Had a hard time getting into this! Lots of spicy scenes, and the premise is great, but I just had a hard time feeling immersed. Gemma annoyed/frustrated me so maybe that was the issue!

A Crown of Ivy and Glass is a captivating fantasy novel that draws you into a world of magic and intrigue. The book follows Gemma Ashbourne, a young woman who craves love and acceptance but is constantly held back by her physical illness and her lack of magical abilities. When she meets Talan d'Astier, a man haunted by his family's past, they strike a deal to help each other achieve their goals.
What I love about this book is the way it weaves together different genres and themes. The fairytale vibes and cottagecore aesthetic give the book a whimsical feel, but it's also dark and intense, with twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat. The characters are complex and well-developed, and their relationships with each other are equally nuanced. I especially appreciated the representation of chronic pain and mental health issues, which are not often explored in fantasy literature. However, some aspects aren’t handled as delicately as they should have been.

2/5 🌟

I have to say that I am pretty disappointed with this book. I wanted to like this book more than I actually did.
The summary for this novel was enticing. A fae fantasy romance novel where the female protagonist has a personal hardship which leads her to venture from home to save her family and along the ways she runs into a handsome man where they team up together to save their world. What sounds better than that?
The book started out strong with the female protagonist, Gemma having an instant love attraction with Talan. Things started to get a bit muddled and messy. I was having a difficult time keeping my attention on the page because I felt like my time could've been best spent reading something else.
Gemma's personality became too cringy to read and i felt like she was the downfall of the entire book.

This is my first read by Claire Legrand and I hope to read another by her in the future that will hopefully be better than this novel.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc, however this book was not for me and I unfortunately did not wish to finish reading this book. I might give this another chance but right now it wasn’t for me.

I was so excited about this book after it was compared to Bridgerton and ACOTAR, but it just wasn’t for me. Nothing personal. It was a bit too strange for me to be able to picture and the chemistry didn’t do it for me between the main characters.

This gorgeously written fantasy romance was amazing. It was absolutely lovely! There are so many fantasy books in the market nowadays, but this one stands out from the rest. I have been craving a book like this for years. Think early Sarah J Maas or "Poison Study.' Every phrase was poetry, and the descriptions were so vivid is was like I was there with the characters.
This book was everything I had been wanting and missing. Excellent dialogue, solid world building, an independent, likeable heroine, romance. I just savored each page and was very sorry when it ended. I will definitely be buying this book in print! TEN STARS!

I was... disappointed by this one. I've liked Claire's other books, but this one fell a little flat for me. The characters were nice, but I never really felt connected or like they had depth. The pacing was I think the biggest catch for me, it was inconsistent and very jumpy. For being an adult debut, I think I expected the writing style to be different from her YA books, and it just wasn't. It felt like I was reading another YA book from her, which was also disappointing, as I was looking forward to see how her writing would change with an adult book. Overall, it was good, but just not quite enough umph to push it over into fantastic.

Imogene (Gemma) is the daughter of a magical elite family that is feuding with another magical family. This requires all of her father's focus, which is why he and her sisters have no time for her. She does not have magic, and in fact it's use is physically painful to her. Rather than hiding away somewhere and living a happy non-magic life, she collects gowns and throws frivolous balls, causing horrible panic attacks and self harm. When a mysterious stranger from a far away land arrives who can numb her panic, Gemma ignores warnings from her best friend and faithful servant about him and throws herself headlong into a relationship based on deception and betrayal.
Pieces of the lore of this book were really fascinating, especially those about the mist, and the Rose Wardens who guard humanity from the creatures of the mist. Unfortunately it was way way way too long. The world building was bare bones, the character development was heavy handed for characters that came off as completely one dimensional and in Gemma's case Vapid. I could name 5 other people I was shipping, but I hated the relationship between Gemma and Talan which was 100% toxic all the way to the end. There were elements of the book that seemed to address mental illness and trauma, but they were repetitive and heavy handed, especially for a fantasy book.
*****Spoilers***** I stopped reading this book halfway through when Gemma's character flaws made me feel personally betrayed. Out of a sense of obligation to NetGalley who provided me an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review, I finished the book. While there were engaging parts toward the end, I am wholly underwhelmed.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy. This review is my own opinion.

Gemma is the only one of her family to be born with no magic and even worse it is like she is allergic to magic when she is around a lot of magic it makes her violently ill and full of physical pain. When Gemma is attracted to Talon she agrees to help him with the society part to getting his family name back in good graces, but for her help he must help her end her families feud with the Bask’s.
This is a really good book about the lost middle child. Her father is proud of Mara for becoming a guardian and he conspires with Farrin the oldest, and both sisters have great magic, where poor sickly Gemma is just there. But Gemma can get into some stuff and that is where the action and suspense come from and she gets into stuff a lot. The characters are fun and fit well. This is a fun book even for reluctant readers. I loved the audiobook the narrator was pleasant and it was easy to listen too.

