A magical Regency-inspired with a touch of Bridgerton - style characters, magical world-building with its own mythology, and a touch of scandal to cause the wagging of tongues from the upper-crust ton during one of the most important Seasons within Avaland.

Two years ago, one of the young girls from her homeland had traveled to Avaland to visit a distant family member. Adding one of the balls, the girl wore one of Niamh Ó Conchobhair's creations - "a lovely dress of yellow silk embroidered with metallic thread and enchanted with memories of spring." There the girl would ensnare the most eligible bachelors of the Season. Ever since that moment, the families of Ton sought out her beautiful work with the hopes that their own daughters would follow after the young woman's success in landing their own husbands.

Successful, Niamh finds herself with an invitation to Avaland's royal family. There she has been offered to tailor a suit for the Crown Prince for his wedding. An invitation would surely help her family live a bit more comfortably with even a chance to move both her mother and grandmother to Avaland with her.

But time has begun working against Niamh. Even with her magical blood, there are always consequences to its usage. Much like her grandmother and her mother, her future is grim. Her life expectancy is to be cut short and her own bones are to be near brittle.

Her subject is less than thrilled to have her. The Crown Prince has no desire to be her subject nor does he wish to have anything to do with any marriage. Whenever in the presence of the other, there is a spit of fire that dances between them and neither of them seems to realize that the fire runs even deeper when they are together.

It has been so long since I last read the Bridgerton novels. I was a teenager when they first came out and I was going through my stages of cheesy Regency romances. Now, I haven't picked up those books since and I haven't touched any Regency romances since. So, this has been the first in quite a long time. The characters, the world-building with its history and magic, and the remanence of a beautiful time period long gone have made this book everything that anyone who would love to go back to this time. It was fun. It was wonderful and I enjoyed the characters.


Conclusion:


Come for the romance and stay for the magic and Regency-style story. You won't be disappointed as you are transported into a beautiful world and time period that beckons you with the taste of romance between a tailor and a Crown Prince.


*Disclaimer: Thank you to the author, her publishers, and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. The opinions of this review are mine and mine alone.

This was an absolutely delightful read. I loved the main character, (she is a magical dressmaker! How awesome is that!), the originality of the plot, the wonderful writing, and the burning romance between the two. I could hardly put it down and think this will definitely be a big seller. If you are looking for a great romance that will sweep you off your feet with a dash of fantasy, this is for you!

Oh I was SOO ready to fall in love with this; the cover is stunning! I liked Saft’s Down Comes the Night but didn’t get through Far Wilder Magic. This synopsis convinced me to try her out again because it sounded so lovely.

The beginning was nice and I was actually having a good time for nearly the entire first half of this. Unfortunately, the plot started to become a bit messy and I became annoyed and frustrated. The political plotline seemed uneven and some major threads didn’t really wrap up enough for me. I DID, however, adore Kit and Niamh (although the third act conflict… UGH WHY).

I wish I could’ve rated this higher but alas, the plot was a bit too boring and frustrating for me to enjoy the second half of the book much.

I loved this book so much! I managed to read it in one sitting which is something I don’t usually do!

Allison Saft does it again! Everything about this book was so charming and I was hooked from the beginning. Allison does such a good job with writing words that leap off the page and transport you into the world of the book. There were definitely many moments that caused me extreme anxiety, but I loved how everything wrapped up. If Bridgerton and Studio Ghibli had a baby it would be this book.

I'd like to thank the publisher, NetGalley, and the author for allowing me a chance at reading this book!

I am blessed to have read all of Allison Saft's books as ARCs. She is one of those authors who not only writes really well for YA, but also gives a lot of inner monologue and character development to her writing. AND I AM A SUCKER FOR THAT, 100%. So, with that cover and description, it ticked off so many boxes for me. I had to have it, and I had to read it NOW.

Thankfully, this book is another 4 star read for me. Kit is a very layered hero, and he has an equally matched love interest, Nimah. Nimah is a girl with a mission and she never strays from it.

Now, the reason that I rank it one star less is for a couple of things, which all seemed a bit wrapped up together. Nimah is taking this job to save her family. We also find out the magic is killing her. We also find out there is a hatred between the two clans (Kit's and hers) due to war years ago. We also find out a lot of things that are stemming from Jack's current handling of the kingdom that is causing unrest. I mean, if this is included in the blurb then it's important to the plot, right?

Well, some of it gets wrapped up too fast or never mentioned again and when I finished it, I was like - 'wait, what about this and that' or 'is this still happening'. It made me want to give it three stars because I felt unfulfilled. However, I settled with a 4. Maybe with fanfiction people can embellish these bits and expand upon them. Or maybe there is a future sequel in store?

So, overall: fitting for the YA genre, gorgeous descriptions, lovely romance, but so-so on the political strife / world-building.

Hey. You. Come here. Come closer.

You know how Anthony and Kate in Bridgerton did that thing where they have a prickly beginning but fall in love any way despite their best efforts not to, and everyone but them knows, and then one of them is actively going forward with an unwanted wedding to another person because of 'duty' and what will make the other person happy but they're actually both just idiots?

Yes, that. But with magic. And it's PERFECTION.

Allison Saft has my whole heart and wallet at this point.

I would like to start this review by saying that I had no idea what I was going into when I started this book. I saw pretty cover and I was in for a ride. It was amazing. I loved the build up of the relationship between Niamh and Kit the complexity of their relationships that really got to me. I highly recommend this!

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.