Maelys Mitchelmore is a young woman who is cursed. This curse first makes itself known as Miss Mitchelmore is attending a ball and her dress begins to unravel, forcing her to take cover in the gardens. With seemingly no rescue coming and her reputation on the line, Mae is distraught until Lady Georgiana, known to society as the Duke of Annandale, comes to her reluctant rescue.

However, the curse still isn’t broken and, as horrible consequences progress, Mae has to seek out assistance from Lady Georgiana as to how to break the curse. But Mae isn’t familiar with the type of deep dark magic and witchcraft that brings her face to face with gods and goddesses who have no reason to set her free.

Young Mae is also having romantic feelings for the first time and, while Lady Georgiana knows what she wants as well, she also knows that it is extremely inappropriate and forbidden for her and Mae to be together. Mae is determined to find out who has cursed her and to show Lady Georgiana that they could be a great fit. But the angry gods and vengeful magic have no reason to grant anyone a happy ending and the pair will have to make the greatest of sacrifices to not only break the curses, but to be allowed to carry on.

This book opens with a different spin, as the narrator introduces themselves. The narrator goes by many names, but “sprite” is one they are fine settling on. It is present day and the sprite has been banished from the courts and is living in the mortal realm, recounting Mae’s story from 1814. We never find out what the sprite did to be cast out. The sprite can take the form of anything it desires and follows around characters they find interesting to learn their stories. The worse time the mortals are having, the more interested the sprite is. The story is then told second hand through the narrator and this style kept all of the characters at a distance.

While Mae is young and supposed to be naïve, she has a strong will and has seemingly no issue with defying societal conventions. She doesn’t know why someone has placed a curse on her and the beginning of the book has her and family members traveling around meeting different characters trying to figure out who is out to get Mae. Yet, none of these characters resonated with me. The description of the book states it is in the style of Bridgerton and what I have enjoyed about historical pieces is the visual side that comes with the story, either through words or seeing it come to life in TV or movie. However, everything in this story felt flat to me. I didn’t care for the characters or the narrative style of the story. Since nothing is from the main characters’ point of view, there is little character development and the sprite had no way of knowing what the characters were thinking or feeling unless it was spoken out loud. There was also no world building. The characters are in a historical setting with rumors of magic and witchcraft, but all of a sudden the characters are tasked with battling gods and making sacrifices and there was no basic foundation laid and it was chaotic at times and not well executed at others.

The romance between Mae and Lady Georgiana is not the primary focus of the book and its soft and filtered tone left much unrevealed. This story was the narrator recounting a tale from long ago and how much was true and how much was embellished was also another point left open. This author has generally been hit or miss with me and this one wasn’t a hit.

2⭐️

I don’t even fully understand what was going on to even summarize this book. This is the second Alexis Hall book I have read, and maybe this just isn’t the author for me. I don’t really like the writing style in this book no matter how hard I try to. It’s kind of all over the place, especially with the narrator butting in often to add their opinion and thoughts. It’s very chaotic and kind of distracting. I wanted to love this book because it’s sapphic, but the pacing is also kind of slow and there’s not much happening plot wise while the narrator rambles on endlessly about things that don’t add anything to the story. There are also so many different characters that it was hard for me to keep up, and I ended up reading this book for five minutes and then immediately getting distracted by something else and putting it down or falling asleep. The premise of the book being a sapphic regency romance had me really excited, but the execution of it fell flat for me.

Heat Factor: Moderate, slow burn.
Character Chemistry: They have chemistry like an old hot rod…it takes a while to turn over, it stutters a lot, but when it goes, it goes.
Plot: Maelys ends up cursed by a goddess and the only person who can help her is “The Duke of Annadale”, who is actually the daughter of a Duke. Only, (of course) they bump along and end up half-smitten, half-irritated with one another.
Overall: This book was a toughie. Certainly enjoyable, but very long, very meandering, with an unreliable narrator and maybe too many moving parts in the plot.

