The narrators did a great job bringing this story to life.

I enjoyed the story but did find it to be very slow. There were many times I wanted to stop listening because I felt the story was not moving forward. I am happy I continued listening. But I did struggle through it.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. This is my voluntary honest review.

3 stars for A Crown of Ivy and Glass.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and while I am happy I read it and will continue with the series, I did feel it fell a little flat. I found the main character a little annoying and I just never found myself getting invested in the love story. The world building was interesting, the progression of the plot was decent and I do look forward to seeing how to author continues since the ending set the stage well for a sequel.

DNF @27%

This has so much potential and I wanted to love it, but I'm spending most of my time being irritated and it's too long of a book for that. That said, this feels like TikTok fodder and there are people who will probably eat it up. The problem is that what I think this author does well isn't what this imprint and I assume these editors are leaning into.

So on the one hand, we have a main character dealing with severe chronic pain and mental health challenges- which feels real and raw, and often thoughtfully done. In fact, because of panic attacks that cause her to lose time, she's also an unreliable narrator. Which could be interesting. But then that's paired with a romance that's trying way too hard to be "sexy" at inopportune times and without doing the emotional work to make it feel earned and actually sexy.

We have a main character who isn't infantilized or stereotyped because of her disabilities, but she is pretty insufferable. Selfish and reckless, not caring about how she infringes on other people's consent magically. Because the love interest is an empath who can control what people feel. Which raises all sorts of questions about consent that so far aren't being truly engaged with. And while it becomes this interesting dynamic because he can take away her pain (it feels like this might be a stand-in for what's going to be addiction or over-reliance on drugs or something), it is also being used for plot convenience that makes me really not like either of them.

On top of which there are some holes in the world-building that I might gloss over if I was having fun, but instead they stand out because I'm not. It's disappointing because there's a world in which this could have been a book I would love, but based on what I've read and reviews, I don't think this is what I want from Legrand and it's just too long of a book to stick it out when I'm not enjoying it. Your mileage may vary. The audio narration is fine, I don't have strong feelings either way. I received an audio review copy via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

This was a really difficult read for me and long. I love the setting and characters. The voice in the audiobook is stunning. My biggest issue is the storyline I felt like there isn’t a plot line. I feel like there should be. What is the endgame or goal? I really love the regency era vibes with witches/curses! I love Claire Legrand’s writing and it feel like you’re in Bridgerton. I’m hoping the sequel has a better plot line from the other sister’s POV.

Thank you to LJ and Dreamscape Media for this advanced audiobook copy of A Crown of Ivy and Glass.
I enjoyed this novel about Gemma and her family, friends, and love, Talon. Legrand shows that courage does not equate to fearlessness and that overcoming pain doesn't have to be done alone. Legrand leaves readers/listeners with a cliffhanger that will leave them wanting to read the next book. However, Legrand also provides enough closure for the end of the book that will satisfy those who don't enjoy reading series.
Readers should also know that self-harm is discussed.
This is a fantasy romance with several graphic sex scenes.

A Crown Of Ivy and Glass is Legrand's adult fantasy romance debut, and I definitely intend to continue the series as they come out! Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an ARC of the audio in exchange for an honest review.
Gemma was born into a powerful magical family, but she is without abilities. In fact, being around magic makes her incredibly sick, so she goes through her life with chronic pain, as well as anxiety and depression. When Talan, a mysterious but attractive man, proposes to help Gemma settle a family feud by seeking out the Demon who caused it, Gemma is sucked into a world more dangerous, where the secrets of the world and her own past are exposed.
Firstly, I loved this narrator and thought she did an amazing job.
Secondly, this is being advertised as Bridgerton meets ACOTAR and I can definitely see the correlation (although I think comparing your book to two highly beloved series is asking for backlash). It has the extravagant parties and gowns and beauty of Bridgerton with the unexpectedly dark fantastical elements like ACOTAR.
For an adult debut, the main character did read fairly YA. However, I loved Gemma for all her flaws and representation. The anxiety in particular is something I loved to see represented in this way. We do get character growth out of her (thank goodness), and I felt it made sense for her character. She was one of my favorite parts of this story.
My second favorite part was how dark and twisted it got, especially when it came to the fantasy elements. There are demons and other unworldly creatures, hallucinations that feel so well written, and all the twisty goodness of unraveling several mysteries at once.
For me personally, the romance was a little hit or miss. Some moments I believed in it- could see it growing and burning. And for some reason, other times it fell flat. There was a large middle section really engulfed mostly by the two's desire for each other & a tease for a romance between them, and because there was so little plot development during that fairly large bulk of the book (or so it felt to me at least), it started to bore me (possibly because I was more invested in the mystery and secrets to be fair).
I think this world was crafted with care, and I thoroughly enjoyed it & cannot wait to read more by Legrand!

