An instant New York Times bestseller! An Indie Next Top 10 Pick A Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Winner “A funny, action-packed, and sweet romance.” —School Library Journal (starred review) “A phenomenal read.” —RT Book Reviews A skilled painter must stand up to the ancient power of the faerie courts—even as she falls in love with a faerie prince—in this gorgeous bestseller that’s “an ideal pick … she falls in love with a faerie prince—in this gorgeous bestseller that’s “an ideal pick for fans of Holly Black, Maggie Stiefvater, and Laini Taylor” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
Isobel is an artistic prodigy with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel’s paintings are highly prized. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes—a weakness that could cost him his life.
Furious, Rook spirits her away to his kingdom to stand trial for her crime. But something is seriously wrong in his world, and they are attacked from every side. With Isobel and Rook depending on each other for survival, their alliance blossoms into trust, then love—and that love violates the fair folks’ ruthless laws. Now both of their lives are forfeit, unless Isobel can use her skill as an artist to fight the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel.
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I was so excited to pick up this book – the cover is gorgeous and the premise is pretty much right up my ally. That being said, I think it was right up my ally because it borrows liberally from A Court of Thorns and Roses: the skilled young artist whisked unwillingly away for an unexpected transgression against some mysterious faerie law, the conflicted faerie prince who quickly becomes the love interest, the unchanging seasonal courts, even the use of glamours to mask an inhuman secret. Despite the familiarity of the story, I still loved getting lost in the world Rogerson built. It was perhaps not as tightly woven as Maas’ world, nor as richly developed, but the writing was lovely and detailed and romantic. I loved that it was a stand-alone and felt in some ways like reading a more traditional fairy tale – the joy of the story was primarily in the elegant turns-of-phrase and the inevitable journey to a happy ending.
In a world where artistic ability is coveted by dangerous, manipulative faeries, human Isobel is an accomplished portrait painter. And when she meets Rook, the autumn prince, her whole world changes…
A totally original, beautifully written story. The descriptions of the trees and the seasons are so gorgeous, and the characters are so well-crafted. The love story is a little cheesy, but it’s great fun. I would definitely recommend this for anyone looking for a gorgeous fantasy romance!
Wow. Really, I loved this. What a delightsome read. I couldn’t put this down! Rogerson writes beautifully. I will read every book she puts out.
I loved the striking differences between the fae and the humans and how each had their flaws. Rogerson did an amazing job making the fae seem alluring but also disturbing and unfeeling. She made me NOT want to be fae, which was refreshing amidst books like ACOTAR where fae are just magical humans with no down side
I did cringe a bit at the insta-love at the beginning but I like how it was turned upside down and they had to learn to like each other before falling in love.
I also thought the climax was a bit muddled. The characters just weren’t proactive enough when I needed them to be.
But other than that, I LOVED it. Will definitely be rereading this again in the future.
I don’t read all that much of the Fantasy genre and this was one of my first books dealing with the Fairy Folk or Fae Courts. I had read a few of the reviews of this book beforehand and I saw that it was compared to A Court of Thorns and Roses which I also own, so I had a decision to make on which book to read first.
ACOTAR seems a bit more my style, from the blurb it seems to focus more on the romance. However, I sometimes have a pet peeve about books always being a series. I really like standalones now and then. It is nice not always having to read an entire series every time you pick up a book that sounds good. So I went with this one.
I really liked it. The book was YA Fantasy, there was no sex, but the two main characters do fall in Love. I really like how they fall in love despite each other’s flaws. The heroine, Isobel is a human painter who has been painting portraits of the Fairy folk ever since she was a young girl. The Fae love human craft. They can’t do crafts themselves or they will turn to dust, but they love to acquire crafts such as paintings, books, clothing and bakery items.
One of Isobel’s patrons, Gadfly recommends Isabel’s services to the autumn prince Rook. Isobel paints his picture over a few months and gets to know him and like him and has it delivered to his castle. The following week he returns in a fury because his subjects have seen him as weak since she had painted him with the human emotion of sorrow in his eyes. The fair folk do not have human emotions. So he captures her to take her to trial.
On the way, many things happen. Isobel already knows a lot of things about the Fair folk such as the fact that when she trades her paintings with them for enchantments she has to be very cautious in the wording because they often backfire and become dangerous or deadly.
