rom-coms, and fairy tales.

I was provided an ARC through NetGalley, and I volunteered to provide an honest review.

Mortal Follies is such a delightfully weird and cozy love story that follows Miss Mitchelmore and her penchant for attracting curses, as well as the woman determined to save her.

Narrated by a hobgoblin, the story is punctuated with interesting tidbits about faerie-kind, as well as the general shenanigans of said narrator. At moments distracting, it’s ultimately charming, and lends a distinct humor and light-heartedness to the narrative. It’s a unique choice and Alexis Hall does it well.

Hall also does characters well, giving us gems such as Miss Bickle, who I imagine as a fae-obsessed, regency era Phoebe Buffay. I loved every second of her ridiculousness. Of course, the stars of the story—Maelys and Georgiana—were also wonderful. They had immaculate on-page chemistry, when allowing themselves to be vulnerable (I just wish they had been vulnerable a bit more often).

And while I wouldn’t quite call this reimagined England queernormative (there are still stigmas for going against heteronormativity), everyone in the main characters life is accepting and even unbothered by queerness. It made it easy to just enjoy the story. (There is, however, some early transphobia, but it is challenged in text by one of the main cast.)

This book was a lot of fun, and I’m sure I’ll gladly return to it. In fact, I really want more of these characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

So this is my second foray into the work of Alexis Hall, and my second of his Regency-inspired romances. And I can now definitively say that Alexis Hall was <i>born</i> to write Regency romance. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me to learn at this point that Alexis is actually Robin Goodfellow himself in the flesh 😂

I’m picky about my historical romances. Austen, Brontë, Burney, Radcliffe - that’s what I cut my teeth on as a teen. So there’s precious little tolerance from me for anachronisms, cheesiness, etc in a serious historical romance. But what I <b>loved</b> about <i>Mortal Follies</i> is its ability to preserve the spirit, wit, and voice of an authentic regency satire - while staying self-aware and poking fun at its own tropiness. The meta allusions are utterly delightful…from the setting in Bath, to the mythological/folklore references, to Miss Bickle’s assumptions that the world works like the plot of a gothic novel 😂

And as always Alexis does a phenomenal job of telling diverse and inclusive stories, and exploring queer emotions and relationships, in a sensitive and nuanced way.

Can I also say I LOVE Robin and his narrative commentary?! I hope to the gods that this is first in a series because I need more of his tales!

Many thanks to Netgalley, Del Rey and Alexis himself for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts 😊

For whom would you defy the gods? What started as what could be perceived as simple faerie mischief unfolded into a tale of mythical creatures, curses, gods, and sacrifices all with an English countryside backdrop. When Maelys Mitchelmore's dress begins to unravel seemingly by magic at a ball, she has no idea who is behind this affliction, or why. But unfortunate event after unfortunate event led her closer to a fellow society outcast, and possible suspect, Lady Georgiana Landrake, the unofficial Duke of Annadale. She must find the source of the curse or else be sucked into its spell.

Mortal Follies is so many genres at once, it's hard to pin it down. I would call this a Fantasy, Historical, Adventure, Sapphic Regency Romance. There is so much packed into this novel all told artfully by an unreliable narrator from the court of Oberon. The episodic nature of Maelys's adventures makes the book well paced and allows the reader to enjoy the book in small chunks, or all at once. At the heart of it all is a the burgeoning romance between Maelys and Georgiana. For fans of Gentleman Jack, Georgiana hits that sweet spot of not wishing to corrupt the object of her affections yet endlessly pursuing her.

The only reason this isn't a five star for me is the narrative style. The third party narrator telling the story almost entirely in third person except for when they wish to break the fourth wall and interject their personal thoughts or describe what they disguised themselves as to better observe the story was a bit jarring for me, but that should not deter readers, especially if that type of talking directly to the reader is a style they enjoy.