I was thrilled to have a chance to read the newest Alexis Hall–Erin and Holly have both thoroughly enjoyed all the Hall books they’ve read and I certainly enjoyed one or two myself. This one looked absolutely juicy–goddesses, vengeance, women protagonists, and capers. Many, many capers.

It’s true that it did have all of those things. Maelys finds herself mysteriously cursed by a goddess in Bath. In this alternate reality, the Gods and Goddesses of yore are still active and participating in daily human life, along with witches, nymphs, and anything else you can think of. When her life starts getting more and more…intense…she turns to the Duke of Annadale for help.

The Duke is actually a teasing name for Georgiana, only remaining child of a Duke whose premature death (and the premature deaths of all of his sons) was unfairly pinned on the Duke of Annadale. She’s somehow linked to a lot of various mystical beings and helps Maelys figure out how to get out of her curse. It’s grisly.

But then Maelys convinces the Duke to give their chemistry a chance and Maelys becomes the next victim of the Duke of Annadale curse. The Duke has to go negotiate with an angry Goddess again, etc.

Here’s what I enjoyed about this book–it was playful, witty, interesting, and several of the characters were absolutely delightful. What I’m not sure I liked so much is more complex.

The narrator is Puck in all Puck’s glory–and that means the narrator is impish, funny, clever, unreliable, self-centered and excessive. What this also means is that the plot is SIGNIFICANTLY SLOWED by Puck’s shenanigans. Were it not for this choice as a narrator, it would probably be pretty gripping. Even if Puck’s presence was slightly reduced, the plot would move at a better clip. But as it is there are huge chunks devoted to where Puck is and how he gets there and what he thinks, and it’s kind of excruciating at a few points. Also, in the beginning it made it very difficult to follow who was saying and doing what and going where. Have you ever had someone relate an anecdote to you, but they pause and explain something that doesn’t really need explaining, and you’re really ready for them to move on, but they just keep going? That’s how some of Puck’s narration felt.

Also, Maelys and the Duke have kind of a stuttering heat–Maelys is relatively young and inexperienced, but she’s also very practical and straightforward. The Duke is more experienced but she’s also very closed off and cold. Their conflict consists of Maelys asking the Duke to hook up with her (but very politely and in a roundabout way) and the Duke saying “tell me when you can actually say what you want me to do to you”. And that’s pretty much it, for most of the book. Eventually they DO get together and of course the Duke is beastly, but clearly deeply in love with Maelys.

So do I recommend the book? If I were to recommend an Alexis Hall, I’m not sure this would be it, unless the reader was very interested in Greek and Roman mythology, witchcraft, etc. I think a lot was lost in some of the literary choices here, and it slowed the plot and complicated the characters to its detriment. But I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the characters, and the luscious and descriptive setting, the general plot and creativity in execution. It was a good book, but it was a long haul and it might be better suited for die-hard Hall fans and mythology fans.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

I have read many Alexis Hall books, and i will say that this is probably my least favorite. The characters feel really flat with only the narrator being of interest to me. It became a bit of a struggle for me to dive into and i set it aside multiple times.

Mortal Follies was laugh out loud funny, with an intrusive-narrator I would love to explore more stories from.

A love story brought to us by a hobgoblin, fancy that. It is 1814 and Miss Mitchelmore has headed to Bath with her friends for the society ‘season’. There are balls and gatherings and alliances to be forged, but unfortunately something appears to be targeting her, as mysterious and frankly curse-like things begin to happen when she’s out in public. When her dress falls to pieces and she’s set upon by wasps, the (female, scandalous) Duke of Annadale comes dubiously to her rescue, and Miss Mitchelmore begins to consider that perhaps it’s not a husband she should be looking for.

The first half of this book was absolutely laugh out loud funny and very quick to get through. I loved the mystery, Miss Mitchelmore’s friends’ bizarre and dubiously helpful advice and comments, and the regency setting. Our narrator’s randomly interspersed comments also added to this hilarity.