I enjoyed how Isobel begins to see behind the glamour that they all have, to what is really there. She starts to paint each of them as she really sees them and ends up changing things more than anyone could imagine. Rook can’t help but be drawn to that. He is a very heroic character but is also quite funny because he is still Fae, so he holds on to his glamour even though she no longer cares about it. They are vain, so It reminded me of how women won’t go outside without makeup.
This story reminds me a LOT of “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” but I like it better because the main character is far more likable. (Also, while it’s still a bit on the cheesy side at times, it’s not so painfully sappy.)
Isobel is a very skilled painter whose primary patrons are Fair Ones (faeries of the various courts with the names of the seasons). There’s a law that mortals and Fair Folk cannot fall in love, or they’ll be killed — you just have to accept that. You also have to accept some of the other rules of their world: if Fair Folk do anything that can be considered a craft, they will immediately disintegrate into nothing, which is why they so greatly admire anybody who does produce craft of any kind. One day, Isobel’s patron is the Autumn King, Rook — and she starts to fall for him. But in process of painting his portrait, she sees something in his eyes that she cannot identify at first. She eventually realizes it’s sorrow, which is out of place because Fair Ones supposedly can’t feel human emotions at all. She paints it, and when Rook goes back and reveals the portrait in his court, there’s an uproar and the people no longer respect him because he’s been “outed” as having emotion. (Why they can identify it in the painting and not in real life, I don’t know–this is something else you just have to accept.) He comes back to take Isabel to stand trial for her crime. Along the way, though, they encounter a hunt that sets them in danger (I wasn’t clear on the reason for this) which delays the process, and Isobel wrests a confession out of Rook that he loves her. But since she doesn’t yet love him officially, they haven’t broken the law yet.
In order to escape the hunt, they venture into the Summer Court. They stick around for a ball, Isobel of course realizes she loves him, and they’re condemned to death by the Alder King, the king of the Summer Court. Isabel and Rook have to flee for their lives, and eventually Isobel concocts a crazy plan to save them both.
Spoiler alert: it’s a happily-ever-after story (which I’m glad about, because I like happy endings, but it did feel a little too convenient.) Still, I enjoyed the story, and liked Isobel’s and Rook’s characters fo the most part. I also really liked the fact that, unlike most faery stories, the Fair Ones aren’t *all* glamour. In Rogerson’s version (if not in other versions, I don’t know the lore that well), their glamour covers ugliness in their persons, mold and rot in their clothes and food and dwellings. They are immortal, but apparently not immune to time in other ways. The best they can do is hide that under their glamour. I thought that was an interesting twist.
It’s confession time book nerds—I am complete trash for everything Charlie Bowater does. She’s one of my favorite artists, so OF COURSE I had to read a book she designed the cover for. What is it about?? Heck if I knew, but the cover is BEAUTIFUL. Lucky for me, this faerie fantasy was super fun and I loved reading it!
I feel like this book can summarized in one phrase, which is “this was really cute.”
Because it was! It was nice reading about Isobel who’s so artistic and cunning. She was super smart, something that never ceases to be refreshing, and her relationship with her little family was adorable. Her little goat sisters were cracking me up! And once Rook came around to get his portrait done, I really enjoyed watching their relationship grow. It seemed a little fast, but I can’t tell if that’s because it was, or because this was a shorter standalone and I’m too used to long series. Either way, I didn’t really mind because I liked them both together.
Once the story moves into the faerie lands, it was cool seeing all the different landscapes and getting to know the faerie culture. All the faeries were so low key creepy and weird! Watching Rook and Isobel try to navigate through it was fun. There were also some serious autumn vibes to this story that I LOVED. Reading this book in November was perfect and I definitely recommend it as a fall read for everyone!
↬ FINAL WORD
The story isn’t crazy inventive and nothing too twisty happened. Honestly, it was fairly predictable. But Rogerson did an excellent job weaving a fun and adorable little romance I loved it!
Overall Rating:
My rating for this book is actually 3.5/5 stars. I enjoyed this book. I thought it very similar to A Court Of Thorns And Roses. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I just expected more from this book. This book would get a higher rating if it was a longer book or if there was more to come in the future. I feel like this book was a bit cramped for how much MR was trying to do.
Plot Rating:
Seeing as this book is very similar to ACOTAR, I loved the story line. I felt like I was reading a fanfic of ACOTAR and I loved it. I do like the differences between them. I just really wish this book was longer so that the plot could have expanded more.
