This was right up my alley. A sculptress with magic and a villainous immortal knight caught up in the political intrigue and conspiracies of Renaissance Florence. The blending of history, romance, and fantasy was everything I love.

The setting. The tension and yearning. The twists and intrigue. The black cat. The discussions of life and living, faith and love. I loved every bit of this.

I do wish we got to see more of Ravenna sculpting. And a few of the extra POVs sprinkled in didn't seem completely necessary, but I loved some of them. None of this took away from my enjoyment of the story though.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Saturday Books and NetGalley for this eARC!

Graceless heart was a good book. I found the story to be completely unique and compelling. I loved the premise so much as much as the characters, writing and intriguing plot. Thank you so much for providing me the arc, this read was phenomenal and it certainly lived up to my expectations. Such a great book.

I really, REALLY wanted to fall head over heels for this book. Like, I was practically vibrating with excitement when I saw “Renaissance Italy” and “historical romance” in the same sentence. I mean, come ON. Give me all the marble sculptures, political intrigue, and swoony "you are the bane of my existence and the object of my desires"-esqe declarations against backdrops of cathedral spires. I was so ready to be transported to a world where everyone speaks in iambic pentameter and looks like they stepped out of a Botticelli painting.

And honestly? The setting absolutely delivered. Ibanez clearly did her homework because Renaissance Florence practically leaps off the page in all its chaotic, artistic glory. When we witness the Pazzi Conspiracy unfold and watch poor Giuliano de’ Medici meet his brutal end during what should have been a peaceful Easter mass, I literally gasped out loud.

But here’s where my Renaissance dreams started crumbling like old fresco paint: the romance. I kept waiting for that spark, that moment where I’d be clutching my chest and sighing dreamily, but it just… never came? The main characters felt like they were going through the motions of being in love rather than actually, you know, being in love. Their conversations read like a checklist of romantic beats rather than genuine connection.

The frustrating thing is that all the pieces were there for something absolutely magical. The political intrigue, the gorgeous setting, the life-or-death stakes... It should have been the perfect storm for an epic love story. But instead, it felt like the romance was competing with the historical elements rather than being woven seamlessly together.

Don’t get me wrong—this isn’t a bad book. If you’re looking for a well-researched historical fiction with decent characters and beautiful descriptions of Renaissance Italy, you’ll probably enjoy it. The writing is solid, the historical details are fascinating, and there are definitely moments that shine. But if you’re hoping for a romance that will leave you swooning and dreaming about Italian sunsets, you might want to adjust your expectations.

Would I recommend it? Maybe, with caveats. If you’re more interested in the historical aspects than the romance, go for it. If you’re desperately craving that enemies-to-lovers Renaissance tension, you might want to keep looking.

Three stars because sometimes beautiful settings and solid historical research can’t quite save a lackluster love story, but they can definitely make it worth the read.

this started off so strong! mostly i think this is still very much in the draft stage. (it releases half a year away so maybe this is just a veeery early arc and improvements are intended!?!) there’s a lot of repetition, some phrases on the same page. the amount of times the name “saturnino” was used as a single word sentence was intense and quickly lost its effective power. i felt like there were so many character pov’s that weren’t needed (were used soley to explain other characters motivations and detracted from the main story). i have a lot of thoughts, but to sum up i loved the story, it just needs a lot of polishing. this could easily be five stars if executed more succinctly.

Isabel is now one of my favorite must read authors. She has such creativity with how she weaves history and culture into fantasy in her novels! I loved the way she brought Medici Florence to life in this book with the unique twist of a female sculptress. I loved the way the romance has Hades and Persephone vibes. She upped the spice in this book, but in a way that didn’t feel cringe. It had passion and heat. There is a mystery surrounding the family that kidnaps Ravenna, and I thought the solution to that mystery was both creative and fitting. I liked the way she got caught up in the Medici assassination and the Pope’s machinations. It brought great suspense to the story. However, even with it being a fantasy, there was one part of this book that my brain just couldn’t accept, and I can’t explain it without spoiling the plot, but it did bring the book down for me. I also wish there was more description of Ravenna actually sculpting things .

I thought it was an okay fantasy, but sometimes it seemed like the author was torn between making this a historical fiction or making this fantasy. It made some writing choices hard to keep up with. It also read very YA or new adult to me. I think it should be in that market.

Graceless Heart is a lush, enchanting read that pulled me in from the first page. Isabel Ibañez weaves a world full of secrets, longing, and quiet strength. The writing is lyrical, the characters unforgettable, and the story lingers long after the final chapter. A truly magical experience.

Ooooh she’s done it again!!

Big thanks to the publisher, author and Netgalley for letting me read this one early.

Isabel Ibañez has such a compelling and immersive writing style. I loved everything about this book. Everything moved at the right pace and was just the perfect amount of fantasy for 1400’s Italy.
I loved the book from the beginning, lady sculptor and an aloof grumpy man? Perfection.

Im so glad that Isabel used real historical events to root this novel into Florence, knowing a little of the time period and regional history really made the story feel full and exciting.

I’m totally recommending this book to anyone who loves history, fantasy and a good slow burn.

