Hi! I won this book in a contest and I was so excited because just a couple of days prior to entering I had added it to my TBR.
Needless to say I started reading it as soon as I got it and flew right through it.
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Paris in 1789 is a labyrinth of twisted streets, filled with beggars, thieves, revolutionaries—and magicians...Needless to say I started reading it as soon as I got it and flew right through it.
Synopsis from Goodreads:
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:
If the cover drew you in then the inside cover would blow your mind! It's a beautiful sprawling map of Paris that transports you right into the story with Camille and the rest of the characters.
Camille can do magic but it comes at a cost. When she starts performing it in order to get her and her sister out of a bad situation, she quickly becomes addicted to it and slowly gets caught up in a wretched plot.
I adore the magic system because it's not like others I've read about and a massive part of this story is Camille's enchanted dress. I loved it even though it was an object met with a ton of apprehension for good reasons.
The romance was wonderful. I'm usually not a fan of romance but Trelease knows how to balance it perfectly in time with all the other aspects of her novel so it's not so blatant and up in your face.
The pacing is quite slow but I loved the way I was eased into the setting slowly and completely. In this way, I felt like I was walking the street of Paris with Camille and attending card games at court, getting into mischief. The pacing was perfect for me!
I adore the magic system because it's not like others I've read about and a massive part of this story is Camille's enchanted dress. I loved it even though it was an object met with a ton of apprehension for good reasons.
The romance was wonderful. I'm usually not a fan of romance but Trelease knows how to balance it perfectly in time with all the other aspects of her novel so it's not so blatant and up in your face.
The pacing is quite slow but I loved the way I was eased into the setting slowly and completely. In this way, I felt like I was walking the street of Paris with Camille and attending card games at court, getting into mischief. The pacing was perfect for me!
