4.25 ⭐️

This is the first I have read from Allison Saft and she has definitely won me over! I loved this YA magical fantasy twist inspired by Regency England.

A Fragile Enchantment is a cozy, atmospheric romantic fantasy following Niamh Ó Conchobhair, a magical seamstress tasked to design the wardrobe for the royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland. Though Niamh is a talented magical seamstress, able to imbue magic and emotion into each of her stitches, she finds herself unable to navigate court politics easily during her time at the palace leading up to the royal wedding.

The groom, and youngest prince, Kit, is a brooding, standoffish fellow who wants nothing to do with this wedding. He is doing his duty to help secure relationships his brother, the Regent has orchestrated. As Niamh spends more time around Kit finishing his portion of her duties to creating the royal attire, the icy exterior around Kit's demeanor starts to melt. The romance is fluid and feels vulnerable and good - particularly as we learned more about the internal demons each main character had to fight. The romance was entirely swoon-worthy. I was truly entranced the entire story, waiting for the happily ever after. ❤️

The tensions between countries in this world are inspired greatly by the historical power imbalances between England and Ireland. This little touch truly added to some amazing world building of the tensions between those from the different countries - particularly when it came to the prejudice and inequality that Niamh was shown during her time at court.

Magical Bridgerton vibes
Royal x commoner
Forbidden romance
Rags to Riches
Opposites attract
Banter & tension
Inequality & prejudice
Chronic illness, LGBTQ+ & mental health rep !!

You will adore this if you loved Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater or Bridgerton with a dash more magic. The audiobook is a phenomenal listen and helped me - Fran Burgoyne was an amazing narrator and I felt the emotion through her tone.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, Macmillan Audio and Allison Saft for the eARC & ALC of A Fragile Enchantment.

This was really pretty. Pretty narrator, pretty romantic fantasy, pretty magic systems, and lovely banter. It wasn't ground breaking and didn't have epic stakes, but it was just a fun, lovely read that was a good time. I saw a lot of other people call it dreamy, which definitely fits. It has chronic illness and mental health representation, which I adore. The supporting characters are almost better than the main character at points, which is both a pro and a con to me. Some of the themes are a bit on the nose, but this was beautiful and very much worth the listen.

Okay now this was fun. I enjoyed the new take on a magical seamstress and the political intrigue involved. I could have asked for a bit more character development and a little less insta-love but the bones were solid. Unfortunately it does fall as a middle of the road rating for me simply because nothing felt innovative or especially gripping/unique. I'll happily read more from Allison Saft because I love her writing style and the atmosphere created is impeccable but I did want more from this title at the same time....

I actually received both the e-book and audiobook for this one but I ended up listening to it instead and that is what this review is going to cover.

First, I loved the narrator! I thought she did a great job with the different accents and I could easily tell which character was talking at any given time.

The story was beautiful. Set in the regency era, there was plenty of representation. LGBT, chronic illness, mental illness and minorities along with political scandals. Not to make it sound like a super serious downer, it was anything but that. The banter was funny, the characters were delightful, both the main and the secondary, and the romance was just lovely. I definitely liked this book and recommend it highly!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Allison Saft's "A Fragile Enchantment" is an exquisite masterpiece that weaves together a mesmerizing tapestry of magic, love, and intrigue. The delicate prose creates a world so enchanting that you'll find yourself lost in its pages, unable to escape the spellbinding allure of Saft's storytelling. With characters as captivating as the spells they cast, this novel is an enchantment you won't want to break. A must-read for anyone seeking a journey into a world where craft magic and romance dance hand in hand.

Allison Saft can always be counted on to deliver a fun and witty fantasy that’ll have me so locked in I don’t want to put the book down!! The cover is gorgeous, the regency vibes are everything and of course the characters were so fun to tag along with! I always love that Saft includes more to her books than just the typical fantasy romance vibes and adds in a bit of political intrigue along with it. This was a fun read and like always, I can’t wait for her next release when it comes!

**I added this at the bottom, but I really enjoyed Fran Burgoyne as the narrator and would absolutely listen to another book narrator by her.

I’ve been trying to avoid anything lower than a 3-star rating (unless something is problematic) because I understand that as a reader, my opinion is just that – my personal thoughts and feelings. There have been several books that I have given a boost because the book simply wasn’t for me; there wasn’t anything objectively wrong with it. After loving DOWN COMES THE NIGHT, I have been disappointed by Saft’s last two novels. I felt as though A FRAGILE ENCHANTMENT tried to do it all without strong execution, resulting in a book that wasn’t memorable for me.

