If you're in the market for a slow moving, lyrical novel set in early 1900s Paris and Russia, then check this book out! The writing within is ethereal and magical, and the story is (while slow at times) but completely immersive! I loved that we got an animal companion in Marmalade the cat!

The story follows The Enchantresses, Celeste, Helene, and Sylvie, thieves and con artists who find themselves immersed in a magical salon where making and selling dreams unleashes a fantastical battle between good and evil.

If that sounds good to you, I strongly recommend this book!

The writing is absolutely beautiful, this book is definitely for fans of descriptive and immersive prose. I found it to be too long and the gorgeous writing was propping the story up a bit for me. I can see this being another book that people either really love or don't care for at all.

3.5/5 rounded up

Thank you Orbit for the ARC!

The three Enchantresses—Céleste, Honoré, and Sylvie—scrape a living with a variety of cons. They are forgers. They are liars. They are fighters. They can absolutely fend for themselves, thank you very much. But then one night at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées for an unforgettable performance of The Rite of Spring becomes Céleste’s gateway into a literally magical world of Sancts and imaginers. The Enchanted Lies of Céleste Artois, by Ryan Graudin, follows Céleste and her compatriots into an epic fight for the soul of Paris itself. This book is glorious.

Early in the book, Céleste learns that she is dying of tuberculosis. In 1913, years before a reliable treatment was available, it’s just a matter of time before she succumbs. She doesn’t tell her fellow Enchantresses. Instead, she decides to join the charming thief, Rafe García, who she met during the wild night at the Théâtre in a desperate scheme. If they can steal something from the magical Fée Verte’s (named for the spirit some artists found in absinthe) salon for the green fairy’s equally magical but much more sinister nameless enemy, Rafe can be un-cursed and Céleste will live. At least, they hope so. The nameless magician is mercurial and not afraid to threaten his pair of thieves.

While Céleste and Rafe lie and smuggle and forge their way deeper into the Fée Verte’s vault of magical creations, Sylvie and Honoré become the Fée Verte’s allies. Sylvie has a natural gift for bringing unlikely things to life (she imagines a blue elephant that serves smoky cocoa). Her bright mind is a shot of tonic for the Fée Verte. Honoré’s violence leads to her transformation into a would-be knight. Céleste, Rafe, Honoré, and Sylvie’s regular trips to the Fée Verte’s salon are graced by appearances from Jean Cocteau, the Duchesse d’Uzès, and Guillaume Apollinaire.

It’s not hard to work out which side is the righteous one in this fight. Where the nameless man (maybe?) uses his magic to hurt, threaten, and amass power, the Fée Verte fosters the creativity of the artists and writers who find her salon. Her only price is an idea or two to maintain a salon where any thought can come to life if the person who imagined it can believe strongly enough. Initially, everything is blue elephants and dresses of midnight and animated dragon sculptures but, before long, the cold war between the two magicians heats up. Not only is this a fight to the death for the two of them, it’s also a fight for the soul of Paris, the City of Light.

I was hooked on The Enchanted Lies of Céleste Artois from page one. I was so hooked on this book, in fact, that I tried to slow down and take breaks so that the experience of reading it would last longer. This book is a marvel of imagination. The characters are amazing; I absolutely fell in love with them. I adored the way that Graudin blended real history—Sylvie’s friendship with Anastasia and Alexei Romanov and fights with Grigori Rasputin, and Honoré’s transformation into the Angel of Mons—into the plot. I honestly cannot say enough good things about this book. Get your hands on a copy as soon as it hits the shelves!

“Dreaming is surviving.”
“The Enchanted Lies of Céleste Artois” is best read at night for a more magical experience. It is true that this book is a mix of “The Night Circus’ ” whimsical magic and lyrical writing style; and “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue’s” journey of a girl in Paris. Celeste, Honoré, and Sylvie are the Enchantresses and they do what they have to in order to survive. They stumble upon a unique magical underground in Paris, and get swept into dangerous deals and magical dreams to protect. This story packs some fun surprises in the shape of a certain phantom from the opera and a Russian grand duchess. This book was slow-paced at times and, to me, it was trying to achieve too much. I believe this story could have been trimmed down in order to focus the plot more narrowly. That being said, I am excited to see what this author does next!

