Rating 7: A very mixed bag for this book specifically, but I was definitely sold on the concept and anxiously await the next entry in the trilogy! Lady Gemma Ashbourne seemingly has it all. She’s young, gorgeous, and rich. Her family was Anointed by the gods, blessed with incredible abilities. But underneath her glittering façade, Gemma is deeply sad. Years ago, her sister Mara was taken to the Middlemist to guard against treacherous magic. Her mother abandoned the family. Her father and eldest sister, Farrin - embroiled in a deadly blood feud with the mysterious Bask family - often forget Gemma exists. Then she meets the devastatingly handsome Talan d’Astier. His family destroyed themselves, seduced by a demon, and Talan, the only survivor, is determined to redeem their honor. Intrigued and enchanted, Gemma proposes a bargain: She’ll help Talan navigate high society if he helps her destroy the Basks. According to popular legend, a demon called The Man With the Three-Eyed Crown is behind the families' blood feud - slay the demon, end the feud. It really does feel like Bridgerton meets magic and demons, but with mental health and chronic illness rep. The writing felt so rich and well crafted, and I'm itching to unravel more of the mysteries of Middlemist. There were a few things I noticed, like how the first and second halves felt almost like separate books, and how the pacing got a little messy in the later, but I honestly didn't mind. I have so much to write about this book. And I have already written too much. And yet I'm not done, ha. But I will not say too much about the plot of this story. As it was all over the place. And I loved that. This book is all about Gemma. About her slowly learning more about why she has zero magic. And how she might have it anyway. It was a little creepy and all kinds of awesome to read about. This is a book about demons. A book about curses. A book about magical travelling through hedges, haha. A book about love.

Was the story a bit chaotic and muddled? 100%, but it was still incredibly fascinating, engaging, and exciting. Did I like everything about the writing style? No, definitely not. Was the story interesting and exciting? Yes, definitely. A Crown of Ivy and Glass was just as perfectly incredible as I knew it would be. Full of magic, romance and curses. Full of pain and passion and hope. The sisterly love between the three of them was amazing and I loved it so. The steamy romance was the most I have read in books before and I very much loved it. I know the next two books will be about Farrin and Mara. And I can't wait to know more about them, eee. I do hope there might be some Gemma point of view too. Fingers crossed. I must know more of this world. Then she meets the devastatingly handsome Talan d'Astier. His family destroyed themselves, seduced by a demon, and Talan, the only survivor, is determined to redeem their honor. Intrigued and enchanted, Gemma proposes a bargain: She'll help Talan navigate high society if he helps her destroy the Basks. According to popular legend, a demon called The Man With the Three-Eyed Crown is behind the families' blood feud—slay the demon, end the feud. Talan and Gemma are two lonely souls. Talan has no family left to speak of, and Gemma is an outcast within her own family. She is the only one in her family to not possess magic, and even further she suffers from chronic pain and illness just being around magic. At first, she comes off flippant and flighty, but as the book continues we see more depth to her characters and honestly a lot of character development. If you start this book and are unsure how you feel about Gemma, just continue reading because her character goes through a journey. I think LeGrand excels at writing flawed, real women who might not always be likeable but draw you in nevertheless. Talan and Gemma are drawn to one another immediately, and their romance was sweet and tender.A Crown of Ivy and Glass really wasn't the Fantasy book for me. My main problem with it was the writing style and how it fit more with a YA novel than an Adult one. It was very difficult to suspend my disbelief in regard to Gemma as a main character and narrator when she sounded like a young teenager most of the time.

But that all changes when she meets Talan d'Astier. A charming, sarcastic and criminally handsome man, with a mysterious family history. His family destroyed themselves, seduced by a demon, and Talan, the only survivor, is determined to redeem their honour. Intrigued and enchanted, Gemma proposes a bargain: She'll help Talan navigate high society if he helps her destroy the Basks by killing the demon. This book was a COMPLETE mess. I’m gonna start with that I really enjoyed Bridgerton books and ACOTAR is my all time favorite. I’m telling you this right now. This book is NOTHING like those two series. I'm disappointed. I had high expectations for this one and, sadly, the book didn't meet them. The ending did bring up some intriguing questions on Gemma and her family, though, but I won't be continuing the series to figure out those answers. I don’t care what scars you have. I have them too. I’m not afraid of your grief. I’ll help you carry it and you’ll help carry mine.” It has the lightness and shimmer of a high society balls hosted at a beautiful mansion in the countryside that is covered in ivy from the out and inside. It has the softness of a silk gown and the magical aesthetic of a pre-Raphaelite painting. But it also has the weight and eerie darkness you would hope for in a fantasy world. The danger and mystery. Therefore, I absolutely adored the world building around the Mist, the Rosewarren, the history, folktales, and gods, since it was so characteristically “Claire Legrand” with its rich details, its depth and extended even further once the Fae and demons were introduced.