The ending came so quickly, it was a bit disappointing. The “big battle” happened within the last couple of chapters and it was over just as it started. I really wish we had more fighting time.
Character Rating:
I loved the Fae people in this book. I love that they try so hard to live like mortals even though they cannot do their Craft. They’re exceptional creatures.
Rook has to be my favorite character. He’s a bit of a smartass and I love it. I know it’s mostly because they cannot lie, but it’s still hilarious. He seemed like the most developed character. I kind of wish that this book was from his perspective instead of Isobel’s.
Isobel drove me crazy sometimes. When she couldn’t kill Rook because she couldn’t live without him and she knows that he can’t live without her. Instead of drinking from the Green Well, she destroys it. Which means, she can never become Fae. Which means, eventually, Rook will have to live without her. I think it was a selfish decision.
I really enjoyed Gadfly’s character and I’m so glad he was there throughout the book. His part in this story is amazing and completely unexpected.
World Building:
MR did such a good job at building this world. I was able to visualize everything. It was just purely amazing. It amazes me that she was able to build such a wonderful world in such a small book.
Although, at first, it is kind of difficult to tell what time period this is happening in. But there’s no technology so one can only assume it was taken place before all of that was invented.
Romance Rating:
As much as I love Rook and Isobel, I am disappointed. There was not enough romance in this book to be even considered a romantic fantasy. I just really wish that there was more. I’m all for a bit of steam in YA romance and this book had none 🙁
Writing Style:
MR’s writing style is very whimsical. When she was describing things, I just could see it perfectly. She did such a good job at making sure there weren’t any random gaps in the story and I appreciate that. I really can’t stand time gaps in books.
Oh my sugar! I adore this book so much. I read it in a day. The writing was lyrical and beautiful. Characters were amazing. The relationship between two of the characters was sweet and witty. The banter back and forth between them was fun to read and just made their relationship unfold wonderfully. The world was my favorite part. Margaret Rogerson does a wonderful job creating this world. It’s not uncommon to see books with fae and humans living together but Rogerson creates her own twists into the story. The fae, called fair folk in the book, are actually pityful and to be sympathized. How the fair folk were portrayed was interesting and I really appreciated the original concept of the book. Rogerson is descriptive in her writing letting us know every detail in the world around us. The story is unpredictable and moves at an enjoyable pace. It doesn’t zip through or slow down to the speed of a turtle. Witch is a huge thing for me. The ending was amazing and left us satisfied, witch is good because this is a stand-alone novel. Would I read more by Margaret Rogerson? Definitely!
Overall five stars.
~BooksandTea
I freaking loved this! I’ve read some reviews and their complaints are things I don’t see. I know everyone is different, but did we read the same book? People compared this to ACOTAR (I’ve only read book 1), but I don’t like just comparing all fae books. Sara J. Maas didn’t invent them.
Anyways…
I liked the characters. Isobel was great. She was so strong, but not unrealistically bad-ass. That’s a common complaint I have. And the side characters were well-developed especially since this is in first person.
I really liked the pacing. It isn’t a particularly long book, but I was satisfied. There wasn’t constant action (another issue I have with modern YA fantasy). Instead there is downtime where people can talk. I’m starting to think this is what people mean by slow. If that’s the case, I guess I like slow books.
Objectively, I can see people viewing the romance as insta-love. But I respectively disagree. Isobel “falls in love” very fast, but she questions her feelings. Personally, I think that is a natural reaction for a seventeen year old who is dealing with love/lust/attraction for the first time. And I appreciate the self-reflection she goes through. I guess I think people throw the insta-love complaint around a little too freely.
I would love to read more in this world. It doesn’t have to follow the same characters. The world is interesting and I like Ms. Rogerson’s writing. Whimsy is an interesting place and Craft is something I want to know more about. I’m also sad because I have no more Margaret Rogerson books to read 🙁
A well done standalone with elegant prose, imaginative world, and the deepest appreciation for humanity.
This book has become one of my all-time favorites. Every time I start reading I couldn’t put it down, touched and overwhelmed by so many emotions and thoughts. It’s light-hearted and thought-provoking at the same time, addressing issues like immortal lives, emotions and humanity. I love how this book honors artistic creations, which is not a common theme among YA fantasy. Also, I love how Isobel matures along the way and realizes a crush is not the same as love.