This is the first book I've read by this author, so I had no expectations. The mix of historical sapphic romance with magical fantasy elements was a true delight. The atory kept a smile on my face.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

This Sapphic romance is narrated by a fae who has been cast out of favor. They follow Miss Maelys Mitchelmore as her introduction to high society is hindered by a curse. The only person able to help Maelys is the notorious Duke of Annadale, Lady Georgiana Landrake and so we begin the journey of trying to find out who cursed Maelys and how to end it. The world building in this historical fantasy was great but I struggled to connect with Maelys and Georgiana. Their relationship progressed quickly in the last 20% of the book but it seemed forced. I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator but many times they detracted from the story - this probably would have been better for me if I listened to it instead of reading it. Overall this was a decent start to a series and I’m curious as to who the next couple will be.

All hail Alexis Hall! Alexis Hall can do no wrong in my opinion and this book was everything and more! I loved everything about this book. I felt like I was reading a sapphic Shakespeare play and I loved every last second of this book. I could sit here and write sentences upon sentences about how much I loved this book. Instead I will just say go read this book! Seriously go do it right now!

I loved this magical sapphic romance by Alexis Hall. It was unique and captivating and the characters were delightful.

mortal follies follows maelys mitchelmoore who has been cursed. when her dress slowly unravels at a high profile ball, she is rescued by the duke of annadale, miss georgiana landrake. as time progresses, the curse gets more dangerous and her savior becomes the greatest suspect. as miss mitchelmoore and her rag tag group of friends investigate they are sucked into a dangerous world of gods and goddesses, faeries, and many other deadly, magical creatures. time is running out for maelys before the curse will claim her life, and the only person who can help is georgiana. as they spend more time together, maelys finds herself drawn to the grumpy, brooding. suspected murderess.

mortal follies was just magical from start to finish. the way alexis hall combined the dangerous mystical world with that of the sweeping, dramatic regency era had me swept up quite easily. i loved the fact that the narrator was themselves a magical, omniscient, trickster with a proclivity for humor. there were some pacing issues that took me out of the story a bit after the 50% mark but i was still quite invested in mae’s story. the sapphic romance between mae and georgiana was beautiful and i just loved the will they won’t they mixed with georgiana’s angsty, i hate myself and i’m not good enough for you personality.

over all, this was a fun, magical historical romantasy that i definitely recommend if you are into whimsical fantasy romance books.

DNF @ 23%

I really wanted to love this book and I was SO excited for it, however, this really just didn’t work for me.

I loved A Lady for a Duke and I know that Hall usually writes slower paced books but this moved at such a slow pace that I feel absolutely nothing at all had been accomplished in the 23% of the book I read. The writing while good, is overly descriptive which added to the pacing issue.

Another issue I had is that I couldn’t tell what this book wanted to be. Is it a fantasy, a romance, a mystery? It has elements of all but unfortunately didn’t execute any of them well enough to keep me invested or to know where this story was going.

I found the narrator here to be very distracting. I think a third party narrator can be done well but unfortunately I don’t think it was executed well here. Robin was too involved and jumped in with his thoughts and opinions too often and I found it distracting. It also made it hard to actually connect with the characters the story is meant to be about.

In regard to the characters, I didn’t care for any of them. I didn’t particularly like our narrator, Robin, and as for the rest I had a hard time connecting due to the narration style. I couldn’t tell you a single thing about any of their personalities. I also feel that there were way too many characters introduced in the beginning and it was hard to keep track of who was who.

As for the plot, I didn’t find it compelling. The curse our main character is trying to solve is pretty mundane and she and her friends/family make essentially no progress at all in the 23% of the book I read. I was really interested in learning about the love interest as I found her to be the most interesting character in the book but she’s barely present.

Overall, there were a lot of interesting elements here and I was so excited for this but I don’t think it was executed well and I was not enjoying the book at all so I decided to DNF instead of trying to push through another 77%. I don’t think it’s a bad book, and someone else might really enjoy it, it just didn’t work for me personally.

