A Crown of Ivy and Glass

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She was such a special girl. Fully broken, but trying. Somewhat. She was trying to seem better than she was. Trying to not let people see how much she hurt. And the panic she often had. I loved reading about it. As it was so hurtful and raw and real and honest. I loved it so. Gemma was precious to me. Sure, she often did things I did not agree with, ha. But I loved her. Most especially at the end of the book. Oh, and her family. Gosh. Her mother was not there. Her father was pretty much the worst. Ugh. I truly hated him. A Crown of Ivy and Glass was just as perfectly incredible as I knew it would be. Full of magic, romance and curses. Full of pain and passion and hope. The sisterly love between the three of them was amazing and I loved it so. The steamy romance was the most I have read in books before and I very much loved it. I know the next two books will be about Farrin and Mara. And I can't wait to know more about them, eee. I do hope there might be some Gemma point of view too. Fingers crossed. I must know more of this world. This story is a high fantasy about a selfish anxiety riddled young adult woman. I absolutely loved it. I have so much to write about this book. And I have already written too much. And yet I'm not done, ha. But I will not say too much about the plot of this story. As it was all over the place. And I loved that. This book is all about Gemma. About her slowly learning more about why she has zero magic. And how she might have it anyway. It was a little creepy and all kinds of awesome to read about. This is a book about demons. A book about curses. A book about magical travelling through hedges, haha. A book about love.

Then she meets the devastatingly handsome Talan d’Astier. His family destroyed themselves, seduced by a demon, and Talan, the only survivor, is determined to redeem their honor. Intrigued and enchanted, Gemma proposes a bargain: She’ll help Talan navigate high society if he helps her destroy the Basks. According to popular legend, a demon called The Man With the Three-Eyed Crown is behind the families’ blood feud—slay the demon, end the feud. Each book will follow one of the Ashbourne sisters, and in this first novel, we are introduced to Lady Imogen “Gemma” Ashbourne…. a young, rich and beautiful woman of a family, which was Anointed by the gods and blessed with incredible abilities, she seemingly has it all. The result is a genuine and exciting character arc that puts disability and mental illness in the spotlight for an honest, earnest evaluation. This book was a COMPLETE mess. I’m gonna start with that I really enjoyed Bridgerton books and ACOTAR is my all time favorite. I’m telling you this right now. This book is NOTHING like those two series. Example two. I don’t know about you but for me it’s very hard to continue with a book if nothing interesting happens in the first 20%. The first 35% of this book read like a badly written fan fiction. REALLY badly write. From insta lust with somehow zero chemistry between two main characters to almost none to very confusing world building.

Example six and probably the biggest issue I had with this book. The main character, Gemma is absolute WORST. She is annoying, spoiled and sometimes completely empty headed. What in the world happened?? With a pitch that is Bridgerton meets ACOTAR written by Claire Legrand, author of one of my all-time favourite epic fantasies, this should have been a home run. I mean, everything was screaming my name and instead I am left incredibly disappointed. I think this book isn´t going to be everyone’s taste and many will make too early decisions and judgements, however I hope that more people will fall in love with this book as much as I did. I cannot wait for this book to come out next year and for everyone to dive into this world and story. Meanwhile, I´m going to sit here in misery wondering how many human sacrifices it will take to get an ARC of the second book too.

Then she meets the devastatingly handsome Talan d’Astier. His family destroyed themselves, seduced by a demon, and Talan, the only survivor, is determined to redeem their honor. Intrigued and enchanted, Gemma proposes a bargain: She’ll help Talan navigate high society if he helps her destroy the Basks. According to popular legend, a demon called The Man With the Three-Eyed Crown is behind the families' blood feud - slay the demon, end the feud. Gemma finds herself drawn immediately drawn to Talan d’Astier, a foreign visitor who is seeking help from her father to redeem his family honor. Intrigued, Gemma proposes that she’ll help Talan navigate the ins and outs of high society and gain an audience with the queen if he assists her family in their ongoing feud with the neighboring Bask family. If this were all of the story, A Crown of Ivy and Glass might actually be better off—there’s something compelling about the competitive inter-family rivalry, and the prospect of Gemma’s grooming Talan to fit in with the rich and royal is fun. Worst of all, Gemma is the only Ashbourne to possess no magic. Instead, her body fights it like poison. Constantly ill, aching with loneliness, Gemma craves love and yearns to belong.

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Example four. Three sisters that are totally water downed versions of Archeron sisters. You really thought we wouldn’t notice? Lady Gemma Ashbourne seemingly has it all. She’s young, gorgeous, and rich. Her family was Anointed by the gods, blessed with incredible abilities. But underneath her glittering façade, Gemma is deeply sad. Years ago, her sister Mara was taken to the Middlemist to guard against treacherous magic. Her mother abandoned the family. Her father and eldest sister, Farrin - embroiled in a deadly blood feud with the mysterious Bask family - often forget Gemma exists. Rating 7: A very mixed bag for this book specifically, but I was definitely sold on the concept and anxiously await the next entry in the trilogy! This is the first book by this author for me. I have seen many of her books everywhere and was very curious about her writing style.

But where do I even begin with this book? There is so much to write about. So much to say. And I am going to try not to share everything about it. But oh, I have many thoughts. And I simply must share most of them. The writing was absolutely stunning. As always, with a Claire book. I fully fell in love with everything.Gemma Ashbourne stammt aus einer der einflussreichsten Familien mit der stärksten Magie, doch sie selbst hat nicht nur keine magischen Kräfte, allein die Nähe zu Magie kann bei ihr starke Schmerzen auslösen. As someone with a chronic, painful illness that has no known cure, I relate deeply to Imogen’s pain as she grapples with her place in the world and finds meaning in her oft-bedridden existence. True to life, Legrand describes Imogen’s aches and ailments with such consistency it’s impossible to forget. Was the story a bit chaotic and muddled? 100%, but it was still incredibly fascinating, engaging, and exciting. A Crown of Ivy and Glass, the first book in the Middlemist trilogy, is a story about romance, dark magic, costuming and architecture, dance, music, monsters and myths. A story about sisterhood, passionate lovers and this is only the beginning. But that all changes when she meets Talan d'Astier. A charming, sarcastic and criminally handsome man, with a mysterious family history. His family destroyed themselves, seduced by a demon, and Talan, the only survivor, is determined to redeem their honour. Intrigued and enchanted, Gemma proposes a bargain: She'll help Talan navigate high society if he helps her destroy the Basks by killing the demon.