A review by toosharpbyhalf
The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk

4.0

I was expecting a Regency fantasy romance, which this technically is, but the romance was the b-story. This is actually a raw, fierce book about feminism and how nightmarish it is to be trapped in a world where a patriarchal society tries to take away your power and agency at every turn. The heroine is to be forcibly married off and that means wearing a collar that robs her of her magic for the rest of her life, because if she gets pregnant and uses magic there's a risk of her unborn baby being possessed. When you live in a world where women in some US States are being denied healthcare because of the slightest possibility they could be pregnant this feels so relevant. Although there's a passionate and determined main character and a happy ending this book really hit hard for me because of the themes, so definitely be aware of that going in. It's also well-written, vividly imagined and diverse with complicated characters.