While Mortal Follies is a "Shakespeare-inspired" tale, it more so a historical Sapphic romantic fantasy novel, and that is quite literally the thing that I love more than anything else in the world (other than maybe Star Wars?)
Maelys Mitchelmore is cursed, and it is kind of a problem, since she's trying to join high society and all of that, and because "the Duke of Annadale" Lady Georgianna Landrake is probably the only one who can help her. They not only need to navigate society, they also need to navigate the world of fairy spirits and gods who are not too keen on them.
Maelys is a really relatable, if sometimes frustrating main character, and the Duke of Annadale is absolutely amazing as a love interest, giving the same vibes as all of our favorite morally gray love interests.
As a fan of Olivia Atwater and Lex Croucher, this book was the perfect blend of the two.

I love the variation of genres in Alexis Hall's work. Each one is fun and unique and I always make sure to add their new titles to our library.

I loved this one so much I bought my own copy! I am excited to look into rereading it.

i thought i was going to love this but i didn’t. i just felt like something was missing.

thank you NetGalley for the e-ARC!

Mortal Follies is the first book in a new fantasy historical romance series written by Alexis Hall. Released 6th June 2023 by Penguin Random House on their Del Rey imprint, it's 416 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a slow moving romantic historical fantasy with a F/F lead. It's well written, and the historical (alternate timeline) background seems to be well researched and believable. It moves ponderously in places, and overall the pacing is on the very slow side, especially in the second half of the book. It's also in first person narrative from the PoV of a literal Puckish sprite, à la Midsummer Night's Dream whose constant asides and direct asides to the reader get to be a bit much in places.

Normally Regency fantasy romance is a no-fail winner. This one is a mixed blessing due to side-plot lines which go nowhere, lack of world building, annoying narrator, and glacial pace (especially in the second half).

The author is clearly, undeniably, talented and knows his craft; it shines through the writing. The execution and/or possibly a less-than-ruthless editing process in this particular volume led to a less-than-stellar end product.

Three stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I love the cover so much, and went in without knowing much about the synopsis, but I really enjoyed MORTAL FOLLIES!

It was such a delightful read, and had all the witty banter and snark.

*many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

As much as I adore Alexis Hall's contemporary series, his historical fiction continues to fall flat for me again and again. I was incredibly intrigued by the concept of Mortal Follies, but in the end, it just didn't work for me. A little confusing, a little overwritten, and the characters didn't make up for it. Sad to say, not a winner for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the voice in this book! Alexis Hall has such a talent for taking regency/period vibes and putting them in a totally relatable and delightful queer love story. It was a fun and fantastic mystery to read. It did feel almost like two separate books in one, with big reveals happening well before the end of the book and new issues arising; that being said, I did enjoy the read and am excited to read more by this author!

All in all, 3.5 stars. Rounding up to 4!

I ultimately made the decision to DNF this book based on the pacing. I found the pace very confusing as well as the development of the Duke of Annadale's character. Too soon, in my opinion, does the Duke say to Maelys some version of "you couldn't handle me in bed" and we hadn't established much real flirting, interest on the Duke's side for it to be very believable. I enjoyed the decision to write from Puck's POV and the little quips and mannerisms he has are very entertaining, but I just couldn't get into the story and about halfway through felt I was wasting my time.

Maybe it's because this setting is in the 1800s...i just couldn't get attached to any of the characters. Initially I was really excited about the romantic fantasy that's really popular recently...but I just couldn't get into it and felt a little bit bored at times.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

this is an amazing book, but maybe not the book for me i learned. the narrator was.. weird to me. like i was more focused on that than the story because it was unique. however, i'm also just not a mystery person but i love alexis hall. if you're looking for something with romance but less romance than a romance book, this is for you.

This is a delightful and enchanting sapphic high society romance written with Alexis Hall's classic quirky and charming style. I really enjoyed the whole cast of characters and the magic/sorcery added a fun dimension to the story line.

Sincere thanks to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately I was unable to read this before it got archived. I have seen a copy of Mortal Follies at my local library so that was cool to see. Hopefully I will get a chance to read it soon as I like queer novels and mythology!

A sapphic historical romantasy should really be right up my alley but for some reason this really didn't grab me. I found the pacing to be a bit off. Most of the action happened around the middle of the book and then it kind of fell off from there.

⭐️⭐️.5
🌶️🌶️

I wanted to like this book so badly!! Sapphic, funny, yet felt quite long and was a slog to make it through. I think the issue for me is that much of the plot is mystery-driven and I wanted more romance. And once the romance was happening, it was closed door. But if you’re someone who likes mysteries, this might be the book for you!

Thank you NetGalley, Alexis Hall, and Random House for a free copy of Mortal Follies in exchange for an honest review.


For 2023, I’ll be using this rating scale:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I mourned the ending of this journey 🥹
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ really enjoyed and would recommend
⭐️⭐️⭐️ it was fine
⭐️⭐️ I didn’t enjoy this journey
⭐️ I dnf’d or wish I’d dnf’d
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ this is smutty smutty erotica 🥵
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ medium burn
🌶️🌶️🌶️ slow burn
🌶️🌶️ romantic b plot / closed door / YA romance
🌶️ no romance / nonfiction

Special thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved boyfriend material and was super excited to read this book. I do wish that it was a bit shorter, as I felt like there was quite a lot of filler. I was not the biggest fan of the narrator, but I loved the other characters.

Overall I just wish that this book was shorter and that the narrator wasn't constantly inserted into the story.

3.75
this book felt very quintessentially alexis hall in that it had a quirky (and eventually slightly grating) narration style, incredible side characters, and probably about 100 too many pages
I don't think I like this one as much as "a lady for a duke," so if you're looking for a society romance I'd stick to that one. However, I am so glad that I pushed through the middle slump of this book, because I did really love this story and Miss Bickle especially

I am SUCH a fan of Alexis Hall, so when I see this book, and I see fantasy historical romance? sign me the hell up!

thank you to the publisher and net galley for the arc. I really had high expectations for this one since I thought it sounded exactly like the kind of books I like to read. Unfortunately, while I enjoyed all the jokes and comments from the narrator at first, it grew really annoying fast and was quite distracting from the actual story. It just was not my type unfortunately.

So many fun unexpected little twists and turns, a perfect addition to my favorite subgenre of whimsical alt historical reads packed with hilarity, pearl-clutching, and various creatures.

Exciting hijinks and magic abounds in this one. All the characters felt well-rounded and the mystery was intriguing from start to finish. I can't get enough of queer magical "historical" fiction!