Graceless Heart takes us to Renaissance Florence, where we follow Ravenna, our FMC, who is essentially kidnapped by an influential family under the guise of becoming their artist in residence once they discover her magical abilities. They present her with an impossible task, and failure is not an option.

The world-building in this book was excellent, and I especially loved how vividly the author captured the atmosphere of Renaissance Florence. The magic system, however, felt less developed. I would have liked more explanation of Ravenna’s powers early on to ground the story before the pace quickened.

The highlight for me was the dynamic between Ravenna and Saturnino. Their banter was sharp, witty, and filled with tension, and I found myself constantly bookmarking their exchanges. Those moments were the most fun and engaging parts of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This reads like carving grief into marble—elegant, brutal, necessary. A Renaissance sculptress enters a lethal contest to save her brother, and every chisel marks both art and survival. The politics of power and the ache beneath forbidden magic crackle on every page. I was pulled under by atmospheric tension and historical detail. Some romance moments felt rushed, but the overall blend of artistry, danger, and longing stayed with me long after.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for my eARC.

As a Catholic, I could not finish this one.

DNF / 1☆

It's a fantasy, so writing a fictional religion to hate on might have been a better route.

Isabel Ibañez delivers a stunning and enchanting fantasy, this is a book as breathtakingly beautiful as it is profoundly moving. The story is a poignant exploration of identity, destiny, and the power of finding your own path, even when it seems impossible.

This novel is a masterclass in world-building, immersing the reader in a vibrant, magical realm that feels both ancient and alive. Ibañez's prose is lyrical and evocative, painting a picture so vivid you can almost feel the texture of the setting and the magic humming in the air.

The characters are the heart of this tale, each one beautifully realized and carrying their own burdens and hopes. Their journey is a delicate dance of discovery and emotional growth that will resonate deeply.

I promise you, the narrative is rich with unexpected turns and a powerful emotional core that will stay with you long after the final page. This read is for anyone seeking a fantasy story both epic in scope and intimate in its emotional truth.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and St Martin’s Press for a temporary e-ARC!

This is an impossible book to review. How can something so beautiful be so dull? Graceless Heart felt like a poorly written, exquisitely staged hostage situation. It took me 47 days of painful trudging to finish and I’m still emotionally recovering.

To Ibañez’s credit, her historical world-building is exquisite. The Renaissance setting is lush, immersive, and clearly well-researched. The pietra magiche concept captured the little girl in me who once dreamed of climbing into a fairytale and never leaving. Her use of Italian phrases anchors the scenes with authenticity, and when she lets the story unfold naturally, her prose shines.

But beyond that? Things fall apart.

The romance is painfully stiff and unconvincing. Ravenna, our protagonist, reads like a mannequin with a mallet. Her interactions with Saturnino are meant to be layered with tension and attraction, but the dialogue is stilted and unnatural - more script than conversation. I wanted to believe in their chemistry, but I had to mentally fill in so many emotional gaps it felt like I was ghostwriting the romance myself. Worse, Saturnino is not a remotely healthy or encouraging romantic interest.

The metaphors are overwrought and often silly, distracting from the story rather than enhancing it. Characters lack emotional depth and often behave like juveniles, which makes their dramatic arcs feel unearned. Ibañez clearly has a strong foundation in research and vision, but her execution falters when she tries too hard to be poetic or romantic.

And despite the book literally revolving around magic, the system itself is never fully fleshed out which is equal parts disappointing and confusing.

Where Ibañez succeeds is in the quieter moments: describing a room full of people, the rhythm of daily life, the factual texture of her world. But when the narrative leans into forced proximity, awkward seduction, or jarring sex scenes, it becomes emotionally incoherent and, frankly, uncomfortable.

I wanted to love this book so badly. I really, really did. But in the end, Graceless Heart is a paradox: beautiful in concept, torturous in delivery.

Reading this book was like chipping away at marble to uncover something beautiful beneath the unwavering stone. You couldn’t dive into it. It isn’t weak and pliable, but strong and worth a more concentrated effort to unearth the potential within the pages. The story weaves like a ribbon through your mind as you follow Ravenna on her magical Renaissance journey. It’s poetic, filled with metaphors and lovely words that add to the plot and make it pretty while also holding your attention rapt. It weaves history with magic so thoroughly that you will find yourself wondering what the truth of the past actually is. The first half was a bit slow going, but the second half flew by. I was almost biting my nails with anxiety by 75%. A solid 4.5 ⭐️ read in my book. Isabel Ibanez, you are a queen.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Publishing for the ARC!

