4 STARS! 🌟 Huge thanks to PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Viking Books for Young Readers for the ARC via NetGalley! 💌

✨ Deadly trials. Magic. Family betrayal. Old money meets high stakes. LET’S GO! ✨

From author Alwyn Hamilton comes a glitzy, cutthroat YA fantasy that’s basically The Inheritance Games—but with even more murder, magic, and messy, backstabbing family drama. And I was eating it UP.

🔪 WHO WILL BE THE NEXT HEIRESS? LET THE VERITAZ TRIALS BEGIN. 🔪

Sixteen-year-old Honora "Nora" Holtzfall has it all—wealth, power, a legacy that shapes the entire country. But when her mother is murdered, the throne (and all the magic that comes with it) is suddenly up for grabs. Enter the Veritaz Trials. A brutal, high-stakes competition where only one heir can win.

BUT WAIT. Plot twist. Lotte enters the chat.

Lotte, aka the hidden, illegitimate cousin, was raised in a convent with ZERO clue that she’s Holtzfall blood. Now, she’s yanked into this ruthless world and thrown into the trials against a family that wants her dead.

💰 Magic and money rule everything. But there’s something darker bubbling beneath the surface... and a revolution is brewing.

🔥 WHAT I LOVED:

✧ Nora & August’s dynamic?? 🔥 RICH GIRL × REBELLIOUS JOURNALIST WITH TENSION. I WAS LIVING.

✧ The trials were NOT just your basic fight-to-the-death setup. They tested honesty, courage, and unity. Every moment, I was like 😧 “Oh no, what’s next?”

✧ ROARING ‘20s meets modern fantasy?? Yes, please. The mix of magic, wealth, and a city on the brink of chaos was immaculate.

✧ THE FAMILY DRAMA. Everyone was scheming, no one could be trusted, and I was OBSESSED.

👀 WHAT I STRUGGLED WITH:

✧ There were A LOT of characters and shifting POVs. Took a hot minute to keep track of everyone.

✧ The worldbuilding was a little confusing at times—are we in a fantasy world?? A futuristic one?? WHY ARE THERE CARS AND MAGIC??? My brain was working overtime.

✧ CLIFFHANGER ENDING. 😭 JUST WHEN IT GOT EVEN JUICIER. I NEED BOOK 2 IMMEDIATELY.

✨ READ IF YOU LOVE:

🖤 Deadly inheritance battles between cousins
🥂 Champagne & high society parties hiding dark secrets
🖤 Magic-powered industry & blood-fueled spells
🥂 Tension-filled rich girl × rebellious journalist romance
🖤 Trials that test virtue & inner demons
🥂 Hidden secrets, family betrayals, & cutthroat ambition

Overall?? This book was a WILD, DRAMATIC, MAGICAL RIDE. If you love stories packed with glamour, power struggles, and a touch of murder, this one’s for you. Just be ready for that cliffhanger. 😭

Can’t wait for book 2! ✨

The Notorious Virtues is a beast of a story. Multiple POV’s, lots of moving pieces, and a ton of backstory. The world is different than anything I’ve read before. It is set in a fantasy world that gives off 1920’s real world vibes with magic.

One thing that’s hard for me to get into is it being written in 3rd person. I would have loved to see this done in 1st person instead. However, I love a book with multiple POV’s. The different perspectives is a win for me; especially Nora and August. I also love the history that is placed throughout.

Overall this was a great read. It is perfectly paced and the plot twists and trials keep you hooked. A YA fantasy that is sure to be loved by several audiences.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers for this ARC opportunity. This is an honest review.

The Notorious Virtues is Alwynn Hamilton’s long awaited return to writing and I can definitely say that the wait was worth it! I loved this book. I was honestly a little hesitant going into this story, but it delivered again and again. There is murder, political scheming, a little romance, rebellion, betrayal, magic, and did I mention scheming?

