*Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing a preview copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall was a pleasant read overall, pulling me into this story of a cursed Regency era noblewoman entering society but also discovering that she may be attracted to women. Our protagonist, Miss Maelys Mitchelmore is a lovely ingenue who finds strength, with the help of friends and family to face both the goddess Sulis Minerva and the object of her affection Lady Georgianna.

The characters in this book are absolutely wonderful, and I would very much enjoy reading spin-off tales of most of them. Miss Mitchelmore’s best friend Miss Bickle may be my favorite character in the book, being absolutely ridiculous and delightful. She reminded me of Ivy in Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate, but in a far more endearing way. Mr. Caesar was a good (not) straight man, trying to remind his friends of society mores, while giving in and supporting Miss Mitchelmore completely using all of his connections in the process. Maelys’s parents are amusing researchers and scientists, who fully support their daughter however she chooses to be or not be in society. I suspect that the side characters of Miss Tabitha and Sweet Maggie could easily fill a volume each with stories of their lives and adventures. And Lady Georgianna… she is covered far too well in this book to get a second, but I enjoy her wit, barb, and underlying care too much to not mention her once more.

The book is not without one main detractor though: With a nod to Puck in Midsummer Night’s Dream, the entire story is narrated by Robin, a troublesome creature of another world. For the first few chapters, this narration style made me debate whether to keep reading at all. I am glad I did, and I came to even feel a bit of fondness towards Robin. However, I did find that this style dropped me out of the flow of the story, particularly during a few …heated scenes, which I found a bit frustrating.

Additionally, the book feels like two in one. I got to what felt like the end of the story and was surprised to find myself only at 50%. In one way, this quirk makes the book feel like a bargain, to not have to buy a second book for the rest of the story. However, it may be something to be aware of going into the book that where you may expect a denouement, you instead find the story picking back up. I still feel a bit thrown by the pacing.

Overall, though, I am glad to have spent the time with this cast of characters. They were pleasant company in my week, and I would gladly enjoy reading more of the others should they demand their own stories.

This is the classic "I'm cursed and I don't know why" story, but make it sapphic. We love.

I really liked the narrator for this book but the actual plotline fell a little flat for me. I'd definitely read more with this narrator, though. And Miss Bickle has a large portion of my heart. She's so weird and wonderful.

Overall, I will always try out a new Alexis Hall read, even when it's not really within my typical style.

What a cleverly written adventure! Highly entertaining, loved the main and side characters equally, wonderful supernatural aspects. This book will be featured on a future episode of Your Rainbow Reads podcast.

This is an abstract twist on the Bridgerton we’ve all become obsessed with or at least heard of. Our author here centers the drama around a curse and we’re thrown into a world of magic playing a role just as important. Our narrator Puck the Hobgoblin describes every thing in such a gloriously charming way. He has you laughing and and looking forward to every time he interrupts the story to give us a little crumb or morsel of gossip. We’re taken through several little hijinks with our main characters, who happen to be enduringly sassy and adventurous. In a time and place you wouldn’t suspect, the author takes us on the best sapphic fueled ride of love and romance. I think where this fell short was the different parts of our story not blending as smoothly as I would have liked. What you think is the end of the main plot line fizzles off a bit and you’re still left with tons left over.

A fun sapphic tale in a fairytale setting, this was a mystery with 3 entertaining “sleuths”. Our narrator is an observer and an occasional trouble maker on the outside of the action. They were funny and mischievous and kept me laughing. This book was a great blend of romance, fantasy, mystery and laughs.

I love halls writing. I couldn't get enough of this and read it in 2 sittings. I love her characters and her plot and im ready for the next one.

I will read everything Alexis Hall ever writes. Per usual, this book was packed with plenty of heart and humor. I really enjoy Alexis branching out into other romance genres, as I’m not one to typically read books with fantasy elements, but I really enjoyed this.

I ended up with mixed feelings about Mortal Follies. Most books of this size take me only a few days to get through, but this one took me a few weeks.

Pros: For the most part, I enjoyed the major storyline of this book, just seemed to struggle to get through it. I did enjoy trying to guess who cursed Miss Mitchelmore, and will admit I only figured it out when it was too late, as did she. I also enjoyed Miss Bickle’s character during the final conflict resolution.