I’m so sad to say that this book wasn’t my cup of tea. That’s not to say it isn’t beautifully written — because it really is. But I just found it too slow paced & a bit of a slog to get through.

4.25⭐️
1.5 🌶️
eARC (US Release Date: January 13, 2026)
Themes/Tropes: historical fantasy, enemies-to-loves, captor/captive, forbidden magic, found family/belonging, slow burn romance, scorned lover

Firstly, a big thank you to NetGalley, Saturday Books, and Isabel Inez for the eARC for Graceless Heart. I was a big fan of Inez’s Secrets of the Nile duology and was excited to see this book on the horizon. This is definitely less YA coded than the Secrets of the Nile books and more of an adult fantasy romance. There are some mildly spicy scenes in the later quarter of the book. Be forewarned.

Now, this is a unique book that is set in the Italian Renaissance, but with all the paranormal creatures as a backdrop. You’ve got werewolves, witches/wizards; vampyre, fae, and more. This book also mixes in real world historical characters like the Medici family and Leonardo Da Vinci. Inez blends in a story of a mysterious immortal family needing help from a specific magic inclined sculptress and the story unfolds from there. There are A LOT of mysteries that unfold along the way in this book and I’m not about to spoil any of them. I was guessing the whole time. I will say, this book is marketed as a stand alone but it left a few things really unbuttoned at the end. It leaves on a mysterious armory cliffhanger and you also never find out the identity of one of the key side characters in the book or his back story. I would say this was a bit left open, in case Inez wanted to do spin off stories.

The romance in this book is a REAL slow burn. I don’t even think you get so much as a small peck before the 50% mark of the book and she’s almost 500 pages, so buckle up for that. The yearning is well done and the payoff is well executed and worth the wait. Saturnino and Ravenna are both fairly endearing characters, in their own right. What can I say? I love love and loved their love 🤪.

If you like historical fiction/fantasy with unique magic plots and a lot of twists and turns, then you’ll really enjoy this book. The pacing at the beginning quarter to half of the book is a bit slow, but ultimately worth it in the end.


Quotes I ♥️’d (No Spoilers):
“Humanity is the worst sort of parasite on an otherwise pleasant landscape.”

“Let your words be few, for they carry more power than you know. Scheme with precision, and above all, let patience and silence be your constant companions. In quiet, you control everything.”

This is not the first book I have read from this author, and like her previous work, her writing is gorgeous. I love her style and her books always seem so researched to the time period that it does make it feel quite immersive and you can picture the setting sonwell and she describes it.
However, I just did not connect to the fmc in this story. It dragged on for me, and I just found myself not reaching to finish this book. The romance was also very lackluster.
With this being said, I do think that this book will be a hit with a lot of people, I am just not one of them. But it was beautifully written and I would still check out her next book.

There are a lot of things I can forgive in a fantasy story based on history. I cannot, however, forgive crimes against physics and common sense. Right from the first chapter, I was continuously taken away from the story because of the ridiculous situation with the fifteen foot ladder. Ravenna was carrying a fifteen foot wooden ladder through the streets of Volterra (which I oddly enough remember from the New Moon movie even though it wasn't even filmed in Volterra- but I digress) after curfew. Then she proceeds to lean it against a swaying cage that is suspended midair, climbs it in a heavy cloak and dress and there is no mention of how this is feasible (especially since the same cage was swaying in the wind a moment ago). It may sound nitpicky, but even after finishing the book, the thought of this damn 15 ft. ladder still comes to mind as the first thing I remember.

I so badly wanted to like Ravenna, but her choices and decisions did not have an ounce of common sense to them at times. I've made this critique against romantasy books before, but it sometimes feels like characters go through sudden mood swings to be righteous, lustful and snarky as the dialogue calls for it. Some conversations with Saturnino (the equally mood swingy MMC) took such a sudden shift that even I got whiplash. I did like her slow realization that the church and religion were not what she thought they were - especially her gripes with being given the equivalent of letters of indulgence. Martin Luther would have a thing or two to say to Ravenna about the detriments of a Pope who can give out "get out of hell" passes for cash.

The political plot with the Medici's, Pope, the nightflame and even the magic system as a whole felt like a side story which is a shame because it felt like there was so much more to those themes to be explored. I wanted to see Ravenna finally play the game or reject it and find a way to get around it. Instead, it felt lacklustre and her decisions left me questioning what it was that she actually wanted. Her goals were murky and her decision making was even worse than the Arno River. I expected more from a girl who carried a fifteen foot ladder through windy, tight streets in the night.