There was a definite lull in the middle of the book after the mystery had been solved where Miss Mitchelmore was attempting to seduce the Duke of Annadale and it just felt like the plot had gotten a little lost in the characters’ relationships, however this picked up again towards the end - which I was concerned would feel a little rushed when I realised how much still needed to happen in such a short period of time - and it came together beautifully.

Overall, I really enjoyed Mortal Follies and I would love to read more books in this series in the future.

It's finally June (Happy Pride Month, everyone!) and as we're halfway through another year, I get to start to reflect on the best reads of this year (in which I add this one to my list!). Now, before I ramble about how excited I was to get this eARC, here we go onto our usual madness.


Short summary: a cursed debutante must team up with a sorceress as they try to deal with angry gods and the sparks of new emotions threatening to consume them whole.


Long Summary: It is 1814, and life for a young lady of good breeding has many difficulties. There are balls to attend, fashions to follow, marriages to consider, and, of course, the tiny complication of existing in a world swarming with fairy spirits, interfering deities, and actual straight-up sorcerers.



Miss Maelys Mitchelmore finds her entry into high society hindered by an irritating curse. It begins with her dress slowly unmaking itself over the course of an evening, but as the curse progresses to more fatal proportions, Miss Mitchelmore must seek out aid, even if that means mixing with undesirable company.


And there are few less desirable than Lady Georgiana Landrake—a brooding, alluring young woman sardonically nicknamed “the Duke of Annadale”—who may or may not have murdered her own father and brothers to inherit their fortune. If one is to believe the gossip, she might be some kind of malign enchantress. Then again, a malign enchantress might be exactly what Miss Mitchelmore needs.



With the Duke’s help, Miss Mitchelmore delves into a world of angry gods and vindictive magic, keen to unmask the perpetrator of these otherworldly attacks. But Miss Mitchelmore’s reputation is not the only thing at risk in spending time with her new ally. For the reputed witch has her own secrets that may prove dangerous to Miss Mitchelmore’s heart—not to mention her life.


I LOVED THIS BOOK. The narrator is a true piece of art. With sarcasm, mischief and entertaining commentary as the story gets spun, it was one of my favorite parts while reading this book and not to mention Lady Georgiana who I absolutely loved in this book, the banter was PERFECT and left a smile on my face as it kept me hooked. Not to mention the mix between the regency/victorian era with Greek Gods, like what else does one need?


So, run don't walk to get a copy of this book out June 6th!


Overall: 5/5 stars

Mortal Follies 🧜‍♀️💖🧚‍♂️

We’ll start with the cover. It’s beautiful. I love it. I think it immediately tells you how whimsical and romantic and fun and beautiful this book is! 🧚✨💖

As for the book itself, I struggled to get into the story in the beginning. Unlike most romances, this book has a narrator, and is told from the POV of the snarky, yet charming, don’t call him hobgoblin, Puck. While I liked this fun, fresh view, I found it very hard to connect to the main characters. However, I was so intrigued by the premise that I couldn’t let myself give up, and I thought, I bet this would be really amazing on audio! So, I used a credit to purchase the audiobook, and guess what? I was right! It’s so well done on audio. It was like listening to someone (a very mischievous someone) tell me a whimsical bedtime story!

I loved Mae and all of the side characters (Lizzie was my fave 🥹) and the Duke of Annadale was a very interesting character that caught my attention the second she came on page! The two of them made a wonderful couple and it was a joy seeing them come together to break the curse set on Mae and fall in love along the way. 💖🥰

It looks like this is going to be a series, and I’m very much looking forward to future books set in this world!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the complimentary e-arc. All opinions are my own.

