... meanwhile on a dark winters night in central Scotland:
Brain: I saw that! You glanced at the clock. I know you saw what time it is.
Heart: Just one more chapter!!
Brain: You have to work in the morning.
Heart: It says we're at 80%! We're nearly there! Can't stop now
Brain: I hate you.
Heart: You're the bestest Brain. Love you! High Five!

Sure, I might not be able to function too well on a few hours of sleep today, but ... NO REGRETS!!!

This story was a lot of fun! You can't help but get caught up in the wonderful world of Paris in the late 18th Century. It is a whirlwind of extravaganza, frivolities and ballooning adventures with a dash of Cinderella vibes. You almost forget your history and what you know is coming... that is, until things start to unravel.

I loved all the characters - even the wealthy aristocrats gave me serious squad goals! Loved the sister's dynamic and the teenagers were not insufferable unlikable brats. Plus, the romance was more sweet and endearing than eyerolling angsty. And did I mention BALLOONS!!!

I understand why you need to add a release valve and learn how to set the balloon. But after that - what will you do with a better balloon? ...

I'd fly away of course.

The only negative for me was the "villain" and the final showdown was a wee bit anti-climatic and some it didn't make sense.

Can't wait for the next instalment. Bring on La Terreur!!

When Camille’s parents die from smallpox, she must find a way to provide for her sick and naive sister while trying to escape her volatile brother. The only way Camille knows how, is magic – la magie ordinaire – which feeds off her sorrow. She changes scraps of metals into coins to buy the food and medicine they need. When Camille can’t sustain the coins and her brother runs off with all their savings, Camille must find another way to pay the rent. She sets her sights on the Palace of Versaille, the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette – a dangerous place full of secrets and cheaters, Camille must tread carefully or lose everything.

Enchantée is a magical and mesmerising read full of glamour, romance, and danger. I absolutely adored Enchantée, and I absolutely adored the atmosphere and setting. Camille starts to play in the Palace of Versaille, using her la magie ordinaire to change cards in her favour and using glamoire to pretend to be someone she isn’t, the ‘Baroness de la Fontaine’. She wins big, enough to move to a nicer apartment, enough for food and clothes, enough to put a deposit on a shop so her sister can make her popular hats for the aristocracy. Yet, Camille can’t stop. Her father used to print leaflets criticising the aristocracy, their wealth, and their disregard for the poor. Yet, for Camille, the court is thrilling and intoxicating and while she doesn’t quite belong among the aristocracy, she can’t help but want to keep what she has gained through both glamoire and la magie ordinaire. I loved this contrast of Camille’s two different lives that she was leading and the discussions into poverty, and I loved how we saw the revolution brewing in the background.

Camille was a character that I adored and I loved the complexity of her and her decisions she made. I loved how at the beginning she just wanted enough – enough to get by, but throughout the novel, she started to want more and more and I just really enjoyed the fact that she wasn’t perfect. I really loved the sisterly relationship, it was filled with tension but also love and I appreciated and adored it.

The romance was lovely and one of my favourite parts of the book. I can’t speak for the representation but Lazare, Camille’s love interest, was biracial (Indian and French), and he was also an aristocrat.

Enchantée is a magical, enchanting, and thrilling book full of high stakes, courtly politics, revolution, and danger. Gita Trelease is definitely an author I will keep my eye on!

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this novel.

DNF page 150

There is nothing actually wrong with this book. The writing style, setting and magical element would definitely appeal to lots of people.

The thing is, I am 150 pages in and I don't care. I don't care about the characters or what happens to them.
The book is so slow going that I find myself bored most of the time.

I could easily force myself to read the rest of the book, but I just know it's not for me, so what's the point of forcing myself to read and then ranting about it later? That would be pointless.

I went into this with Caraval and The Night Circus expectations (that's what it was marketed as) and while I loved those books, I wouldn't compare them to this one.

I feel like this is a "me not you" situation and I would still recommend this book to readers who enjoy slow, beautifully written historical YA with just a dash of fantasy. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

This book was so magical and mesmerising. The premise is interesting and the setting really appealed to me. I loved the characters and the dialogue flowed well between them. Also, that cover is brilliant!

Highly recommend!