Thank you so much to Random Publishing House and NetGalley for providing me with this eARC!

DNF @21% - I’m really sad to report this was a DNF for me. Like, the cover is so beautiful, and the synopsis sounded so much fun. However, I’m not even a quarter way in and I can already tell that no matter what this is never going to be anything higher than a three star. This book is just so exhausting to read. So many words are used to say so little, the dialogue seems a bit pretentious and feels forced, and then I haven’t talked about the extremely annoying narrator yet. God, this just isn’t working for me. Maybe, I should just start to accept that Alexis Hall is not the author for me no matter how interesting the synopsis sounds.

DNF a little over halfway but really just indefinite pause and I still have current thoughts

I’m sort of liking this, but it’s also not the kid of book I can read RIGHT NOW because of the historical aspects. This isn’t a DNF so much as a hiatus as I like it and plan on returning.

Maelys Mitchelmore is a young woman who is cursed. This curse first makes itself known as Miss Mitchelmore is attending a ball and her dress begins to unravel, forcing her to take cover in the gardens. With seemingly no rescue coming and her reputation on the line, Mae is distraught until Lady Georgiana, known to society as the Duke of Annandale, comes to her reluctant rescue.

However, the curse still isn’t broken and, as horrible consequences progress, Mae has to seek out assistance from Lady Georgiana as to how to break the curse. But Mae isn’t familiar with the type of deep dark magic and witchcraft that brings her face to face with gods and goddesses who have no reason to set her free.

Young Mae is also having romantic feelings for the first time and, while Lady Georgiana knows what she wants as well, she also knows that it is extremely inappropriate and forbidden for her and Mae to be together. Mae is determined to find out who has cursed her and to show Lady Georgiana that they could be a great fit. But the angry gods and vengeful magic have no reason to grant anyone a happy ending and the pair will have to make the greatest of sacrifices to not only break the curses, but to be allowed to carry on.

This book opens with a different spin, as the narrator introduces themselves. The narrator goes by many names, but “sprite” is one they are fine settling on. It is present day and the sprite has been banished from the courts and is living in the mortal realm, recounting Mae’s story from 1814. We never find out what the sprite did to be cast out. The sprite can take the form of anything it desires and follows around characters they find interesting to learn their stories. The worse time the mortals are having, the more interested the sprite is. The story is then told second hand through the narrator and this style kept all of the characters at a distance.

While Mae is young and supposed to be naïve, she has a strong will and has seemingly no issue with defying societal conventions. She doesn’t know why someone has placed a curse on her and the beginning of the book has her and family members traveling around meeting different characters trying to figure out who is out to get Mae. Yet, none of these characters resonated with me. The description of the book states it is in the style of Bridgerton and what I have enjoyed about historical pieces is the visual side that comes with the story, either through words or seeing it come to life in TV or movie. However, everything in this story felt flat to me. I didn’t care for the characters or the narrative style of the story. Since nothing is from the main characters’ point of view, there is little character development and the sprite had no way of knowing what the characters were thinking or feeling unless it was spoken out loud. There was also no world building. The characters are in a historical setting with rumors of magic and witchcraft, but all of a sudden the characters are tasked with battling gods and making sacrifices and there was no basic foundation laid and it was chaotic at times and not well executed at others.

The romance between Mae and Lady Georgiana is not the primary focus of the book and its soft and filtered tone left much unrevealed. This story was the narrator recounting a tale from long ago and how much was true and how much was embellished was also another point left open. This author has generally been hit or miss with me and this one wasn’t a hit.