Despite my criticism, the reason it gets 3 stars and not 2 is because I did enjoy the writing about the setting of Florence and the idea behind a magical sculptress was intriguing! I just wish it was more of a focus.

Graceless Heart is the first book I’ve read by Isabel Ibañez, and I really enjoyed it. I loved how she blends historical fiction with a magical twist. I had learned about the Medici family back in school and was already familiar with Leonardo and the Pope, so the setting pulled me in right away. I actually found myself diving deeper into Florentine history because of this book, which, to me, speaks volumes about how great the story is. When a book makes you want to learn more, that’s impactful.

The multiple points of view added depth to the story, though I was a bit confused at first due to the chapter titles. Thankfully, I caught on quickly and appreciated the different perspectives. I did find there to be some plot holes in where we were left hanging regarding supporting characters.

While the book isn’t heavy on spice, the slow burn yearning made up for it. The chemistry between Ravenna and Saturnino had me giddy at times and I was fully invested in their relationship. The ending felt a little chaotic, but everything ultimately came together in a sweet and satisfying way.

Oh my goodness, it’s been awhile since a book left me absolutely speechless.

Picture it somewhere in the 1500’s Italy? That is my guess with specific historical figures that are mentioned in the book.
A young woman who loves her life just the way it is, running her families inn by day and in the wee hours sculpting away to her heart’s content.
Sweet, and beautiful, until everything and everyone cannot be trusted.

Being thrown to the wolves is an understatement for Ravenna saving her brother damned her to being apart of a war she had no fight in.
All the while The Pope and an influential family are using Ravenna for unspecified purposes (reading the book will give you all the answers)

Ravenna is a very cunning and non damsel in distress lead, but still keeping her feminine traits. She holds both salvation and damnation in her hands.

So much happening, different angles on big players. Not one person is insignificant to the plot.
Magic in this world has a more realistic feel than most fantasy stories and I loved it.

I took my sweet time reading this, and I want to scrub my memory so I can read it again for the first time.

I have felt so many emotions, my favorite one was giggling and kicking my feet. There’s a few moments like that, as well as really serious and clutching my pearls moments.
Screaming, crying, and throwing up.


I can’t wait to get a physical copy to annotate!
Look for it on January 13th 2026!

Big Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the book in exchange for an honest review!

This was a fantastic book. I read it in two sittings, I had to finish it.
Highly recommend reading it!

This was very entertaining. I was really invested in the story until the very end. The female main character was well flushed out. I’m unsure why we are left without knowing the identity of the courier though…what importance is withholding his identity? It did feel a bit rushed at the end. But overall, great story. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early!

This is my first book by Isabel Ibañez, and I gotta mention first and foremost the super impressive level of research that went into the setting and world of Graceless Heart. The ambiance of Florentine culture during the Renaissance period was S.U.B.L.I.M.E., and the art historian in me was practically drooling over some of the book's scenes and descriptions.

In this historical fantasy reimaginging of a Renaissance Italy, a young sculpturess is kidnapped by a powerful fae family to perform a miracle for them after revealing her magical gifts in her hometown. She becomes caught in a war of politics--the Pope vs. the Medici and dei Luni, the Church against magic and those who wield it--endangering her family and soul.

So, while I absolutely loved parts of this story, there were other bits that I was equally irritated or disappointed by. My biggest issue was Ravenna's development and the lack of characterization for the supporting cast. Her family and town treat her horribly, and yet she constantly makes poor decisions in the naive hope they will accept her. I just didn't get the connection, and I definitely didn't feel the closeness Ravenna and her brother Antonio supposedly regained for each other; he was misogynistic and unsupportive from the start, even when she risks her own life to help him. I get it, religious trauma is a hell of a drug, but this guy is your "best friend"? Really?

Her romance with Saturnino isn't much of an improvement as readers are inundated with repeated descriptions of his attractive personage yet ruthless background. The concept behind the dei Luni family origins is a fascinating one, but their relationship is pretty lackluster...until the last quarter of the book, when development starts to happen all at once. They fall in love so quickly, it almost just feels like a series of emotions and scenes are thrown in to tick off of a checklist.

I wanted to like this a lot more than I did (do you SEE that cover?!), and honestly? It was really the flat romance that was the main detractor, but even that isn't entirely irredeemable and has its moments. Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and the author for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have incredibly conflicted feelings about this one. I found the actual writing very pleasant. The ways words are spun, and scenes are set, made for an easily visualized world. I also liked the history tie-ins. Ken Burns ‘Decoding da Vinci’ documentary touches on the Medici family; lucky me, I just finished and loved it- so this read came at the perfect time.

