Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I think this book does many things well and that there is definitely an audience that will be obsessed with it, I just don't think I am quite that audience.

This is a historic, sapphic romance filled with magic and fairies and curses, told through the outside POV of a storytelling fairy watching this all happen. I think this book definitely showcased some of Hall's strengths as a writer including his inventiveness and original and interesting characters. Our main trio of friends was really funny and I loved their dynamic. I thought the choice to tell this story from an outside POV was an interesting one, but it never really worked for me and I found it difficult to keep track of what was fact and what was our narrator's opinions.

Additionally, I tend to find all of Hall's books just a tad too long. I think this would have been a stronger read for me personally with a little editing down.

If you're a fan of the "Bridgerton with magic" kind of vibe, this definitely might be a book for you.

Mortal Follies was a delight to read! I loved the twist on a fairy tale, and any beautiful romance about two women falling in love is an easy win for me. Such a fun take that felt like a reimagining of Midsummer's Night's Dream meets Bridgerton. I am excited to read Alexis Hall's other books, as this was the first one for me.

I could not finish this book and I truly think it was nothing to do with the story but all to do with the way it was told. The story was told through the narrators perspective and that was really jarring for me. I had a really hard time focusing on the story because the third person narration took me out of it.

Mortal Follies was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, so I was overjoyed to be granted an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The book has its strengths: it is witty, humorous, and light-hearted. It is full of whimsy and there is a tenderness at the heart of the novel. When I first started reading I was hooked right away and became lost in the story. Sadly, about halfway through the pace slowed and things took a turn for the worse.

The book feels…. Off-kilter. It starts off at a great pace, pages fly by but about halfway through, it began to slow. There were moments when the pacing became dreadfully slow and dense. Then it would pick up for a while, only to slow back down. It took me weeks to read this book. This off-balance pacing may test the patience of readers seeking a more steady, fast-paced narrative.

All of the humor, aesthetics, and general vibes Mortal Follies gives are not enough to carry it to completion. Furthermore, I wasn’t buying the romance (a sapphic, enemies-to-lovers style). It had potential, but the characters in the romance (a sweet yet strong cursed woman who seeks the help of a dark and twisty murder suspect) weren’t fleshed out and enough and it felt very “tropey”. They had zero chemistry in my opinion therefore I was not drawn into the romance.

Still, I will read more by Alexis Hall. I’m looking forward to a book that balances the author’s keen sense of humor and plot.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC!

Rating: 3.5🌟/5

Spice: .5🌶️

I just want to start this by saying I love you Alexis Hall and I had the ~highest~ expectations for this book.

I must confess that I am not the biggest fan of period pieces so that one is on me. I loved the narrator, who was just spectacularly witty and fun. (There were times it was difficult to read because of having to remind myself that it is narrated through a third person.) The thing I didn’t love was Plot A getting wrapped up and diving into Plot B with not as much devoted to that in the first half of the book. It was a bit of work with the third person hobgoblin narrator, but I would say it it’s worth a read. Also the best friend character is an absolute delight.

Five Emojis to Describe this Book:
😜🧚‍♂️🛁🏳️‍🌈👀

I'm a sucker for anything Alexis Hall writes honestly, every single one of their books have this uniqueness to them that isn't even replicated book to book, and I can't wait to see what they come up with next.

That being said, I will also read any and everything that Puck narrates. Having a fae narrate the story of mortals brings new meaning to the 'unreliable narrator' trope. I loved reading the story through the eyes of someone who would bring their own commentary into the mix. The rest of the cast of characters were top notch as well, but Lysistrata certainly stole the show from any scene she was involved in. I'd certainly love a spin-off centered around her.

I've seen this story compared to a Midsummer Night's Dream, though I don't think you need to have any knowledge of Shakespeare's work in order to enjoy Alexis' work.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the e-arc!

I haven’t read any other books by Alexis Hall, but I was drawn in by the pretty pink cover and then finding out it was a sapphic romance/fantasy. I’m happy that I was able to pick it up because Mortal Follies was such a delight to read! The story is told from a sort-of omniscient fairy narrator who had a lot of humorous commentary to add to the events, but was also helpful in giving more of the fantastical context, since not all the humans are convinced of the existence of magic.

