I was extremely interested in this book, and the synopsis drew me in. I love a modern 1800s setting and a unique magic system.

In this tale, the magic system is set within jewels - Talents of a variety of kinds are passed down, inherited, or stolen. The main character did not receive a Talent of her own; and early into the book was given one.

Here's where the book started to lose me. The chapter transitions - we can end a chapter mid-fight, mid-plot point, mid-story, and the start of the next chapter is a time JUMP. It pulled me out of the book because I thought I was MISSING pages.

The main character has massive character development issues beyond the obvious red flags. She's whiny and selfish and her dialogue doesn't affect me like a main character should. She's unable to from a full decision and throws fits when things don't go her way. The other characters are just as bland with bland dialogue and banter; the only thing they have going for them is their shiny jewelry.

I pushed through to 68% of the book before I DNFed. I definitely have been put into a slump with this one.

This book was an amazing read, that took you places you didn't know you were going to go. I was fully absorbed in this book right off the bat and flew through it in one day. The author did an amazing job with the plot and making the characters unique but relatable. I will be recommending this book to all of my patrons, family, and friends. Great read!

An immersive and entertaining read, Nightingale follows a young heroine coerced to join an organized crime ring in order to provide care for her ailing sister. Her charge: to steal a magical Talent from a handsome nobleman. Her reward: her sister returned to health and a Talent of her own, the voice of an opera star. The story draws inspiration from Phantom of the Opera, and the setting from late 19th century Paris, with its carriages, cobblestones, and of course, ball gowns, which are center stage here as the heroine’s late father was a gifted dressmaker and designer, and the story touches on the legacy of artistic passion he leaves to his daughters. Ambitions run high, which means jealousies do, too, with Talents in short supply and the Talent-less consigned to poverty and obscurity. Meanwhile, Denner has provided her heroine with two sexy love interests, the flirtatious nobleman she’s meant to steal from and the seductive villainess who lures her into a life of crime. And there’s plenty of intrigue afoot with spies around every corner and more than one kind of masquerade unfolding. Action-packed, with a determined but conflicted heroine at its center, and a sparkling world that’ll take readers away to the opera houses and couturiers of their dreams.

The Kiss of the Nightingale by @adi_denner

This beautiful aria proved that the price of talent isn’t always worth the cost.

PROS:
💎 Unique Magic System
💎 Solid character building and development
💎 José is a precious cinnamon roll
💎 Nuriel is the perfect grumpy leading man
💎 Scratching that theatre nerd itch
💎 Talent doesn’t mean you have a natural skill
💎 The stage director is me. I am he.
💎 The range of the talents
💎 What happens when new talents can no longer be created?

CONS:
💍 While I love the Magic system, it did feel that we jumped head first into the story without enough explanation of how talents really work. The information does come, but I couldn’t sink into the story until that was answered.
💍 The fact I didn’t hate any of the villains. Not a single one.
💍 How/Why new talents can no longer be created is never explained.

🪡🪡🪡🪡.5 out of five poorly constructed dresses by someone with plenty of talent and no skill

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I really enjoyed this story! It was a great escape from the real world and I found myself easily lost in the world Denner created. This was worth the read!

Thank you to NetGalley for giving this ARC, and this doesn't influence my review. The plot drew me in, and the book did have potential, but it did not deliver (solely due to the romance/chemistry). I feel like the love triangle with Lady Dahlia was unnecessary and confusing, and the FMC did not really have chemistry with Nuriel either. The worldbuilding was great though.

2.5 ⭐️s rounded up to 3

Thank you so much to NetGalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for review!

wlw = woman-loving-woman
wlm = woman-loving-man

First let me commend the concept. The Kiss of the Nightingale follows nineteen-year-old Cleo as she is given a magical singing Talent by the queen of the city’s underworld in exchange for helping her steal other Talents from unsuspecting elites. I absolutely loved this invention of a magic system: Talents (any ability humans might naturally have) are cultivated over a lifetime and stored in a jewel so that they can be passed down through generations. I’ve never read anything quite like it. The world itself was also both dark and luxurious; it felt loosely based on 19th-century France, and was populated with lush operas, balls, and societal intrigue.

