Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - A Fragile Enchantment

𝓕𝓻𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓵𝓮 𝓔𝓷𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓽𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽
By: Allison Saft
Contemporary Regency Romance

𝒪𝓋𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁𝓁 3.5/5
𝒮𝓅𝒾𝒸𝑒 1/5

JUNE BOOK CLUB PICK

𝑅𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌: This book was pretty good, it was giving major Bridgeton vibes. I was giggling and kicking my feet at points. There were a couple plot points that just didn’t give everything they could have. For one Niamh’s friend was really hyped in the beginning and we more from/about her maybe once or twice. Also the fact that Niamh’s magic will eventually kill her, which is made to seem really important in the synopsis, just kind of is and that is it. Also Rosa was my favorite character and I can’t actually give you a concrete reason why.

𝒜 𝐹𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒬𝓊𝑜𝓉𝑒:
“I’m all thorns.”
“I don’t know about that. I think you’re more like a weed.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“Yes! Weeds are…tenacious. They survive against all odds, wherever they land, no matter how many times you cut them down. And sometimes they can be quite beautiful.”

𝒯𝓇𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓈: GrumpyXSunshine; Enemies to Lovers; LGBTQIA+ Rep; Slow Burn; Forbidden Romance; Forced Proximity; Regency Era; RoyalXCommoner

𝒯𝓇𝒾𝑔𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈: Terminal Illness; Chronic Illness; Infidelity; Blackmail; Death of a Parent; Alcoholism; Xenophobia; Sexual Content (minor)(consensual);Violence (minor); Child Abuse (minor); Colonization(mentioned)

Content Warnings

mels_reading_log's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book really surprised me with how great it is, because I have not heard anyone talking about it. It is Bridgerton with a little bit of magic. Niamh is a seamstress who is able to magically embed feelings into her embroidery, making her designs not only gorgeous but breathtaking. She has been hired to create the wedding looks for the youngest prince and his soon to be wife. Years ago her people were taken over and they suffer to this day of poverty and racism, so not everyone is happy that she was brought to the palace for this esteemed job. The first time she meets the prince to discuss his wedding attire he is rude and does not seem interested at all. But maybe that is just because he has grown used to feeling empty and she makes him feel more.

Content Warnings

blewballoon's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I was enjoying this book just fine and then I'm not sure what happened, but around the 60% mark I started to feel exasperated with it and just wanted to finish as quickly as possible.

I liked the concept of the magic seamstress who could imbue her embroidery with emotion, and the tension that her magic came with a price and it would weaken her if she used it too much. I was baffled by the juxtaposition of this setup with a multitude of other (arguably more valuable and powerful) forms of magic that cost nothing for the users. People can just shoot lighting, have Elsa's Frozen powers, sprout plants everywhere, and more! This made it seem out of place that the main character's abilities would be so valuable, half the time she didn't even sew the right emotion into the garments that were commissioned of her. Speaking of, the book tries to make it seem like there's a little bit of a found family situation going on with the group of royals she is working for, but every time they are like "aww you work too hard, just relax!" it doesn't hit right because the reason she is working so hard is because of the complicated garments they have ordered her to create in such a short time frame?

I thought the political aspects of the plot were a bit weak and/or nonsensical.

How the hell could the prince regent keep the fact that the country was out of money hidden from anyone? They specifically say he's hiding it from Parliament? What? It was so obvious that was what he was hiding, but it didn't make sense. At the end most of the issues are basically resolved by "people inexplicably became a lot more chill about everything, and they just talked about stuff off-page and it all worked out."

Ultimately I probably could have looked past all of the above if I liked the romance more. I was looking for some cute tension with the premise of a seamstress falling in love with her client (like a gender swap of The Siren of Sussex by Mimi Matthews) but I felt let down by the small amount of sewing/fitting/garments in the story. Kit kind of does the bare minimum in terms of being a love interest. He's outwardly a jerk most of the time and he turns on Niamh at the slightest discomfort. Their bickering/banter didn't feel healthy because the power dynamic was off-balance. I'm not even sure if having Kit's perspective would have helped.

I'll cut myself off there, I feel like I've complained enough. The audiobook narrator was pretty good, and the cover is gorgeous. I also didn't mind the writing style, there were some really pretty yet effective descriptions. I would try this author again.

Content Warnings