Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - A Fragile Enchantment

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft

56 reviews

blewballoon's review against another edition

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

3.75

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

julalbert56's review against another edition

Go to review page

hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

I really enjoyed the fairytale-esque, whimsical start of this book. Kit’s grumpiness didn’t bother me because I thought he’d learn to be kinder throughout the book. but then I disliked him as much at the end as I did at the beginning, so rip character development I guess. I loved Niamh. I wish we got more of Rosa and Maryam. Overall I was disappointed and bored by the second half of the book especially.

Content Warnings

kaitrates's review against another edition

Go to review page

Wish i could tell you about this book. Alas…review withheld in support of the SMP boy cat.

Content Warnings

not_another_ana's review against another edition

Go to review page

Painfully boring and vapid, I'm shocked that this is from the same person who wrote A Far Wilder Magic. Once again, Allison Saft uses real life events, existing countries, and religions, and just changes their names and then refuses to do any world building. I wouldn't be so upset if, with that out of the way, she had focused on the characters and their relationships but what we got was so superficial and bland. And the romance was so insta love it had me rolling my eyes.

Content Warnings

nataliealane's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional lighthearted medium-paced

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

4.25

What I liked:

-The friendships

-The romance is so sweet and full of yearning. Kit and Niamh have a lot of personal work to do and trauma to unpack, but that doesn’t mean that aren’t worthy of love or a relationship right now/as they are healing and still messy.

-Niamh’s character. She is clumsy, diehard romantic/idealist, and unapologetically feminine and loves pretty things. She is also loyal (to a fault perhaps) and stubborn, and I love her magical ability. I’ve only read a couple other books that have fabric/sewing-based magic.

What I didn’t like:

-The last third of the book fell flat for me. It seemed rushed, the characters made some really dumb decisions in a last ditch effort to save the day, and everything kind of seemed to magically resolve/tie together nicely with a bow despite that.

-I wanted more magic! I always want more magic though😂 Maybe that’s why romantasy isn’t really my favorite

-Technically, the romance is cheating/an affair as Kit has a fiancée (albeit a purely political match/“marriage of duty”).

Overall, A Fragile Enchantment is not my favorite book from Saft, but it was so fun to read! I read it as an e-ARC, but I do think I will eventually pick up my own physical copy.

Content Warnings

jennifermreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional medium-paced

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

2.0

When I first read the blurb for this Regency Era romance, I could not add it to my TBR fast enough. I was thrilled to get a historical romance with sprinkles of magic and doses of royalty.

And, yet, I had to push myself to finish it. Why didn’t I DNF? Because it was an anticipated read and I feared it may be falling victim to my reading slump where every book I pick up is taking an eternity to read and feels like I am slogging along versus whipping through pages.

There were glimmers of enjoyment. I adored Sinclair and all his antics. I found moments of delight in the scenes with Niamh and Kit. But I mostly felt an overwhelming frustration with the world-building. I got more about the world and the affects of magic on Niamh from the dustjacket than I did from the text. And if her magic was so life-shortening and deadly, should it not have had a large part in the story’s development and in the story itself? I flipped back to re-read the jacket a half-dozen times while I read the book. I had to be sure I had not misread the copy. I had not. Niamh’s life should be getting shortened each time she wove a stitch but readers see her weakening…once? Twice? And, if you had skipped the jacket copy, you may have been completely baffled by what was happening to her!

From subscription boxes, I have two special edition copies of this book. The space on my bookshelves is precious and I cannot warrant using one spot much less two for a book I will not be re-reading much less one I was had a reaction of “meh.” To donate or to re-sell? I imagine it will be donated because it appears I’m not alone in my reactions—so resale demand is undoubtedly low.

Content Warnings

bree_h_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

This was a bit of a let down from A Far Wilder magic.

It was fine, but I wasn’t super taken with Kit as the love interest. I felt like the middle was the strongest and the beginning was pretty decent. It was just as it started to build towards the end it started to fall flat.

I did enjoy Kit and Niamh’s softer, more romantic moments. And I felt like every character felt well-rounded and unique. It was just the plot itself that wasn’t speaking to me. It didn’t feel very well paced and once I hit the end it felt rushes and ill-planned.

The themes the characters explored, the world building, the dynamics, and the foreshadowing I loved so much from A Far Wilder magic were there. Which was mostly what kept me reading. The plot just felt somewhat convoluted, like it was reaching to play out specific regency setting tropes/was taking a lot from Jane Austen and Bridgerton. It felt like it wasn’t sure if it was trying to make a political statement and tell that story with the romance or play out a more traditional regency romance.

Overall I’m not super sure how I feel about it. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either.

Content Warnings