I didn't even realize this was an adult book until the sexy times started. All the characters were very YA in behavior. Gemma was an awful character. Selfish and heedless - she just barreled into every situation without ever really thinking beyond her own impulsive desires. The insta-love was suspicious (with good reason) and yet they are still meant to be soul mates at the end? I ended up skimming through most of the book by the end. the scenes that didn't involve Gemma and Talan were fun. I want to know more about the Basks and the sisters.

Fantasy romance with a tense, romance, impulsive decisions, and a look at consent and what it means to be bound to someone who can solve a problem for you. For readers who enjoy lush descriptions and heart-racing romance scenes.

[NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, my NetGalley feedback is not a blurb or endorsement. If a publisher wishes to use any part of my comments for promotional purposes, please contact me or my agent via email. I would prefer not to include star ratings but NetGalley won't let me post without one, so all will be 5 stars.]

I had high hopes for this book, after loving furyborn so much. But it just feel a little flat for me. It wasn’t bad but it did not blow my mind either. At times I found myself very confused, especially at the end… I will sit in this book for a litttle and see how I feel down the road!

Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a try, it could be your favorite book!

A Crown of Ivy and Glass is a fin, imaginative book--- a little spicy and fairly dark. Gemma, the main character, lives with chronic pain which (and spoilers) is not resolved by the plot of this book-- a detail I appreciate in terms of disability representation.

Legrand's world building is unparalleled, and her female main character unapologetic and fierce in a way that defied my expectations for this book. I would continue to read books just about the Ashbourne family.


Spoilers:
Gemma is a force, and not what I expected. She starts off a bit shallow, but this façade is understood when she explains her family situation and how she, the youngest, was supposed to be where her older sister is now. So desperate for love, unsatisfied by her family's attempts (or lack of), she meets this guy who everyone is pretty much "don't trust him" and she does so anyway. It somehow works out with some fantastic story telling and we do get a happily ever after. Suitable new adult, some graphic adult content, and so on.

This is a very formulaic plot, that has few new ideas or storylines. However once I had gotten past the first third of the book which was slow moving and frustrating, the pace quickened and the action was page turning. I would not call this an adult book, it feels firmly in the young adult range of fantasy with way too many sex scenes and declarations of love. So extremely similar to Sarah Maas’ books but not quite on their par.
My favorite characters were the Vilia and I would be curious to read the next book in the series to see how the sisters power unfolds. I hope the next books have the older sisters storyline and less of Gemma’ who frustrated me. It is admirable to have a main character riddled with panic attacks and self-hatred but the other aspects of Gemma’s character - vanity, shallowness and self centeredness made her hard to care too deeply for. I appreciate that many other readers will be more favorable to her and this is only my opinion. I also would love to see the Basks storyline unfold more. They were intriguing!
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC. This would be 3.8 stars if I could be that precise.

I almost felt like this book was two books in one, but I did enjoy it a lot! There was almost always something going on, once the plot got going, and now I can't wait to find out what happens in the rest of the series. If you're a fan of fantasy, magic, demons, and anything in those categories, you should definitely give this one a try! As my first Claire Legrand book, I was not disappointed.

This was not quite the ACOTAR / Bridgerton novel that I was expecting from the marketing, but it was a decent enough read. Some really good points; our protagonist Gemma suffers from a debilitating condition, which makes a change from the usual all-perfect heroine figures in novels. There's some great interaction between her and and the male lead Talan, and they work together to achieve their goals. Nice world building with loads of incredible descriptions and depictions. Some parts were however a little slow and I just wanted things to speed up a little. I'm not sure if I'd rush to read book two in the trilogy.

A Crown of Ivy and Glass caught my attention because of how much I enjoyed the Empyrium trilogy, but this book turned out to be unlike anything else I've read.

I have both Rhuematoid Arthritis and Fibromyalgia, so to see a heroine whose own body attacks itself with pain, and seeing the way she's determined to find ways to experience joy in spite of the pain, but also seeing the way she sometimes buckles under the pressure and her friends build her up was absolutely incredible. I'm still in aw of it and cannot get it out of my head even days after finishing reading.

The romance was quite well done. I loved that Talan is not an alphahole, but he does have some secrets. I also really appreciated that Gemma doesn't just ignore red flags in the name of love, but questions in a very realistic manner.

One of the best parts is when a supernatural being tells Gemma that just like humans, they are complicated and messy and wonderous.

This is a perfect romantasy read with a bit of enemies to lovers, hidden magic, sibling rivalries and incredible disability representation.