This book is a saga within itself. The world is grand and the characters are dynamic. This being the beginning of a new series, I can only imagine how large the rest of the series will be.
I enjoyed the audiobook version. The narrator was perfect for a courtesan without magic in a world of magic and dynasties.
While I did call one twist, the book, Claire Legrand created twists and turns that I could have never seen coming. I enjoyed the journey she takes us through and I can't wait to see what happens next.
The title and the cover though, annoy me. It feels like it's cashing in on the latest trend from a successful book series.

I liked this narrator and felt they did a good job. Now the story....

I have mixed feelings about this book. There were times I really enjoyed the characters and moments where they made me mad. The plot seemed everywhere, but I did enjoyed the action scenes. Gemma and Talan started out good but towards the end I'm not sure how I really felt about the them.

Being the sickly child because magic makes you ill is uncomfortable to say the least in a world full of magic. But what if magic makes you sick because of something your parents had done to you when you were young. Family secrets revealed and true love found in this magically driven story.

The premise of A Crown of Ivy and Glass is that Lady Gemma Ashbourne is the belle of the ball in all areas of her life: she's beautiful, she's wealthy, and she knows her way around every social situation ever. (Think season 1 Daphne from Bridgerton). The world is her oyster, and she lets everyone know it, but internally, she's suffering from depression, anxiety, and self-harm. Her mother seemingly abandoned the family, her sister Mara was forced into military service (in Gemma's place, no less), and her remaining sister and her father treat her as if she's a fool--a fool made of glass. Then, a dashing stranger shows up and turns her world upside down. She's (almost) instantly smitten with Talan d'Astier; he's the only survivor of his family, the rest of whom sullied the family name by consorting with a demon before their deaths, and Talan is determined to repair their damage and restore his status in polite society. Gemma and Talan strike a mutually beneficial bargain: Talan will help Gemma destroy her family's rivals, the Basks, and Gemma will help Talan boost his reputation. But when attacks on their land begin to increase, their bargain becomes the least of either of their worries.

I just couldn't bring myself to care about anyone (other than Gemma's dog, Una), no matter what happened. My greatest issues are with Gemma: she's petulant and fickle, childish, and weak minded. While we love a stubborn female main character, Gemma is entirely selfish, and lets that cloud her judgment. She asks things of people with no thought to what it may cost them, and when it inevitably backfires, she's gaslighty about it. And don't get me started on how she is with Talan: she will "hate him forever," then she is immediately in love with him, then she can't stand to look at him, then her loins quake with need for him. Barf. Actual barf. 

I'm not an insta-love girlie, okay? I need a semi-slow burn at the very least. This book is not that, at all. Not even a little bit.

And I understand that love and life are not black and white, and that some betrayals can be forgiven because relationships are complex. But Gemma's internal monologue and Gemma's actions are often very contradictory in a confusing way.

There are a few spicy scenes, but they felt...so weird. It was almost as if they were written by a middle schooler, or like someone who didn't have much...experience, if you catch what I'm saying. This book reads very much like a YA until a character throws out a "take that c*ck" comment that just doesn't flow at all. It was cringy and awkward and not at all what I think the author was trying to achieve. For most of those scenes, I had the Chrissy Teigen grimace on my face--it was just so uncomfortable. Oh, and they happen at the strangest, most inopportune times. Think: Rhys and Feyre in the war camp level awkwardness.

