Enchantée | Review

Greetings readers!

I am bringing this review to you a little late because I am such a mess right now. Phew. School is actually trying to reduce me to a pulp, so please wish me the best and read on for a review of one of my most anticipated reads of the month!

Enchantée by Gita Trelease

via Goodreads

Pub Date: Feb 5th, 2019
Publisher: Flaitron
Price: $24.99 CAD
ISBN: 978-1250295521
Goodreads

Paris in 1789 is a labyrinth of twisted streets, filled with beggars, thieves, revolutionaries—and magicians…

When smallpox kills her parents, Camille Durbonne must find a way to provide for her frail, naive sister while managing her volatile brother. Relying on petty magic—la magie ordinaire—Camille painstakingly transforms scraps of metal into money to buy the food and medicine they need. But when the coins won’t hold their shape and her brother disappears with the family’s savings, Camille must pursue a richer, more dangerous mark: the glittering court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

With dark magic forbidden by her mother, Camille transforms herself into the ‘Baroness de la Fontaine’ and is swept up into life at the Palace of Versailles, where aristocrats both fear and hunger for la magie. There, she gambles at cards, desperate to have enough to keep herself and her sister safe. Yet the longer she stays at court, the more difficult it becomes to reconcile her resentment of the nobles with the enchantments of Versailles. And when she returns to Paris, Camille meets a handsome young balloonist—who dares her to hope that love and liberty may both be possible.

But la magie has its costs. And when Camille loses control of her secrets, the game she’s playing turns deadly. Then revolution erupts, and she must choose—love or loyalty, democracy or aristocracy, freedom or magic—before Paris burns…

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**Thank you so much to Raincoast Books for the ARC**

The Likes…

This was France, I loved going to Versailles and just the gambling and gaming in general. It was lots of fun. I mean I am not a wiz at any gambling games, but I did love the suspense that they brought to the book. I would be yelling a lot at *certain* characters who just didn’t know when to stop and risked losing it all!

I liked Camille enough. I thought she was very brave and passionate, especially to be living in a very manly-mans world and having to care for her younger sister. I just didn’t get her logic with secret keeping. I’m sorry, hun, but this just frustrated me soooo much. Other than that she was good.

Lazare was cool too. He was biracial, so there was a lot of discussion around identity and of course racism. He was an interesting character and quite elusive, so I liked getting into his background. Would I qualify him as a Book Boyfriend….mmmm…no. Maybe like boy toy?

Sophie would have been better if she hadn’t been treated like she was a baby. Like I ain’t saying that a fifteen year-old has the wisdom of a 100 year old, but they ain’t that naive. I could be totally wrong…but I felt like Sophie had a spark in her that was constantly being stamped out and overpowered by Camille. And it frustrated me because Sophie made such dumb choices because of this.

The shining star was Chandon. Who was charming and sneaky and tragic. And just great overall. I would have loved to read a little bit more about him and his soldier boyfriend…whose name escapes me.

I liked the discussion surrounding the Revolution.

Viva la France! **That’s the expression right** The books digs a little into the political history of France at the time. It is not actually set during the actual revolution (at least I don’ think), but it does showcase some of the rumblings and grumblings of the citizens of France before the war breaks out. The impoverished people who were not happy with the wealthy nobles. We get to see from perspectives of both parties through Camille and it is actually quite, quite interesting.

The magic, although minimal, was interesting for the time setting it was in. It was reminiscent of the glamour in TLC! I think maybe the origins of the magic were a little bit rushed through, but there was a lot of background on the dangers of being a magician in this time and I especially like how the author tied it to the flamboyance of the royal court.

The Questionable…

The plot was interesting, but very slow moving and nothing truly exciting happened until the very end. This is why I had really hard time with it. Look. I like short chapters. But something has to actually happen in those chapters. This book was full of short chapters and many of them I felt were really unnecessary.

I wanted more balloon story. The hot air balloon aspect of this story really intrigued me, but we got to see so little of it!

The writing was good. Nothing particular stood out to me and the French that was involved mixed well with the English. It wasn’t all that random, *unlike certain other books ~coughGrimLoveliescough~*. It kept me well-engaged for the most part if anything.

It was too long though. On top of the slowness, it got repetitive. Really fast. Camille is either gambling or thinking about gambling or with her balloon friends. The action was at the end and it was good, but the previous 70% was the same thing over and over again. It was tough to push through sometimes.

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Overall, I enjoyed the book for the most part. I think my high expectations may have cursed me because I didn’t know what to expect, but by the end I was a little less than wowed. If that makes any sense. It was a good book, with good characters, a good plot and a great ending. I just felt like the goodness of it all was what kept me from thinking it was great.

Rating: 3.5 / 5 Stars

Recommend: I think this is perfect for Historical fic readers who want just a hint of the fantastical!

Let me know what you think! Have you read this? Are you looking forward to reading it? What is one time period you would love to have a historical fiction book set in?

Happy reading!

~ Rendz