This was a rough one for me.
I absolutely adore Legrand as an author and love the way she can write so many different stories, worlds and characters that you want to fall in love with and, genuinely care about.
This one however didn’t hit the mark.
It was “advertised” as ACOTAR meets Bridgerton, which as it turns out this was not.
Unfortunately this novel felt like a few different novels all pushed into one that raised more and more questions as the story went on and few were answered at the conclusion.
What started as a really good, fun read turned into something that was pretty chaotic

*2.5 stars*
I wanted to love this book so much more, but unfortunately it just didn't hit the mark for me. I felt like it was really long but didn't need to be? Don't get me wrong, I love a good, long book when it's well done and holds my attention, but I found myself able to put this book down and wasn't really overjoyed at the prospect of picking it back up again.

The book starts off good - we get a little bit of background, we meet the characters, we get a good story set up. Gemma seemed like she was going to be a really interesting character to follow through this book (and she was!), but I didn't really like Talan. Unfortunately, disliking the main male lead does not bode well for a romance. I was actually more interested in Farrin's love life than I was Gemma's lol. And we only get VERY TINY glimpses and hints at that aspect of Farrin but it seems like it could be an EPIC story.

Anyway. After the beginning, things sort of seemed to just spiral out of control. The story seemed all over the place, and I was sort of confused and little bit bored for a lot of it. It felt very stop and go, and I just couldn't get into a flow with this book. The romance didn't work for me, not just because I didn't like Talan, but because there was no substance to it. It was very insta-love, and then the relationship was just all over the place, and not in a good way.

I think there are definitely people who are going to like this book, but it just wasn't for me unfortunately. If there was another book from Farrin's POV, I think I would definitely read that. Very curious to see what happens with her and Ryder. But in terms of Gemma's story, I don't really feel like I need to know more.

There's nothing worse than an anticipated read by an author you love letting you down...

If you look at the average rating for this book, it's evident that it's not really meeting readers expectations. I didn't want that to be the case, but it is what it is. And it's due to flaws I never would have though CL would make. She has created an amazing fantasy series before, so I have no idea what she was thinking with this one.

The narrative is pretty juvenile for supposedly being an adult debut, the pacing of the story is very inconsistent throughout, the plot doesn't stick to a single genre creating the feeling that this is multiple stories incoherently crammed together, and none of the characters stand out or go through any meaningful development.

In all honesty, I probably would have given this 2 stars, but my loyalty to CL is preventing me from doing so, hence the rounding up.

Legrand has always been a bit hit-or-miss, and despite the lovely cover and the intriguing copy, this book was unfortunately a miss. The author can be such a beautiful writer but does best with rigorous editing, and that was not in enough evidence here. In the spirit of full disclosure, I should also add that I often find the way she writes sex scenes to be cringe-y (for several reasons, but the main one is because she has the capability to be such a strong stylist elsewhere--unlike with something like ACOTAR for example, where the writing voice is less distinctive but more consistent throughout). While there were other things going on in A CROWN OF IVY AND GLASS in addition to the romance, it would have taken something on the level of the Furyborn books in terms of their sheer scope to sufficiently redeem this one for me, and the still ambitious but less epic worldbuilding here just wasn't enough. However, readers who loved the Furyborn trilogy or are more omnivorous consumers of fantasy romance than I am--or are looking for solid representation of characters with anxiety--will probably find a lot to appreciate. I suspect I'll skip her adult SFF and stick with her middle grade and YA in the future, though. (If anyone reading this hasn't read SAWKILL GIRLS yet, that book is *great*!)

This was another wonderful book by Claire Legrand. It had so many of the elements I love in romantasy book: balls, a terrific trio of sisters, a unique magic system, family feuds and the most important, an interesting relationship. While it was faster than I would have liked (I hate instalove), all the trials between Gemma and Talan made me come around the quickness of it. There's a lot of important talk about mental health and dealing with things out of your control. I don't know why this is being marketed as adult compared to her Furyborn series - they felt similar in content to me. But overall, if you've like her other books, give this one a try!

"In every legend," Talan said quietly, ur-gently, pulling me back to him, "there is a kernel of truth”
"Yes, Talan. Please help me. Make the pain go away."
I must admit I was curious about this book. I feel like my curiosity still lives but that is not at all a bad thing.
A story about three sister, Farrin, Mara and Imogen with powers only … Gemma seems to have none. What’s gonna happen when a great and terrifying Mist threatens to overpower them all and destroy everything they know.
I very much enjoyed this book. Both in the characters’ dynamics and the magic system.
The Mist mildly reminded me of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia) but this time it felt even more awake and scary.
The sisterhood between Gemma and her sisters was so good to read, despite everything.
And Talan was just … an unexpected book boyfriend that knew how to make your toes curl, with the same gentleness of a caress.
Through and through Gemma proved herself to be a strong willed young woman. Despite everything that she suffered she still wanted to find solace somewhere, somehow. Not loosing hope. She is not perfect, far from it, but she felt real. And that is something that I always appreciate in a fantasy book!!
Somehow the author managed to make me question everything that was happening. One minute letting me enjoy the lightness of love, romance and spice. And the next making trying to figure out magical dynamics that were very original and creative. And don’t let me even start on the plot twists app reading every other chapter !!!!
I am also afraid to say that I already can’t wait for book two in this series so … GO AND READ IT !!
“Only a month I've known you, and yet I already feel as if you're a part of me."
“I will not rest until I've earned back vour trust. Be safe, my wildcat.”
“Take care of her for me. Love her as she deserves.”