The story is told in 4 POVs, Nora, Lottie, Theo, and August. Nora is the spoiled and favored heir of the Holtzfall family. This family is the center of all wealth, magic, and power in the entire kingdom. When Nora’s mother turns up dead, her spot as the next heiress is up for grabs. Nora and all her cousins must fight in a magical competition to prove their virtue to determine the Holtzfall successor. Lottie is an illegitimate daughter of Nora’s aunt, who is thrust from a brutal convent into the magical and dangerous world of the competition. Theo is a Rydder Knight, sworn and magically bound to protect the Holtzfall family at all costs. August is a reporter out to find the truth of the murder while struggling to make ends meet.

This book is kind of a beast as far as YA fantasy books go. There is a lot of world building and lore, especially at the beginning, but I didn’t feel like it was dumped on me. There are snippets of the mythology sprinkled throughout the story that helped explain stuff without slowing things down. The setting felt like a 1920s/Jazz Era and the culture of parties and fashion as seen through the two FMCs was a wonderful way to showcase the class divide in the kingdom. The pacing took a while to get settled, but by the end I was staying up till 2am just wanting more. And the ending! I cannot wait for the next book!

Huge thank you to Alwynn Hamilton, Viking and Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for the advance copy! 🩷

This book was such a fun book to read. I loved the murder mystery element of the book mixed with the trials, along with the all the plot twists. I would rate this book a solid 4 stars.

Nora has spent her whole life being “trained” to be the future heiress to the Holtzfall fortune, but when her mother is suddenly murdered she gets through into the Veritaz trials to fight for the heirship.
Lotte is an orphan who has lived in a covent after her parents abandoned her, where she was abused for being not being “virtuous”. Suddenly, she gets taken to Walstad where she finds her mother has been living lavishly and she gets thrown into the Veritaz trials to fight for the heirship.

I really liked both of the character arcs that both Nora and Lotte went through. We see Nora turn from a spoiled rich girl to someone who is eager to see Walstad change for the better. Lotte grows from a girl who is uncertain who she and so badly wants to fit into her family to a girl who is secure with who she is and is not afraid to stand up for the truth, even if it means loosing people in the process.

My favorite part of the story is how Nora and Lotte come together and fight the trials together. Nora helps Lotte in trying to find her birth father, while Lotte helps Nora get to the bottom of her mother’s murder. This friendship helps each girl grow for the better. 

I loved the ending of the story, and did not see most of the plot twists coming! I will definitely be reading book 2!

The only part of the book that I would change is the POVs. I think that having Theo and August was a little unnecessary and would have been a stronger story if the POVs were only Nora and Lotte.

I'm always going to be here for anything Alwyn writes and I loved the synopsis on this one.

There are a lot of characters, a lot of moving pieces, and a lot of backstory. It took a while for the story to really get moving (and it's sort of a beast at 500+ pages), but once it's set up, the story just flows.

I'm being vague on purpose because spoilers, but know that after the ending, my eyeballs will be on book 2 as soon as they can be.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the arc free of charge**

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in advance.
This ended up being a really enjoyable book but the first half was a struggle. Even tho there were things happening, it was really slow paced. I thought about DNFing around 100 pages in and then 200 pages in but I pushed through and didn't cause I really loved the premise of the book and the 100 and 200 pages I've read, even tho it was reeeally slow paced, I loved the world building, the magic system, I was liking some characters specially Nora and Lotte and I knew it had potencial to become better.
So I pushed through and the 2nd half of the book it started picking up. Things starting happening more quickly as were approaching less pages till the end of book. I gotta say I loved how the trials were made. Normally when there's trials, the partipants are enclosed in an arena or other space. I here the idea that they were living their normal lives and the trial could appear at any moment of any day was a new for me and it was great cause I was just as surprised as the characters when a trial appeared out of nowhere. Oh and I can't forget to say that in despise Mercy Holtzfall with all my being!!!
There were some twists near the end that were good. One of them I saw coming, the other I didn't but honestly I wasn't surprised from who it was coming.
I'm curious to see what will happen next after that last chapter.
Its a 3.5 stars for me. It's slow paced but I definitely recommend it for the magic, the characters and the world building.

Thanks to Netgalley and Viking for eARC!

Age Group: 12 and up, 7th grade and up.
Cover: 4
POV: Third person via Lotte (16), Nora (16), Theo (?), August (17) – told in 9 parts, 83 chapters + epilogue; non-linear, includes a folk/fairy-tale woven throughout. Includes a mini family tree (wish it were full, the lore is fascinating).

