*4.5 stars rounded up*
I really enjoyed reading this book... it was so immersive and hard to put down, that I found myself reading well into the night. Niamh was a likeable character who cared deeply about the well-being of her family and those around her. Though life at the palace was a very foreign world for her, she was dedicated to her work and made friends along the way. Her relationship with Kit was quite complicated, but I liked how much they challenged each other and brought out the best qualities in each other. Both of these characters showed a lot of growth over the course of the story. The political undertones made the story even more complex, and it had me guessing as to what secrets lurked beneath the surface. It was one of those books where I was sad when it came to an end because I had enjoyed it so much.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the free review copy of A Fragile Enchantment! Opinions expressed in my review are completely my own.

A fragile Enchantent- 3⭐️ 2.75🌶️

YA Fantasy
European Centric World
Historical English Style Society
Unique magic system
Grumpy/sunshine
Secret identities
Slow burn
Closed door romance
🏳️‍🌈 Side Characters


The cover is stunning!

The premise of the magic was so good, a seamstress with the power to weave memories and feelings into the clothing she makes. I was very ready to read about the process and effect of such magic. Then finding out that other people weird lightning, or snow and ice, even earth magic! This premise was right up my alley… I wanted to know more about the origins and we just weren’t given that. I just wanted MORE intricate magic explained.

I think there wasn’t much healing from the very obvious emotional trauma both the main characters were carrying. Only the revealing… This made the relationship very surface level.

The inconsistency in plot tools made things a little frustrating. A lot of times, problems in one scene don’t apply in the next… like Chaperones, reputations, classism, protests, oppression, morbidity. It’s like things were mentioned or focused on and treated like minor plot inconveniences… instead of the structural plot tools. So much was brought up and dismissed almost immediately afterward.

This was a lovely YA Fantasy Romance that just could have really shines with a little more development and execution.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for the Advanced eReader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

First of all, I want to say thank you to Wednesday books and netgalley for this arc.
This book was honestly exactly what I thought it was going to be- a cozy fantasy mixed with some regency romance. It definitely kind of gave Bridgerton mixed with divine rivals vibes. The main couple Kit and Niamh were pretty cute. It definitely took some time to warm up to kit though; but once his relationship with Niamh started progressing then I was able to get into the book a little more. The beginning of the book was a little slow, but it definitely picked up a little more. That’s not to say that there was a crazy plot or anything like that; there was obviously the forbidden romance, but there was also some political intrigue that was the driving force of the plot. That was probably my main problem with the book actually. At the end of the book, Kit and Niamh obviously end up together, but some of the political problems that were stopping them from being together kind of just went away or weren’t really talked about. I’m all for an HEA, but I wish the ending would’ve wrapped up in a more conclusive way. That wasn’t a huge deal to me, but still something that bothered me a bit. I will say that I thought all the side characters were done really well; a lot of times in low-stakes fantasy like this, the side characters end up just being convenient plot devices. But this book managed to make me actually care about most of the side characters. The romance was pretty cute; it wasn’t extremely fleshed out, but it was enough to make the book enjoyable. If you want a cozy fantasy with Bridgeton vibes, this is probably a good book for you.

I was really interested in the premise of this book, but the story fell flat for me around 25% in. The story line was very slow, and the romance between Kit and Niamh felt like a friendship, nothing more.

This book was my first foray into regency romance so I really wasn't expecting to be giggling and kicking my feet in the air, but here we are. The writing is whimsical, the characters are lovable, and the story is full of intrigue. A love story for the ages, indeed.

Ahhhhhh let me melt 🫠. Allison’s books are truly captivating.

This story has forbidden love, chronic illness, and magical fantasy wrapped into a pretty bow(really a book). Niamh has magic that thrums through her. She uses it to weave emotions and memories into fabric. All she wants is a better life for her and her family. But where she lives is far from it. A world full of nobles and politics… which Niamh will soon find herself wrapped up into.

This book was such a fun escape. It had everything I love; romance and magic and adventure. Sort of reminded me of a new twist on Beauty and the Beast. A girl finding herself in a new world which she doesn’t belong and a man who shouldn’t fall for her but does. Kit is in your face “I’ll tell you how it is,” yet has that cinnamon roll character who hides his true worth.