This book was good and had the potential to be great; however, there were a few issues with pacing (like the conflict being fixed halfway through the book and a new one being introduced which caused the book to feel forever long in a bad way) as well as the narrator told us what was going on from like an outside perspective, not getting involved really. I felt missing from the action a lot. But like always with Alexis, I love the writing, I love the characters, and the idea was great. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

It pains me to give this three stars because I generally adore Alexis Hall's' books and can almost guarantee them to be 5-star reads. But this one fell flat. It suffered from a few problems that killed it for me.

I liked the choice to have a capricious Puck narrate a story about a human cast of characters. It was at times amusing, but unfortunately it created so much distance between me and the characters that I felt like I didn't know them at all. It didn't help that the characters were dry, bland, and flat. Miss Bickle was occasionally amusing but in a distant, faint way. Another obstacle was the overly formal tone of the characters conversation and manner, which kept me even further from knowing the characters.

Since I am, first and foremost, a character-driven reader, this feeling of being so far removed from the characters that I was watching them from about a mile away didn't give me the enjoyment I usually get from Alexis Hall's books.

It was also incredibly awkward to have Puck narrating the sex scenes. I mean, I don't usually enjoy sex scenes anyway, but having everything filtered through Puck's gaze and narration felt weirdly intrusive.

It also seriously dragged in the middle. I felt like I was reading it for weeks without getting anywhere, and it almost put me into a reading slump.

There were some interesting bits and I did enjoy it enough to finish it, but not enough to really love it, no matter how much I wanted to or how beautiful the cover is.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing an early copy for review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for access to the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

Told from the perspective of our fiendishly friendly narrator Robin, a sprite on exile from the other court and great teller of stories, Mortal Follies details the cursed life of Maelys Mitchelmore, who unbeknownst to her, as encouraged the wrath of someone who wishes her great harm. Though her curse is generally disagreeable, it allows her to meet the byronic Lady Georgianna Landrake, who soon captures more than Maelys attention, and may be just the woman she needs to undue her curse.

Mortal Follies was an otherwise delightful sapphic regency romance that unfortunately fell a bit short for me. The strength of this tale lies within the first 50-60%, after all and up to that point, that is where the main conflict of the story unfolds and see’s our heroine encounter her predicament and ultiamtely extinguish it. I’ll be honest in that the stakes of the main plot never reach a high, but is still an entertaining read that kept me going.

However, what follows in the remaining 40% is a rash attempt at fleshing out the romance between maelys and georgianna, and a side plot that is almost entirely unnecessary had the author supplemented the main plot with developing the relationship between the two women.

The world is not the most developed, but skates by that by residing in a very familiar 19th century, just with more whimsy, gods, and nymphs. The side characters are fun, particularly Miss. Lizzie Bickle (let’s pray she gets a book bc i love her), the antics they get up to, and the comments from our narrator are hilarious, and the romance is decent despite the flaws of its lovers.

This book took forever to read. There were so many asides and sentences with interrupting clauses that I had to keep rereading for understanding and it pulled me out of the story. I also feel like I have a huge vocabulary and had to keep looking up words. The narrator was a bad literary ploy and kept us from getting to know the characters. I was not invested in any of the characters nor did I know what they were feeling or thinking most of the time. Miss Bickle was the most interesting character. For the most part, I couldn't tell if the characters knew about the mystical fairy world and witchcraft or were bumbling around unaware, except for Miss Bickle.

I have been on a huge kick, reading all of Alexis Hall's books and was so excited for this one but even if you pull the narrator out of it, it leaves a lackluster story. I wanted to like this so much! Maybe next time!

I’ve read enough Alexis Hall to know what to expect when I pick up a new title—or so I thought when I opened Mortal Follies. It was immediately obvious, however, that I was wrong, that I needed to reorient myself, shelve my preconceptions, and buckle up for a genre-bending wild ride with the novel’s Puckish narrator. If, like me, you’ve long enjoyed Hall’s talent for writing banter, you’ll appreciate how that shows up here through the fae narrator’s frequent asides. If novels can be said to have a fourth wall, Hall shatters it again and again, and I, for one, quickly came to relish the brilliance…you know, once I cast aside all notions of what this novel “should” be.