For those who love:
✨Found Family
✨Historical Fantasy
✨Magic
✨Traitorous Deals
✨Fake Dating

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Thank you Netgalley and Redhook Books for approving my e-arc request. Unfortunately this book was more miss than hit for me. The writing was good, by which I mean it was was pretty but not the easiest to comprehend, and the pacing was too slow for my liking.

Title: The Enchanted Lies of Céleste Artois
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy
Pub Date: August 27, 2024
📖 622 pages

Set in 1900s Paris
Multiple POV
Deal with the Devil
LGBTQ+ Representation
Con Artists + Forgery
Stealing Dreams + Ideas
Enchanted Objects
Fairies, Seers + Sancts
Fake Dating


My Review:

The Enchanted Lies of Céleste Artois is a beautiful story about the power of friendship, love and big dreams. We get two beautiful love stories, a young orphan finding her way, talking cats, tangible dreams, enchanted objects and so much more!

I was really excited about this book and somewhere in the middle I feared it wasn't going to be what I hoped BUT it was worth reading to the end! I got a little lost because there's SO MUCH going on, but the writing is absolutely beautiful and I'm so glad I finished it! Now that I've finished it, I'm thankful for the sweet love stories and extra POV that were included, I just have a short attention span😅

Thank you so much NetGalley and Orbit/Redhook for the digital review copy ❣️

I want to classify this as a case of its-me-not-the-book because I was hesitant from the jump due to nature of the book and it's peers mentioned in the synopsis. I am not a fan of too much whimsical, flowery writing. Give me a concrete plot and palpable feelings. I knew this wouldn't be that but I also know I'm in love with anything Ryan Graudin writes and she has the power to convert me so I had to read The Enchanted Lies of Céleste Artois. For a good minute, I was enchanted. I was in the gulf of magical Paris, surrounded by smoke and glitter. It was working well... until it didn't. It lost it's allure so fast. Suddenly Celeste was making stupid decisions, Helene became more interesting than her, the guy Rafe's mysterious aura turned out to be fake. I was over it and it wasn't ending. All to say, I'm disappointed, and not all of it is directed towards Ryan and the book.

I was so excited to read this. Ultimately it just felt really flat and I could not connect with the story. The writing style and imagery was beautiful. There was also random X's on the pages where I couldn't read properly. Ultimately , A DNF at 25%.

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit/Redhook for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions within are my own.

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I was ripe to love this book. Historical fantasy? A tricksy heist heroine? Gimme! The smooth prose and evocative descriptions would only seal the deal, and there were some really neat magical concepts woven into the plot.

So why didn't I love this?

The first culprit was the glacial pace. This book badly needed another developmental editing pass to tighten it. No way in heaven and earth did it need to be that many hundreds of pages (498 in my NetGalley e-reader; 622 in Kindle according to Goodreads.) Things looked like they would pick up around the 70% mark, but didn't <i>actually</i> pick up until 85-90%. And then the denouement dragged on for several chapters which more or less restated one another.

But the bigger problem was the characters. Sylvie was straight-up not believable as an eleven year old, reading far, far younger. The titular Celeste proved overly passive and just not that interesting.

Of the three leads, I came the closest to liking Honore. She felt like the truest protagonist of the book, in that she actually, well, <i>protagged</i>. However, her backstory felt like a cliched trauma checklist, never gelling organically and distancing me from her. I also liked Rafe. ...Actually, I don't really have anything bad to say about Rafe. I liked him and thought he was wasted on the lackluster Celeste.

The villains had all the dimension of cardboard. Graudin liberally borrowed real life historical figures for her secondary cast, but none of them had internality or a character arc, serving as set dressing instead.

Liberal borrowing with no depth proved the undoing of the narrative as well. Graudin heavily references The Phantom of the Opera in her story, trying to interrogate the original narrative by focusing on the Phantom's behavior in a predatory light. But that discourse has already existed for centuries, since Leroux wrote his novel. We meet the historical Romanovs, and their portrayal (along with the use of Rasputin as a villain) falls more in line with Anastasia: The Animated Film than anything either historical or new—not even going as far as the more nuanced and historically plausible, Anastasia: The Musical, based on said film. In short, for a historical fantasy, Enchanted Lies lacks historicity.