My Thoughts

There was a lot of promise at the start of this book. We dive straight into such a beautiful magic system that has so much potential to lead to thrilling and exciting situations for our main character. The initial world building is fantastic giving us real insight into Camille and her situation. I really enjoyed Camille as a character, I liked her interaction with her sister Sophie. I also loved that Sophie despite having poor health did not fall into the “useless little sister” being shielded form the horrors of the world by the big sister, Sophie pulled her weight it just didn’t pay enough to lift them out of their situation especially with their brother. We get introduced to a fantastic love interest that also has hints of excitement with both the romance his hot air balloon. Explorations of the more seedier underworld of the Parisian aristocracy are dangled in front of us as we follow Camille’s search for her abusive and alcoholic brother, all set a steady pace that really does promise a magic filled adventure, with the start of the French Revolution peeking its self over the horizon ready to leap into the story.

Then as we revel generous and lavish descriptions of 18th century Parisian fashion and life at court, this book crashes to a snails place. We are taught about two out of the three uses of magic in the first 100 pages of the book and for the majority of the story these are the only ones used. One to make small changes in an objects appearance such as scrap metal into coins and one to change Camille’s appearance ( a glamour) so she fits in at court. The magic becomes almost mundane and boring, which is such a shame as it is a truly beautifully crafted system. However, Camille’s use of the magic never seems to drive any real consequences in fact things just seem to work out and that is disappointing especially with the description of what the magic requires to work etc.

The romance also never really builds any tension and becomes rather lack lustre, while initially the inclusion of the hot air balloon aspects were fun and exciting, it kinda turned into a bizarre little side plot that doesn’t really amount to much. While, in the beginning it, created this great juxtaposition between the Glamoured Camille at court and her real life in Paris it just sort fizzles out as the pacing slows.

The “villain” is also disappointing, he is more creepy than evil. He rarely appears and never seems to actually do anything other than be creepy and an asshole till the last few chapters which are so easily overcome that it seemed to fly by in a blink in an otherwise slow burn story. Even the start of the revolution just saunters passed without impact. I get the impression that Trelease wanted the start of the revolution to signify a feeling of change and hope within the book but it really misses this mark as it doesn’t seem to have an impact on any of the characters (even the aristocratic ones) or on Camille’s outcome. It just putters out. I just had the felling that you could remove all the French names and this story could have taken place in any pretty European style fantasy palace and city, with a poor vs rich divide.

I will preface that it was still an enjoyable read. The writing was beautiful and it was entertaining just not in the thrilling fantasy way. It had such a strong start that had me extremely excited that it could have been a five star read, it has so much intrigue and promise that I just ended up feeling disappointed. I didn’t dislike the book at all. It just missing the excitement after a while that would have pushed up my ratings.

Richly imagined and utterly captivating. Reminded me of Caraval which I loved. Wonderful scene setting and engaging characters.

[3.5 Stars]

Enchantée was a vivid and glamorous fantasy tale, a Cinderella story set at the time of the French Revolution. In our heroine, Camille, we got to see both sides of the story; the rich and frivolous world of the court of Versailles, but also the struggle of poor orphans trying to make ends meet.

I enjoyed aspects of the magic system in this novel, but thought it fell weak in other areas. The exploration of the physical and emotional toll magic took from it's users was interesting, and it made for good metaphor when looking at the political climate and upheavals of the time. Magic is aligned with power and privilege at the expense of others; implying that these go hand in hand and that one leads to the other. As the magic cast on Versailles wains and the building begins to crumble, so does the power of the monarchy itself.
However, some of the magical lore, particularly the rules of 'the glamoire', were a little hazy. There was a bit of confusion as to whether Camille was recognisable whilst in her disguise. I felt like the rules of this were simply changed to suit each scene.

I liked the exploration of Lazare's experiences as a person of colour in 18th Century France. Especially because he is an aristocrat with a white father and step-mother, kept away from his Indian heritage. Whilst accepted at court, he faces a lot of casual racism and prejudice. I also appreciated the acknowledgment of queer people in this period, through Chandon and Foudriard's relationship.

Some of the historical content on the revolution felt overtly expositional, and the dialogue clunky. However, I understood the functionality of this. I was actually expecting the revolution to play a bigger role in the story, but we only got a snapshot of the very beginning. I also found the climax scene (no spoilers) a little rushed, the stakes never feeling like they got high enough.

Overall, Enchantée was a fun, rags-to-riches, fantasy romance, with a nice amount of historical and political content.

Enchantee is a really lovely novel set in the period just before the start of the French Revolution while Marie Antoinette still reigns supreme in Versailles. However, the palace is not what it at first seems and cracks start to appear in the glossy facade of French court life.