I loved the combination of sapphic romance, historical fiction, and fantasy, but I must say my favorite relationship wasn’t the romantic one but the friendship between Maelys and Lizzie. I still enjoyed the romance, but any scene with Lizzie made me smile.

Overall, a fun read and great for the summer!

This review will be posted on 6/1/23 on Instagram and saved on a story highlight.

this book was SO magical, but i’m conflicted on whether that was a good thing or bad thing in this case. we’re drawn into this fairytale-esque world with a heavy romance plot but was it deeply romantic…? hard to say. while it was atmospheric and detailed to the max, i struggled a bit with the characterization of some of these people

cute premise but it didn't hold my attention enough to be finished. I felt like the pacing was off - both too fast and too slow at parts and the plot as a whole was lacking. on top of all of that - the romance wasn't getting a hold on me.

I really wanted to like this one, I typically love Alexis Hall books, but this was a miss for me. The sprite narrator was a cute idea in theory, but in reality it just took me right out of the story to the point where I couldn’t get invested in the plot or the love story.

what a magical ride this book took me on!! if you know me, you know i adore alexis hall, so i was PUMPED to hear he was dipping into fantasy romance, and paired with the regency era AND shakespearean inspiration, i was like “say LESS”

a meet-CURSE rather than a meet-cute was an excellent way to subvert expectations and give our lovers immediate tension. the characters all had alexis hall’s signature humor and british-isms, which i adore. it also has a lot of really cool worldbuilding, weaving different types of folklore together into a vast tapestry.

my favorite part, of course, was our chaotic neutral narrator, puck, who has been plucked straight off the stage of my favorite shakespeare play. the delight this perspective of storytelling brought to me? unmatched.

my main qualm here lied with the romance falling a bit flat for me, but overall it was still a huge hit!

4.5 stars

This was an interesting read! The writing is extremely well done and captivating, but I fear I didn’t love the narrator.

The romance is great, the setting is rich, but the narrator felt distracting and the POV was not my favorite. Overall, this is still a really great book, and I hope to one day write as well as Alexis.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

The cover for this is beautiful. The colors and imagery are so magical and captivating. Im a sucker for historical romances so I was super on board for this one.

Unfortunately, this book doesn’t seem to be for me. This was my first Alexis Hall book & I’m going to have to try other works by them in order to get a better feel for their writing. The storyline was slow & boring at times and I felt out of place with the narrator who wasn’t actually involved with any of the story. I also had a hard time keeping up with the plot as it was progressing. The characters felt somewhat flat and I didn’t want anything to do with them and felt as if the story went on for too long. Like I said, I’m excited to read more from Alexis. This one just wasn’t my thing!

I love sapphic romance. I love the regency period. I love all things supernatural. But I just could not stay invested in this book. The utilization of a magical sprite as a narrator was novel and fun at the beginning; but by 60% in, it started to feel tired and created so much distance between me and the two main characters that I longed for a first person POV. The first half of the book with the mystery of the curse was engaging and exciting; however, once the mystery was resolved it felt like the book morphed into something different and I was less engaged with the outcome. I think Alexis Hall is an incredible author and so many reader will connect with and adore this book, but it just wasn’t the content for me! I appreciate the opportunity to read the e-ARC and will absolutely still recommend this read to my audience.

Mortal Follies was a mix of magic, bridgerton vibes, and unrequited love. Through a rollercoaster of obstacles, Maelys Mitchelmore has to remove a curse from herself with the help of the towns outcast & witch the Duke of Annadale. Alexis Hall provided such a funny journey following along these characters as they solve the mystery of who laid this curse and how to remove it. A very quick fun and read!

I don’t normally read anything involving magic and curses but this is written by Alexis Hall and if he ever decided to write a phone book, I’d probably read it. Having said that, I don’t think this is his best work. I realise that some of the things that didn’t really work for me are due to the fact that I’m not particularly keen on reading about witches and goddesses and spells, and those kind of things feature heavily of course. But I also think there are two other major flaws that stopped me from enjoying the books as much as I could have.

