The research/worldbuilding for this story was well done and very enjoyable. The plot was unpredictable which isn't always easy to pull off in low fantasy, but very well done here. The characters--not so much. I felt nothing for either the fmc or mmc. Angry just to be angry gals and dark (but oooooh, sad backstory) broken bois--I'm so over them.

Also, I'm hoping the final version isn't like this, but the lack of italics for Italian words (at least in first appearance) drove me crazy and felt disrespectful to my ancestors' mother tongue.

Isabel Ibanez is probably one of my favorite historical fantasy authors. I loved her books What The River Knows and Where The Library Hides. Her writing is beautiful and so descriptive, which just enhances the imagery of the historical locations even more in my mind. This new book is no exception. The imagery she is able to illustrate with her words is so vivid, it feels like you're seeing historical sites or pieces of time in your mind. And as an artist myself, the settings and people you learn about in this book, I just appreciated it all so much.

This was also a really good portrayal of the "eldest daughter syndrome". Feeling like the weight of a family/siblings are on your shoulders and doing what you need to do to care for them. The sacrifices this character made were very in line with that.

The plot of this book was really interesting. I loved the magic aspect of it, the mix of fantasy races and the overall mystery of the story. The tension between the character and the main male character was really well done as well. The way that the villains were written really made you dislike them, which is always something I look for and want to have in a story. I want to have a dislike of the evil side, not just have the knowledge that they are the bad guys, I want to feel it. Isabel Ibanez really portrayed that well in this book.

I would absolutely recommend this for historical fantasy lovers, it was an excellent time!

Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me. It sounds really good and I loved the cover art I just couldn’t get into this one, I really wish I could have but I ended up DNFing

4.5
i want to preface this review by saying, this book has multiple open door spice scenes that i was not expecting and that frustrated me. but, everything else about this book was MAGICAL.
it’s set in renaissance italy with an artist FMC who gets taken by an influential family to be their sculptress. the MMC is an angry villain knight who is tasked with keeping her in line.
the story takes place in a divided italy with curriot religious leaders & lots of political intrigue.
this is truly enemies to lovers, romantasy GOLD!! the slow burn and tension is written so well. i was eating up every little glance between the two of them. the quotes about the arts were so awesome & the nods to art history were EVERYTHING. seeing leonardo da vinci as a character in a romantasy was so rad & there was also references to botticelli & venus. that made me art teacher heart so so happy.
the yearning?? SO GOOD
idk how i’ve gotten this far into my review without mentioning is has “ WHO DID THIS TO YOU? “ & that scene is literally TOP TIER i was screaming inside.
sooo many highlights & quotes i underlined.
lots of plot twists that i didn’t see coming & a super cool ending as well.
this would be five stars if not for the spice.
🤐LANGUAGE🤐 11 uses of the F word
🔥SPICE🔥 3 1/2 -4 open door scenes that are fairly brief. some of it is just foreplay but still explicit. i don’t have the page numbers because it was a digital ARC.

as an academic, i really appreciate all the care ibanez put in around depicting 15th century italy. don't skip the author's note at the end if that is also something you care about as well as it tied together the choices ibanez included in graceless heart, especially the choice around using real people while fictionalizing others. however, on the relationship development front, i just wanted more from ravenna, our female main character, as once the romance kicked in the plot points took a backseat and with the plot holes not being closed up at the end, it was less satisfying than i thought. however, the tension with being a perfect moral being helped the story move along especially after the halfway mark. i think this novel will be really big come next year though and can't wait for it to shoot up the bookseller ranks!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Overall, Graceless Heart has a beautiful setting and some intriguing ideas, but the pacing and emotional depth didn’t fully land for me. Still, I’d recommend it if you’re looking for a fantasy set in Renaissance Italy with a magical twist and a touch of romance.

I went into this book familiar with the author’s name, but I hadn’t read any of her previous work. What initially drew me in was the Renaissance Italy setting. I was really curious to see how that would play out in a fantasy context. The beginning (maybe the first 10%) had me hooked, but after that, the story slowed down and didn’t pick up again until around the 60% mark. The twist completely pulled me back in, and I raced through the final 40% in one sitting.

One thing that threw me off was the Pope. He made sense within the setting of the story, but I personally found it a bit weird and distracting. The romance also didn’t feel fully earned. The characters seemed to fall for each other without much buildup. That said, I wasn’t mad once things did turn romantic. They were super cute together. I just wish there had been more believable tension or development leading up to it.

Tropes: enemies to lovers, forced proximity, historical setting


Thanks to Net Galley for the Arc!

Isabel Ibañez created an amazing world to get lost in! Renaissance Italy was a great setting that allowed for complex political tension between religion and magic. The world building, mystery, and high stakes were keeping me guessing.