This has been the year of reading recycled ideas, characters, tropes, and plot points. I’m not sure why recent releases have this problem, but a fix would be appreciated. Our MMC is exactly like every other romantsy MMC written in the last 3-5 years. Tall, stupidly handsome (borderline beautiful, surly, monosyllabic, with dark hair. Our FMC is written quite juvenile. This being an adult book made that off-putting.

Every other character was fine. No one was exactly unique, but they were fine. I found this to be a totally okay book. Nothing grand or especially exciting, but I’m not offended. I’ll leave this with mild annoyance that it wasn’t better, but that’s about it.

Overall, this was a really great romantasy book by Isabel Ibanez. The setting - 15th century Italy, is lush and full of fantastic detail. I was in love with all the places our characters visited and felt it was true to the time period. It opens with a "contest" but this isn't a competiton-based book. Most of it takes place in Florence, where Ravenna is forced to help the Luni family. I truly enjoyed getting to know all of the major characters. In my mind, they were a darker version of the Twilight Cullen family. The fight-pull between Ravenna and one of the Luni members was fantastic. My only major complain was there were too many POV chapters. While they were short, they pulled me out of the story at times. It was also hard to remember all of the names sometimes. But overall, I really enjoyed this book!

Received a digital ARC via NetGalley. Thank you, St. Martin’s Press!

I’ve heard so many great things about Isabel Ibañez and I was so excited to get an ARC. The book has all my favorite things: real history, fantasy elements, and a love story. I remember very little about the Medici family or Italian history, so every aspect of the book felt interesting and exciting to me. However, I typically read faster-paced novels and felt like I was dragging myself through the first half of the book. Once we met the halfway point, I could hardly put it down! Overall, I loved the writing style, the history elements, and the twists and turns through the end of the book. I wish we learned more about Ravenna’s magic and the magical elements of her world, like the fae, vampyres, witches, etc. Some of the magic felt random and didn’t flow as smoothly into the rest of the history. Ravenna’s stubbornness got on my nerves throughout the book, but I eventually grew to cheer for her.

Can’t wait to read more about the Medici family and see their reign through this (fictional) lens.

Graceless Heart is a fantasy/alternate history romance novel that takes place during a pivotal year in Renaissance Florence. As someone already familiar with this period, I was impressed with how well the fantasy elements were woven into the true historical timeline. A central part of the plot revolves around the conflict between the Pope and the Medici family, only the typical Papal corruption now includes magic, and the Medici family have powerful immortal allies.

The history nerd in me loved spotting the real life people and events throughout the story, and I appreciated that the historical figures didn’t feel shoehorned in—even a certain famous artist makes a cameo in a believable way. (If you are not well versed in Medici and Florentine history, I strongly suggest going in blind and then reading up on it AFTER finishing the book.)

The main character, Ravenna, really grew on me as the story progressed. She is described early on as afraid but not a coward, and I think that sums her up perfectly. She’s torn in so many different directions, between family, love, magic, and what her choices mean for her eternal soul. She’s not fearless, but she doesn’t shy away from making difficult decisions and doing hard but right things.

I did feel that it took a while for the story to hit its stride. I found the writing and the romance elements a little clunky at first, but I was eventually sucked in. The plot twists were really well done, and I ended up not wanting to put it down.

I also wish the magic system and the supernatural side of the world building had been explored in greater depth. There were hints of things on a greater scale: magic that wasn’t really covered, fantasy beings and regions that were mentioned mostly in passing…. Perhaps we’ll get a follow up novel that will shed more light on those things? I would definitely read it!

Also, can we talk about how STUNNING the cover is?

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press / Saturday Books for this ARC. It was a pleasure.

Rating: 3.9/5

This was another book heavily influenced by my bestie. The author's other books (What the River Knows) are on my TBR so I was excited to get this one!

Likes:
- I really liked the historical aspect of the book, weaving together actual historical figures with the book characters.
- I liked the push and pull of attraction between the MC's.
- The river scene was just PERFECTION by the way

Dislikes:
- The FMC felt very naive at times - she believed anything and everything anyone told her. It was a bit frustrating to know someone was lying and Ravenna just believed them.
- This book dragged for me for about 60%. I had to force myself at times to keep reading. Once I hit 60% though, it finally picked up and was a lot easier to read

While this book dragged for the first half, the second half made it up a bit for me. Overall, I think this is a decently solid and enjoyable book