Cons: I feel as if there were multiple parts of the book that weren’t entirely necessary to the storyline. If the book were instead written from Miss Mitchelmore’s perspective, I think it would have read quicker and smoother than with the added narration from Robin. The storyline for the first half was a bit slow moving, and then the second half of the book proceeded to give me whiplash from all of the new conflicts and resolutions. The two halves almost felt as if they could have been two separate books.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.
Release Date: June 6, 2023

2.5/3 stars

The cover art is beautiful and had me immediately wanting to pick up the book.

The prologue was interesting and set up the witness of the book moving forward. The magical elements and the world having me wanting for more but never gave it to the reader.

Some of the characters were witty and interesting but the romance felt detached reading it from a third party’s POV. I felt like I didn’t really truly connect to the characters and the romance to even care near the end.

The ending left me with questions and felt rush which is unfortunate since I normally enjoy Alexis Hall’s other books.

Thank you for NetGalley and Del Rey for letting me read and review this ARC.

I hardly know what else to say other than - THE NARRATOR. So funny, so delightful, so snarky. Just the right amount of presence. Completely satisfying.

Also it's sapphic! Some of the most delightful/least angsty "coming out/coming in" realizations that I've seen in awhile. Charming. Extremely fade-to-black content.

4.5 rounded up

3.5/5

I was immediately drawn to this book because 1. Alexis Hall is amazing and 2. this cover is so beautiful!! If sapphic Bridgerton with a narrator that far outwits Lady Whistledown sounds interesting to you, I definitely recommend!

I’ll start with my “meh” thoughts - The romance itself wasn’t really amazing. I was never rooting for the main couple as much as a wanted to. There were also some issues with pacing. The first half of the book was very captivating, but once the “mystery” aspect is solved, the second half moved very slowly and the plot wasn’t very engaging.

Now for my good thoughts! I absolutely loved the narrator! Robin was hilarious and I loved having a third party narrate the entire book and provide witty commentary. Also, the entire book in general was so funny and entertaining that it kept me engaged even when the plot slowed down.

Alexis Hall is a superb writer and Mortal Follies definitely showed a new side of his writing that I really enjoyed! Although it wasn’t my favorite romance, I would be very interested in more books set in this same universe.

While I hold an overall dear opinion of this book, my biggest problem lies in the narrator, which composes a pretty bulky portion of the tale. I did not like the narrator, nor the narration style. I thought the world and plot and many of the characters were interesting and vivid and vibrant, but the narration deeply unseated me throughout.

I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did.

It reminded me of period piece romances but with an added bit of mystery. I enjoyed it quite a bit and I’m definitely here for the representation. However, I did find the narrator to be more of a distraction. Some parts of the story become almost laughable and it’s hard to connect to the characters through a third party.

Overall I did enjoy the plot enough that I won’t dock the rating for it. But it’s something to keep in mind before reading! I thought the book was pretty good and I’ll probably be adding it to my shelves because the cover is beautiful.

This book was so good!!!! I didn’t know much going in and was so surprised by it. Alexis Hall can do no wrong.

A young noblewoman is cursed and who better than to help her than an the beautiful and brooding witch who just always happens to save her in the nick of time? Miss Maelys Mitchelmore finds herself in a predicament, she is being cursed and she has no clue who is doing it. Then she runs into the brooding and mysterious Lady Georgianna Landranke, also known as the Duke of Annadale who may or may not have murdered her own father and brothers to inherit their fortune. Ever since meeting Georgianna, Maelys has been smitten and can’t help but want her, but Georgianna has all her own emotional baggage and is content to keep a very far distance from Maelys. Yet they are drawn to one another and Georgianna is the only person who can help Maelys break her curse. Yet in a world filled with angry gods and vindictive magic, the possibilities of who could be doing this to her are endless and with more life threatening things happening to her they’ll both have to figure out who is behind it before its too late. On top of that they’re going to have to work out their feelings for one another as despite Maelys intent to be with Georgianna, Georgianna has emotional baggage up to here and she definitely has her own brooding love interest issues. The story is told all through the narration from a third party fae. Unfortunately this one did not work for me, I absolutely adored the cover and thought the premise sounded right up my ally... yet the execution itself was lackluster and you really just don’t get the romance or the chemistry between the characters at all. The story felt a bit all over the place and I just found myself getting bored and falling asleep at certain points of reading this book. I really really wanted to like it but it just fell flat of my expectations unfortunately and having the narrator being the main POV just didn’t allow you to connect with the characters that much and it just did not work. While it didn’t work for me, if you are looking for a sapphic romance with a very classical-esque styled brooding love interest who has a ton of family baggage and emotional baggage, then this is right up your ally along with some magic!