Ravenna finds herself exposing her magical abilities in order to win a sculpting contest to save her brother’s life. She was not prepared for the strings attached to winning. She is unwillingly taken by an elite immortal family to be their resident sculptress. In Florence, everyone has their ulterior motives living in a city of political unrest. The political tension between magic and religion keeps this story full of twists and turns!

One of my favorite things about Isabel is how when she writes historical fantasy she does so much research. The details make it easy for the readers to get immersed into the world.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saturday Books New York for the ARC of Graceless Heart for my honest review. All opinions are my own. Thank you Isabel Ibañez for another great story to get lost in! #NetGalley #GracelessHeart

I received this advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Isabel Ibanez can be hit or miss for me-- the books I dislike, I don't even finish. I loved this one from her. Ravenna was a wonderful main character. I also liked that Saturnino and Ravenna were pretty much always honest with each other-- I can't stand stories with lies and purposeful misleading.

A romantasy set in Renaissance Italy caught my attention, and the storyline held it. I couldn't put this book down. The twists in this story actually surprised me and I was stressed for Ravenna the whole story!

I was really excited to read this book, having combined my love of a historical setting and fantasy. I felt that the plot had great potential, but ultimately this book fell short for me. While it was still a good read, I felt that that romantic connection between the FMC and MMC felt forced and lacked substance. When the FMC learns about the origin of the MMC it feels like it’s just accepted and brushed over. Also, the conflict presented in the book never really felt like high stakes until the end. All of these made it a more difficult book for me to finish. I tend to gravitate towards books where I’m engrossed in the emotions of the characters and this just wasn’t it for me.

3.5 ⭐


Ravenna Maffei es una escultora con un secreto peligroso: posee magia en una ciudad donde esta está prohibida. Cuando su hermano es encarcelado, ella no duda en arriesgarlo todo y expone su don para poder participar en una competencia organizada por la temida y poderosa familia inmortal dei Luni. Ganar significa salvar a su hermano… pero el precio es mucho más alto de lo que imaginó.

Convertida en prisionera de la despiadada élite de Florencia, Ravenna es forzada a colaborar con Saturnino dei Luni, el enigmático heredero inmortal, en una misión que podría costarle la vida. Mientras la tensión entre ellos crece y una guerra contra la magia se avecina desde el Vaticano, Ravenna se ve atrapada entre la lealtad a su familia, el riesgo de confiar en el enemigo y un poder interior que amenaza con consumirla. La política, la religión y una atracción imposible se entrelazan en una ciudad al borde del conflicto.



---


Sabía que a ciertas personas les molestaría que algunas partes estuvieran en italiano, y no me equivoqué.


Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest

Ravenna is a sculptress with a magical secret. She is forced to enter a competition hosted by the feared imortal family. Saturnino is the immortal family's merciless heir holding her captive. ...


Love the magical elements in the book. The Florence setting is enchanting. Love the complex politics. Very romantic and swoony.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

After seeing everyone raving about this book on Booksta, I thought I’d give it a try.

I didn’t really care for this book. I had a hard time with the world-building and keeping track of the characters.

And I know this is 100% a me issue; the chapter titles were also confusing since they were in Italian and I know absolutely zero Italian.

I can see why so many people liked this book; it just wasn’t for me, and that is okay.

Really enjoyed this one! The setting. The characters. The Romance. Everything was perfect! I was honestly shocked at the plot twist too, did not expect that!

Thank you to NetGalley for this review copy. This is the 4th book by Ibañez that I have read and she consistently hits for me. I really enjoyed the story and the setting in historical Florence. The love story also unfolded beautifully with both characters growing into themselves. The conclusion was also fulfilling. Would recommend for anyone who likes historical fiction infused with magic. 4.25 stars

This was almost a one-star read for me, but I’ll give credit where it’s due: the writing itself is engaging. Not remarkable, but competent. Readable enough to carry me through to the end. Unfortunately, that’s where most of the praise stops.

My issues lie squarely with the pacing, worldbuilding, characterization, and plot. From the outset, we’re positioned to fear this powerful family, but the protagonist doesn’t know enough about them to justify that dread. So instead of tension, we get confusion.

The worldbuilding is especially frustrating. The book opens with the protagonist killing a man with magic, which cues us into the fact that being magical is dangerous, even damning. But that’s as far as the system goes. There’s no explanation for why magic is feared, who has it, how it works, or why it's allowed in some places and outlawed in others. The biggest offense is Saturnino’s arc: it takes until 75% of the book to reveal that he’s literally made of stone, which is the reason he keeps drowning and coming back to life. That’s not a twist. That's just withholding critical information in a way that feels like the author didn’t trust the story to hold attention without mystery for mystery’s sake.