Camille has to find enough money to fee herself and her sister, and keep her brother in enough funds t prevent him doing something drastic. A soldier by trade, he gives up on a life of actual labour to attempt to live a high life of gambling in palaces, but he inevitably loses and when he assault Camille, she decides that enough is enough. She can work 'la magie', magic, a gift handed down through the generations within families, and until now little illusions was all she ventured. Now she gets serious and starts to dabble in magic of a different sort in order to cheat at cards.

A young adult book, this lacks the brutality and sexuality that you find in adult novels, but that is OK because it makes up for it in emotion, as do many of this genre. Camille is beautifully crafted and her double life as an elegant, noble card shark and that of a timid, love-struck pauper, are well portrayed.

If I had criticisms of this debut novel, they would be that the male characters are too little differentiated and there is little to set them apart from each other; as sweet and attractive as they all are, they are a bit interchangeable. And I would have edited out the chandler from the first scene as he does little but slow the start down to the point I nearly gave up before I reached Camille, and he subsequently appears only as a bit-part that would not be missed and was included only, I fear, because he appears in that first scene and the author was encouraged to add him in again as if to validate his existence.

However, despite these minor drawbacks, I did find the novel very hard to put down and I was reading every moment I had spare, so it is a successful novel. I look forward to reading more of Gita Trelease and I think her future is bright.

This book, hot on the heels of my first trip to Paris, set in 1789 (pre the storming of the Bastille so pre-dating the events of Les Mis by about 40 years, FYI) and with a magical main character, this book was so up my street it had all but moved in at my address. The title is Enchantee and oh, was I enchanted. Give me all the magical Paris; I think it might be my new thing. Seriously - hit me up with the recs please. I'm away to google my options as soon as this review is posted. Except not because I'm in a fancy hotel in Chester right now, but TOMORROW.

So, the deal:

Camille is 17 when smallpox kills her parents, it almost took her sister too and their death has left them with nothing. Her brother has become an alcoholic gambler who steals their rent money and they can't afford to buy food leaving Camille with no choice but to use le magie ordinaire and channel her sorrow to change pieces of metal into coins. BUT the coins won't hold their shape and Camille has no choice but to up the stakes and instead channel her magic into working a glamoire and turning cards at Versailles, in the glittering and intoxicating court of Marie Antoinette.





There is so much in the book that ticks so many boxes for me. Magic! Paris! History! Magic!

This book is made of magic. Historical magical realism. Is that a thing? It is now. It's also nicely diverse - there's a biracial character and a gay character and whilst if I'm perfectly I wish both of those storylines were given more depth on their own, I liked how they were woven into the bigger picture. Besides, we all know how greedy I am when I love a book - if I had my way every good book in the world would be a million pages long so that I could have all the details about all the things.

It's a book about magic, sure but it's also a book about ambition and fear and obligation and love and a determination to survive against all odds. Camille is a gorgeous protagonist because she's flawed and real and feels so deeply - she loves, she wants, and it's all so fierce, raw even and she'll stop at nothing to get to where she wants to be. She makes questionable choices and she goes too far and sometimes you just want her to stop now, enough is enough but every choice she makes is because she just feels so much and I loved that.
.
I loved loved loved how the magic came with a price - how Camille could work the glamoire but that it really wasn't good for her, how the cost was high and how Camille was prepared to pay it, how later, when things are a little out of control she realised she had to pay it: this whole theme of what is it worth runs through the book and I loved it.



It's so clever how this is a work of fantasy steeped in fact and how the things happening to the characters mirrored the things happening around them. It's set in 1789 and things in Paris are tense - things are about to change, Revolution is coming and as tensions heighten around that, so do things personally, for Camille - the two threads are woven together, the tension building simultaneously. It's clever and it makes for a intense and enthralling read.

Also - Montgolfiers. YES.




Enchantee is published on February 21st, so go forth and pre-order !

On a side note, I loved how I knew all of the French that was scattered throughout - my time in France and on Duolingo is paying off because I didn't need to google translate a thing - and I am totally putting the Chateau de Versailles on my list of places I want My Best Guy to take me. I've already told him as much.

'We drove right past at New Year' he said, which sure, but I didn't know how badly I needed to go, then.

