"A young noblewoman must pair up with an alleged witch to ward off a curse in this irresistible sapphic romance from the bestselling author of Boyfriend Material.

It is the year 1814, and life for a young lady of good breeding has many difficulties. There are balls to attend, fashions to follow, marriages to consider, and, of course, the tiny complication of existing in a world swarming with fairy spirits, interfering deities, and actual straight-up sorcerers.

Miss Maelys Mitchelmore finds her entry into high society hindered by an irritating curse. It begins innocuously enough with her dress slowly unmaking itself over the course of an evening at a high-profile ball, a scandal she narrowly manages to escape.

However, as the curse progresses to more fatal proportions, Miss Mitchelmore must seek out aid, even if that means mixing with undesirable company. And there are few less desirable than Lady Georgianna Landrake - a brooding, alluring young woman sardonically nicknamed "the Duke of Annadale" - who may or may not have murdered her own father and brothers to inherit their fortune. If one is to believe the gossip, she might be some kind of malign enchantress. Then again, a malign enchantress might be exactly what Miss Mitchelmore needs.

With the Duke's help, Miss Mitchelmore delves into a world of angry gods and vindictive magic, keen to unmask the perpetrator of these otherworldly attacks. But Miss Mitchelmore's reputation is not the only thing at risk in spending time with her new ally. For the reputed witch has her own secrets that may prove dangerous to Miss Mitchelmore's heart - not to mention her life."

Um, methinks this counts as Regency Magic!

I very much enjoyed reading this book. It very much reminded me of a book that Greek gods and goddesses as the narrator and that both novels were romances but that’s where the similarities between Julia Berry and Alexis Halls novel end.

The characters were very likable and entertaining. I particularly like Ms. Bickle.

The story was well put together and I found myself laughing at some parts.

I adored the story, the world building was amazing. I love meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it. The writing was also really nice. I couldn't put the book down and I can't wait for others to read and enjoy this story as well.

Austen meets A Midsummer Night's Dream in this wonderfully inventive regency era sapphic romance.

I absolutely loved the narration style, with its witty comments and disparaging opinions about 'mortals'. It's such a clever use of a narrator (I don't want to spoil anything, because I gasped with delight when I read the opening pages) and could easily be used again for future books set in different eras; I really hope it is!

The story itself is an interesting weave of regency society and magical chaos, with a realistic look at how society might be shaped if magic, ancient gods, and fairies played an active role.

The supporting characters really shine, Miss Bickle and Mr Caesar especially, and overall the book is just really good fun. I loved it!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

DNF @ 33%.

I wanted to love this book so much. The cover definitely drew my attention, because obviously. I mean, look at it. It's gorgeous! The fact that it was written by Alexis Hall was another draw, because I've seen what Hall can do, and was hoping for his best.

I was hoping for a bit of Bridgerton meets fantasy, somewhere along the lines of Olivia Atwater's Half a Soul, which beautifully merged regency romance with faeries. But this wasn't quite what I got.

Don't get me wrong, there were positives. I loved the humor that was incorporated into the story, and the beautiful descriptions. But those two things weren't enough to keep me reading.

The story is told through the POV of a faerie known as Oberon's jester. I didn't love this choice, since his perspective is often added to the story needlessly, and it takes up space that could better be put towards rounding out the main characters, who are a little flat. We don't really get to know the 3 characters that we see the most, outside of their major characteristics and the bland conversations that they have. In addition, the cushion provided by the narrator and the flatness of the characters makes it difficult to really get to know them and identify with them.

This is a very slow-moving book. I tend to like faster-paced stories, and it took a full third of the book to uncover the actual plot. By that time, I wasn't exactly interested in following up on what happened to the characters, because they all come off as so frivolous and vapid. I was hoping for more romance to show up in the story, but thus far, I've only seen hints of it, and it's especially disappointed because I was really looking forward to this.

Mortal Follies is a delightful sapphic romance, blending aspects from Bridgerton and A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was charming and laugh-out-loud funny, with the best part being Robin the Hobgoblin narrator, whose pettiness could rival even Lady Whistledown. There was a lot of cheeky romance-novel humor sprinkled throughout that made this especially funny. Unlike Bridgerton, Alexis Hall manages to be realistic about the social values of the time while still crafting a lovely story. Hall actually flips a lot of the regency romance tropes on their heads in this story - it's a ton of fun.

