Spoiler-Free Review of ENCHANTÉE by Gita Trelease

Gita Trelease’s ENCHANTÉE debuts Feb. 5, 2019! I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy through NetGalley and Macmillan Flatiron Books. This post DOES NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS. I will write a post containing spoilers and publish it on my Media Gal Reads blog on Mon., Feb. 11 once the book is released, but here is the shortened spoiler-free review:

Why I was interested: Historical fiction and fantasy are my favorite genres, and when I heard about ENCHANTÉE combining the French Revolution and magic, I knew immediately it was going on my TBR list for 2019.

Judge a book by it’s cover: This cover is so glamorous -- perfect for the luxury of Versailles -- and cleverly features Camille’s red hair and the French flag. Gold paint -- or maybe ink spots? -- add some magical sparkle to this front.

What to expect: A collection of enchanting characters, a clever magic system, a dreamy love interest, and rich historical detail to name a few.

Why you should pick this book up: ENCHANTÉE is perfect for historical fiction fans and fantasy fans. It contains all the well-researched details of historical fiction and keeping true to the time period while having a well-developed magic system. They truly balance one another very well with a dash of 18th century science -- it’s a tour de force. If you love Dhonielle Clayton’s THE BELLES, the French Revolution, traditional fairy tales with a twist -- this book will become your next favorite.

Want more?: ENCHANTÉE will debut Feb. 5, 2019 and is the first in a duology. I will post a full review with spoilers on Mon., Feb. 11 on the Media Gal Reads blog after the book is published.

Thanks for stopping by!

Marena Galluccio, #MediaGalReads

This story is so full of magic and young women who don't wait around for men to shape their Destiny. They take what they have at their disposable and shape their own futures. I never knew I needed to see the French Revolutionary war infused with magic till this book. I'd love to see more from this author.

I loved everything about this book. The worldbuilding is lush and evocative, the story itself is tightly plotted and the characters were a delight. I highly recommend this book for fellow francophiles.

I am back again to talk about Enchantee, an ARC I received as an ebook copy a little while back and decided to jump into not that long ago. This book comes out February 5th, so not that far from now but I wanted to go ahead and share my thoughts while they are fresh in my head.

SPOILERS AHEAD

This book is set in Paris in 1789, focusing on Camille and her family which due to smallpox is just her, her brother (who likes to gamble all their money away, doesn’t work, and is abusive), and her little sister (who almost died from smallpox herself). Camille is feeling pressure from the landlord because the rent is due but they have no money, not even for food. The only way Camille is getting money is by working la magie (magic), her mother taught her this and she is able to turn scraps of metal into coins. She uses these fake coins to give to merchants to get food and such but the coins always turn back to scraps. One night Camille’s brother comes home very drunk and begins to abuse both Camille and her little sister in an attempt to take all the money for gambling debts and purposes. He ends up taking what he wants and leaving, forcing a turning point on Camille. She must learn how to work a different type of la magie one her mother told her she couldn’t work in order to go to Versailles and make her own money to help her and her sister have new lives. In addition to this money problem, Camille meets a guy, one who works with hot air balloons. Watching their relationship unfold and her interactions with the hot air balloons are fascinating and I feel like they add to the story. However, if I am honest, I am always waiting to get back to the storyline about Versailles and Camille’s magic.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I am super grateful I received an ARC, I love the time period and the added touch of magic in this time period only made things more intriguing to me as a reader. I would definitely recommend picking up this book when it comes out next month. The way the author does the la magie is different from other magic systems I have read about and I enjoyed Camille’s story! I gave this book 4.75 stars on Goodreads!

Summary
It is 1789 in Paris, and Camille Durbonne is using magic to turn discarded scraps of metal into coins so that she can provide for her older brother and younger sister after their parents died of smallpox. They are able to get by this way, but when the coins Camille turns won't hold their shape, and her brother throws away the last of their real money gambling, Camille decides to put her magic to use somewhere new: the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

With a magic disguise and a false name, she spends her nights at the gambling tables, magically changing the cards to win more and more money. But even as she is drawn more and more into the world of nobility that she once hated, she must also find balance with her normal life, in which she is beginning to fall for a handsome young inventor. Her double life and the dark side of magic she discovers at court threaten to overwhelm her and those she's come to love--as does the explosive spark of revolution.

Review
One thing I love about this book is that it has elements of a retelling (specifically of "Cinderella") without actually being a retelling. The plot does not follow the plot of the fairy tale, but there are enough references, both in events and explicit mentions of the French tale, that the connections are easy to see. I love retellings, but telling the same story everyone already knows means that books have to work harder to build tension as the end is pretty predictable. The way Trelease has written this novel, though, incorporates elements of a retelling while still having a unique plot that keeps the reader guessing.

