A Crown of Ivy and Glass by Claire Legrand

 

Title: A Crown of Ivy and Glass
Author: Claire Legrand
Publish Date: May 9, 2023
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca 
Source: Huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC for review.

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.

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.

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.

But attacks on the Middlemist are increasing. The plot against the Basks quickly spirals out of control. And something immense and terrifying is awakening in Gemma, drawing her inexorably toward Talan and an all-consuming passion that could destroy her—or show her the true strength of her power at last.

Penelope's Review

I wanted to love this book so much more, but unfortunately it just didn't hit the mark for me. I felt like it was really long but didn't need to be? Don't get me wrong, I love a good, long book when it's well done and holds my attention, but I found myself able to put this book down and wasn't really overjoyed at the prospect of picking it back up again.

The book starts off good - we get a little bit of background, we meet the characters, we get a good story set up. Gemma seemed like she was going to be a really interesting character to follow through this book (and she was!), but I didn't really like Talan. Unfortunately, disliking the main male lead does not bode well for a romance. I was actually more interested in Farrin's love life than I was Gemma's lol. And we only get VERY TINY glimpses and hints at that aspect of Farrin but it seems like it could be an EPIC story. 

Anyway. After the beginning, things sort of seemed to just spiral out of control. The story seemed all over the place, and I was sort of confused and little bit bored for a lot of it. It felt very stop and go, and I just couldn't get into a flow with this book. The romance didn't work for me, not just because I didn't like Talan, but because there was no substance to it. It was very insta-love, and then the relationship was just all over the place, and not in a good way.

I think there are definitely people who are going to like this book, but it just wasn't for me unfortunately. If there was another book from Farrin's POV, I think I would definitely read that. Very curious to see what happens with her and Ryder. But in terms of Gemma's story, I don't really feel like I need to know more. 

Rating: 2.5/5 Devils