Even though A FRAGILE ENCHANTMENT fell under the YA fantasy genre, the magic felt like it was there for convenience of plot rather than its own entity, perhaps due to its lack of consistent definition. For example, we are told true magic has faded, yet one of the characters can command storms and lightening and Kit's earth powers prove to be incredibly destructive. These characters were not called out as anomalies. A FRAGILE ENCHANTMENT didn’t have a strong plot, feeling more character driven. Because of this, I expected more depth and growth to the characters, or even a compelling enemies-to-lovers romance. I never truly understood the characters’ motives, including the reason that Kit and Niamh fell for one another. Additionally, there was a political element that was never fleshed out. Like her previous novel, Saft utilized real places and events (religion in A FAR WILDER MAGIC) but changed the names. This may be a personal issue, but if you’re going to utilize an actual place, event, religion, etc., why change the names? The synopsis states that it is a “Regency England-inspired fantasy world”, but in my opinion, it’s simply England and Ireland with new names.

All said, I would still absolutely recommend DOWN COMES THE NIGHT, but I probably will not be picking up any of Saft's future novels. A huge thank you to Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio for the complimentary ARC/ALC in exchange for an honest review. I found the audiobook to be enjoyable and would listen to another book with the same narrator (Fran Burgoyne).

Even though there was a decent amount of buzz leading up to this book, I honestly went into the audiobook with no expectations. I’m glad I did, because I ended up pleasantly surprised!

First of all. The audio was great! Huge kudos to the actress for such pleasant narration and well done voices. Easy to follow and very fun to listen to!

As for the story itself, this is extremely sweet and with some surprisingly serious concepts. I loved the writing of the kingdom and court aspects, it gave a very Cinderella-esque fairytale air. But what made that even more sharp and lovely was Niamh’s view of it, she’s a remarkably lovely and thoughtful protagonist. I feel like in YA it’s a lot trendier right now to have a surly and embittered main character, which certainly has its place, but I enjoyed the change of pace that this brought.

I’ve certainly read books in this vein before, but only a few that have been done so well. Easily enjoyable enough that I’d recommend and keep an eye out for more from Allison Saft in the future.

I absolutely loved A Fragile Enchantment! This story follows a magical seamstress that has been hired to work on the royal wedding as the bride’s seamstress. Very soon, the fmc finds herself in scandal with the groom.

4.75/5

I absolutely LOVED the magic system and whimsical vibes that this book had. The only reason it wasn’t a 100% 5 star read for me is due to some slow pacing in the beginning.

There was some spice but I felt as though it was definitely on the lighter side. The tension/angst/longing in this book was top tier and so beautifully written.

I received the audiobook from netgalley and it was so beautiful as well. Thank you so much to netgalley for providing me with a copy of this amazing book! Please add this to your immediate tbr!

-english regency inspired romantasy
-slow burn w/ flirting
-forbidden love
-royals/political
-whimsical magic system

I absolutely ate this up. I loved the story, the characters, and listened to this on audiobook and thought the narrator did an excellent job. Our main character Niahm is so relatable, if she knew about Taylor swift she would be a mirrorball girlie. Kit, our male protagonist is a snarky broody prince and he could catch me with his garden magic ANY. DAY. And the overall plot was so good and had sprinkles of political intrigue. I can tell this is going to be one of my favorite standalone romantasys of the year!

Thank you NetGalley for this ALC!

I really liked the narrator. At first I was apprehensive about her accent but quickly learned to love it.

The writing was also good. The story was predictable but flowed really well. I wanted more in the way of magic and world building however. It is very character focused. If you took the magic out the story would be exactly the same and I found that disappointing. I found it odd that every single main character in the book was gay and vocal about it, but we only get a straight romance until the last chapter. It felt forced and unnatural which detracted from the story for me.

I really enjoyed the setting and the concept of this book. Magic sewn into garments is a very original idea. I like how the story started, and Niamh arrival at the palace. Unfortunately I struggled to connect with Niamh, I found her struggle confusing, I am still not sure I fully understood why she was convinced to be so undeserving of anything, and why she worked herself so hard for others. It’s hard for me to love a book without connecting with the main character and it made it harder to care and love the rest of the plot. I also found some parts of the plot a little too out there towards the end. I did still enjoy parts of this, including the Bridgerton vibes and some of the side characters (Sinclair and Myriam were great) and as I said the whole magic system was fascinating.

This was a wonderful YA novel!

It was something different from what is normally written and it was wonderful! I’ve been reading mostly NA and adult books and took a chance for a more YA that didn’t disappoint!

The romance was age appropriate and I loved it.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this!

In A Fragile Enchantment, Niamh is a young Macklish woman who can sew her emotions and memories into fabric. Unfortunately, the more she uses her magic, the closer it brings her to death. However, when she receives an offer from the royal family of Avaland to create a wardrobe for the upcoming royal wedding, Niamh can't refuse the chance to help support her family. While in Avaland, she's drawn to the prickly groom, Prince Kit, who's unhappy that he's being forced to marry for political purposes. The two are at odds at first given the tension between their countries, but develop an unlikely friendship. When it begins to blossom into something more, an anonymous gossip columnist starts buzzing about them and will only leave them alone if Niamh spies on the royal family.