Now for the quickest of quick summaries: Set in a Regency England saturated with magic, Mortal Follies tells the story of Mae and Georgiana—two women who defy supernatural forces and social conventions in order to save each other and be together. In the occasionally grim course of curse-breaking and appeasing the Old Gods, the women wrest happiness and personal agency from a culture that would constrain them and men who would control and possess them. To put it plainly: I could not stop cheering for them.

It turns out that, like the heroines of this tale, Alexis Hall will not be limited by convention or expectation. And I thank the Gods (Old and otherwise) for that.

I tried. The best part of this book was the prologue because the narrator made me cackle. And then I was just.... lost. I honestly don't know what started happening. I know there was a magical aspect. But nothing was keeping me entertained. Or even in the story. I found myself skipping parts and I shouldn't have done that mostly because I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on. So my brain just checked out. I tried to read with a buddy and even she said it takes a while to get into. And I don't think that we have to be expecting immediate thrills on books but maybe a little backstory?/background. It was hard to read. My friend finished and she said she enjoyed it so I will trust her judgment but I can't do the book justice and I do not think this one was for me.

With curses to be broken, and lovers to be won, and the best, silliest of friends, this fairytale was by turns passionate and humorous and perilous—in other words, immensely enjoyable throughout.

And I have to say, I liked our wry, mischievous narrator very, very much.

Imagine, if you will,, that it's England Times but there's magic and old gods and spirits and whatnot. Now imagine that you are a famed sprite (Robin Goodfellow) telling the tale of one cursed Miss Maelys (which I cannot help but pronounce Malice, though I am surely wrong) Mitchelmore and one possibily murderous Lady Georgiana, the Duke of Annadale.

I found this fairly charming. There is definitely a part 1 of the book (in which Maelys is cursed and must get uncursed) and a part 2 of the book. I found the pacing faltered toward the start of part two, where there wasn't much in the way of external conflict. This picked up toward the end as [REDACTED] occured.

This pacing, and my preference for part two to have been better set up (though I may have missed it) are what bring this down to four stars.

I'm very curious to see if Robin will be narrating any future stories...

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wasn’t intending for this to be an airplane read, but life got crazy and it just ended up that way.

I truly had every intent of reading Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall before its publication date a few days ago, but I only ended up getting around to it yesterday. This book is a sapphic romance with a sprinkling of fantasy and thriller elements set in the early 1800s and narrated by Puck/Robin from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare. There is honestly just so much happening in this book. It primarily follows Ms. Mitchelmore as she and two of her friends, as well as the enigma “the Duke of Annadale”, get swept into a plot containing a curse and the vengeful patron goddess of Bath.

Overall, the narration was kind of fun and I enjoyed the references to other tales interspersed throughout. My main thing was that I thought the pacing was a bit weird. There are 2 (kind of) climaxes in this book, and because of that, it felt like I could have been reading 2 separate books, especially since I thought the first climax was more exciting. It made the book feel unnecessarily long at times. Also, I wasn’t a huge fan of the sexy scenes in this book. They weren’t quite fade to black, but little to know information was given, so it just made them underwhelming. All that being said, this was a light and fun read and is perfectly fine for when you’ve got time to kill and can read a whole book in one sitting.

3.5 stars for this sapphic love story!

Alexis Hall has written some of my all time favorite books but this one fell a bit flat for me.

The overall story was great! I loved the premise, the magic, the slight whimsical feel to it all with an added layer of mystery! So well done and kept me intrigued.

