I rate this book a 3.5 stars out of 5, rounded up to 4. There were a lot of great things about this book, but I rated it lower because for whatever reason, I never felt sucked into the story. I read this with long breaks in between, but I did enjoy it when I was reading it. It’s a nice cozy fairytale for adults. There’s no spice or intense yearning/desire, but it’s a sweet romance with some fantasy elements and the stakes feel fairly low. It’s not an intense read, but rather a little bit of fun escapism.

What I liked:

The women were smart, competent and were very capable of doing whatever was needed.

With the exception of the prince (and this was necessary for the plot line), the characters were mature, were good communicators, made decisions that made sense, and never made you want to yell at them for making awful choices. They were all likeable, though not without flaws.

There was one character who had a chronic illness that sometimes left her with limited ability to walk on her own and sometimes used a wheelchair. But she was portrayed as competent, it didn’t define her, and it wasn’t the only thing we knew about her. And she wasn’t portrayed as someone to be pitied. So this was nice representation.

There’s a cat (I love cats!).

I thought the whole situation of why she was there when she was and how the island is that time of year pretty funny.

Where I struggled a bit:

This is the second in a series and I didn’t read the first one. So this may only be an issue if you go in blind. I looked at the description for the first story and didn’t see mention of these characters so thought the books were standalone. But the relationship between the two main characters starts in book one. So they have a history and I felt like I was starting in the middle of the story when they cross paths the first time. While I liked both of them as characters, especially Sir Jordaan, I didn’t feel invested in them as a couple until the very end. Part of that may be that for the first bit of the story I was trying to figure out what their deal was. It felt like important information was missing. You probably don’t need to read the first book - but when the background isn’t explained and it feels like you’re supposed to understand what happened between the two of them in the past, it’s a bit confusing and takes you out of the story.

Overall it was a nice, sweet story. I don’t know what it was that prevented me from being fully pulled into the story, maybe the writing, pacing, or how the story unfolded just wasn’t for me. But I still enjoyed it, and for someone looking for a nice story with cozy fairy tale vibes, I think this would fit the bill perfectly! I would definitely try the next book in the series because there was a lot a liked in this one.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me at 15%. I really could not get into the writing, partly due to multiple grammatical or sense errors, and partly just due to the style, which felt for me at odds with a historical-ish fairy tale fantasy of manners. Too modern, too simplistic, and just somehow a little too tell-not-show. While I think this book will find its readers, sadly I’m not among them!

In fairness to this fairytale retelling, I got hold of the first book in this series. And I’m glad I did. While this tale doesn’t exactly follow on from the first book, there are mentions of characters who took centre stage in Curtsies & Consequences and all the main protagonists in this story appeared in the first book. And it’s in the first book that we find the original cause of Sir Jordaan’s injuries that lead to his sleeping sickness.

This tale is a romantasy – that is, the romantic thread is one of the main plotlines that power the narrative. However, Constantine also tells a cracking tale with a strong plot that addresses the mysteries surrounding some of the magical elements winding their way through the story. I love that there’s a real cost to magic and the fae are portrayed as enigmatic creatures who may, or may not, be the cause of trouble to humans. As for the ongoing mysteries – most are satisfactorily solved within the book, but the secrecy surrounding a certain purple-haired witch still needs to be unravelled and she is one of the most intriguing characters in the series so far.

As for the main protagonists – Diana is a delight. Feisty, intelligent and convincingly pole-axed at the shoddy treatment she’s getting. I was fully behind the unfolding romance. Which isn’t always the case, as I also really liked Sir Jordaan and was particularly pleased to see a story around a strong fighter suffering the life-changing consequences of an illness sapping him of all his energy. I stayed up far too late to discover what happened to whom and felt miserable when the story came to an end and I was ejected from this interesting world. I’m now impatiently waiting for the next slice of the adventure. While I obtained an arc of Magic & Manners from the publishers via Netgalley, the opinions I have expressed are unbiased and my own.
9/10

Initially got this as an eARC for before pub. I tried to read the first one in time because once I started reading my arc I realized that this is def well, it didn’t feel like a standalone.

I’m giving it 4 stars because I didn’t get a chance to get through the first one so I feel like there’s still a layer I haven’t quite connected with.

It was cute, at times a bit confusing but mostly def served up drama which I enjoyed haha

Well the blurb and the title was right! It felt like it was a cozy calm read of magic and manners where things from fairytales are the norm and one must mind their etiquette or it will be a social disaster.

This book is about unrequited love and moving on! Very charming, but not meant for readers that are new to this world. I loved the characters and the medium pacing of the story. 4.5 stars!

I must admit, when I picked up this book, I thought it was those sort of series that are a bunch of interconnected stand-alone. It looked like a fun summer romance in a fantasy world with a lot of fun times that you can read without picking up the other books.

It does appear it is not really the fact, and so I did spend a lot of time trying to piece things together, rather than having a good time. For exemple, apparently the two leads have met before (and even kissed?!), so it was a bit hard to get into their dynamic.