*Thanks Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for sending me an arc in exchange foe an honest review*

Mortal Follies is just a straight up fun time. It’s silly and swoony and a little bit bonkers. Alexis Hall never ceases to amaze me with the range of his writing. While the book definitely has Hall’s distinctive voice, Mortal Follies is something I’ve never seen from him before, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Maelys Mitchelmore is the protagonist. She’s a pretty young thing who has been struck with a curse. She and her friends embark on a quest to uncover who has cursed her and seek to have it undone. One of the prime suspects is Lady Georgiana Landrake, known as the Duke of Annadale, a rakess who is rumored to have killed her father and brothers so she could inherit the dukedom. Without getting spoilery, the characters run around England trying to figure out whodunnit, and once one mystery is solved another pops up. On the romance front, Mae and Georgiana have some spectacularly sexy, swoony moments that balances out the bonkers.

The story is narrated from the present day by a mischievous hobgoblin named Robin who has been exiled to the mortal world for reasons unknown. The narration adds an extra layer to the story that really showcases Alexis Hall’s imagination and insights into the human condition.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for the ARC of Mortal Follies.

Mortal Follies is a Bridgerton-esque part romance, part mystery, part fantasy story that follows Miss Maelys Mitchelmore and other members of the ton as they navigate the season in Bath, England, with brief jaunts to other locations around the country.
The story is told by an external narrator, a hobgoblin named Robin, who collects stories for their deity and is able to interact with the world in a variety of manners to follow a story from start to finish. The commentary provided by Robin, who seems to have had a falling out with their deity and now has to actually breath and pay rent *GASP* in the modern world, definitely provided some of the best lines throughout the book that literally made me laugh out loud. (I would actually like to hear more about Robin and what led to their current situation. They were my favorite part of the book.)
The supporting cast of best girlfriend Miss Bickle, cousin Mr. Caesar, and Maelys's lover Lady Georgianna, Duke of Annadale were well developed and form the core group trying to help in Miss Mitchelmore's attempts to outmaneuver the angry, spiteful, and vexing supernatural Goddess plaguing her.
The language used in the story was very old-fashioned - I felt like I should be ready a Jane Austen classic. Because of this it did take me a bit longer to read and Mortal Follies was not the quick, light read I thought it was going to be.
I received an advance review copy for free from Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Alexis Hall is a favorite author of mine. The books are always smart, witty, and slightly unusual. That is why it makes me so sad to say that this book was a bit of a mess. It was trying to do too much and lost the story. I love the concept but not the execution.

Thank you to NetGalley & Del Rey/Random House for an E-Arc of this book!

There was a lot about this book that I really enjoyed. The unreliable hobgoblin narrator was a great way to expand on the world and give insight into the fae/folk realm - especially with magic afoot. It sort of read like if Daphne Bridgerton was thrown into the Good Omens world. Quirky, silly, campy and yet the dialogue was still very apropos for the time.

I genuinely think this story and style has a lot of potential but that it just wasn't for me. I adored a lot of elements of it but the sort of mash up of ideas didn't work sometimes - especially when the narrator would go off on a tangent or begin talking in circles (which unfortunately happened frequently but I have high hopes that with some more editing this will be worked down a bit!).

Mortal Follies was a very cute and sweet lighthearted romance. The story of Miss Mitchelmore and Lady Georgianna fighting goddesses and curses to be together told through the narration of a local hobgoblin.

The story was very enjoyable and I laughed out loud quite a few times at various jokes. I enjoyed the frame of the narrator observing from afar. I did find the characters a bit shallow and there was never much more insight into why the two characters fell in love other than love at first sight.

Overall it was a quirky, enjoyable, lighthearted read!

TW - quite a few animal sacrifices to gods but nothing too gory or in depth.