Recently I read A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft (Author of A Far Wilder Magic and Down Comes The Night) and absolutely loved it!

A romantic fantasy, the book follows Niamh, a magic welding seamstress from the country trying to carve a better life out for her family, as she navigates working for the royal family during political unrest.

I love almost anything set in the Regency era and the addition of magic just added even more appeal to me!

This book was nearly lyrically written and so beautiful. It made me laugh and cry, and had such wonderful queer and chronic illness representation.

I enjoyed the side characters just as much as the main two! So many great and unique personalities and friendships.

Rosa and Niamh's shared experiences of the female experience and discussion of love vs duty had me sobbing. The descriptions of the garments Niamh made were just beautiful.

I found myself holding my breath even with the rational understanding it would work out in the end. Such a dreamy, emotional and whimsical read this was!

A Fragile Enchantment will be published on January 2nd , 2024 and I highly recommend adding it to your TBR if you like Romantasy!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the free digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Absolutely loved this. So I’ve been on a long stretch of embarking on huge fantasy series journeys, some have been amazing and some have been lots of details and getting lost in over complicated political dynamics, etc. If you are a fantasy reader you know what I mean. I enjoyed this so much because it was exactly what I was wondering if such a thing existed- a medium stakes standalone romantasy in a simple enough world to be built and explored in a single book while still having a complete plot from start to finish. This has everything! This is my first by Allison Saft and I can say she is a talented writer.

I loved the magic system. I felt that it was explained sufficiently. There is what felt like to me no info dumping. I loved that there was political intrigue but in a dramatic twisty way that I could easily comprehend (political & military are not favorite subgenres of mine) and no drawn out war or set up for a huge series, etc. Each twist and turn I felt like I was on par with the FMC in that I never knew more than she did so it kept the action going and kept it engaging.

This FMC, Niamh, I loved for all what could be perceived as flaws, she’s emotional, scatterbrained, clumsy (but not really in a “cute” way like in an actually self-destructive way), and best of all she knows she’s these things and is just as exasperated with herself. That is relatable AF. It did take me awhile to warm up to the MMC, Kit, and I’m not sure I was totally into him by the end but it’s fine, not every romance needs to be a self insert and I was satisfied enough in their specific dynamic and relationship that I did feel like romance developed. You’ll definitely learn more about the FMC in this though as the MMC is a possibly a bit static. I loved the side characters in this. Rosa is a particular favorite.

The YA aspect of this was the perfect balance of something I absolutely enjoyed as an adult but also this is a book I wished I had when I was a teenager. I could really see myself making this my whole personality if I had read it then. It’s queer friendly, sex positive (there are about 2 scenes that are fade to black & characters are 18+ for those who are curious), and has imperfect characters that all have things to learn from each other. I also loved the medium stakes balance of this. Nothing gets too dangerous but there is still emotional pull and I couldn’t put this down.

Thank you to Wednesday books, SMP for this ARC. I absolutely recommend this.

This book was so good! The writing was so addictive. The romance was perfectly done. And I loved the world building.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for this Advanced Readers Copy of A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft!

I love Allison Saft's specific perspective on historically-inspired fantasy. She takes actual events and cultural constructions (e.g. Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism in A Far Wilder Magic) and weaves them into a fantasy world. Because she is working with recognizable structures, but in a fantastic way, she is able to use the reader's preconceived ideas as a starting place for her world building. In A Fragile Enchantment, she combines the potato blight in Ireland, the madness of King George III and the Regency era, and even a little bit of Lady Di and the royal family's struggle with the papparazzi. At the same time, the book has its own plot; none of the characters are 1:1 representations of historical figures, and even world geography has changed.

What can you expect? The book revolves around Niamh, a Machlish (quasi-equivalent to Irish) tailor, who is hired to create the wedding trousseau of Kit, the younger prince of Avaland (~England), and his fiancee, Princess of Castilia (~Spain). Niamh is magically talented, so she can weave emotions into the clothes that she creates. Her presence in Avaland is also politically motivated: the Prince Regent can use her as proof that the Machlish don't feel oppressed in their unequal relationship with their former colonizers. Turns out that Kit and Niamh might be each other's perfect match... except for the fact that their relationship would ruin her career, his reputation, and the future of Avaland, itself.