My issue lies with some pacing problems.. one of the big concerns in this book wrapped up surprisingly quickly leaving the second half of the book a little slower than the first. The redemptive aspect of the second half being that it gives us a bit more room for the relationship to come around. Romance wise this was a slower burn and that aspect was great- I love a good slow burn and by the time our MCs got together I was begging for it! 🔥

My biggest complaint was the narrative style. In the end I applaud Alexis for doing something fun and the narrator definitely added to the whimsy and magic of the story, but they also removed me from the flow of the story on many occasions and in the end I found the constant thought streaming a bit on the annoying side.

Overall, 3.5 stars rounding down to 3 feels right. I enjoyed it, I’m so thankful for the ARC, but I also don’t know that I’ll be racing to the store to buy it.

📚New Book Review📚

Mortal Follies
Alexis Hall
Del Rey Publishing. Random House
Publication day: 6 June 2023

From the narrator to the main character, Maely, all the way through to the side characters, this book is such a hilarious, romantic, fantasy story. I loved how the fantasy aspect of witches, other worldly beings, and even things like curses are completely accepted in the Regency England of this novel.

Marketed as a Sapphic regency romance, Hall's newest work really ticked all the boxes for me.

The narrator is hilarious with quips from modern times (read it and you will see why) yet the language doesn't detour from the setting of the story so much that it becomes annoying or distracting.
The writing is well done. The setting is described in wonderful detail, and this doesn't stop with the just setting. The actions throughout the plot are also described in a way that pulls the reader into the story almost as if they too are in a shadow or a fly on the wall like the narrator.
I loved Maely, her best friend, her love interest, her cousin, all the parents, truly I really enjoyed every part of this book.

If you love historical romance, fantasy, humor, and mild spice then this book is for you.

Thank you #netgalley and #delreybooks for the dARC of this work in exchange for my honest review.

I don't know how Alexis Hall always manages to hit it out of the park with book after book, different genre after different genre, but I devoured Mortal Follies much like any and all of Hall's previous books. This story managed to be unique while not using unique elements, and brought back one of my favorite writing gimmicks: the narrator as independent character.

I loved that the whole story of Mae and Georgiana was told from a third person perspective - quite literally, since the perspective was coming from an unnamed, third character who had enough wit and sarcasm and additions to fuel the entire story. He was comic relief, stirred up trouble, and weighed in on the plot in ways no human character could. I loved reading about Mae's interactions with her friends, but my favorite character, by far, is the narrator.

Mortal Follies beautifully blended two of my favorite genres, and I loved this version of 1800s England where fairies and gods ran amuck, much to every humans knowledge, fear, and amusement. However, and unfortunately, one of my least favorite characters just so happened to be Mae's love interest, which caused me to repeatedly lose interest in the romance storyline. Had I been reading this story solely for the romance, I might not have finished it; there was just not enough chemistry between the two and too much protesting from Georgiana for me to fully be invested in their love story. Luckily, I felt that Mae's continuous issues with the deities far outshined her romantic entanglements and that kept me engaged with the story until the very end.

Overall, Mortal Follies was another hit from Alexis Hall. Sapphic in nature, this romance/fantasy definitely came across stronger on the fantastical, and less so on the romantic. But with entertaining characters, dialogue, and shenanigans from the narrator, this one was well worth the read.

Another funny historical from Alexis Hall loosely based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. A noblewoman-Lady Maelys Mitchelmore- is cursed by some unknown entity. She connects with alleged witch Lady Georgiana Landrake -The Duke of Annadale. She is accused of killing her family to inherit their riches, and someone is out to assassinate her. They have to deal with sorcerers and angry deities to break their curses. I thought the narrator Robin/Puck was a little crazy and I wasn't sure I could believe his memory of events. He is a jester after all.

Hall always makes inclusivity a central theme in a world that follows the norms of the time. I loved Miss Bickle and Mr. Casear as they are helpful (not really) to Mae and the Duke against the goddess. There's homophobia, racism, and inhumane treatment by the gods. I'd also recommend Something Spectacular by the same author.

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
-A Midsummer Night's Dream Act 1 Scene 1

**Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. I give my honest review voluntarily, and all opinions are mine alone. **