And don't get me started on Talan. I hated him from the second he appeared. He's manipulative and dishonest and gives big Tamlin from ACOTAR energy. Even when it's right in her face that she can't trust him, though, Gemma is going to talk herself out of everything she's been pronouncing about him for days. All he has to do is quirk an eyebrow and she loses any semblance of common sense she's mustered up since his last betrayal and the inevitable forgiveness.

I'm saying it now: I bet Gemma truly ends up with Ryder Bask. There's a longstanding family rivalry, but I just get vibes that there's more to Ryder than we've seen so far, and I believe that we'll have a Tamlin/Rhys situation happen in later books.

As far as the plot: for me, it felt all over the place. I truly felt like this book took the plots of four books and smushed them up into one. I really struggled to understand how Gemma went from working with Talan to suddenly being indoctrinated into a group of "wild women" 100 miles from where she lived, and them claiming her as one of their own/her pledging to break their curses. It felt like a fever dream, honestly.

As an aside: the audiobook narrator, Evelyn Rose, does a wonderful job of capturing Gemma in all of her moods, as well as the voices and personalities of the other characters. I will definitely seek out more books narrated by her!

This is absurd, but I'm DNFing at 87%. Part of me is so disappointed in myself for that, but I have to practice what I preach: you do not have to finish a book that isn't for you.

Read that again.

You do not have to finish a book that isn't for you.

Even if it's highly anticipated.
Even if other people loved it.
Even if it's by an author you usually enjoy.
Even if you're close to the end of it.

If you are not enjoying a book, then you do not have to finish it. Point blank, period.

So, this was a DNF for me. I just did not enjoy it, and was tired of making myself feel like I was wasting time that could be spent on books on the never-ending TBR.

Before I leave you, I want to point out that, other than the spicy scenes being cringy, I'm not at all saying that this book was badly written. Claire Legrand does an excellent job at descriptive writing: you never wonder what things look like, or how the main character is feeling. It just wasn't for me. I'm sure that there are people out there who will absolutely love this Bridgerton/ACOTAR mashup, and that's wonderful!

I was really excited to jump back into the realm of all things Claire Legrand with this book! I went into it with no expectations really other than the fact that it was fantasy and instead of it being YA like the Lightbringer series, it was NA.

The book was just a touch too long for my liking, especially when it felt like the plot delved into a few different paths that at times were tricky to follow. The plot itself was cute and intriguing, which hooked me just enough that I got right to the end of it. But other than that I feel a little let down by what I read. My hopes are that book two gets into this plot a little more and explains all the things I was confused about during my first read of the book.

All in all, it was a great plot, but it definitely needed to be fleshed out a little more for me to really fall in love with it. Fingers crossed that book two will really get me into it!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I stuck through to the end with this one, greatly hoping for some kind of character development to justify slogging through such an unlikable cast of characters for so many chapters. Unfortunately, I never found any of the characters to be compelling or interesting. Even the world felt trite - the same generic medieval England setting with random magic thrown in. Note: I listened to the audio version and the narrator did a decent job with the material she was given.

Story: Gemma Ashbourne not only doesn't have magic - she has debilitating reactions when magic is used around her. So she throws herself into parties and social events and amuses herself with her own vanity. When she meets another nobleman, Talan d'Astier, she falls madly in love and throws herself at him. Together, they hope to topple a rival family through evil deeds and glorify in their destruction. But Talen has secrets of his own and something dark is building out in the evil mist.

The book was far too long and really needed a good editor to mercy kill whole chunks of uninteresting or repetitive dialogue and situations. At 560 pages (and a large amount of hours of audio listening), we have to hear the same inner monologues by the main character over and over, watch in excruciating detail as she does pointless, vain, or dangerous things (with a VERY strong "too stupid to live" syndrome throughout), and otherwise be very unlikable. Her love interest, Talan, is equally unpleasant: there was enough melodrama between the two of them to fill a black hole. And like a black hole, all pathos was sucked in as well.

There are some overarching plots that will involve her two (also insufferable) sisters. I didn't like either of them enough in this first book to want to read their stories in future volumes in the series. Of course, we have a unique snowflake situation with Gemma and the requisite level up in powers. Even that was so overwritten as to be dead on arrival and unable to save the plot.