This is a YA romantasy in the best way: the fantasy is grounded in well-developed world building, and the relationship is depicted in an age-appropriate way. One of the most refreshing parts of the book was how well developed every single character was: of course we can expect complex characters from our leads, Kit and Niamh, but the Prince Regent and his wife, Kit's fiancee and her lady-in-waiting, and Kit's BFF are also well-drawn and compelling. There's not a single one-dimensional villain. Everyone has good intentions, although the results of those intentions don't always turn out the way they want.

This was a delight to read, and I'm looking forward to more from Allison Saft!

Niamh Ó Conchobhair is commissioned by the royal family of Avaland to tailor the wardrobe for a royal wedding. Niamh has a magical ability to sew memories and emotions into her designs, thus causing the wearer to have a magical experience. But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While young nobles attend candlelit balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class. The groom himself, Kit Carmine, is prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a political pawn. But when Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more—until an anonymous columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to leave them alone only if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-arc.*

A Fragile Enchantment was one of my anticipated releases in 2024. To be frank, the initial concept showed great premise, but just before reaching the midway point the narrative seemed to lose its way and lacked a clear direction. I felt like every character had problems and the author wanted to showed everything but they felt so superficial. The story got dragged on a little too much that I lost interest, even the romance plot failed to pique my interest. I feel so much potential on this book and there will always be room for improvement, I wish that the author gives more depths to characters and some details.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

i don't have any beef with 1st person POV but it would be nice if the MC's trains of thoughts didn't all written down bc it makes the paragraph really long & unnecessary and makes me tend to skim it.

I heard so many amazing things about this book and I was not disappointed. It was a great mix of fantasy and romance with political intrigue and mystery. The magic system was amazing and the tropes were impeccably placed throughout while not being overdone. This book delivers everything that the blurb promises and more. I may even have cried while reading it because some lines were so beautiful. It is definitely a YA romantasy to add to your list.

Thank you Wednesday books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I can describe this book in one word, albeit a painful one: forgettable. I debated how to rate it, because, while there is nothing bad about the story, there's nothing particularly great either. This is really the epitome of a 3-star book for me, from that perspective.

The world building was decent, but it lacked a bit of...something. I wanted more information, a little bit of backstory on the magic in the world. Instead, it seemed like it was mainly a historical novel with a dash of fantasy thrown in as an afterthought. Lots of potential but didn't meet expectations.

The romance lacked oomph. The spark between the two MCs left me wanting more. I didn't really understand why they were interested in each other. The chemistry wasn't something that was developed over time, so the reader doesn't become invested. Honestly, I would have been fine if they remained friends by the end of the book. Wouldn't have bothered me one bit. And that's not a good sign for a romance novel.

Maybe it's the writing style, maybe it's just me. I finished the book, but it took me longer than usual and, in the end, I couldn't work up much interest in writing a review. Hence why this one is written several weeks after reading it.

Don’t deny me only for the sake of denying yourself - A Fragile Enchantment

This book left me speechless, it is easily in my top five favorite YA books of all time.. This was my first book by Alison Saft and I will definitely be reading more!! Thank you to netgalley and the publishing company for giving me the chance to read it by giving me an e-arc of this incredible book!

Niamh is a seamstress called on by the neighboring Kingdom to design the outfits for the upcoming royal wedding. Jumping at the chance to give her grandmother and mother a better life she accepts the offer immediately.

Politics. Enemies to lovers. Forbidden Romance.

This book gave me the best of fantasy and the best of historical romance. The setting of this book was absolutely fanatic. The Fantasy Regency setting was something I did not know I needed but oh my gosh I hope more books are published with similar settings.
The writing was beautiful and extremely descriptive and painted each scene with incredible accuracy. With every turn of the page, it was like I was watching a movie.
Kit is seriously my favorite character. He was hilarious and dry, and his spiteful nature was just incredible.

The romance was beautifully done. It showed the vulnerability and realization of knowing the person you’re falling for is someone you can’t have.
Gosh forbidden romance just tickles my pickle every time and Alison just did it so well in this book I am still in awe.

I haven’t read YA in a long time and this book was a perfect step back into the genre that got me into reading in the first place.
I so deeply recommend this book if you’re wanting an amazing romantasy read. This book is full of humor, heartfelt moments, amazing characters, and most importantly: showing that it is okay to be selfish every once in a while.