2⭐️

I don’t even fully understand what was going on to even summarize this book. This is the second Alexis Hall book I have read, and maybe this just isn’t the author for me. I don’t really like the writing style in this book no matter how hard I try to. It’s kind of all over the place, especially with the narrator butting in often to add their opinion and thoughts. It’s very chaotic and kind of distracting. I wanted to love this book because it’s sapphic, but the pacing is also kind of slow and there’s not much happening plot wise while the narrator rambles on endlessly about things that don’t add anything to the story. There are also so many different characters that it was hard for me to keep up, and I ended up reading this book for five minutes and then immediately getting distracted by something else and putting it down or falling asleep. The premise of the book being a sapphic regency romance had me really excited, but the execution of it fell flat for me.

Heat Factor: Moderate, slow burn.
Character Chemistry: They have chemistry like an old hot rod…it takes a while to turn over, it stutters a lot, but when it goes, it goes.
Plot: Maelys ends up cursed by a goddess and the only person who can help her is “The Duke of Annadale”, who is actually the daughter of a Duke. Only, (of course) they bump along and end up half-smitten, half-irritated with one another.
Overall: This book was a toughie. Certainly enjoyable, but very long, very meandering, with an unreliable narrator and maybe too many moving parts in the plot.

I was thrilled to have a chance to read the newest Alexis Hall–Erin and Holly have both thoroughly enjoyed all the Hall books they’ve read and I certainly enjoyed one or two myself. This one looked absolutely juicy–goddesses, vengeance, women protagonists, and capers. Many, many capers.

It’s true that it did have all of those things. Maelys finds herself mysteriously cursed by a goddess in Bath. In this alternate reality, the Gods and Goddesses of yore are still active and participating in daily human life, along with witches, nymphs, and anything else you can think of. When her life starts getting more and more…intense…she turns to the Duke of Annadale for help.

The Duke is actually a teasing name for Georgiana, only remaining child of a Duke whose premature death (and the premature deaths of all of his sons) was unfairly pinned on the Duke of Annadale. She’s somehow linked to a lot of various mystical beings and helps Maelys figure out how to get out of her curse. It’s grisly.

But then Maelys convinces the Duke to give their chemistry a chance and Maelys becomes the next victim of the Duke of Annadale curse. The Duke has to go negotiate with an angry Goddess again, etc.

Here’s what I enjoyed about this book–it was playful, witty, interesting, and several of the characters were absolutely delightful. What I’m not sure I liked so much is more complex.

The narrator is Puck in all Puck’s glory–and that means the narrator is impish, funny, clever, unreliable, self-centered and excessive. What this also means is that the plot is SIGNIFICANTLY SLOWED by Puck’s shenanigans. Were it not for this choice as a narrator, it would probably be pretty gripping. Even if Puck’s presence was slightly reduced, the plot would move at a better clip. But as it is there are huge chunks devoted to where Puck is and how he gets there and what he thinks, and it’s kind of excruciating at a few points. Also, in the beginning it made it very difficult to follow who was saying and doing what and going where. Have you ever had someone relate an anecdote to you, but they pause and explain something that doesn’t really need explaining, and you’re really ready for them to move on, but they just keep going? That’s how some of Puck’s narration felt.

Also, Maelys and the Duke have kind of a stuttering heat–Maelys is relatively young and inexperienced, but she’s also very practical and straightforward. The Duke is more experienced but she’s also very closed off and cold. Their conflict consists of Maelys asking the Duke to hook up with her (but very politely and in a roundabout way) and the Duke saying “tell me when you can actually say what you want me to do to you”. And that’s pretty much it, for most of the book. Eventually they DO get together and of course the Duke is beastly, but clearly deeply in love with Maelys.

So do I recommend the book? If I were to recommend an Alexis Hall, I’m not sure this would be it, unless the reader was very interested in Greek and Roman mythology, witchcraft, etc. I think a lot was lost in some of the literary choices here, and it slowed the plot and complicated the characters to its detriment. But I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the characters, and the luscious and descriptive setting, the general plot and creativity in execution. It was a good book, but it was a long haul and it might be better suited for die-hard Hall fans and mythology fans.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.