This said though, I was enjoying the back and fort, and was getting in the groove of things; just before we got trust with the point of view of an unknown man, who was not all mentioned in the blurb. His chapter was definitely a different vibe than the previous one too, and didn’t quite fit in what I was sold with the fun summer romance.

AND THEN. Another point of view, this time from the maid who’s getting married, and I’m sure is struggling with something too? Which would be fine! If I was just reading a normal kind of cosy fantasy book that was promoted as such, not a romance, where the most you want is a point of view from each leads.

All around, I would not say I have problems with the book itself, but I don’t think it is being promoted quite the right way. I do admit also, that I am not blown away by the writing; I feel like there’s a lot of repetitions, and it feels more on the younger side of the Young Adult genre than I prefer. For both of those reasons, I am stopping my reading at the 12% mark.

I am sorry, and wish the very best to the author. I did still want to leave a review, as I felt like saying nothing would not help anyone.

After suffering from a heartbreak due to unrequited love, Lady Diana Yarborough of Wills gets a second chance at love when she and her mother are invited to spend time with Prince Travers of Tull. But when her mother gets ill right before they are supposed to leave, she thinks she will have to cancel. But her mother insists that she must go, so she sets out for the Kingdom of Tull with just a handful of servants and a mountain of luggage. But her hopes of an idyllic visit are blown almost as soon as she arrives – to a bay full of dead fish and no royal escort awaiting her. She learns that the prince and his aunt the Duchess are not in residence and there is not another ship leaving for weeks! She checks into the Rutledge Hotel (which would have been lovely if not for the aforementioned dead fish) and plans to leave just as soon as she can. But upon arriving she runs into Sir Jordaan, a knight she met last spring who is at the hotel recovering from a sleeping sickness, a man who is as infuriating as he is attractive and who is completely wrong for her. But her return to Wills won’t happen any time soon, as she is caught up in a mystery involving the prince, fairies, a witch, shapeshifters and of course the one man she absolutely shouldn’t be thinking about…

Sir Jordaan Van Dine is the youngest son of the very powerful Baron Van Dine and a knight in service to the Duke of Lower Miser. Last spring while helping his friend Sir Robert find a missing princess, he somehow contracted a sleeping sickness and has been unable to stay awake for more than a few hours a day. He seeks out the help of Caris Mourne, a powerful witch and she has concocted some potions that help him stay awake, but they still don’t know what is causing the sickness in the first place. The arrival of Lady Diana perks up Jordaan, but falling for her is a mistake, she is from a royal house, and he is the fifth son of a baron, nothing but heartache can come from loving her.

I read the first book in this series and was disappointed because I was expecting an adult romantasy and got a YA fantasy story. So, with that in mind, I entered this story with entirely different expectations, which enabled me to enjoy the story a bit more than the previous book. I did like the story and enjoyed the banter between Diana and Jordaan, as well as the barbs traded between the secondary characters. The mystery played out nicely and the author gave readers more than one twist to keep things interesting. The same issues I had in the first book were in this book in the form of title errors, unanswered questions, no spice at all (not even a kiss) and no definitive HEA. Overall, with my lowered expectations, I did like this book more than the first one, but I am not sure I will be reading the rest of the series. This is the second book in the series, and while the books can be read as standalone titles, I think reading them in order might give the reader a better understanding of the characters.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *

Great second installment in this fun fantasy-based romance series! Diana is informally engaged to Prince Travers and his faerie aunt has personally invited Diana to his island for the summer to get to know him better. Once there, though, things go from bad to worse very quickly. (The dead fish aren't helping, where's the prince, and what the heck is going on with the faeries?) Sir Jordaan is a knight plagued with a mysterious sleeping sickness, who happens to be staying at the same luxury hotel as Diana. Amidst all of the chaos and intrigue, the attraction grows between Diana and Jordaan. This is definitely not a standalone, as this book relied heavily on knowledge of characters and events from the previous book. There are multiple POVs, a format that also featured heavily in the previous book. These do help to round out and deepen the story but it can be a little confusing at times and there are multiple sub-plots and relationship dynamics/events to follow. I think the author takes a risk with scattering the focus of each book over so many characters. It can be hard to fully appreciate who's supposed to be the main characters of each book since they read more like ensemble pieces. Which in general is fine, but that's not really how the books are described. I liked Diana, she grew on me after the first book and it was nice to see her personality and identity further develop. Jordaan was charismatic and fun but had a nice amount of angst to him too. I loved their dynamic and banter, and the overall level and amount of humor in the story was a bonus. I really enjoyed the angsty denying-their-feelings energy between Diana and Jordaan. It was easy to see where their relationship was headed, there's an HEA but this is a low-steam/high yearn story. There's also a satisfying mystery regarding the faeries that helped keep my interest. That said, I would have liked more page time for Diana and Jordaan together than I got overall. While the romance was definitely there, the story seemed to give equal time to the romance along with other sub-plots (think fantasy with a romantic element vs. a romantasy). I enjoyed this book overall and I highly recommend this series. I'm looking forward to the next installment (per the author's end notes it's going to be Xander and Bertie's second-chance romance). Publishes June 9, 2025. This review was based on a complimentary copy of the book, all opinions are my own.