Thank you NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS for the ARC.

This book started a little slow for me... I was probably 30% of the way through and still not sold on the characters or the plot. But, after that - I got sucked in! I ended up finishing the bulk of the novel in less than 2 days once I got going.

The marketing says that this is for people who like Bridgerton and ACOTAR and I think that's mostly fair, but certainly more towards readers who like ACOTAR and fantasy/romance with royal families and class system drama. There weren't clear regency romance tropes, like arranged marriage, ruining, etc. That being said, there are a few hookups that happen in a garden and/or maze. So, there's that.

I REALLY liked the magic system in this book - I felt like it was a cool, promising start to a trilogy, although it is a little bit confusing to get through in this first installment. There's a lot of positioning: Legrand works very hard to get readers on board with all of the different realms, magical beings, and power-types involved here. If this is too dense at first, keep reading! About halfway through I was really invested in some of the mysteries/unknown elements in the story, though I definitely had to kind of persevere at first.

As for the characters, I liked Lady Gemma the most at the end, or near the end. She is sort of a royal party girl, burdened by her (extreme) allergy(?) to magic. Her chronic illness gave her a lot of depth and fit pretty well (I think) within the larger exploration of "monstrous" women in this book. I do not have a chronic illness, so I can't speak towards how this portrayal lines up with the mental realities portrayed by Gemma's anxieties and pain. But, overall, I found her really engaging and she develops a lot by the end.

On the romance: I wasn't sold on Talan and, sadly, I don't really care about Gemma/Talan's relationship. I won't spoil the ending, but I sincerely hope the next book in this trilogy is about Ryder (which seems to be the popular consensus in these reviews). I won't say anything else on this because I don't want to spoil by being too specific.

4/5 starts: I subtracted a star because of the density (surprisingly for me, I think this could have been a duology and Legrand could have added a couple hundred pages to further build out the world) and because of the lackluster couple at the center of the book.

Overall, I'm REALLY looking forward to this trilogy. It feels different and new, even though it contains plot elements and themes that fantasy/romance readers love. How soon can I get the next ARC?

Claire Legrand never ceases to amaze me with what she can with epic fantasy. The vastness of her worlds, the pure emotion she pours into her characters, the depths of darkness that she explores, it is all exactly what I love with my whole entire heart.

Also, why are we not talking about the fact that chronic illness and pain are a huge part of this book? And extremely well done (in my opinion)? Plus the depiction of anxiety and panic attacks in a fantasy setting? It's all so, so good? If anyone, ANYONE, wants to come for Imogen, or call her whiney or weak or annoying, they have to go through ME first. Nobody will disrespect her while I'm around.

I struggled with this book. I don’t know if it was the pacing or the characters but I had a hard time immersing myself into this story and I really really wanted to. I love Claire Legrand’s other works. Her characters are flawed with dark and light components and her plots are intricate but for some reason this book didn’t work for me. I dnf’d this book at 40% unable to push myself any further. If you want a slow, sexy, morally gray main character, portal fantasy with political intrigue pick up this book. Just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.

The beginning of what promises to be an epic fantasy trilogy. Claire Legrand built a full on world teeming with charming and challenging characters; there’s exceptional magic and danger lurks around every corner. This was definitely a slow start, but I attribute that to the immense world building that went into this and setting the stage for the rest of the trilogy. And by the final two thirds, I could not put the book down and I am anxiously awaiting the next installment.

Gemma is the daughter of an anointed sage and the sister of two ferociously magic women. But Gemma not only has no magic, she is in fact sickened by it. And considering her world is immersed in magic, she is in a constant state of pain. But she hides this beyond a glittering facade, playing the coy beauty. When a handsome foreigner arrives, Gemma cannot help but be attracted to Talan. And they may each have something the other wants. But is their attraction too dangerous? Or is it exactly what Gemma needs to free herself from her all consuming pain. TW: Self-harm.

This reads extremely juvenile for adult fantasy romance. I didn't like the love interest and kept waiting for the shoe to drop on him, ACOTAR-style. I liked Gemma as a character, but didn't feel super invested in her. Overall, it didn't do much for me.