Setting: Fictional cities. Future melded with past type world; there are magic, charms, mind-reading, scrying, immortal beings, enchanted items, but also newspapers, servants, knights, typewriters, trolls, etc. Themes of classism and racism, too. Especially classism. World building is decent, I enjoyed it.

I mostly liked the writing style, it's just that there were enough typos to be distracting. It's quite jarring to have to stop and report on Kindle as frequently as I did. Sometimes the writing got lazy with repeated words (jerked, roared vs other verbs, etc) or sentences. And far too many sentences starting with "and", or, "and then". That also became distracting. Kudos for a *suuuuper* subtle romance, and I didn't see twists coming. Major cliffhanger ending that, if the story hooked you, makes you chomping at the bit for the next book to release. I found enough enjoyment in the story to see what comes next.

4 stars overall, but 2 stars for the amount of typos.

Book: The Notorious Virtues
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Faber and Faber, for sending me an ARC. This is a new to me author. While I have heard of Alwyn and her works, I have never read anything by her. I must say that I was very surprised at how much fun I had while reading this. This is fantasy set in somewhat of a modern world, with a society on the verge of collapse, and a deadly game. It is an amazing set-up.

Sixteen-year-old Honora “Nora” Holtzfall has spent her life in the spotlight as the daughter of Walstad’s most powerful heiress. With her family’s wealth and magic shaping the nation, she’s always been at the center of it all—yet she’s never truly felt like she belongs. When her mother is found dead in a dark alley, the family’s legacy is suddenly up for grabs, forcing Nora into the Veritaz, a ruthless magical competition that will determine the next heir. But this year, there’s an unexpected challenger: Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora’s aunt. Raised in obscurity in a rural convent, Lotte never imagined she had a place in the Holtzfall family—until her estranged mother pulls her into a world of wealth, danger, and relatives who would rather see her dead than let her claim power. As Nora begins to uncover the truth behind her mother’s murder, she’s forced into an uneasy alliance with a sharp-tongued reporter who loathes everything her family represents. Meanwhile, Lotte searches for the identity of her father, all while navigating the treacherous Veritaz and her growing feelings for Theo, one of the Holtzfall guards sworn to protect the family—but not her. With deadly trials, life-altering choices, and betrayal at every turn, both girls must fight for their futures. But in the Veritaz, there can only be one winner.
There’s just something about a high-stakes competition that makes for a compelling read, and The Notorious Virtues delivers on that front. It reminded me a bit of The Hunger Games, but with a decadent, high-society twist. Instead of districts fighting for survival, we have an elite family battling for the ultimate prize—the role of heir. For years, Nora Holtzfall assumed that position was hers. She was raised in luxury, always knowing she was destined to inherit her family’s power, wealth, and magic. But when her mother is brutally murdered, everything changes.
Now, the inheritance is up for grabs, and the Veritaz—a brutal, magic-infused competition—will determine who claims it. Nora must face off against her ambitious and ruthless cousins, each of them just as determined to win as she is. But what should have been a predictable power struggle takes a shocking turn when a new challenger enters the arena. Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora’s aunt, emerges from obscurity, raised in a convent far from the world of wealth and power. She’s an outsider, an unknown factor in a game that has always been played among the elite—and most of the family would rather see her dead than let her challenge their claim.
And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also the small matter of murder. Nora soon realizes her mother’s death wasn’t just an unfortunate tragedy—it was deliberate. Someone wanted her out of the way. And with every step deeper into the competition, the more it becomes clear: winning isn’t just about power. It’s about survival.
One of the things that makes The Notorious Virtues stand out is its large cast of characters, something I personally love in fantasy. The Holtzfall family isn’t just a dynasty—they’re a force that controls the entire country. They shape the economy, the magic, and the future. But while they present themselves as the unshakable elite, the cracks in their foundation are showing. They may live in luxury, but they are willing to destroy anyone who threatens their position. Their world is gilded, but beneath the surface, it’s cutthroat, brutal, and full of betrayal.
This expansive cast also allows us to see the stark contrast between the privileged and the oppressed. Nora has always lived in comfort, knowing the world outside her family’s wealth existed but never truly understanding it. That changes when she crosses paths with August, a sharp-witted journalist from one of the lower rings of society. Through him, she comes face-to-face with the reality of the world her family has built—the suffering, the corruption, and the injustice. The people outside her luxurious world aren’t just struggling; they are barely surviving. And the Holtzfalls, the family she has always been so proud to be a part of, are the reason for their suffering.
Between the deadly competition, family betrayals, and rising tensions between the elite and the lower rings, The Notorious Virtues is more than just a battle for inheritance—it’s a fight for truth, power, and survival. The stakes are high, the magic is dangerous, and not everyone will make it out alive.