As well, I enjoyed the themes the author wove throughout the story. Without giving spoilers, I liked what it had to say about human skill and passion, and how those interplay with class and identity.

Unfortunately, there were a few things that prevented me from giving this book five stars. Firstly, I felt like the main character lacked agency for about sixty percent of the novel. This made it hard for me to connect with her or to really root for her, since she felt static while things happened to and around her. However, this changed around the 65% mark, and I did find myself getting swept up in the story from that point on.

Secondly, I did not resonate with the romance. This book features a love triangle, which I don’t mind, but both ends of it felt forced and instantaneous, which resulted in a lack of chemistry for me. As well, the way queerness was presented made me somewhat uncomfortable. (I will say, to the author’s credit, queer people are present and visible throughout the novel’s society, which I enjoyed.) The main character is unlabeled, but likely bi or pan. She has both a female love interest and a male love interest. I felt as though the wlw side of the love triangle was eroticized and treated as something dark and scandalous, whereas the emotional weight was giving to the wlm side of the triangle, the male love interest presented pure and good-hearted despite his grumpy demeanour. I don’t necessarily think queer people always need to make good choices or have healthy relationships on the page, but the female love interest was quite the stereotype of the lesbian seductress, and there was so much emphasis on her body that as a wlw myself, I was uncomfortable—particularly when this is contrasted to the attention and depth the author gave to the wlm side of the triangle.

Overall, I think the book presented something fresh and exciting for the Young Adult fantasy genre, but I’m not sure this story was for me.

Wow. This book was like nothing I have read. It kept me on my toes, and gasping for air in certain parts. I find it hard sometimes to find a book that I can not guess a lot of what is going to happen because I read so much, however this book did that. I was left shocked so many times during the story. I believe that all of the characters had such beautiful back stories and development throughout the book. While the world was simple, the descriptions made it truly beautiful and exciting. This is surely going to become a favorite of many people with the lies, deception, scheming, courting, and double agent story. Adi Denner knows how to tell a story and I am so excited to see what the next book brings.

4.5/5
This book was recommended to me by a friend and was marketed to be in the romance/fantasy genre, which I generally enjoy.
Initially, I was put off by the captor/captive romance, but as I kept reading, I discovered what the book really was about & became very invested.
The imagery was incredibly lush & the magic was different than any other I'd read. I especially appreciated the very different environment in terms of the setting & cast of this story.
My only complaint is that I wish there had been more time spent on the romance as it was very sweet.

The world building, the characters, the magic system - every part of it made me fall more in love. Even minor characters, such as Hugo, were so easy to envision based on the writing alone.
Each moment that I thought I could see ahead as to what would happen next, I was proven wrong and left surprised and speechless in the best way.
Adi Denner has a talent that anyone would wear proudly! I cannot wait to read more from them.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC of the Kiss of the Nightingale!
“In Lutece, Talents are precious gems that gift unrivaled skills to their owners. Elite Talents are claimed by the aristocracy, passed through generations by blood magic.” Cleo never inherited a Talent from her parents who died. Her sister is terribly ill, but they are poor and don’t have a way to take care of her. One day, Cleo makes a deal with Lady Dahlia Sibille to become the heir of the lead soprano (and thus getting a talent), the only catch is that she has to be a thief for Dahlia. She takes the offer, hoping that she can save her sister and rewrite her future. Her “mission” is to steal the Vicomte Lenoir’s jewel. However, Cleo’s growing feelings for the Vicomte gets in the way of her fulfilling Lady Dahlia’s request. Will she actually do it?