I didn't love the play - it felt disjointed at times and the pacing was kind of all over the place. It felt less like a novel with a clear arc and more like a collection of loosely related events. There were times when the story lagged and I struggled to stay invested, but other times when events would move so fast that I struggled to keep up.

Thanks to netgalley and random house for this arc in exchange for an honest review

I LOVED this book. Adored. My husband was very tired of hearing about it by the time I finished it. Mortal Follies is higher stakes than your typical cozy fantasy, but the pastoral regency setting gave me enough Jane Austen vibes that I didn't feel stressed or anxious reading, and was able to enjoy the plot. I was a little put off by the narrator being Puck at first, but it won me over quickly, and actually really enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek commentary. It added a lot of humor that I appreciated. I also really enjoyed how Hall kept the conventions of Regency England where it suited them but threw out the rules that didn't; it made for a really fun ride that rooted it in enough reality that the author didn't have to spend the whole time world-building. And last, but certainly not least, I enjoyed the Sapphic romance that the plot centers around. It was nice to enjoy a queer romance and imagine a world where, while dark curses and vengeful old gods may exist, homophobia doesn't. I definitely want a hard copy on my shelf.

Maelys Mitchelmore is a well-bred young woman in 1814 Bath who finds herself suddenly beset by a vicious string of focused misfortune. Her world is such a mishmash of theology, mythology, and folklore it's difficult to guess the mechanism but the malefactor seems likely to be the same woman who keeps coming to her rescue: Lady Georgiana, suspected murderess and confirmed misanthrope. Despite the reasonable arguments of her practical cousin and frivolous best friend, Mae is magnetically drawn to the ill-tempered heiress. The abrupt shift from mystery to romance at the midpoint is a shock but the emotional through-line holds true. Puck makes for an engaging narrator.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reader's copy. I loved this book. This is my favorite book by this author. It was light and fun, but still had some darker moments. The story moved quickly and was delightful. I absolutely loved that it was a regency romance mixed with the supernatural/other natural/magical. And Pick as the narrator was superb. I will be purchasing this for myself and friends, and telling everyone I know who would enjoy it, to read it. Fantastic

A romance about a witch and noblewoman who must team up in the 1800s. I normally love Alexis Hall’s books but this was not my favorite.

DNF 30%

I am entirely sure this might just not be a book for me. The plot is fine. The characters are fine. I’m just not excited or even interested in reading.

The main reason is that we are told the story though the eyes of a hobgoblin… who has no relation to the story at all. It is told in away where everything feels… far away? We don’t have any connection to the characters because the narrator doesn’t. It’s hard to care about people if I only know how they feel through someone who is also guessing how they feel.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

4.5 stars!

I really liked this! I sometimes struggle with romance, but I found Mortal Follies to be very funny and it gave me a lot to work with. I liked Maelys Mitchelmore and her friends and Georgianna Landrake and the whimsical nature of the novel and thought they hit their character beats quite well. Hall frames the story with a narrator based in the modern day who breaks the fourth wall, and I found that this really worked for me—I thought Robin was funny and snarky and added something, though I do think this is a YMMV situation and she will either work for you or she won't.

There's a lot going on here (this is a romance novel with some fantasy stuff going on (there's a curse! old gods!) and also a bit of a mystery) and I found that this was pretty entertaining for me, but I will say the romance simmers until about the 60% mark, which is where the curse plot line wraps up, and while I thought this was neat, it can also come across as a bit disjointed. I also think that if on-screen sex is important for you, you might have some quibbles with this since this one has sort of on screen, kind of vague non-explicit sex. I think it works for the time period and the style of the novel, and I wasn't too bothered by it, but it's still worth mentioning.

Mortal Follies is a fun and whimsical historical romantasy (romance novel with fantasy?) and while I think the plots could be woven together a little better, it was overall very enjoyable and I hope Hall explores some more in this world.

Mortal Follies is hilarious! I laughed, cried and swooned over the witty banter and steamy scenes.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-book ARC!

I was so excited for this sapphic, witchy romance but I was extremely disappointed. I didn't like the gimmick of the narrator, I didn't care about the characters, and the world wasn't particularly well-developed. The writing style is modern but they speak old-fashionedy, and it wasn't particularly well integrated. The best part of the book was Miss Bickle trying to explain sexual attraction to Miss Mitchelmore.

I love Alexis Hall and was thrilled to receive this book as an ARC from NetGalley (thank you!)