An issue I have with this book is that at times, certain elements--Camille's fear of heights, for example--have little to no setup until they are relevant to the plot; it's not until Camille is about to go up in a hot air balloon that her fear of heights is discussed. There are a few similar issues throughout the book that were distracting to me, but none of them are significant enough to really affect the plot.

Other than that handful of rough spots, this book is wonderfully done. I love how the magic system works and the history of magic that is slowly revealed throughout the story. I also like the relationships--the romantic relationship that slowly develops, the friendships Camille develops with the young nobles at court, and the evolving sibling relationships Camille has with her brother and sister. So often in young adult stories, the romance is the only relationship that seems to matter, but in Enchantée there are plenty of platonic relationships that are valued just as much as the romantic one.

Rating
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5 stars

Enchantée has a few rough spots, but not enough to bring down the quality of the novel. Trelease combined magic, relationships, court intrigue, and just a hint of "Cinderella" in a story that had me engaged until the very end, and if you like those things too, you should check out this novel.

One part historical fiction, the other part fantasy, debut author Gita Trelease brings to life the magnificent and awe-inspiring French court of King Louis XVI and the infamous Marie Antoinette in Enchantée, a story about a young, poverty-stricken orphan who tries to keep her and her sister afloat by practicing “la magie ordinaire” in a volatile France on the cusp of a revolution.

With both her parents dead from smallpox and an older brother who continues to gamble away what little money they have, Camille Durbonne has resorted to magic to keep her family in food, clothes, and shelter. By turning ordinary pieces of metal into coins, Camille has been able to trick the vendors enough to ensure that she and her sister Sophie survive. Just barely.

When a set of dire circumstances makes Camille desperate to salvage what little her family has, Camille resorts to a form of magic that her mother forbade her from practicing - glamoire. If la magie ordinaire is used for changing objects, glamoire is used for changing one’s self. With it, Camille turns herself into the elegant and wealthy Baroness de la Fontaine, and heads to the courts of Versailles, where she becomes notorious for winning at the card tables.

With newfound friends of power and privilege, and more money than she has ever had lining her pockets, Camille is finally on course to setting her life right. However, when you look past the glitz and glamour of the Versailles court, you find there are con artists and schemers lingering in the shadows and lurking around every corner. There’s more to the magic than Camille first realized, and there are dangerous magicians hidden among the aristocrats at Versailles. Will Camille finally be able to build her and Sophie a life they’ve only ever been able to dream of, or will Versailles and the magic be her downfall?

The brilliant and dazzling Enchantée is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Historical fiction novels set in France seem to be few and far between, especially for YA readers, and the addition of magic to the already mesmerizing city of Paris made this novel “enchanting” to read. Trelease really created a feel for the city and its people in Enchantée, completely absorbing the reader in this 18th century world of political unrest and mystifying magic.

Enchantée plays on themes of dark and light, which really come across throughout its pages. The world that Camille and Sophie live in is gloomy and grey, especially compared to the sumptuous golden world of Versailles. As Camille practices glamoire, it is easy to visualize the transformation of a world of grey to gold, making the story feel extra sensational and special.

The novel has an interesting plot, exploring a few side storylines, such as the start of the French Revolution, including the storming of the Bastille, and the 18th century world’s fascination with hot air balloons. There is even a romance between Camille and another character, and while it plays a part in the story, it doesn’t overpower the novel.

In all, Enchantée is a fascinating book that explores two sides of life in 18th century France - that of the rich, and that of the poor. This book will appeal to both YA and adult readers, as the writing style is intricate, and the plot deals with some serious and heavy themes. Additionally, the cover of Enchantée is gorgeous and perfectly conveys the themes of the novel. As a reader who does judge a book by its cover, I was eager to pick up the beautiful Enchantée. The only place where I fault it is that in being very thorough, Trelease allowed some parts of the story to drag out longer than felt necessary, making the plot slow-moving at times. However, readers who enjoy savoring every detail and moment of a story, may not be so bothered by the slow pace of the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron books for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This ARC was unreadable because there are huge swaths of text with no spaces between the words. I expect some number of typos or spacing issues in an ARC, but this was unreadable and inexcusable. Every single page had paragraphs where between ten and forty words are strung together without spacing between them. It is impossible to read a book which is sent out like this and an unreasonable thing to expect a reader to parse. I'm shocked the publisher sent this out for feedback like this, and I'm also disappointed because I was looking forward to reading this, but that isn't possible.

I received a copy through Netgalley for review.

Enchantee is a magical joyride through the darkened underbelly of Paris and the French court. Where everything is beautiful on the outside but it’s merely a facade to hide the crumbling rot behind it. And the embers of revolution burns just beyond its gates.