I will read anything Isabel writes! I was first introduced to her writing when I picked up What the River Knows and that series quickly became a favorite!

This book is stunning! The cover, the concept, it’s such a unique story and I can’t wait for the world to read it!

Thank you for the ARC, Netgalley!

I want to start by saying I love Ibañez’s Nile duology and was super excited to read this new adult romantasy. The author does a great job with the world building and everything seems historically accurate. The all powerful Pope and the evil witches.

First I’ll start with my review and move onto a synopsis.

This book was a slog. It dragged so badly, I had a hard time picking it back up. A few times I thought about dnfing, but I loved her other stuff so much I told myself to finish. The story doesn’t truly start until 60% of the way through.

The insta love. The time frame is between 1-2 months and 2 weeks before the deadline they are sooo in love. Even though he hated all humans before her and told her that he was playing her.

The multiple POV’s. Normally I’m okay with multiples but this didn’t so do anything for the novel. It didn’t really give you anything that added to the story. Example: a maid is a spy because she was caught sleeping with a man and her high powered father threw her out. Instead of just having the maid tell us this, there was a totally unnecessary chapter from her pov. This happens quite a few times. The chapters are random as well. Our main narrator is Ravenna, but we get these random minor characters pov thrown in.
With the multiple pov you’d assume we’d get some great insight into the characters right? Wrong. I have no idea why Fortuna is so angry, why the brother hates everyone. Why Saturinino was beat by a mob. We just don’t get any real character development or feel for any of the characters at all.

Ravenna had to straddle the line between both worlds. One would kill everyone she knew and the other would excommunicate her old village, her family and burn her at the stake. Neither side proved to be better, even though I think we were meant to root for the one side (the side that hunted down and killed a whole bunch of people for some reason that wasn’t really ever mentioned.)

The Magic system. Early on we get a great description of these Magic stones but the book focuses on one. I don’t really understand why we were introduced to all of this info for it not to be put to use.

This felt YA even though it’s marketed as adult. The spice was very not spicy. The characters felt a lot younger than they were supposed to be.

I could go on with oddities but I’ll stop here.

What I liked?
Sadly there wasn’t a lot I enjoyed. There wasn’t much mystery or angst. I never felt the need to pick this up. The courier was probably the most interesting character in the book. It would have been good to have more information on what drove him.


Synopsis:
Ravenna enters a sculpturing contest to gain a boon to save her brother from death. When she uses a magic stone in her statue she wins and gets taken by a very powerful family that is visibly against the pope. The pope wants to take down the Luni family and the Medici family. The Luni family needs her to cut out magic stones for them for some unknown purpose. The pope finds out and blackmails her into being a spy. She’s stuck between a rock and a hard place and a handsome Luni family member who keeps being kind for some unknown reason. Can she keep herself and her family alive or will she burn as a witch?

Thank you to St Martins Press (Saturday books) and NetGalley for the arc.

Graceless Heart is a story filled with magic, immortals and romance, set within Renaissance Italy. It's a combination I didn't know I needed in my life until I started this book. Because honestly, if you had to pick a historical time period to add magic the Renaissance has to be close to the top of your list.

While overall, I enjoyed the book, a couple of issues pulled me out of the story.

The first was all the secrets, followed by the eventual reveals. Don't get me wrong, I love a book with well-timed reveals that pack the most emotional damage but this dragged on and on. It felt like important elements were held back too long and because of that, I honestly didn't care for the characters or the motivations for their actions.

Which leads to my second issue.

I got whiplash with some of these characters. One chapter they seemed nice and supportive, then next chapter-BAM-they were cold, sometimes bordering on cruel. I didn't know who really supported our FMC and who was out to get her.

However, the surprise reveal was *chef's kiss* (you'll know it when you get there).

Graceless Heart had all the elements to be an amazing book but didn't quite get there for me.

3.5/5 Stars ⭐️

Also, something I found surprising, this book portrays the Pope as a very morally gray character. So readers who are sensitive to that may want to proceed with caution.

Thank you to St. Marten's Press and NetGalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

We love a brooding man. The concept for this book was really interesting. I enjoyed finding out about the characters back stories

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Isabel Ibañez for the opportunity of acquiring an ARC copy of this book.

DNF- This is completely due to the fact that I personally do not read anything that involves witches, which I found out is included in this book when I got 2% in. Unfortunately, that information was not mentioned in the description, otherwise I would have avoided requesting this book. It truly sounded like an interesting premise otherwise. There are so many different types of fantasies that include magic, that it’s sometimes hard to know which ones include witches or wizards unless it explicitly states so—I've read books with similar descriptions that didn't include them so I thought I'd take the risk and at least try this one to see if that was the case. This is completely just a personal issue.