All of these are clarity issues that should’ve been caught and addressed during developmental edits.

As for the romance, it’s completely unconvincing. Saturnino spends the majority of the book either trying to kill the main character or treating her like a threat. There’s barely any development between “I want you dead” and “I’ll die for you.” When the shift finally happens, it’s so abrupt and underdeveloped that it doesn’t land.

Also, the tone of their relationship is all over the place, reserved and glancing for chapters on end, and then, out of nowhere, explicit bathtub sex scenes with no emotional groundwork. It felt unearned and disconnected from the characters we were presented with up to that point.

Disappointing overall. There’s a good book buried somewhere in here, but Graceless Heart needed more editorial direction before publication.

Do you like your romantasy to have a great plot and a shadow-daddy? Do you want to see emotional growth and a heroine who questions everything she knows? Do you go to Renaissance festivals and fantacize about the clothing, the knights, and the upper-class corruption? Then “Graceless Heart” is for you.

Isabel Ibanez has done it again! The rich world building I loved in “What the River Knows” was surpassed in “Graceless Heart” with the inclusion of well known and controversial historical figures and events woven into the overall story. Set in Renaissance Italy amid conflict between the Pope and the Medici family, a young woman finds herself caught in the crosshairs.

Throughout the story, Ravenna’s beliefs and relationships are challenged as she is forced to undertake an impossible task. She battles the magic she was born with that she has been taught to fear and suppress her entire life.

Ibanez keeps the narrative moving with multiple view points to fill in the blanks and tie up loose ends.

A true enemies-to-lovers story and an adorable black cat sidekick! I loved this book, do yourself a favor and pre-order!

I fell headfirst into this story and I could not put it down! From the first page you are able to see just how high the stakes are in a world where witches are burned, and the political unrest can make friend or foe of even the closest of allies.

Graceless Heart finds Ravenna willing to risk exposing her magical talents in order to enter an elusive competition to save her brother life after he has been thrown in prison, but when the prize comes with a different sort of cost she finds herself the unwilling guest amongst the elite immortal family who are looking for a witch to free magical stones. With her loyalty tested and her family caught in the crosshairs she works tirelessly to free herself from this act of servitude even if her guard makes her wonder what would happen if she stayed.

As there is not a lot here I didn’t like let’s get that part out of the way to move on to all the fun bits! I think some of the magical systems were a little muddy as we went through the book, we start hot with a serious example of its consequences but it seems to fade into the background in favor of building the relationships between our characters and the political unrest only to pop back in when needed. I understand the importance of the magic and how it ultimately led to where we are and I enjoy those parts but for someone who had such a strong and frightening beginning I was surprised to see so little of it be used by Ravenna when it could have helped. Other than getting her in a position to be involved with this family I occasionally forgot that she had magic at all and I’d argue she did too until someone needed to remind us of it.

That being said, I loved every single second with Ravenna and her unyielding devotion to her family and her people even if it meant she alone would bear the consequences of going too far to ensure their protection. Her back and forth with Saturnino were some of my favorites in any book with their back and forth as they eventually leveled the playing field between an immortal and a human girl. There are brief POV changes and the few we get from people on the outside looking in at them were also so much fun as you see the disgust in his family at the humanity he seems to be finding within this partnership as well as the longing that comes from someone who knows there is an expiration on forever.
Overall I really enjoyed this, the characters were strong and the tension so thick I doubt even the strongest knight could have cut through it and I cant recommend it enough!

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review!**

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this! This book is set in Italy and gave me Renaissance vibes! I thought the world building was great, the story was easy to follow and captured my attention right from the start. The tension between our two main characters was great but I prefer more romance heavy books so I personally would have loved to have seen more romance in this but still loved it! Would recommend this for sure!!

This story had a very unique and interesting premise. I thought the idea was very creative and it made me interested in the book.
Unfortunately, I just couldn't connect with it. I kept losing track of the plot and characters. Even though I read the whole book, I feel like I'm just remembering a movie I watched half asleep. I just didn"t feel much for Ravenna or Saturnino, or their romance, but I did appreciate the slow burn and the tension. Some momemnts where they get more bold in their relationship are also worth mentioning as things that invoked reactions.
I do feel like this book has the potential to be big in romance/romantasy booktok circles. It should definitely be taken more lightly as not every plot point is resolved or makes sense.

I adore Isabel Ibenez writings. She writes amazing romantic fantasies mixed with history. I’ve read all her books and once again this one was a five star read. I can’t wait to read the next book in this world. Thank you for the arc!