First, there’s the narrator. While I thought that Robin was a fun and entertaining narrator, I getting the main characters’ POVs prevented me from getting invested in the main characters. I felt very much at a distance from them, and to be honest, I’m not sure what I thought of them.

My second issue is that the main plot point seemed to be resolved halfway through the book. Of course, the romance needed some more time, and we did have magical complications, but to me those felt tacked on rather than an integral part of the plot.

Despite these considerable flaws, I don’t think it’s a bad book. It’s an Alexis Hall book, after all ;)

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall
Mortal Follies is definitely the most unique Alexis Hall book that I have read so far. In 1814 the young Miss Mitchelmore caught the eye of our narrator, Oberon's jestor/Puck/Robin Goodfellow (whatever you remember from HS English) at a ball. Puck, being a storyteller, decides to follow her around to see if an interesting story will unfold. Unfortunately for Miss Mitchemore, the story becomes very interesting. Miss Mitchelmore and her friends must deal with first one curse and then another. All while Miss Mitchelmore attempts to convince the Duke of Annadale to take a chance on a committed relationship with her. 
All in all, I enjoyed this book. Puck as a narrator was a fun choice and the level of snarkiness directed at humankind was appreciated. Unfortunately, the choice to make Puck the narrator meant that the reader stood a bit further away from the main characters than one anticipates. I wasn't as invested in the romance as I typically am in an Alexis Hall book, however, I want to read more about Puck's story, which was sprinkled throughout.This was a fun, unique read that will definitely help anyone working on a June Pride bingo board.

3.5 Stars rounded up

I really like Alexis Hall's books and I did like this one too. But I definitely think there were a few things I didn't prefer. First, the narrator - Having a narrator tell the story means that you're understanding it secondhand. The narrator included so many details that at times, you lose the entire point of that scene/paragraph. Details are good but shouldn't be overdone. I wish we had got the pov of one of the main characters instead.
Georgiana and Maelys were both really nice and well written characters to read about and there are no major concerns. It's a love story with elements of fantasy such as Gods and curses and AH weaves these elements well in the regency era.

The details are so overdone though - They want to make sure the reader understands what's going on exactly but you don't need all the words for this. This made the book which was about 415 pages long much much longer and a bit tedious at parts. Overall, A fun sapphic romance.

As an lover of Alexis Hall I was very excited to read his new book and see this outing into the fantasy genre. I will say this book still reads very romance and if that is a structure and genre you are not a fan of this might not be for you. I will say however that it does spend a good deal of time on the mystery, the magic and the old gods. I think the most unique aspect of this book by far is the narration.

This book does a sort of fascinating take on their person limited with having a supernatural fae whose purpose is to tell and collect stories of interesting mortals be the window and commentator upon this love story. The narration really serves for the reader as a guide through this just off to the left fantasy world of regency England with old gods, Nyad's, and witches. The fantasy elements were fun and engaging and worked in to the setting familiar to historical romance readers well. I found this pretty fun overall and enjoyed myself but I could see that if you are looking for a more conventional romance or find the opinions of this judgy hobgoblin unpleasant that they are sort of the main thing and hard to ignore.

Personally, I quite enjoyed them at times and liked the book. I will say that this one will not be on my list of top Alexis Hall's any time soon as the outsider perspective really cut down on some of my favorite elements of Halls books, the spice and deep inner emotional lives of the characters that are much harder to capture when you are so far removed from the characters themselves.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Alexis Hall does not write anything worth less than three stars. That said, this may be the one that defined that lower threshold for me. There is all the witty hilarity of genre subverting banter and a large cast of queer and personable characters. But right in the heels of Something Spectacular, which has become the gold standard of queer Regency romance for me, this one flailed and floundered, and I along with it. The choice of Puck as a narrator got really irritatingly distracting, really fast. The dynamics of the main pair, Maelys and Georgiana, was downright...toxic, which was not improved by the fact that the book is distinctly divided into the fantasy mystery part and the romance part, where all sorts of toxic patriarchal patterns seemed to have been imposed on a "sapphic" romance. I would be more upset about it if I didn't know that Alexis Hall can and has written excellent sapphic stories balanced well with larger plot and cast. This one ultimately just baffled me on its disjointed and manic lack of heart.