We meet Camille and her sister Sophie, orphaned from the pox, a drunken gambling lout of a brother who takes everything they gain to please his debtors.
Descendants of great magicians who helped craft the shining court of Versailles centuries ago, must pick up the mantle of their ancestors to save themselves from ruin. Only Camille has the ability to work the magic, desperate to get themselves out of poverty away from the hands of their brother, she dons the enchanted objects of her families past. The ones her mother warned her never to touch and invents a new persona, but magic comes at a steep price, it can only be done with human sorrow and suffering (but Camille has it to spare in droves).
She sets out to fleece to aristocracy with magic in the gambling halls.

But she soon finds herself feeling like one of them, and her double life begins to unravel.
In Versailles nothing is as it seems and everything is a lie, and it turns out that not all of those with magic have left the court. Danger and deception are at every turn. And a fantastic web is woven. And Camille find herself at the center of it and way over her head.

I did enjoy this blending of history, magic with a touch of romance and revolution.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the historical aspects mingled with the magic. Like nothing I have read before and I highly recommend it.

Magic! Tragedy! Sisters! Versailles! Enchantée spins a delicate web, slowing pulling you into the world of Camille and 1789 Paris until you're left racing to the end. I love Camille and her struggle, torn between two worlds and feeling guilty about the life she wants. I loved her strength and resolve and her relationship with her sister Sophie.
I loved the intricate worldbuilding and enchanting cast of characters, but what really made this story stand apart was the magic. Any reader will know that all magic comes with a cost, but this one may be the darkest yet. There's excitement and glamour and gambling, but mixed with real historical events and important discussions about class and the cost of survival. The writing is lyrical and I feel like I definitely learned (or at least recognized) some French phrases which made me happy.
Read this book it's super good and the romance is cute and swoony and involves a hot air balloon !

I didn't love Enchantee, but I also didn't hate it-- this book was a pretty average read, in my opinion. This historical YA novel follows a girl named Camille who basically gambles a lot and falls in love with a tall, dark, and handsome boy who is a very typical love interest for the book's genre. While I loved the historical and magical elements presented in Enchantee, I wasn't thrilled with everything else. This includes the romance, which is a shame because it's a large part of the story.

I really liked the fact that this book is set in France. I've never read a YA novel set in France, and I thought it was cool how it played a part in the story. Camille's trips to Versailles were fun to read, and I also liked how her and her sister, Sophie, weren't the typical aristocrats of the time. In fact, they are both very poor, which is partly why Camille wants to gain more wealth in the first place. The events that led her to choose gambling as a way to earn her money were believable-- and so was her eventual gambling addiction.

What I didn't like as much about Enchantee was the romance; Personally, I found the love interest Lazare to be flat and uninteresting. However, I did appreciate his dreams of flying in a balloon over the Alps and how he spends much of the book trying to achieve this main goal, even though he doesn't always make the best choices. Unfortunately, I found the romance between Camille and Lazare to be something that you can find in almost any other young adult novel, and I thought it was lacking.

I loved the storytelling and writing style of Enchantee, but it was the story itself that wasn't my favorite read. I do think, though, that if you're a fan of historical fiction that you should pick up this book anyways.

Thank you Flatiron Press and Netgalley for the ARC of this book!
I was swept up in the magic of this book from the beginning. I read it all in one day because I was drawn into Camille’s world. The author does a great job of researching and writing a beautiful story, abc I believe it will hook many readers. Especially those who were fans of The Night Circus, in my opinion.
I didn’t give it 5 stars because I felt like some secondary characters could’ve been fleshed out a bit more, and I didn’t feel for them and their troubles as much as I wanted. Also, I really did not like Sophie, the younger sister. I didn’t care at all about the story arcs about her.
Aside from that, I thought it was beautiful, and yes, enchanting. I don’t know if there are more to come or if this is a standalone, but I would read more should Camille’s adventures continue.

This will be a hit with my students who love a good historical novel with magical elements. I enjoyed this read as much as I could in a genre that isn't my favorite. The writing was done well and the author created a vivid picture of the time period. Even though historical fiction isn't my favorite, I did find myself drawn into the world that Trelease created. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

When beginning this book at first I had a difficult time connecting to the story and the writing. When I was just about to give up and move on to something else bam the story hit me and I was hooked- I love how the authoris able to create a world of magic in such a difficult time in history- Def worth giving a try!

It's a story more focused on French class struggles than magic, but the story is interesting enough to recommend to readers who enjoy historical settings.

ARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

I went into this with high hopes. It’s Paris! During the 1789! The ///French Revolution//// is about to OCCUR. I have a weird lowkey passion for the French Revolution. I think maybe it’s because lol it’s factual I’m in love with Sydney Carton???? I don’t know.