One thing that made me lower my rating was there were bits that I thought the book kind of dragged on. I am not saying that it is a bad book, but there were parts that seems to slow the overall story down.


As a whole, I did really enjoy this one a lot. If you are looking for a high stakes and fun read, then I encourage you to give this one a go.

This book comes out on April 1, 2025.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/HJp5aVPPP_8

Thank you to Alwyn Hamilton, PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Viking Books for Young Readers, and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Serving murder mystery Succession realness featuring a little magic (definitely encompasses a few genres)! The writing style is perfect for a YA, isn’t too childish or boring for adults, and holds the readers’ attention well. Characterisation was great and the plot flowed well (even if I saw all the twists coming). Will definitely read the rest of the series.

Celebrity high life meets fairy-tale lore and workers’ revolution as murder sparks the latest generation of Holtzfalls to brave the Veritaz trials. The prize? Fame, fortune, superiority over the losing cousins, an order of blood-sworn knights, and the probably corrupting responsibility of maintaining the family’s position at the forefront of society. Paparazzi and magic charms, swords and cars form a unique blend that, while it doesn’t quite hold up to plot scrutiny, makes for a glittering, witty opening act of a multi-generational family drama.

I enjoyed the diverse perspectives brought by the four main characters. Theo and Nora are tied by friendship and ancient magic, while Nora and August clash as only an heiress and threadbare journalist can, bantering toe-to-toe. Through Lotte, we see an outsider longing for family and also not quite liking what she sees, and Theo gets acquainted with many lesser evils.

Part of the Holtzfall family legacy is control over the Rydder knights. Bodyguards with swords in a semi-modern age? Neat. The mind control/compulsion aspect though…not my thing. In this case, it is at least a very effective tool for demonstrating the Holtzfall matriarch’s iron fist on all family affairs.

Alright, let’s talk about the trials. While the story’s strength lies in characters, the witty dialogue doesn’t cover loose sections of the plot. I think this is most evidenced by the Veritaz trials. This event consists of small challenges - or, tests of virtues - which could be anything, anywhere, at anytime. Given the surprise nature, the trials lack the structure to firmly stand as the main plot, and it’s up to the side quests to move things forward. Also, from an in-story perspective, I found myself questioning believability. The trials effectively turn the city into a playground full of collateral for the Holtzfalls (on a somewhat routine basis, too), and everyone is just okay with this? The knights are just, fine with their condition? No two trials are alike, and while there’s imaginative variety, the imbalance between quirky scenarios and life-or-death conflicts makes it easier to be critical of the gravity everyone has attached to the trials. I’m sure some part of it is a critique of the absurdity of the upper crust, but I had lots of questions, which I’m usually ready to dismiss in the face of enjoyable characters.

The Notorious Virtues is a thrilling fantasy with a secret heiress, a murder mystery, a battle for a coveted inheritance, deception, lies, and a power struggle to end all power struggles. It's a high stakes, keep you on the edge of your seat thrill ride.

Honora "Nora" Holtzfall is the daughter of the most powerful heiress in all of Walstad. Her family controls all the money—and all the magic—in the entire country. When her mother is found dead in an alley, the family throne and fortune are suddenly up for grabs, and Nora will be pitted against her cousins in the Veritaz, the ultimate magical competition for power that determines the one family heir.

But there's a surprise contestant this time: Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora's aunt. When Lotte's absent mother retrieves her from the rural convent she'd abandoned her to, Lotte goes from being an orphan to surrounded by family. Unfortunately, most of them want her dead.
And soon, Nora discovers that her mother's death wasn't random—it was murder. And the only person she can trust to uncover the truth of what happened is a rakish young reporter who despises everything Nora and her family stand for.