This book hooked me in from the start and I just couldn’t get enough. First off, the setting of this book in Italy, with all the descriptions of the architecture and history involved made the overall feel of this reading experience incredibly unique for me. Isabel Ibañez’s writing really immersed me into the story and made everything flow so well.
I really liked both the main characters. Ravenna is strong and full of heart and Saturnino is now my favorite villain. I love how he opened up to Ravenna and was vulnerable with her despite appearing cold and terrifying at first. I loved how their dynamic unfolded with a romance full of tension, yearning, and amazing banter.
I found the plot interesting with great pacing that had me needing to keep reading to find out what happens next.
I would love to read more of this world and characters in the future!
Thank you St. Martin’s press and Netgalley for this arc💕

Graceless Heart tells the lyrical story of Ravenna as she navigates a country war torn between The Pope and his war against magic. While Ravenna's first occupation is helping run her family's inn she dreams of becoming a true sculptress and forever hiding the magic that flows beneath her skin. When her brother is put in a compromising position she must a win a contest to save him. However, being the winner is not all that it seems... Swept into a world of politics and secrets alongside one of the most powerful families in Florence Ravenna must do whatever it takes to survive.

A completely unique historical-romantasy that will set new standards for the genre! I was completely consumed by Ibañez's storytelling and hypnotized by the beautiful cover art. A 10/10 to the core.

Review: Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez

This book was dark, seductive, and absolutely gripping. Ravenna is a sculptress with a dangerous secret, and from the moment she enters Florence’s deadly competition, I was hooked. The world is lush with forbidden magic, ruthless politics, and slow-burning tension that had me holding my breath.

The dynamic between Ravenna and Saturnino is intense—equal parts danger and desire—and I loved how the story blurred the line between captor and ally. Every choice felt sharp, risky, and meaningful, and the backdrop of war and magic made it all the more haunting.

If you love lush historical fantasy, morally gray love interests, and heroines who refuse to break, Graceless Heart delivers.

Brief Synopsis: Set in Renaissance Italy, Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez tells the story of the sculptress Ravenna Maffei, as she is dragged into a mysterious plot by a strange family of immortal beings looking to exploit her hidden magical abilities. Saturnino Luni, the heir to the immortal Luni family, is aloof, overwhelmingly frightening, and the self-assigned watcher of Ravenna. While essentially held captive, Ravenna is placed on a chess board of Florentine politics and double crossing, but steadies herself as unlikely alliances blossom. Finding herself caught up in a feud between the Luni Family and the Pope, Ravenna must make choices for her self-preservation and her very soul.

My Thoughts: I found this to be one of my most enjoyable reads of the year. This book reminded me of a more mature version of The Cruel Prince by Holly Black in terms of its politics and romance.

This novel really stands out among its peers in the romantasy genre in how its author impressively and seamlessly weaves elements of historical fiction throughout its storyline. Renaissance Italy is detailed by Ibañez as presented as a rich and lively backdrop. The novel felt very unique due to its setting and blend of genres.

The writing was another aspect of this book that really shined. The tension and banter between the characters were next-level.

The main female character, Ravenna, was smart and strong. Everything she did was very obviously motivated and made sense within the bounds of her character. She undergoes a story of self-acceptance that I thought was effective and beautiful. Saturnino can only be described as an anti-hero. There were moments when I absolutely hated him, and moments when I loved him. He is complex and compelling.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. I will rave about this book to everyone I can and look forward to its release in early 2026!

Are you kidding me??? She will forever be one of my favorite authors. Her writing is binge worthy. The prose are beautiful. The PLOT! It’s so clear that she does her research before writing every book. It makes the story flawless. One of my favorite reads of the year!

I really enjoyed parts of this totally inventive, unique story. Saturnino in particular is a dream of a character and would have loved more of his broody, tender inner life. In the end, I felt it was a fun, fresh, sweet story. 3.5 stars because I just never fully felt swept away by it.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s for the advanced reader copy!

Looking at this book from a high level, it’s a book I want to read: set in Italy during a time of unrest, a relevant and interesting soft magic system, promise of strong character interactions. However, something about how these topics flowed into this book didn’t quite work for me.

Starting with the setting, I thought the author did a great job with the research of the novel. Some other reviews mention that it’s not 100% historically accurate, that’s fine - it’s a fantasy book! When you start to add faeries and magic into the mix, I can forgive a little deviation from actual recorded history. Additionally, this setting served as a wonderful backdrop to the fast paced and engaging plot.

For the magic system, I was so excited reading the intro page on the pietra magiche. I was expecting all of the magic described to appear in a meaningful way in the book, but only one or two stones were heavily featured throughout the novel, the others simply mentioned/shown in passing. Advertising itself partially as a fantasy book, I was really hoping for more involvement with the magic system. That said, the magical elements woven into the book (I won’t spoil!) were well done.

Finally, the character interactions. For me, this was the weakest point of the book. Some of conversations didn’t quite make sense, the development of particular characters and certain relationships felt rushed and didn’t quite follow a logical progression, and I really disliked how our protagonist was repeatedly shoved, grabbed, pushed, slapped, etc. to drive the plot forward. Female main characters can still show their strength without needing to be assaulted by a string of men. I recognize this is an ARC, so I am hopeful that there may be some revisions that will strength the overall character development.

This book has a great premise and a strong foundational idea. With a bit more work on the characters and their interactions, I could see this book being a very solid read.

** Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley but all reviews are my own **