The atmosphere reminds me of one of my favorite musicals, The Phantom of the Opera - from the main character being an opera singer to the costumes to the settings, there are bits of Phantom embedded in the story. From the beginning, I could tell that Cleo is a strong character - she will do whatever it takes to help her sister get better. As the story continues, Cleo makes some bad decisions, but she eventually recognizes them and tries to change. The other characters were written well, and their histories and personalities made an intriguing cast. It got more fast paced towards the end, marked with betrayals, revenge (and maybe rescue) plans, and a bit of romance.

I like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me a chance at reading this book.

Was this originally a Phantom of the Opera alternate universe story? Because there was a lot of Phantom of the Opera nods.

You have a poor girl who works in a tailor shop (excuse me, lives, because she can't sew) and takes care of her ill sister. This is a world where apparently people are gifted 'talents'. The talents can be passed down through family trees by use of blood and trinkets. Our female lead didn't get her father's sewing talent - her ill sister did. Ill sister has ideas for dresses and what not she wants to make but can't because she is ill. Our female lead gets desperate after trying to sell her jewelry and tries to rob a rich house of someone with a talent, but ends up getting caught. Turns out the woman our female lead tried to rob from is actually a sham. You see, the woman was an opera singer and this night was her final night - woman is retiring. The people who caught our female lead agave her the talent by use of dirty magic and the singing talent is actually a stolen talent from someone else. The person who stole the talent is a female who makes an enterprise by stealing talents of others. She offers the opera singer's singing voice (making the female lead now gifted and with talent she will be able to care for here sister) in exchange for doing things for her - stealing talents. Our female lead agrees, and so begins the meat of the story.

While this story is interesting, there isn't anything there. The world building is lame, because if the female villain (or stealer of these talents) can just steal talents here and there, what prevents others for doing so if it's that easy. On top of that, there isn't much discussion about others with talents or the backstory about talents and how it is of use in the world. If everyone had a talent that was influential or used as a way of getting things, I feel like society would be rather corrupt. The author does mention that talents are hard to secure / come by because the gems are not being mined anymore (?? this wasn't really well explained, again, poor world building).

There is a 'lame / dull / I guess it's there romance going on between a man who the female villain wants her to steal the talent of - mind you, this is the ONLY person she is attempting to steal the talent of (you'd think that she'd be stealing more talents and etc). He is a brilliant mathematician and that's his talent. Girl spends most of the time getting aroused by him and failing to steal the talent while he verbally rips her a new one for being a 'fake'. When they finally start getting into the groove of a relationship, it's almost the end of the book and he didn't really show up that much or do anything of merit.

Which brings me back to the Phantom of the Opera thing. Of course there is ~ drama ~ at the opera house and of course you have a diva and her leading man causing problems for the female lead. There is also some weird Madame Giry person who is training the female to sing, and she is always on edge when the male lead is around. Oh, and the guy hangs out in a box on the side of the theatre (which would probably be Box 5 if we go by Phantom / opera house box locations). Female lead becomes the prima donna causing the female lead to butt heads with her. There is also a 'thrown in for conflict' "I'm gonna marry the male lead because we're rich, so he's mine - back off" thing going on... I can go on.

I think there could have been a story here, but it's just really boring and poorly developed.

I have to be honest- the reason I requested this book at first was due to the gorgeous cover. I also liked the setting in historic Paris. I am a huge history nerd and I really love and enjoy books with an historical setting. Paris also happens to be one of my favorite cities.

Overall it was a good and relatively quick read. It’s not a favorite of mine but i did enjoy the story and the fantasy world linked to these gems that the author created. I liked the suspense and mystery as well but found myself at times putting it down for other stories.

This was a quick, fast-paced read that has action, romance, and betrayal. A fun, enjoyable read. The worldbuilding is amazing. You can tell much thought was put into the magic system. It allowed me to become fully absorbed in the world and focus on the wonderful characters. The idea of Talents as a form of magic worked well for me, and created a subtle type of magic that I liked.
The music and fashion aspects were very strong and you can tell the author has either researched or has much experience with the subjects covered.

I've always wanted to read an enjoyable bisexual love triangle fantasy romance, et voilà! Here it is!