This novel took me a minute to get into, but the first half was great. Some of the writing was slower than other parts, and I felt it wasn't as good as the other series but still has potential in the rest of the series. I liked the Gemma a lot as a character, she felt like a character I could relate to. There is enough romance and non-romance that anyone would enjoy it from that aspect, not too much, not too little. I look forward to the next book and hope it picks up some plot holes from this one.

This is being promoted as an adult title, but the characters do not reflect that. Both the male and female MCs have juvenile emotions and actions. The storyline does not flow and is irritating to follow.

Magic and Mists_____2.5 stars

This had all the right tropes. A kingdom of magic! Fantasy, romance, revenge, an alluring young woman who didn’t quite fit—allergic to magic, a Capulet and Montague-type family feud, a missing mother, lovely swanlike swain who I didn’t like or trust, green ivy pathways—transiting points that the family can use except they always spit Gemma out and she’s always dreadfully ill. Then there’s the monsters in the edging mists (Middlemist) fought by the selected warrior women who transform (usually the youngest daughter in the family but because of Gemma’s reaction to magic, it’s her sister who has to go!) Oh those mistlands, the deformed beings, part of the Mistfires! Yes!
I mean so much happening that I was dizzy. High fantasy exploding! I should have revelled in it, I didn’t. Gemma is beautiful, facile, beguiling and nasty (I know magic makes her wretchedly tempered, but she’s mean!) The tone is totally Young Adult and a disappointment. Regency style or really just a fairytale-like fantasy? The Regency description is a step too far for me.
The story became a struggle to finish not long after I’d started.

A Sourcebooks Casablanca ARC via NetGalley.

To say the least I’m obsessed with this !
I can’t wait for people to read this.
All i can say without spoiling is if you love fantasy you have got to read this.
5/5

This book really was a disappointment especially having experience from the author’s previous work. There’s a shift about half way into the story that I felt like the author had two stories she wanted to tell but couldn’t find a way to correctly connect them and have it make sense.

I hope they continue into the adult genre but this wasn’t it.

2.75
This book had a very intriguing premise and good writing but sadly it turned into a bit of a slog for me. The gothic setting is fun but I didn't care about the character or the plot as much as I wanted to.

Lady Gemma lives in a world of magic and yet she has none herself and experiences something similar to anxiety or depression when it is used around her. Her family is locked in a feud and their only hope is to slay the demon that started it all to end it. Gemma meets a handsome man named Talan who appears to be the perfect solution to both her loneliness and her family's dilemma. She makes a deal with him so that they can defeat the demon together, only she begins to wonder what all Talan is hiding from her...

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fantasy romance, and I believe it will be a series,as the story wrapped up very much “for now”. Our main character, despite being from a powerfully magical family, is essentially allergic to magic, which is bad news, because everyone who can use magic in her world does. It felt very much like the author was trying to portray a chronic, invisible illness, and the way it constantly wears on you. That part I appreciated, despite not liking the main character very much. She came across a bit as a Mary Sue. Still, the romance is there, the world is well created, and I am invested enough to want to read the next one. A solid three star read.

This was a bit disappointing, as I loved Furyborn and that series. I couldn’t connect with this story, and I felt like I trudged along looking for a similar feeling that Furyborn gave me- and it did not deliver. I’m not sure if it’s fair, but I just couldn’t enjoy this one.

With comps of ACOTAR and Bridgeton, I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, it missed the mark for me. I do see the comparisons to these popular series, and I think there are some things people will really connect to (the chronic illness representation was my favorite aspect of the book and felt very authentic), but I couldn’t get past the fact that disliked the main character and felt like she was an unreliable narrator - which only furthered my lack of trust in the insta-romance (which felt like a core component of the story given the comps).

So with a MC I disliked and a romance I didn’t buy, I got about halfway through before I realized I just didn’t care what happened, read a few reviews addressing some of my frustrations, and decided to set it aside.

I still think it is worth trying for others, specifically for the representation, and since everyone connects with different voices. But I would go in with tempered expectations.

I didn't really like the fmc but other than that it was a solid fantasy read. Nothing new and nothing special, could guess the plot within the first 100 pages.

This story begins with Gemma Ashbourne, a beautiful woman from a family of magic royalty. But Gemma is different from her anointed family, magic makes her physically sick and she feels she is neither strong nor talented like her sisters, Mara and Farrin. Gemma carries a heavy weight of guilt and shame on her shoulders and it isn't until she meets Talan that things begin to change...

I think this story had a lot of potential. I really enjoyed the depth of Gemma's personality that was explored and the realistic portrayal of mental health issues and how they aren't always overcome. However I thought her motivations behind her actions, especially at the beginning were loosely defined. I found the first half of the book very slow and not overly compelling. In some ways the various characters and scenes felt disjointed. The "hierarchy" of beings seemed to be a convienent explanation for many characters' actions. There were also some convienently placed plot devices (secret corridors and curse breakers) that I thought could have been incorporated more smoothly. I enjoyed the final action scenes and the way Gemma and her sisters' relationships developed. Overall this was an interesting book and had a lot of potential but a few things were lacking.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for this book in exchange for my honest review.