Enchantee by Gita Trelease – Blog tour and ARC Review

 

Many thanks to Macmillan Australia for having me on tour for Enchantee!  

 

My Rating ~ Four stars

RELEASE DATE: 26 February 2019

Publisher: Macmillan Australia

Format: Paperback

Pages: 467

RRP:  AU$16.99

Blurb

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…

 

Review

Thankyou to Macmillan Australia for providing me with a copy of Enchantee in exchange for an honest review.

Camille doesn’t want to work magic, but sees no choice when her brother has gambled away all the money her and her sister have to feed themselves and pay the rent.  Turning scrap metal into coins, to buy food so they won’t starve, has been barely scraping them by but when their brother’s debts mount too high and he strips the house of anything valuable to sell, Camille realises she’ll have to work the magic she has always been afraid to try.  Instead of glamouring objects, she must glamour herself, and try to sneak into court, to mix with the aristocrats and gamble to win.

The writing in Enchantee was beautiful and magical.  I was swept away by the atmosphere in this book and fell in love with the characters.  I got definite Caraval vibes from Camille’s magic dress, although this dress was motivated by much darker things.  I loved being taken from the poor streets of Paris, to the glamorous palace, and meeting the different classes of people, most trapped by the ideals of their family lines.  The underlying themes of addiction, both gambling and to magic, were prominent and well done.  Camille knows all along that magic will always demand payment and take her strength and well being, but the pull of using it to make enough money to survive, soon gives way to not knowing when, or how, to stop.  The mix of magic, betrayal, secrets, slow burn romance and hot air ballooning made this an enchanting read and I am looking forward to a sequel!

 

 

 

Photo via my Instagram account – Bookbookowl

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