I would recommend this book to those who have creative minds (Attention artists, writers, and bakers out there! You’ll be touched!), and fantasy lovers.
this book is great if you are looking for romance, this book is pretty amazing
What a lush, gorgeous, and exciting novel! This was another one of those fantasy novels that I heard lovely things about but somehow convinced myself it would be all pretty prose over plot and pacing. No, this is one over those utterly magical books that weaves an incredibly compelling story with breathtakingly lovely writing. I literally could not put it down and I cannot wait to read more from Margaret!
I love the characters, especially Rook. I did enjoy this book.
This is one of those books that moves at a very leisurely pace and sometimes it feels as if nothing much is happening and yet you can’t stop turning the page. I enjoyed this world and this take on the fae. Isobel draws the reader in and I found Rook to be exasperating and charming. At times I did wonder where the plot was going because it took some meandering turns along the way, but I was enchanted with the characters so I didn’t mind too much in the end. I wish I had a tad bit more wrap up in the end but all in all I was satisfied.
I honestly was charmed and delighted by this first book by Margaret Rogerson. I actually had the audible version for a while but hadn’t gotten to it. However by the time I was halfway in, I decided I simply had to buy the kindle version as well as I knew this book was a “keeper” for me. I loved it so much. Loved Isobel and her familial love and strength of character and intriguing talent, and just loved everything about Rook, even his arrogance. Faerie was so well written that I was there with them all. My heart is singing and what a lovely way to drift off to sleep and perhaps have sweet dreams
– Actual rating: 4.5/5 –
As a standalone, this met my expectations. I was going in with the expectation that it would be an okay read since I’ve heard only a few people talk about it, all having great things to say about it. It had actually exceeded my expectations and I’m so glad that I have read it! I think Margaret Rogerson might be a new favorite to add to my list 🙂
I really enjoyed the romance. It was very well done and I honestly found it to be realistic in the emotion department. It is how most people her age would approach it.
The book was unpredictable for me. I was only able to predict one thing and that was after I had been given enough information and so it didn’t spoil the book for me in any way.
All of the characters are enjoyable. I like each and every one of them, which doesn’t happen often for me. They were each unique, yet the fair folk stuck within the boundaries that they had been given and I think that was really cool to see. That characters that are so strange and cannot grasp or feel human emotions are still different. I hadn’t read any characters that were the way these ones were represented, including fae from different books.
I do wish that the magic system was explored more. I want to know the limits of their powers and just how far they are willing to go. I also wish that the fair lands were explored more and I want to know more about how and why her paintings allow the fair ones to feel human emotions. But seeing that this is a standalone, I understand why Rogerson didn’t, and it is perfectly fine. The book is still great without it.
Beautifully written! The prose made this story a pleasure to read. An enchanting version of fey, an artist as the heroine, a town unlike no other- I couldn’t put this book down.
I really like the lyrical writing style of this author, how she describes the “fair folk,” their realm, and Isobel’s painting. Magical! It fit the story well. There were some great twists near the end, and I was pleased by ending. I wouldn’t have guessed some of the plot points; I loved that it wasn’t totally predictable how things worked out.
So I am so gald that I read Sorcery of Thorns before this!! Because that is seriously one of the best books I’ve ever read!! It truly made me a diehard fan of this ah-mazing author. That being said, this book was so vastly different!! I’d be hard pressed to say that Margaret Rogerson wrote this. And that’s what is so incredibly intriguing to me! This was a fae tale that is unlike any out there! With enchantments and tricky fae dealings, seeing Isobel navigate around her world gives us a whole new understanding of the fae. The tone throughout this is kind of a very heavy theme. At times it’s frightening and bewildering. There is wonder and joy, but a lot of caution seasons this. Isobel is intelligent and knows herself quite a bit! She understands her strengths and weaknesses. Rook absolutely made this!! I loved him so much!! His mannerisms and personality were so entertaining to watch unfold. I feel like as the story unfolded we saw him morph before our eyes or at the very least before Isobel’s eyes. The supporting characters were pretty awesome! I loved and laughed at the antics of March and May. The epilogue was hopeful and concluded this pretty perfectly. I can’t wait to see what Ms. Rogerson writes next!
Margaret Rogerson brings the fantastical faerie realm to life and questions what truly would the effects of a fae and human falling in love with each other.