Christmas Gifts

Then she meets the devastatingly handsome Talan d'Astier. His family destroyed themselves, seduced by a demon, and Talan, the only survivor, is determined to redeem their honor. Intrigued and enchanted, Gemma proposes a bargain: She'll help Talan navigate high society if he helps her destroy the Basks. According to popular legend, a demon called The Man With the Three-Eyed Crown is behind the families' blood feud-slay the demon, end the feud. This was one of my most anticipated books of 2023, so it kills me to say that I didn't love it as much as I wanted to. Pitched as Claire Legrand's version of Bridgerton X ACOTAR X Ballet Retellings with strong anxiety representation, it had literally everything I look for in a book. I think that might have been the problem; the author tried to do too much rather than focusing on a central storytelling element. If you asked me what the plot of ACOIAG was, I probably couldn't tell you. The two halves of the story didn't fit together at all. First, we had the Bridgertion high society plotline and then suddenly were thrown into the ACOTAR/Ballet Retelling halfway through. There was no consistency or coherency, either with the plot or the characters. That being said, I absolutely adored the second half of the book. It felt like a Claire Legrand novel and the characters found their footing. I think this book isn´t going to be everyone’s taste and many will make too early decisions and judgements, however I hope that more people will fall in love with this book as much as I did. I cannot wait for this book to come out next year and for everyone to dive into this world and story. Meanwhile, I´m going to sit here in misery wondering how many human sacrifices it will take to get an ARC of the second book too. Nothing makes me more excited than reading a new book by Claire Legrand. She is my most favorite author and I have loved every single one of her books. This was no exception. I loved it. Way too much, perhaps. I may have loved it too much to be able to write a review that will make sense, ha. Five stars, of course.

I appreciate that this book portraits a main character who suffers anxiety and the discussions on mental health and chronic pain, but that’s it. The plot felt all over the place, I found the characters very much one-dimensional—and Gemma particularly insufferable—and the insta-love romance made me cringe from beginning to end. As in every Claire Legrand book, the writing, and descriptions were wonderful, as was the worldbuilding. Often, I had a clearer image of what a scene looked like than I did the role the characters played in that scene, which though problematic, made the story immersive (that is until Gemma started complaining). The sensory writing was incredibly vivid, as were the hints of horror the author included. Example two. I don’t know about you but for me it’s very hard to continue with a book if nothing interesting happens in the first 20%. The first 35% of this book read like a badly written fan fiction. REALLY badly write. From insta lust with somehow zero chemistry between two main characters to almost none to very confusing world building. Example five. I know I already mentioned zero chemistry between main love interests but It’s worth repeating because it doesn’t get better.

Christmas Cards & Gift Wrap

This has so much potential and I wanted to love it, but I'm spending most of my time being irritated and it's too long of a book for that. That said, this feels like TikTok fodder and there are people who will probably eat it up. The problem is that what I think this author does well isn't what this imprint and I assume these editors are leaning into. So, overall, this was a very mixed bag for me. I think, in the end, I didn’t end up loving this book. But, BUT!, on the other hand, I’m supremely invested in the next book in this series and can’t wait to get my hands on it! Given the nature of my complaints with this book, they all feel of the very specific sort that won’t be a problem in the books going forward. Both sisters seem like much more interesting characters than Gemma. The romantic interest/plot for one of them is already laid out and is incredibly appealing. And I think the world-building is now established enough that we won’t have the same plotting/pacing issue going forward where the tone is unclear between Bridgerton or ACOTAR. So, all of this to say, while I did struggle with this book, I do recommend it for fantasy romance readers based on my faith that the trilogy will turn out to be well worth it as a whole.