While the dangers of the Veritaz competition threaten each of the Holtzfall girls, and the stark class differences turns political outrage to terrifing violence—the new cousins must fight to stay alive, no matter what.

I love the characters in this book. We have Lottie and Nora who are from two completely different sides of life; one raised as a filthy rich heiress and the other as a poor orphan in a convent. Yet, despite their differences, they learn to trust each other and work together to achieve their goals. We also have their cousins, who will do anything to win the trials, including lying and manipulating Nora and Lottie. The head of the family, the girls grandmother, is clever, cunning, controlling, and manipulative. She's the character you love to hate.

I also really enjoyed the magic system in this book. There are so many unique elements to the system. I love how each family member uses their magic in a different way. The memory mirrors were very clever as well. The story of the magical being in the forest and how the trials first started makes a great backdrop for the present day story taking place.

Overall I loved this book. The ending was a little jarring because it does leave you with some questions; everything is not completely wrapped up with a bow. You can guess what happened, but it's hard to say for sure. But, The Notorious Virtues is a fantastic book!

This was a great read! It started off slow while the characters are being introduced and the plot is being established but once it gets going, it really gets going! I love a story that makes me second guess my detective skills and this does just that.
This is a captivating story that highlights the disparities between the elite and lower class, family bonds, and one's struggle with feelings of belonging. I would absolutely love to see a part 2!

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review. The Notorious Virtues will (finally) be officially published on April 1st, 2025!

After almost half a decade, I've finally been able to read The Notorious Virtues. I'm not sure what I thought I was expecting going into the story, but it was everything I thought it was going to be, but also not at the same time. There are good parts of the story that I liked, but also way more parts that I wish were developed more or done differently (including a questionable line in the story that's said by one of the main characters, but more on that later).

The first thing I want to get out of the way about this book is that it's very difficult to get into. I wasn't sure what to make of anything at first because you're immediately dropped into the story with no additional context or background. There was no exposition whatsoever. Then, you get a massive info dump a few chapters later explaining the entire Holtzfall family tree and the lore of why they have to have the Veritaz. The family tree is expansive. It was difficult to keep everyone's names straight when almost none of them have normal, "easier" names to remember. I now know why the book is titled The Notorious Virtues- it's because all of the characters' names are some sort of virtue: Clemency, Modesty, Constance, Grace, Verity, Honora, Honor, Prosper... you get the idea. I didn't realize there was a family tree until after I finished reading because the eARC had the family tree at the end of the book. Not sure if it'll be placed at the beginning of the book in the final version but it would've been helpful to see it before I started reading lol.

I also didn't feel like the magic system made 100% sense? I think I kind of know how it works but also not at the same time. So there's the concept of the more money and power you have, the more magic you can have and control, which I suppose makes sense because Nora's ancestors founded the entire city a thousand years ago and made a deal with a magical god that granted them magic and power, so all of Walstad's citizens pay taxes and tariffs on their land and it all falls back to the Holtzfalls. But then I believe there's a part of the story where they say that everyone is born with some amount of magic, but it depletes over time if they use it? So would they just have to be born into wealth to continue using their magic and prevent it from depleting?

There's the concept of "charms" in the story, which is the story's magic system. It sort of reminds me of the runes from the Shadowhunters series where you create a symbol and activate it with magic, and then it works to do things like keep a drink cold, open a door, etc. The book doesn't go into how everyone knows what the symbols look like or how to create a new one. There's a scene where Nora is trying to show Lotte how to activate a charm, and while Nora can create a spark with her magic to activate one, Lotte can only activate one if she draws blood which doesn't make a whole ton of sense because Lotte is a Holtzfall and should have a ton of magic in her. On top of that, I was under the impression that you just had to draw random symbols to make a charm, but then there's another scene where Nora's channeling her inner electrical engineer and working with circuitry to make a brand new charm work?! None of it made 100% sense to me.