In Alison Saft’s A Fragile Enchantment, Niamh O Conchobhair leaves her home/family behind to serve as the seamstress for a royal wedding meant to provide strategic alliance for the kingdom of Avaland. Niamh’s success will likely mean her family’s financial security but it comes at a cost—the more she uses her magic (which allows her to imbue feelings/memories into the clothes she creates), the weaker she becomes thanks to a hereditary wasting disease with no apparent cure. Niamh is an outsider in the court—someone who relates more to the working class citizens that seem primed for a revolution than the cruel nobles with whom she is forced to interact. The one exception being the groom himself—as a friendship blooms between them and then becomes something more, an anonymous gossip columnist could ruin everything she’s worked for. They will leave Niamh and Kit out of the press only if Niamh agrees to spy on the royal family for them.

I really enjoyed this cozy YA fantasy romance. It really had a Bridgerton meets fairy tale vibe that I personally found delightful. One of the things I thought was interesting was the dichotomy of duty to others vs. personal happiness. It really was a theme of the book and something practically all of the characters are dealing with. There was a quote I saw several years ago that resonated with me during a difficult time—"you don’t have to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.” To me, that was the real lesson from the story and it was good to see so many of our main characters embracing this by the end. I also thought the chronic illness representation was unique, although it was certainly bittersweet (and maybe more realistic in some ways as a result?). Niamh’s illness doesn’t magically get resolved but by the end we see that rather than keeping herself apart from others, she embraces relationships in order to live her life to the fullest. Overall, a great read and a perfact standalone!

Thanks to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the e-ARC; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really liked this as a love story. Niamh is a commoner who makes beautiful garments for people. She has an illness that will cause her to not live a long life. Kit is the spare to the throne, a former bad boy with a past. There is political unrest in the kingdom & a mystery.
It had a Bridgerton feel with gossip column but that story line just felt it wasn’t necessary, as well as the magical elements were not needed. Both just kind of padded the story. Which was a great Cinderella story. But having any type of Divine blood just watered down in my opinion.
Also the dying early and hair change was abandoned for happy ending?

Niamh is a seamstress who has the ability to weave threads emotions, feelings, etc. into her dresses. Unfortunately, this magical ability will eventually rob years off her life. She lives in a very poor nation that was destroyed by the neighboring nation. Now, many people go there to find work. Everyone imagines it to be glamorous, and every person is rich. She is offered work to create a wardrobe for the upcoming royal wedding of the prince and his bride. She jumps at the chance because she will earn enough money to allow her mother and grandmother to get out from poverty. However, upon her arrival, she is struck with the reality of this "glamorous" nation. It is filled with people living in extreme poverty but also the wealth of the royal family.
Kit, the younger prince is being forced into an arranged marriage with the princess of yet another nation.
Kit is a jerk, to be honest. He is bitter, throws fits, and sets out to hurt people around him. Of course it's because he's been hurt in the past because that justifies everything. I swear I could see him stomping his foot when he is told to do something.
They are very attracted to one another. She knows he's hurting, so she doesn't seem to mind when he is constantly belittling her.
His older brother, the prince regent is outwardly rude, and obviously hiding something. It's quite obvious since there is a thread of class warfare in the book.
Here is where my conflict lies. All the workers from her nation have left their jobs because of lack of pay and their treatment as second class citizens. The only workers left are the native ones, and they are overworked because of it. In the beginning, you can see how it directly affects the royal family and their lifestyle because their formal dinners are not edible, nothing is done to help the guests enjoy themselves, and the remaining staff is extremely rude. However, later, dinners and celebrations do not seem to have any issues at all.
The story is a romance, but has the class differences as one of the main issues. However, the protesters only appear two or three times, and only two conversations, both asking to speak to the prince regent. Apparently, that's not as important as we're led to believe.
My other problem is with Niamh herself. For a strong woman, she is pretty clueless as Kit tells her, and she practically scared of her own shadow. I'll put that part down to her magic that is robbing her of years. That's where it gets foggy. She comments that other people who possess her type of magic can live anywhere from 20 years old to over 60 years old. In that time period, living past the age of 60 was not a bad thing at all. We're also not really told how much it's affecting her. Yes, Niamh is getting sicker, but is she dying? Can she get better if she stops weaving magic thread into her creations?
Can someone please go into more depth about the magic itself? Each nation seems to have their own kind. lt had the vibes of the Hunger Games districts without the violence.
Now, about the epilogue. Gah and grrrr...not a fan, but won't spoil it.
I love Sinclair. I know, I know. He's still lovable even after we find out secrets about his family and its aftermath later in the story. No spoilers.
That all being said, the writing is beautiful. The author brings you into the world, and you aren't just reading it, you're also there experiencing it. I take care of an elderly lady who used to teach literature, and read some excerpts to her, and she loved how it was written, and how rich the descriptions were. The author's writing is simply beautiful.
This is filled with angst, issues that can be resolved with simple conversations, hidden agendas, and the HEA. So, those boxes are checked. There is a little lgbtq reference but not the focus of the story.
I would consider this an almost clean novel, heat wise. It was closed door, as in we know something happened, but not described. It's sort of described once, but in a broad, vague sense. I agree that it can be read by a younger, teen audience.