I can’t wait to read Allison’s next story and get

Thank you so much for sending me an ARC
I am so obsessed with this book . Now I’m going to go read more of this authors books!

Here is my review on Goodreads

For everyone taking it day by day.

I needed those words. They hit home in more way than one. Thank you.

A period piece with a bit of magic made this a pleasure in reading. I saw myself Niamh as I am one to make sure all is okay with everyone else before myself. Kit stubborn and moody I disliked him until he started opening up and you definitely felt for him. I loved all supporting characters and definitely found interesting the politics each once cared about. I would highly recommend picking up this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy! All opinions are my own.

Allison Saft is easily becoming one of my favorite authors. Every book she writes is so magical and brimming with personality and her writing style is so beautiful while still being approachable. The concept of magic that allows emotions to transfer into stitching is SO interesting. Niamh is a delight and watching her relationship with Kit bloom was so rewarding and fun. There's no premise she could write that I won't be absolute chomping at the bit to devour.

This was a cute book that gave regency vibes with a dash of magic.

Niamh's magic was really interesting and unique. I loved how it was her emotions and feelings that imbued her stitching with magic. I thought it was funny that her first garment for Kit made him look imposing, unapproachable, and broody because she was upset with him and it translated into her magic on the garment. However, how amazing was it that she could make someone almost "invisible" (not truly, but your eyes would kind of skip over them) if that's what she wanted. Or give you sunshine and happy feelings of summer. It was really clever.

I thought hers and Kit's relationship was a good progression. I liked how we got to see Kit's personality and vulnerability come out through the book. He's very closed off in the beginning and Niamh works on interacting with him and learning who he is.

I enjoyed all the characters we met and got to know like Princess Sofia, Princess Rosa, and Sinclair. Jack was less enjoyable, but I like him a little bit by the end.

The book also gave a little bit of Bridgerton vibes with Lovelace, which I was surprised and not surprised by who that ended up being. I liked the intrigue and political point in the story, but it's by no means the main plot of the story. This is very much a story about Niamh and Kit more than anything else.

Cute book for any regency loving fans and another solid book from Allison Saft.

This story was not the type of story that I was expecting. I felt like this book mainly focused on the romance aspect of Kit and Niamh's relationship, but it lacked the magical elements. Personally, I struggled immensely to get through the book because I was expecting more fantasy to it and I wasn't invested enough in the main characters to care about where their story was going. This book focused so much on just Kit and Niamh that I'm more disappointed than anything about the conclusion. The side characters were more interesting and I would have loved to see more of them throughout the story as well as learn about where they stood at the end of the book. I don't think I saw enough of Kit and Niamh together to care about their relationship so I wasn't too interested in the romance aspect of this book, which was pretty much a majority of it. The characters didn't have much development to them and the plot itself felt very familiar in a regency setting. There was definitely potential, but overall it fell just a bit short; there was just no excitement to the plot or characters and there were some parts of the plot that never really got addressed.

I am becoming a big fan of Alison Saft’s work! I read A Far Wilder Magic last year and had to request this one when it came out. This was a perfect blend of things for me: excellent worldbuilding, an interesting plot, and characters that felt real to me.

I absolutely ADORE the cover of A Fragile Enchantment, and once I read the synopsis, I knew I needed to read it.

I was easily drawn in at the beginning of Niamh and Kit's story, and I loved Saft's writing style.

Right around the 40% mark, things started to fall apart a bit for me. The pacing slowed to a standstill, and nothing relevant seemed to be happening.

I also felt Saft tried to fit too many concepts into the story, and as a result, none of them got the focus they deserved. It was somewhat slap-dash.

Furthermore, all the loose ends tied up too easily and quickly to feel believable to me. I was hoping for better conflict and resolution.

I really would have liked Kit's perspective as well. It's a rare author that can completely satisfy me with a single POV.

***I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley.***

Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. DNF'ed at 20% of the way through.

I really don't even know what this book is going for. Enemies to lovers romantasy with political intrigue sounds nice and all but the political intrigue really takes over the entire book and everything else is secondary. It's not really what I was looking for.