The plot is fun. Cleo, impoverished and magicless, is hired by the seductive Dahlia Sibille, head of the city's criminal syndicate. Dahlia gives Cleo a magical gem that allows her to sing beautifully, become the hottest new opera singer in town, and support her sick sister, and in exchange Cleo will steal other magical gems from the wealthy. Her first target is the gem of Vicomte Nuriel Lenoir, and yup, you guessed it, he's young and VERY handsome.

I loved the setting and the opera scenes. Véronique fulfills the The Bitch character in here, which is never my favorite trope (unless she becomes mentor, bff, or gf later in the book; The Bitch needs to be secretly gooey on the inside for me to like her), but also understandable seeing as Cleo is stealing Véronique's job. And I'll also allow soprano prima donna catfights because those are common in real life.

I do think Nuriel as the male love interest was better developed. There was courtship (even if it was initially part of Cleo's robbery plans), sweet moments, sharing of dreams. Dahlia as the female love interest was more just a hot scary mafia queen. Not that I'm judging Cleo for being into that -- aren't we all to some degree? made me think of A Mirror Mended: "There's nothing especially base about desiring a tall, dangerous woman with terrible vibes (whom amongst us, etc.)" -- but the love triangle seemed to be Manipulative Villainess vs Bad Boy with a Heart of Gold, and you know the latter is going to win out. As he should, because he's a better person.

3.5 stars -- I was drawn to this one by the gorgeous cover and I love that the author herself is an opera singer, bringing a level of richness and expertise to that part of the plot.

In this version of Paris, there are magical gems that provide the owner enhanced talents -- in a variety of skills from the arts to diplomacy. Families hold on to these talents and pass them down through generations -- and because no new talent gems have been discovered for years, they have become even more valuable.

Cleo is at rock bottom after her father dies suddenly, leaving her talentless and with a failing shop to manage and a very ill younger sister in need of treatment. She makes a deal with a devil so to speak -- she will be given a singing talent and everything she needs to take care of her sister -- if she joins a network of spies and thieves who are stealing Talents from society's elites. But the closer she gets to her given target the worse she feels about what she needs to do. And becoming a star opera singer, even with a talent, is much harder than it looks.

I wanted so badly to love this one based on the premise. I was hoping for dazzling and dark Paris but it didn't have the sparkle I was looking for. I had a hard time connecting with the main character, Cleo, who was very naive for a young woman who had to grow up so quickly. I only really felt invested in the final 20%, when more of the character motivations really became clear and I felt connected to them and the outcome of their plan.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this but unfortunately this one is a DNF for me. I was intrigued but the story but I couldn't really get into it.

I Absolutely loved this book. The magic system was very unique and the writing was amazing! I have not read a book like this one before. I would highly recommend reading this book.

The Kiss of the Nightingale is an excellent read that manages to balance its themes beautifully, merging magic and the mundane in an expert dance, all while keeping the pacing moving.

Cleodora’s humanity is on full display when she adopts a double life between the glamor of the Opera world and the shadows of the Illicit market. She is multidimensional throughout and her feelings of obligation toward her ill sister stand in stark contrast with the mob dame Dahlia’s allure and the life that she offers. I find myself wanting her to choose either side at different points in the book.

The worldbuilding here is masterful. You can tell much thought was put into the magic system and how it would have affected France in an alternate historical setting. It allowed me to become fully absorbed in the world and focus on the wonderful characters. The idea of Talents as a form of magic worked well for me, and created a subtle type of magic that I liked.
The music and fashion aspects were very strong and you can tell the author has either researched or has much experience with the subjects covered. It reads like a work of passion.

I immensely enjoyed this book and would love to read anything else by this Author!

I saw this book promoted by the author on TikTok and felt like it’s one I would like. This story flows so well and has moments that steal your breath. You see so many details and feel for the characters. The plot was definitely interesting and not something I’ve read before. The thought of these talents and what not having one is and how having one makes you feel complete made my heart hurt for the FMC. There are things you don’t see coming but you will enjoy the journey.