A highly enjoyable mix between fairy tale and historical fiction, told by a third party narrator who happens to be a disgraced fairy and has fairy opinions but is mostly non-intrusive unto the story. I think the narrator served to keep the story light and fun, as being told from the perspective of either of the MCs it would be much more terrifying and much less comedic.

I really loved the magic of this and the mystery in the first half of the book. The misfortunes plaguing Mae start out as comical and get more and more deadly, and Georgiana swoops in continuously to save her in the last moments before her death.

What I didn't like as much is the romance. While Georgiana has very good reasons for keeping Maelys at arm's length, it means that they spent only a handful of occasions together by the time the mystery is resolved, and I didn't care for them much as a couple. And her treatment of Mae was confusing and frustrating for a romance reader, to the point where I felt the story rather fizzles out in the middle before picking up again.

I would've liked Georgiana to take a more active role in solving the Mae's curse, and for her to toe the line with attraction earlier in the book for the romance to really be a hook for me.

An enjoyable fantasy book. I found myself not enjoying the narrator, which odd because I love A Midsummer Night's Dream, but the story was nice enough, if unexpectedly dark at times.

A strong start, but then ran out of steam. I’m so disappointed because I really wanted to love this book! There are several things that I would highlight about this:

The narration. The story is relayed to us by Puck (yes, of Oberon’s court) as he follows the main characters on their adventures. I think this narration style will really work for some people, and others will hate it! I enjoyed it, although there were some parts of the story that I feel would have been better if we had been able to get into the character’s heads.

The pacing & order of the plot felt very off to me. This seems to be a recurring issue that I have with Hall’s writing so maybe it’s just not for me!

I also just didn’t love the dynamic between the two main love interests. This comes down to personal preference but I didn’t like the power dynamic in play and didn’t really find it very romantic.

Ultimately I think this will be a polarizing book but if you like a unique narration style and a regency/magical setting, give it a shot! Big thanks to Del Rey and Netgalley for the ARC!

Mortal Follies was an enchanting read full of humor, angst, and romance. The The story seemed to drag a bit. The banter between the characters was funny at times, and over the top annoying at others. Ultimately, its an enjoyable read.

If you liked the film version of A Midsummer Knights Dream staring Kevin Kline you would probably like this. Id pay all the money for Stanley Tucci to narrate the audiobook.

This was so unbelievably cute! I’m such a sucker for sapphic romance and when a pair isn’t following the cheesy love-at-first sight (not to hate on the trope—i love it too but this was a great realistic relationship in a fantasy setting). I loved the pair sm I finished this in one sitting<3

Mortal Follies is a regency fantasy romance that follows Maelys Mitchelmore, a young noblewoman who finds herself cursed for no apparent reason and ends up employing the help of the rakish Duke of Annadale, Lady Georgianna, who may or may not have killed her entire family and is also a rumoured witch (but not actually).

The novel is narrated by Puck/Robin Goodfellow, who has recently fallen out of favor with the fairy court and needs cash to live in the modern human world. It's an interesting and unique gimmick to have the story narrated by a somewhat omniscient and mischievous fairy. I liked Puck as a character and probably would've enjoyed a short story told by him or if he had introduced the story and then dipped out so that we could experience it without the narrator. But having a hands-off narrator break the fourth wall constantly was kind of annoying as the story progressed. Instead of connecting with the characters ourselves, we get told how Puck connects with them. Instead of being in the characters heads, we're told how they probably feel. Instead of experiencing intimate/romantic moments, Puck just tells us they happened. It felts like an intrusion on the characters instead of a romance. Like it was kind of creepy that Puck was secretly watching and relaying the characters' romance instead of allowing the reader to be taken in by it. I also just didn't feel connected to the characters at all because of Puck. Ultimately, I think the novel could've worked better without him. The gimmick is unique, sure, but also mostly annoying.

The story was clunky and chunked out into weird pieces. The main part of the novel, the curse, is resolved by 50%. The romance (what little we actually get of it) takes up the next 25%. And then another plot point rushes in suddenly and takes over the last fourth. I wish the first 50% wasn't so rushed, and that the romance was more evolved.

I liked the interesting setting, where magic and regency England mesh together seamlessly. I liked that all mythology was "real" and present in this world, from Greek and Roman gods to druids, fairies, and the Christian devil. I also liked the queer representation and how readable the writing is, despite my dislike of the narration.

3 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for the advanced reader copy.