In terms of the overall plot, I felt like the Veritaz trials were a subplot to what I thought were supposed to be the actual subplots but then became major plotlines of the story. I'm not sure what I was supposed to expect going into reading this, but I think I was expecting something more along the lines of The Inheritance Games where the trials were the main plot of the story and the mystery aspects--Nora finding out who murdered her mother, Theo finding out what happened to his older brother the night of Nora's mother's death, and Lotte figuring out who her father is--were subplots. The synopsis of the story describes the Veritaz as "the ultimate magic competition" where I expected that they competed in a tournament against each other, kind of like the trials in Powerless, even, but to describe them as "trials" is somewhat generous. They were "tests" more than anything else. They were tests of virtue and a judgement of character, so the "trials" themselves were pretty mundane aside from an occasional rebel attack from the Grims here and there.

Going into the characters themselves, the story is also told in four different POVs: Nora, Lotte, August, and Theo, so I think it would be easier to make this review based on all their POVs:

✧ Nora: I was honestly the most satisfied by her character arc the most. I was pretty wary of her going in because she came off as snooty, entitled, and pompous, but I loved her character development by the end of the story. She's selfless, clever, loves her friends, and driven to discover what happened to her mother. She went from someone who accepted her wealth and took advantage of it to further herself to wanting to use her power and influence for more.

✧ Lotte: I was rooting for her the entire time because she was an underdog. I love a good underdog story and I think her POV delivered on that. She was hated by her family immediately after she arrived, but proved all of them wrong in her own way. They forced her to be prim and proper, but she knew that she was more than that, as much as she loved the glittering ballgowns and parties.

✧ August: I thought August wasn't going to be the one-dimensional character, but he ended up as that by the time I finished reading the book. I feel like way more could've been done with his character beyond him being just the journalist chasing another headline. I liked how he challenged Nora and her views about her wealth and power and motivated her to be more than what her family expects of her, but that was pretty much about it when it comes to his character.

✧ Theo: Theo, I owe you an apology. I wasn't really familiar with your game. I almost hated what Alwyn Hamilton did to his character. He was so one-dimensional for the vast majority of the story. He's part of the Rydder family, a family of knights who have served the Holtzfall family for as long as they've been around. They're oathbound to serve the Holtzfalls and nothing else. Most of his lines were along the lines of "I HAVE TO DO WHAT I'M TOLD BECAUSE A RYDDER KNIGHT NEVER BREAKS HIS OATH!" and it drove me crazy. Like Nora, he has a similar subplot where he tries to find out what happened to Alaric, his older brother, who was with Nora's mom the night she died; he mysteriously disappeared and wasn't found after her death. His character development I think was my second favorite's after Nora's as he struggles between duty and what he truly wants to do.

Honestly, I don't understand why Theo and August had to have POVs, or at the very least, why August needed to have one. Nora and Lotte were the leading ladies and I loved watching them grow and connect with each other during the trials and get closer to each other. They started off as rivals, but learned to accept each other into their family. Additionally, I felt like the romance between Lotte and Theo was forced. I didn't really feel any chemistry between them, but that was probably because Theo's head was so far up his own ass about wanting to never break his oath as a knight.

Last but not least, I just wanted to mention a few other things about the book overall that made me a little uneasy/uncomfortable:

✧ The classism and elitism: This was inevitable considering that the Holtzfalls are like, the top 0.000001% of the 1%, and their views on the middle and lower classes in their city are unfavorable, to put it mildly. There's one specific line in the eARC that goes, "Jobs were for needy people. As in people who needed money. Not Holtzfalls." and that line called me broke in 5 million different ways. Given today's current climate when it comes to social injustice and the class divides, the dialogue between some of the Holtzfalls I thought was extremely tone deaf and out of touch. I know it's there to show how wealthy the Holtzfalls really are, but I was taken back by how much of it there was throughout the story. (I'm just glad that the main characters at the very least are self-aware and want something to change.)

✧ This one specific quote: I didn't mention this before because I didn't think it would be relevant until this point, but I think now would be a good time to mention that all of the Holtzfalls have light skin and blonde hair. I wouldn't be surprised if they had blue or brown eyes to go with it. Nora, on the other hand, is mixed. She's half white (via her mother's side) and half Middle Eastern (via her father's side). However, Nora takes after her father's traits with dark hair and dark tan skin. There's a line somewhere in the eARC where one of her cousins says, "She's too foreign to be pretty" in reference to Nora. Like....what in the racism!?!?!? That alone knocked off one star from my rating.

