A Crown of Ivy and Glass: 1 (The Middlemist Trilogy)

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What in the world happened?? With a pitch that is Bridgerton meets ACOTAR written by Claire Legrand, author of one of my all-time favourite epic fantasies, this should have been a home run. I mean, everything was screaming my name and instead I am left incredibly disappointed. My biggest complaint is just that the romance felt a bit insta-lovey at first, but it does get better! Not my favorite kind of romance arc, but I definitely enjoyed it regardless. I've not been in the mood for spice recently, but this one had a light sprinkle throughout leading to one really hot part, and I found myself loving it actually. And the cast of characters was so good, I'm excited to be able to get to see (most of :') them again in the next one. 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. Book Description: 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.

But where do I even begin with this book? There is so much to write about. So much to say. And I am going to try not to share everything about it. But oh, I have many thoughts. And I simply must share most of them. The writing was absolutely stunning. As always, with a Claire book. I fully fell in love with everything. 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. Was the story a bit chaotic and muddled? 100%, but it was still incredibly fascinating, engaging, and exciting. 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. 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.The only reason I didn’t DNF it was because I was listening to the audiobook while commuting and doing chores, otherwise I don’t think I’d have been able to finish it. But even though this was a huge disappointment for me and I won’t be continuing this series, I’ll still keep an eye out for Legrand’s future works. If you haven’t read anything by this author yet but you want to, I recommend starting with her Empirium trilogy.

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. My first initial reaction to this book was that it is the perfect blend between an English high society period drama and an epic fantasy novel. New York Times bestselling author of Furyborn, Claire Legrand, makes her stunning adult debut with A Crown of Ivy and Glass, a lush, sweeping fantasy-romance series starter that's perfect for fans of Bridgerton and A Court of Thorns and Roses.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.

The world-building was a interesting, even more so when it came to people's individual magic, but some of the infodumps throughout put me off it. This also took a turn in the second half that made me understand the ACOTAR comparison and I don't think it was that well developed. The last third of the book couldn’t have been so much more if by the time I got there, all I wanted to do is be done already. Example four. Three sisters that are totally water downed versions of Archeron sisters. You really thought we wouldn’t notice? 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.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. 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. Finally, the plot of this book actually irritates me. In the synopsis, it seems simple and kind of silly, but something I could read and potentially enjoy, especially since I enjoyed Claire Legrand's other book called Furyborn. It just goes all over the place and as said earlier it's just not fluid. I understand this is Legrand's Adult debut, but it's not her first novel and I expected more!