I have mixed feelings about A Fragile Enchantment. I loved the concept of Niamh being able to weave her emotions into her sewing and I adored the fantasy-Bridgerton aspect of the book. However, I have a tough time with enemies-to-lovers where it's colonizer/colonized or oppressor/oppressed. Sadly, that was the case here. Niamh is from Machland, which Saft makes clear that Avaland has colonized. The entire reason Niamh's in Avaland is to support her struggling family, and she's quite literally working herself to death. While in Avaland, she falls in love with the prince, whose dad is responsible for the oppression of her people. The colonizer/colonized love story aspect left a sour taste in my mouth and, because of it, I couldn't get into the romance aspect of this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an eARC of this book. All thoughts are my own.

i really wanted to love this but unfortunately it didn't quite work for me. the premise sounded unique and fun and different. i was intrigued by the world. that cover is absolutely gorgeous.
i think we could have benefited from more detailed world building or explaining. some things felt inconsistent, i didn't really understand the magic or the consequences.

none of the characters really stood out to me. i didn't dislike niamh, though she was of course frustrating sometimes because she was such a people pleaser, but then would act in a way that contradicted that (being rude to the royal family who is giving you an amazing life changing opportunity to change your family's circumstances... i wouldn't be rude to them personally, even if they were rude to me first) though i wish we saw more of her actual magic/talent. i kind of thought that would be a bigger part of the story.

i never really liked kit, never really felt the love between them. i felt myself rolling my eyes a lot when we got to the declarations of feelings and whatnot. i love a good grumpy guy who is really a cinnamon roll, but this just kind of felt like we were told he's actually a swell guy, even though he acts like a little brat.

the pacing felt off for me too, it just felt so slow for how little happened. blah. i feel mean, but this was a bummer. perhaps i was not the target audience, and that's fine. it is probably more of a 2.5 for me, but i'm upping to 3 stars for that reason though. i hope this book reaches someone who would love it! it's just not me.

as for the narrator/audiobook - you ever watch something on tv and you have to turn the volume up because you can't hear, but then either the commercials come on or there's like music or a battle, and that part is super loud. but the rest of it is quiet? so you are constantly changing the volume to hear? that's what i felt like with this book.

A Fragile Enchantment indeed! I thoroughly enjoyed Allison Saft's fantasy adventure romance. Saft does a lovely job of encorporating class issues, social roles, and magic into this tale.

The audio version is beautifully performed by Fran Burgoyne.

Absolutely not for me unfortunately. The British narrator was too monotone and I kept wishing this story would just fly by and it just wouldn’t. The material is too ya and yet wants to address to many issues. Also I just cannot do 3rd pov.

Alison Saft did not disappoint.

This story is a fantasy historical fiction about a world with wide social disparities, and a girl with a magical gift is plucked from her impoverished island to sew magical clothing for the royal family. I loved the unique ways she used her gifts and the magical world Saft built. There is a enemies-to-lovers plot here, with some betrayal by friends. You could feel Niamh uncertainty as she tries to identify friends and enemies within court politics.

Great audio narration! I never would've been able to pronounce any of those names.

Ultimately a cute story but just didn’t love it. The part about her magic killing her just felt like it was taking it a bit too far to me. I did think the romance was cute and I was super happy with the way that it ended.

🌀Synopsis
Niahm is leaving home to use her magic to the best of her abilities. She’s a talented seamstress who can stitch her emotions into her work. It can change the entire feel and emotions in the rooms where her pieces are worn. She’s chosen to see a bridal party outfit for a neighboring land, where she meets Kit.
Kit is initially very standoffish. He has no use for Niahm and just puts up with her. The two begin to grow very close though and eventually share very intimate secrets. Kit is supposed to be married though and their relationship is doomed by his marriage. The wedding day is full of excitement though as Niahm and Kit’s futures play out in front of them.

Overall, I enjoyed myself while reading this book, though I didn't always feel compelled to pick it back up once put down.

Niamh was a pretty bland FMC, and Kit was your typical YA broody MMC. There wasn't really anything special about them and I found it hard to care about what happened to them. The side-characters were far more interesting. I think following the likes of Rosa, Miriam, or even Sophia would have made for a more interesting read.

The plot was enjoyable, but again, bland. There were some promising storylines that were just dropped (Lovelace, the Macklish vs the Avalish) in favour of a grumpy x sunshine love story. The ending also felt... incomplete. There was a lot left to be resolved (and those resolutions could have been very interesting indeed), but it seems like Saft rushed the conclusion.