But hey, the prose was nice, and there <i>were</i> sections where I cared and wanted to know what happened next. So this book gets three stars rather than two.

Holy crap?? I just stumbled upon the biggest book of the year. This novel was perfectly dazzling.

First of all, the world building was unlike anything I have ever read. I loved how the magic system tied one's imagination with their HAIR. The atmosphere, with the descriptions of buildings, paintings, fairies, etc., was beautiful. Also, the book was centered in Paris during 1913 (aka the "golden age of Paris"), which fit the stunning writing so well. However, the author weaved darker locks of history, like France's place in WW1. Well loved stories were also a large part of the novel, like "The Phantom of the Opera," and "Anastasia."

The novel had multiple perspectives, with the voices of Celesté, Honore, and Sylvie. It really helped in getting to know our protagonists, their desires, and motivations. At its core, this is a story about wanting, power, and art. And cats.

If you are a fan of Erin Morgernstern, or want a novel with the vibes of EMPYREA, this is the book for you. It is truly going to resonant with me for a long time. Thank you to net galley for the ARC!

The Enchanted Lies of Celeste Artois is a gorgeous fantasy set in an alternative 1900s Paris, shimmering with a lyrical prose, whimsical plot, and loving characters.

The story follows The Enchantresses, Celeste, Helene, and Sylvie, thieves and con artists who find themselves immersed in a magical salon where making and selling dreams unleashes a fantastical battle between good and evil that will challenge their hearts, minds, and magic in ways they could have never have imagined...or so they believe.

I can't possibly describe this story as it is too ethereal, as though I were trying to describe a dream landscape. Rich explanations of this world were decadently descriptive, and a bit overwhelming at times. The story is full of sensory details that submerges the reader into its enchanting setting, a bit saccharine but also synesthesia inspired at times. Every aspect of the alternative Paris was described so there was a lot of world building throughout the story that made it feel as though I were peering through a keyhole or walking through an invisible wall into the hidden quarters of a city. Every aspect of Paris took on a magical quality bringing out the inherent spellbinding essence of the Belle Époque era.

The thoughtful and inspired nature of the writing and story created a lot of complexity and detail which forced me to take breaks when reading this book. It was long and a bit slow paced at times, but not enough to deter me. I liked the characters with their eccentricities and back stories which is what made me continue on reading this epic story.

Enchanting and dreamy, imagine cotton candy spooling out of its pages, iridescent words whispering your name, and the taste of sugar on your tongue...this is The Enchanted Lies of Celeste Artois.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book made me feel things I haven't felt since I read The Night Circus. The world of this book is so rich, lush, and vibrant that it practically jumps off the page, with the setting of Paris's magical underground feeling so real that I almost was there. With fantastic characters, an engaging plot, a detailed and imaginative magic system, and just a true sense of fantasy and passion, this is an absolute must read for any lovers of the genre! Highly recommended!

I’m so sad this didn’t work for me!!! I loved the Wolf by Wolf duology by this author and her adult debut sounded amazing!

Unfortunately this book was a struggle for me, and I can’t really pinpoint why. I think it was a mix of the overly descriptive writing style and the flat characters. I found the story convoluted and hard to follow and I also had a hard time differentiating between what was real and what was an illusion.

I’m sure this will be a hit for many, but it was a miss for me. I made it to 70% and skimmed to the end.

The best characters were Sylvie and Marmalade the cat.

A magical and emotional journey through early 1900s Paris. If you love lyrical and immersive worlds/writing, you are sure to like this! At times, the pacing felt a little slow but I didn’t have an issue with it because of how immersed I was in the story and the characters. Speaking of characters, each one is so distinct and well developed. I loved the journey we went on with them as they experienced love and heartbreak. I especially loved little Sylvie! I adored the historical connections in this book too! The Phantom of the opera references were wonderful. I loved getting to explore Russia and the grand duchess Anastasia. This book is full of magic both whimsical and dark. I loved seeing both aspects of it. I highly recommend this book and am so glad I got the chance to read it! I enjoyed it so very much. I mean how could you not enjoy a book with talking cats in it? I will be thinking about this book for a long time. The magic system was so interesting. I have never read anything like it. An incredibly memorable and unique story!