A Fragile Enchantment - Allison Saft - ★

AUTHOR: Allison Saft

GENRE: YA Fantasy-Romance

PUBLICATION DATE: January 2, 2024

RATING: 1 star.

In a Nutshell: A YA Fantasy-Romance. Clichéd characters, lacklustre plot development. Limited fantasy. Poor world-building. Quite a few elements from Bridgerton, but not handled well enough. This is highly substandard YA.

Plot Preview:

Eighteen-year-old Niamh is a Machlish tailor with a special skill: the magic in her blood allows her to stitch emotions into fabric even as it kills her. Determined to ensure that her family is provided for before her death, she jumps at the chance to stitch the wardrobe for the royal wedding in the neighbouring kingdom of Avaland, even though the Avalish have traditionally been enemies of the Machlish people. But when Niamh reaches the palace, she realises that the upcoming wedding is more of a political arrangement than a romantic event, and that the groom, Kit, is quite rude and dismissive of Niamh’s efforts. Can Niahm fulfil her end of the bargain, even as an anonymous columnist threatens to reveal some hefty royal secrets?

The story comes to us mostly in Niamh’s third-person perspective.

First off, I am no longer a reader of this genre and not even in the target age group. I had taken this back in the day when I was more optimistic about YA novels and then too, I had grabbed it for the magical promise. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a pretty substandard example of the genre, with the book containing almost everything I have begun to dislike about YA Fantasy-Romances. So take this review with a pinch of salt.

Bookish Yays:

👗 The cover. Delivers all the right vibes.

👗 The height of the lead pair. For once, we have a short couple in a fantasy. So refreshing!

Bookish Okays:

🧵 The world-building. I liked the colonisation angle with echoes of English-Irish history. But the rest was hazy, with no idea about how the magic originated or worked. Plus, there is so little of the magic itself. A fantasy-romance needs equal quantities of fantasy and romance. There’s hardly anything even about how Niamh weaves emotions into her designs.

Bookish Nays:

⚔ Niamh. Just a tailor from a people traditionally colonised by the royals and yet ends up being their go-to for almost everything. She is on first-name basis with them, says everything a suppressed commoner won't even dream of saying, offers advice to people far more experienced… Basically, Niamh is the Chosen One of the story – a trope I absolutely abhor as it reeks of lazy writing.

⚔ Kit. If I read a romance, I need to be able to root for the leads. The only thing I would root for when it comes to Kit is for someone to give him one tight slap and shake him out of that royal broodiness. Ugh.

⚔ The romance. Didn’t feel any connection between the duo. There’s a difference between grumpy-vs-sunshine and toxic love; this was more of the latter. This kind of coupling makes one wonder if they will still be together two months later. (Both leads were just eighteen, but if I say they just acted their age, I would be insulting almost every eighteen-year-old on the planet.)

⚔ The secondary characters. So flat and predictable.

⚔ The writing. Far too much (whiny) rambling and too little plot.

⚔ The plot itself. Far too predictable and shallow. I expected a much better storyline about a tailor who can weave magic.

⚔ Niamh’s life-threatening illness. Used only as a sob-story addition to the plot and barely even used.

⚔ The Bridgerton vibes. Many elements are reminiscent of the Bridgerton books/series, but what worked there doesn’t work here.

⚔ Needless F bombs. And a couple of scenes that I wouldn’t want included in YA books. (When did smoking become acceptable in YA novels?)

⚔ The ending. On the lines of “Love is the best, hell with the rest.” Not possible, bro. If multiple subplots are raised, they need to be settled at the end.

Overall, this book just wasn’t for me, and not just because I am not a YA. It delivers poorly on writing, characters, romance, fantasy, and ending. So it isn't in any way a book that I would want the YAs in my life to read.

Then again, some of the yearning and the dark romance vibes do appeal more to youngsters. If indeed there are readers who wish to try the novel on this basis, I hope that it clicks better with them (and that they have the sense to realise that the love shown in this novel isn't how true love works at all.)

My thanks to St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books for providing the DRC of “A Fragile Enchantment” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn’t work better for me.