It also doesn't help that the main love interest, Prince Kit, is a self-centered idiot who has a vile attitude toward everyone we meet in the book except for his best friend. The main protagonist works herself to death making silly outfits and the royalty, including her love interest, do not care a whit about her. It's just depressing, frankly.

The colonialism/racism/sexism/etc in the book was really shoved in your face which is fine but it made it emotionally harder to read. It also didn't feel like the book was going to have a happy ending where things are solved as best as they could be since even if the one brother died, the other brother (Kit) was still "me, me, me" and wouldn't be of much help in solving the issues in the society.

I think I'm going to avoid the author's work in the future since it doesn't seem to be for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Allison Saft for an ARC of this book!

A Fragile Enchantment is a cute soft novel with some Bridgerton-esque elements that will appeal to fans of historical romance and fantasy alike. I enjoyed Niamh’s power to imbue her tailored creations with enchantments and memories - something I haven’t seen as a “power” or magical element in any other fantasy book.

I wish there had been a few plot points that were better developed - Niamh’s condition, the world-building, and the future of the kingdom and the world they live in. I think this would have made a really good first novel in a series, with the plot a bit more distributed through a duology or trilogy with more room to develop plot. I still really enjoyed it and thought it was a cute book!

You can expect: fantasy-lite, magic, enemies to lovers, seamstress/tailor FMC, prince MMC, historical romance elements, closed door romance, familial conflict.

A Fragile Enchantment follows Niamh Ó Conchobhair—a young seamstress who can infuse her pieces with magic—as she leaves behind her homeland to design a prince’s wardrobe for his upcoming wedding.

Set against a historical backdrop reminiscent of the Victorian Era, Niamh believes that by agreeing to work for the royal family—a family responsible for the hardships, oppression, and racism her homeland faces—she can provide her family with a better life.

But Niamh’s task becomes complicated when she develops feelings for the recalcitrant groom, Kit Carmine, and for the first time in her life, Niamh is tempted to dream of more.

As Niamh and Kit’s relationship evolves, Niamh’s life as a working-class seamstress drastically changes. A scandal sheet, political and social unrest, and her growing friendships within the castle all challenge her to question both her own beliefs as well as the people she’s growing closer to. Niamh continually tries to snuff out her voice, her wants and desires, all for the benefit of those around her, but Allison Saft weaves the tale in a way that forces Niamh to confront the misbeliefs that she carries.

I picked up this book because I love the Victorian Era and the tropes of grumpy x sunshine and forbidden love. Allison’s premise is gorgeous and easy to escape into.

What I appreciated:

-A Fragile Enchantment was very much a cozy read. I appreciate the depth that Allison gave to Niamh by showing her insecurities, such as her misbelief that her role in life is to be a caretaker and that she needs to prove her worth.

-Allison also incorporated complex issues such as marginalization, trauma, racism, chronic illness, and addiction, but I felt like most of these didn’t get the time they needed to make them feel real or to help develop the world and characters. If Allison dove deeper into these topics it would have made her already great characters even stronger. These are very much real and prevalent issues in our real world but unfortunately, it wasn’t developed enough so it felt rather shallow.

-Allison could have played the cliche part by pitting the women against one another but she didn’t. Thank you!

What didn’t work (in my opinion)

-Allison’s characters kept me reading but I would have appreciated it if they varied a little more. She could have incorporated more tension between the characters.

-More time could have been spent explaining the magic system (The Fair Ones), and how the political conflicts were going to change at the end of the book.

-The addiction mentioned in the book wasn’t fully explained. Why did this start, how old were they when this started, and despite being in remission how is the character still struggling with this?

-Niamh starts with the sole purpose of helping her family and by the end of her character arc she appears to have a healthier view of this belief but what exactly is her belief? I don’t want to include any spoilers but the decision about her family at the end seems at odds with how she started and it didn’t ring 100% believable because her thoughts weren’t explained.

-I also would have liked to have seen the B-plots wrapped up. Many were left ambiguous at best.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A very fun and adorable romance, it does give off Bridgerton vibes in the best way, but what I found I loved the most was the magic that the main characters have and how understated but important they were to the story. Very fun very good.