In all, I think the biggest disappointment was the lack of character development. No one in the book ever turned into a person I wanted to follow, cheer, or invest my time into exploring. The story was dreary, superficial, mean spirited, and lacking nuance, heart, and emotion. Sometimes anti-heroes can be interesting but they need to be written that way purposefully. From all the melodrama in this book, I get the impression that wasn't the case here and we were supposed to respect and root for protagonist Gemma. I certainly felt no interest in her emo boyfriend.

The audio narration is fine and the story is easy enough to follow despite being so many hours. In fact, I found I could drift off and have a conversation and then come back to the story with no issues at all. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

A very repetitive start, a storyline that didn't seem to want to flow nicely unfortunately wasn't a read that I loved.

3.5
The beginning was very engaging and entertaining and I felt like the story resembled my life. Then about 30 -40 % it lost its plot and unfortunately I found myself getting distracted and I lost the engagement. There were definitely parts that brought me back in , however there was more filler than an actual story. I wanted a little bit more from this story. Bummer. Hopefully the next one will flow more easily.

5 star romance. 3.5 star fantasy.

For me this was a no think-y romance book with a fantasy subplot.

Firmly NA. TW: anxiety, self-harm, physical abuse

I enjoyed this a lot more than Furyborn. The plot was much easier to follow even if it was maybe less fantastically complex. It's a very engaging read with likable characters.

Some of the plot points were a little convenient, but I was really just reading it for the romance.

Overall, I recommend it as a pallet-cleansing book. It got me out of my reading slump.

Pretty long but it has a really compelling story. I was afraid to like the MMC at first but I'm glad I did! Lots of twists to the story to get where we were going but I like where we ended

I DNF'd this. The FMC was very whiney and selfish she focused on beauty and immediately disrespected her sister telling her to stay put because she wasn't done talking even though there is zero% chance she will talk to you when she's literally fighting. I had high hopes for this as I saw a mutual love it but writing ya characters and adding sex doesn't make it properly adult. Also the audio arc at least was a very poor quality and had a eco.

I loved this world! The Regency period and dark faerie tale vibes were beautifully combined. I came in anticipating Half A Soul with a more high fantasy feel, which did kind of hold, but this book is certainly grimmer and more otherworldly, with a dash of unsettling, which I think many readers will enjoy.

1.5 Stars

I really wanted to like this one, but I can’t say that I did... at all. It was a shame because I still have fond memories of Legrand’s Empirium trilogy.

I was uninterested for the majority of this book, and unfortunately considered putting it down many times.

My main gripe with this book was the characters as I found myself more invested in random side characters compared to the main ones. The biggest issue I had was, unfortunately, with our main character, Gemma. She started off as an utterly unlikable individual who was overly concerned with appearances and who continuously and selfishly indulged in the privilege she was afforded at the expense of others. She also appeared frivolous and immature, and couldn’t seem to understand the consequences of her actions until it was too late and the damage (mostly to other people) was done. Frustratingly, by the end of the book she was only marginally more tolerable and so it was difficult to truly feel bad for her. The main love interest, Talan, was not too much better. I couldn’t seem to muster up any enthusiasm for his character. I also wasn’t a fan of the immediacy of Gemma and Talan’s relationship, nor their frustrating quarrels. Furthermore, I also found their intimacy to be quite cringeworthy at times.

For an adult novel, this read too much like YA and it felt excessively long. I could have overlooked this had it otherwise been engaging and enjoyable, but unfortunately it was not.

In saying all of this, I didn’t mind Mara as a character, and I think her perspective and her story might have actually had the potential to be compelling.

I will also say that I did really appreciate the chronic pain representation in this book and think that it was handled very well.

Unfortunately, I was relieved to reach the conclusion of this book.

I liked Legrand's Empirium series but this new from her new series is quite dragging. The characters are not likable. The more they engage, the more the story gets dull and dragging.

Legrand's writing style is good but the overall theme of this book is quite generic and very repetitive for young adult fantasy stories.