A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
…like I wasn’t a big enough fan already!
A Fragile Enchantment is the third full-length novel from Allison Saft. It is set to release on January 23, 2024, but I couldn’t wait any longer to pick it up.
I have read all of Saft’s novels now and IMO, they just keep getting better and better. I’m so drawn in by her writing and dazzling, gothic-feeling atmospheres.
In this story we follow a magical young seamstress, Niamh, who gets called to the castle to create the wedding day wardrobe for the Prince and his bride-to-be. This is putting it simply, but that is the basic set-up.
As Niamh arrives at the castle and is introduced to court life, it’s clear she’s a fish-out-of-water. Coming from the country, she’s never experienced court politics close-up.
Nevertheless, she feels blessed to have the opportunity and even though her people aren’t big fans of the monarchy, she’s determined to make the most of it.
The Prince, Christopher, Kit to his friends, is the younger of two Princes. His brother, Jack, is functioning as monarch. It was actually Jack who arranged Kit’s engagement, as well as Niamh’s services.
When Niamh meets Kit, she’s a little surprised by how abrasive he is. It’s clear he’s not overjoyed about his upcoming nuptials. The wedding isn’t one that will be based on love, but rather on political advantage. So’s the way of court life, Niamh supposes.
The bride-to-be has now arrived at the kingdom, along with her father, and it seems she is just a pawn as well. With a dark personality and darker fashion sense, Niamh finds herself puzzled by the Princess, Rosa.
Nonetheless, she finds herself drawn to her and her charismatic lady’s maid, Miriam. Along with Kit’s childhood best friend, Sinclair, the five unlikely allies end up forming an entertaining friendship group.
Niamh is starting to feel like she belongs, though she never would have thought it possible, and the more time she spends with Kit, the less she is able to deny the chemistry crackling between them.
Unfortunately, she’s not the only one who has noticed the sparks and soon Niamh and Kit are the fodder of the anonymous gossip columnist, Lovelace. Will Lovelace’s rumors and insinuations ruin everything for Niamh, or will she be able to survive the scandalous court life unscathed?
Y’all, I thought this was fabulous. It kicks off so quickly. Saft wastes no time getting Niamh to the kingdom and enmeshed in the complicated palace lifestyle.
I loved that she was an outsider taking it all in for the first time. Additionally, I really loved Kit as a character. He had some depth to him and I feel like Saft spent enough time building-out his character, so that his caustic personality truly made sense.
I love a prickly, abrasive man, so his entire demeanor definitely worked for me. I enjoyed watching Kit’s relationship with his older brother, Jack, and learning a bit about their family history as well. I was definitely picking up William and Harry vibes there.
Further, I enjoyed the friendship group that formed between Niamh, Rosa, Miriam, Kit and Sinclair. I was able to glean a lot of insight from their interactions and I felt it helped to better develop each character.
The political intrigue really amps up in the second half and I felt that was exciting and extremely well written by Saft. There were some scenes, as we raced towards the conclusion, where I was at the edge-of-my-seat, biting my fingernails, just hoping for the best for the characters I had come to love.
Speaking of characters I loved, Kit’s betrothed, Rosa, was such a fun character. All I could picture when reading about her was Wednesday Addams. She was bringing all that morose, gothic energy.
As mentioned above, I started getting really tense towards the end. I figured, objectively that things would probably work out okay, but getting there sure was emotional!
Overall, I had such a great time reading this. Saft’s writing is accessible and fluid. It’s magical and enchanting, but without feeling over done. The plot never gets drowned out by flowery writing. It’s easy to follow along and become emotionally attached to her characters.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
Saft has quickly become a go-to YA Fantasy author for me. I look forward to following her career for a long, long time.