The story could have moved a bit faster. ( )

Recommended: sure
for a lightly magical tale of court intrigue and romance, for a concise cast of characters

Thoughts:
Overall this is a nice story with an interesting cast of characters and slightly varied plot. Most of the visible characters show some kind of growth over the course of the story, and there's more than just "falling in love" as a plotline.

I didn't expect the amount of political discussion in this novel, but it's actually a central conflict for the majority of the book. Niamh is from a marginalized group of people who are disdained in the central city of the other country, and there's unrest around the way her people are being treated. Protests and blackmail and such abound throughout this story and drive some of the conflict in it.

The other main element, of her having to make the clothing for the wedding, is there but... not a lot? It's odd that her magic is so important and central to what's happened, but is also almost an afterthought. It comes into play in important moments, but there isn't actually a ton of scenes discussing or witnessing it. It's a world with magic, but I could only name three powers that exist which is pretty underwhelming. I would have liked to see it integrated more naturally into the lives of people, or given more of a backstory and explanation. That's just not really the focus of this book, though.

There were a few things that made me a little prickly towards Niamh, and though they weren't HUGE issues, they were things that stuck in my head a bit after the book. First is that she barely thinks about her mom or grandmother other than "I sacrifice my happiness for them" which is pretty underwhelming of a relationship. She writes a letter back to her friend Erin, but never once to her own actual family... including towards the end with some key events and information. :l

The second thing was more of an intentional point in the book but still caused some frustration: she constantly gives advice to others that she herself should be taking! She's a massive hypocrite! Thankfully this is a thing other characters call each other out on and force responsibility for, but boy, at the start I was just like "girl do you HEAR yourself right now??" and had some annoyed annotations at point. xD

Some LGBTQI rep is in here but very lightly. Some characters mention at times dallying with other men or women and have lovely little "we're the same" lines, but there are no labels or much focused conversation around it. It's a side note, and additional part of who they are without fully defining them. Honestly I'm not sure it added much to the story besides I guess a kind of softness for their short moments of acceptance with each other. It didn't take away though, either.

Overall I enjoyed the story and did get some smiles and some teary eyes in it. It didn't blow me away, but it was a pleasant evening to read and finish out my 2023 new year's eve with given that I'm sick and won't be doing much else tonight. 😊

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for a free advanced copy. This is my honest review.

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I liked this book but it wasn’t perfect. I liked Niamh and Kit and wanted to see things work out for them. I thought that Niamh’s ability to magically weave emotions and memories into the clothes that she makes was incredibly interesting and I really would have liked to learn more about it, and the rest of the magic system than we are given. The romance between Niamh and Kit was my favorite part of the story but it was not without its challenges since Kit is a prince and happens to already be betrothed.

I loved the fact that Kit was a bit of a grouch for much of the story. It took a bit for Niamh and Kit to fall for each other and it was fun to see them get to know one another. But this story was more than just a romance. There were a lot of things going on in the kingdom which left the story feeling overly busy at times and I felt that it bogged down a bit in the middle. I found the secondary characters to be interesting and thought that they added a lot to the story.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that Fran Burgoyne did a wonderful job with the story. I found her voice to be very pleasant and I had no problem listening for hours at a time. I liked the various voices that she used, which helped to bring the story to life. I believe that her performance added to my overall enjoyment of this story. I think that a lot of readers will like this one even more than I did. I do hope to read more of this author’s work in the future.

I received a review copy of this book from Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio. ( )

Not giving a star rating.

Use of modern slang in a fantasy world.
DNF for me as it completely takes away from the world building.

Thank you Wednesday books for the e-ARC. I’m sure it’s a great story for those that can get around the slang.

This is a delight! Cozy and warm, this fantasy story has just enough political intrigue to add far-reaching stakes to the romance at the heart of the book.

Niamh is a member of a persecuted race who gets an opportunity to better her family when her dress designs attract royal attention. She travels across the ocean to sew enchanted clothes for the wedding of Prince Kit. But when she meets Kit, he's prickly, rude and devastatingly handsome. As Niamh's naivete honesty and lack of court decorum break through Kit's defenses, Niamh gets to see another side to him. But falling for the groom is the last thing a royal wedding seamstress is supposed to do.

From Rosa, the sarcastic, bored princess and future bride; to Sinclair, the disgraced best friend with a heart of gold; to Jack, the prince regent with a secret who seems more interested in running his household than his kingdom, these characters bicker and banter their way into your heart. Some of the characters are queer, though the romance at the heart of a story is between a boy and a girl.

Against the backdrop of a protest against chronic oppression, this royal wedding serves up all the drama: two reluctant future spouses, a gossip columnist who knows more than they should, and a romance that threatens to upend the delicate balance of everything.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book. ( )