Aside from all of that, I think this series has a lot of potential. We're left with a cliffhanger at the end of the story and I was left with more questions than answers. I want to know what happens next! I know this is only book 1 of a trilogy, so hopefully we get more answers sooner rather than later (AKA not another 5 years down the line for book 2).

3 stars

The premise was interesting and I loved the multiple points of view. Each character had their own personality and backstory which helped vary the story and combine the storylines. There were some lulls, but the end helps merge it all together and tie up loose threads.

This book was a pleasant surprise.
I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it was a quick read and a good time.

This started off a little slow, but quickly became interesting. By the end I was not able to put it down waiting to see what would happen at the end. A tale of both a family and a country at odds mixed with drama, romance, suspense, and mystery.

would definitely recommend this one. really well-written fantasy with an assortment of interesting characters. there's certainly romance, but the focus is on family. and the end is DRAMATIC! 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Title: The Notorious Virtues
Author: Alwyn Hamilton
Genre: Mystery/thriller, Fantasy, YA   
Rating: 4.8 out of 5

At sixteen, Honora “Nora” Holtzfall is the daughter of the most powerful heiress in all of Walstad. Her family controls all the money–and all the magic–in the entire country. But despite being the center of attention, Nora has always felt like an outsider. When her mother is found dead in an alley, the family throne and fortune are suddenly up for grabs, and Nora will be pitted against her cousins in the Veritaz, the ultimate magical competition for power that determines the one family heir.

But there’s a surprise contestant this time: Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora’s aunt. When Lotte’s absent mother retrieves her from the rural convent she’d abandoned her to, Lotte goes from being an orphan to surrounded by family. Unfortunately, most of them want her dead.

And soon, Nora discovers that her mother’s death wasn’t random–it was murder. And the only person she can trust to uncover the truth of what happened is a rakish young reporter who despises everything Nora and her family stand for.

With everyone against her, Lotte’s last hope is hunting for the identity of her father. But the dangerous competition–and her feelings for Theo, one of the Holtzfalls’ sworn protectors–turns her world upside down.

I really liked this read! Nora was a bit insufferable at first, but she grew on me quickly. Nora knows her family and her world are messed up, but she doesn’t at first realize how badly. I can’t even imagine being in constant competition with my entire family, or how miserable that sort of life would be.

I did not like Lotte at first—she wasn’t a very nice person—but I did feel sympathetic to her. Talk about growing up with gaslighting and emotional abuse. It’s a small wonder she turned out as well as she did. There’s a bit of a Cinderella story for her, but everything wasn’t all sunshine and roses, which was much more believable. I loved this world and can’t wait to read more!

Alwyn Hamilton is a bestselling author. The Notorious Virtues is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Penguin Group in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 4/8).

The Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton was such a dazzling and entertaining read. It’s a thrilling blend of magic, competition and high society drama. It’s set in a world dripping with opulence yet shadowed by secrets and it pulls you into a whirlwind of ambition and power.

What I really enjoyed about this reading experience was that the book had the ability to balance fast-paced action with deeply personal stakes. The relationships - whether familial, romantic or rivalrous - are layered and compelling, adding emotional depth to an already gripping plot. The story keeps you hooked, leading to a finale that is both satisfying and leaving you craving more.

This book will be a hit with those who are looking for decadent fantasy, high-stakes competitions and strong female leads. It was absolutely delightful.

It devastates me to be bored reading this after loving Rebel of the Sands (but it has been almost 10 years since that book came out, and 7 since the series ended), but I think it takes way too long to ramp up. There were periods of tension, but so much of the book is just… waiting. And as clever and interesting as Nora is, she’s not a good protagonist for the era of our world where we need strong moral codes (even if just inside one’s own head, or based on the way the narrative is spun rather than the character themself).

I could see myself going back to try again with an audiobook, but I just don’t have the patience for this slow plot without more worldbuilding or character development to keep my attention between major plot points.