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

Five stars!

I love Allison Safts writing and I just feel like this shows her growth as a storyteller.

Saft does such wonderful work creating loveable characters with depth for the entire world, as well as well rounded romances that pull you into the story! The characters were able to grow, while staying true to themselves.

She also has always done an excellent job of creating an alternate universe that resembles our own (with a touch of magic). Prejudices, oppression, and the unjust treatment of groups of people have been a theme that I’ve noticed in her other work. As well as lgbtq representation!

This was a lovely romantic regency drama, with a hint of fantasy.

A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft is the second book i've reas by this author and, sadly, this one wasn't for me.
What i felt didn't work for me mostly was the pace. It's excruciatingly slow with nothing happening for pages on end. A Far Wilder Magic felt mysterious, magical, even scary at times which only made me wanna read it more. this book just felt like a filler i guess.
The main character, Niamh, fell flat for me and Kit was just a meanie. All the characters felt like they were satire, too much at all times.
The magic system isn't explained properly and sometimes that works in a book but here it just made the story feel incomplete. I DNFed this book at around 50% - it just wasn't for me.

Thank you St. Martin's Press for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much to the publishers and netgalley for the ARC!

Unfortunately, this book was not for me, and I have to move it to my DNF shelf. I thought the premise to be really interesting: working magic into clothes, and that was what I enjoyed best. I thought that the way Saft writes magic was really intriguing and beautiful.

However, I couldn't help but find the writing to be a bit scattered, and it didn't pull me in. At times reading felt like an effort, moving too slowly. To me, a romance book needs to be like a bowl of soup, it is easy to go down and comforting . Unfortunately, this book was not.

I also couldn't find myself caring about the two main characters-- I found Niamh to be childish and undeveloped, and found Kit to be downright unlikable. I also didn't really feel the "regency" in regency romance--such as in other regency fantasy romances I have read like The Midnight Bargain or Half a Soul. It just felt like any regular fantasy magical world.

This was my first go at ARC, and really wanted to give it my best effort, but it just wasn't doing it for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this earc

Sadly I didn’t love this book. Where did it go wrong? I think it was trying to do too many things at once. For example, the political plot line. It fell flat. The whole plot was set on two brothers not talking to each other. One conversation and the wedding could have been avoided completely and they could have asked their neighbors for help just like they did by the end of the book.

Next thing, Niamh having this sickness from her magic but not really explained or resolved. She’s still making magical dresses by the end of the story.

This story definitely needed more world building and magic system building and just pretty much plot building.

I feel like this book could have been so much better. But was just missing too many little pieces

A big Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this fantastic arc!
A Fragile Engagement is a cozy fantasy with great character development, and a lovely magic system.
I absolutely love the world building, and the way that the cultures of the world are portrayed. I really liked the protagonist, and the way that the story moved. I hope to see more of this world in sequels!!

At first I was super intrigued and into the magic system of this book and was looking forward to see more of that. But at 54% of the way the magic hasn’t really been explained beyond enchanted dresses. I find the plot was kind of slow and I just didn’t care about any of the characters and wasn’t reaching for this.

It could definitely be a case of right book wrong time and maybe I’ll end up finishing it in the future.