4.5⭐️ This is my favorite magical, enchanting YA romantasy thus far. I wasn’t sure this specific area of the genre was for me, but this book was so good. I was hooked on the beautiful world from the start and the enemies-to-lovers was fantastic. The only reason I didn’t rate it five stars was I felt it was a little slow at a few parts, but don’t let that deter you from reading this one.

I am also so so happy to have found a great STANDALONE! While I was left wanting to more, I was also satisfied with the ending. I cannot wait to see what Allison has in store for us in future books!

This was a delightful tale of a penniless nobody with the ability to make gorgeous, breathtaking magical garments who falls in love with a prince and changes the fate of a kingdom. It was romantic and fun and heartbreaking and heartwarming in turns.

I loved Niamh's endearingly clumsy charm and the way she befriended everyone she met. All of the characters were compelling and made me love them. I especially enjoyed the trio of Niamh and Kit and Sinclair. I would have loved even more scenes of the three of them getting into mischief. I also loved Rosa and Miriam and Sophie and wish they had had more screen time with Niamh.

I also loved that Niamh has a chronic illness that causes her to sometimes be bedridden for days at a time and has no cure and that she expects will one day kill her. I really identified with her because of this. Chronic illness rep is rare to find in books (though becoming a little more common) and I always love it when I find it.

If I were to choose one word for this book it would be romantic. Kit and Niamh's developing relationship is incredibly romantic. I like the way it all resolved (although there are certainly a lot of questions left at the end about how the kingdom is going to recover and pay its debts). It ends with hope though, which is always my favorite.

The audiobook was performed wonderfully. It was easy to listen to and each character had a unique and recognizable but still easily understandable voice. I was swept away in the story and I think the audiobook aided that (not least in keeping me from getting distracted in questioning how to pronounce Niamh's name).

*Thanks to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and Macmillan Audio for providing an early copy and early audio copy of this book.

This book...was not what I thought it was going to be. And I'm really disappointed because I was looking forward to it on my TBR for a long time.

What I thought I was getting, even based on the first about ten chapters of the book:

A Regency-tinted fantasy world with a dose of Irish mythology, a fairy-tale, bit of grumpy/sunshine romance, some amazing sewing magic (I am a seamstress myself so the idea of magic sewing/embroidery was a BIG draw for me), and some beautiful royal court action.

What I got was...a bit of a messy hodge-podge with some things that feel like they are shoehorned in because "reasons". First - I quickly realized there was going to be a lot of politics in this book. While I appreciate the references to the Irish-English issues during this period of time (although apparently this "Ireland" achieved their independance at a heavy cost)...with all due respect to the author, if I wanted heavy-handed political commentary, I could read a newspaper or a million other books besides a fantasy romance.

Second - there were a lot of convenient contrivances and the world-building felt subpar due to the author's constant attempt to shove in so many subplots. We have the subplot of the anonymous gossip columnist, the subplot of the Machlish (Irish) people and their grievances, the romance subplot, the convenient illness that's never explained subplot...etc. Also...the author spent a long time in the book with the characters behaving like normal English regency characters only to suddenly and literally proclaim that all the main characters and side characters are gay. She doesn't leave any wiggle room, having Niamh proclaim that she "fancies girls" a side character say that he doesn't want to "court women," the prince say that Niamh is "like him" when he finds out she's gay, and the intended betrothed of the prince be in love with her ladies' maid.

After all this doubling down on everyone being queer, it then feels weird to have Kit and Niamh fall for each other and by then, the romance had completely fallen flat for me. If the only people they've been attracted to up until this point were of the same sex, why would they suddenly find someone of the opposite sex attractive? It makes very little sense.

On top of all this, the language is far too modern, the prince curses like he's a modern teenager, there's a VERY explicit sex scene at one point, and the abundunce of subplots mean nothing gets fleshed out thoroughly. I feel like a well-written fantasy romance would have been fine without everything else. Or perhaps if the author wanted the English/Irish commentary, she could have had the lead female character be the prince's guide into the suffering of her people, annd help him adjust his point of view. Instead everything feels confusing and flat, despite the author's writing talent.

I just feel so disappointed and let down by this book. I'm sure judging on the multiple 5-star reviews here on Goodreads that I'm in the minority, but I wasn't a fan of this book, and it will make me cautious of this same author in future.