But my hopes went downhill, exploded, and I could only look in horror at the sad remains. This book contains all the elements I look for. Rioting people. A bad government. A cascade of salty magic, falling upon the dish. But I just,,,,didn’t give a damn. I was completely indifferent to everything about this.

What’s this book about?
There are three types of magic in France. Magie Ordinaire (change things), Glamoire (change your sorry self), Magie Bibelot (Beauty and the Beast copyright? I’m still confused). Teenage girl Camille can do mgaic, but it comes at a price. If she continues to turn scrap metal into money,,,she might be ~caught~.

Can I please state, for the record, that I’m tired of protagonists feeling bad about doing bad things. For the love of god, if you’re going to be bad, BE A BADASS about it. Don’t tremble at the sight of pastel morals!!! BE A PROPER VILLAIN, HAVE FUN WITH YOUR SINFUL WAYS. Will we ever get another Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows???? What about Andrew from The Foxhole Court?????????? I’m v sad bc our odds seem low. Give me recs in the comments pls.

So, Camille’s parents are dead. I forget why. Her younger sister Sophie is always sick. Her big brother, Alain, is the least helpful human being to ever contain brain. God, if I were in a book I’d for sure be that one crazy person who poisons the annoying character’s tomato soup. I don’t even feel bad about it.

The plot follows them all trying to make it in this big world. It’s tremendously boring.

And the way sex workers are treated!!!!!! I’m v disappointed. Where is Michael from The Kiss Quotient, we need him? I’m tired of people depicting sex workers as universally poor, miserable, and desperate. Stop talking shit about sex workers. Thank you.

Overall, I wasn’t….enchanted. c: c: c: c:

TW: slut shaming, physical + emotional abuse, smallpox, alcoholism & gambling addiction

I will start by saying that I absolutely loved this story! It had a wonderful plot, lovable and believable characters, and magic and romance; overall I couldn't put it down!

Camille and her siblings, Alain and the frail Sophie, are orphaned teenagers in France, living there in the time period leading up to the French Revolution. When their parents succumbed to sickness and died, the three are left penniless, with nothing but dreams of becoming more. Alain becomes increasingly volatile as he drinks and gambles away all of the money he and Camille manage to earn, and Sophie is too frail after recovering from an illness to be of help. As their situation grows more dire, to the point of nearly being thrown out of their home for failure to pay the rent, Camille turns to the one thing she inherited from her mother in order to help her family survive - la magie.

La magie, as one might assume, is magic, but in this story it's different from what I've read in any other because this magic is fuel by the sorrow of the magician. There are three types of la magie: the ability to change an object (though only for a short time), the glamoire (the ability to change one's appearance), and the ability to make objects become sentient. All three types feed off of sorrow, and the two latter types also necessitate blood. The task is unsavory, but Camille takes it on in order to get herself and Sophie away from Alain and improve their station - this is the only thing she knows how to do well and she has a deep fear of having to resort to working the streets in order to get by.

This story follows Camille and Sophie as they pursue a better life and their attempts to navigate both interactions with the aristocrats of Versailles and the increasingly dangerous atmosphere of Paris as the common people become more and more incensed against the monarchy and aristocracy.

I highly recommend this story if you like historical fiction and/or magic, this has both and is a wonderful read!

Thanks to Flatiron for the advance copy of this book!

I think it's fair to say at this point that ENCHANTÉE was one of my favorite reads of 2019. First off, the level of historical research that must have gone into this book is just astounding. It's beautifully realized, impeccably and lavishly detailed, and you will fall in love with these characters so hard and fast you'll stay up all night just to finish (as I did). So much care was put into crafting Camille and Sophie and Lazare and Chandon and Aurélie and all the others; they leap off the page. Somehow Gita Trelease made my cold communist heart sympathize the tiniest bit with the old French aristocracy which is just....what. (Okay, so maybe only a little, and maybe only with the aristocrats who were all vive la révolution, but STILL.)

Enchantee is a skillfully crafted historical novel that imbues the beginning of the French Revolution with a dash of magical realism, which is how I will view it from now on. The author, Gita Trelease, is a master of evocative description, rendering the court at Versailles in vivid detail. Camille Durbonne is an impoverished young woman living in Paris and tasked with caring for her sister, who is recovering from the disease that killed both their parents. Camille must use the skills her mother taught her, 'la magie' - magic - by gambling at the Queen's court in Versailles. But magic is a dangerous game, and Camille will need more than a few tricks up her sleeve to survive the darkness and unrest that lies beneath all that glitter and gold.

The writing was beautiful! Plus all the magic, politics, revolution, slow-burn romance, and deep (and wonderfully flawed) characters. I loved it!