Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric is the same magic that will eventually kill her. Determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family, Niamh jumps at the chance to design the wardrobe for a royal wedding in the neighboring kingdom of Avaland.
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.
Transporting readers to a Regency England-inspired fantasy world, A Fragile Enchantment is a sweeping romance threaded with intrigue, unforgettable characters, and a love story for the ages.
I want to make one thing clear: I enjoyed this read, I thought it was clever and well done. I'm going to talk about an aspect of it that annoyed me, but I did like the read.
The novel is set in a serial-numbers-filed-off version of Regency Europe - it's so obviously Europe that it's distracting, though. Our Heroine is clearly from Ireland, albeit an Ireland that threw off English rule more quickly than the real Ireland. The main setting is England, the prospective bride is from Spain, there's some French people wandering around - it's all so obvious that I kept forgetting what the invented names were and being pulled out of the story when one of them was mentioned. I'm all for making up your own countries and cultures, but make them up! Don't just stick a new label on them and call it quits! Or - if the reason they're different has something to do with the presence of magic in the world - explain that. Tell us why. (As always, I'm reading a proof and things may have changed by the time the final product is published.)
I did really like the story though; it's clever, it does some unexpected things, and Saft has a great touch with descriptions and dialogue. I do recommend it as a fun, light romcom. Can't wait for it to be published!
(The US cover is better though, sorry.)
A Fragile Enchantment publishes on the 23rd January, 2024 in the US (top image) and on the 4th January, 2024 in the UK (lower image). I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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