In revolutionary France, Seventeen-year-old Camille is left to fend for herself and her siblings when they are orphaned. Her old brother is more a threat than a help, with his gambling debts and drink problem, while her younger sister is frail and recovering from illness. The only way Camille can survive is to use the petty magic she was taught by her mother, and which only Camille is able to perform. But turning fragments of metal to coins is not enough to survive, so Camille transforms herself into the beautiful Baroness de la Fontaine and enters into the opulent life of the rich in the Palace of Versailles. Camille becomes entangled in a double life, intending on playing just one more game, but there is always one more to play. She walks a fine line between her two lives, naïve in her understanding of magic and other magicians. But she is not the only one with terrible secrets.

I was deeply enchanted by this book. The settings of 18th century Paris and Versailles are described in vivid detail, with the downtrodden living parallel lives to the oblivious rich. I especially loved the wonderful descriptions of the rich who occupied the rooms and gardens of Versailles, with their sumptuous outfits and hair styles. And while the novel is a fantasy, the story takes place alongside the beginnings of the French Revolution, with real events and people laced into the story, making the lives of the characters seem all the more real.

I thought that the magic system of the novel was established really well, with the cost of performing magic becoming more apparent throughout the story. The magic draws on a sorrow, which is a dark and fascinating concept and adds to Camille’s character development.

Camille is a strong and determined young woman, who frequently puts herself at risk for those she loves. But she is naïve in thinking she is strong enough to resist the temptations she previously despised. I thought the story dealt well with issues of gambling and addiction, and how easy it is for someone to get swept away, despite the strength of their character.

There is an interesting cast of supporting characters, with their own secrets and motivations. Some of these characters Camille is at first determined to dislike on principle, but along with Camille, I grew to like and admire these characters.

I was entranced by this book and didn’t want to it to end. I would recommend this to anyone who likes to be swept away into a world of magic, love, and intrigue.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Books for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Slow to start, lots of internal monologues. All to set up a rather average book.

The magic system was the most interesting part of the story, though in no way original.

Just didn't wow me, a good enough read but so many used tropes and very little of the Revolution though that was highlighted in the blurb.

If it's the only book on your shelf read it.

I was attracted to this book by the beautiful cover, the fact that it's set in Paris just before the Revolution, and because it features Marie Antoinette as one of the characters!

Camille's mother grew up at the Palace of Versailles but her father was a printer who went bankrupt after being discovered publishing revolutionary pamphlets. Now both her parents are dead. Camille and her younger sister Sophie are in danger of starving and their elder brother is in debt to a powerful aristocrat, gambling away the few possessions they have. In desperation, Camille uses magic to turn bent nails and old shoe buckles into gold coins. But this petty magic only lasts a few hours. Is she desperate enough to use dark magic - the kind that demands payment in blood and sorrow?

I really enjoyed this story. It reminded me a lot of Cinderella! Camille has inherited a magical court dress that she transforms into the latest fashion every time she visits Versailles to gamble back her family's fortunes, and sometimes the dress starts to transform back into rags before morning! Being a YA book, there is a lot about Camille's friendships with the popular rich kids (this might put off older readers who would prefer more historical detail and drama to the story) and there's also a sweet romance with a young balloonist. The details about Versailles and the first balloon flights seemed well-researched and were fascinating. I think the only negative for me was the main characters' naivety about the Revolution being a good thing - considering the Terror that was to come a few years later, where thousands of innocent people lost their lives.

But Enchantée is a lovely bit of escapism and I'm happy to give it five stars.


Thank you to Gita Trelease and Macmillan Children's Books for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

This was a delightful story of magic, love and hot air balloons set in my favourite city in the world. The descriptions of the poverty that Camille lives in and the glamorous world of Versailles in the run up to the French Revolution are so well written that you feel you can watch the action happening. I loved the intrigue and enjoyed the development of the characters.

The story is fairly slow paced to start with as it sets the scene and introduces us to the main protagonists. However, once Camille discovers the glamoire and starts to visit Versailles, the pace really picks up and carries you along, desperate to see where it will lead to. Altogether a thoroughly enjoyable read.

I was very much looking forward to reading this book and although overall I enjoyed the story it wasn't quite the book I had hoped for.

Trelease's writing is very beautiful and detailed, and perfectly evoked the opulence of Versailles as well as the poverty of the home Camille starts out in. Camille's family history set up the main plot of the book in an interesting effective way- I really felt like I could understand how desperate they were for money after the death of their parents and I was immediately on Camille's side, urging her and her sister Sophie to escape from their violent, drug, gambling addicted brother Alain.

The romance between Camille and Lazare was also wonderful and I had butterflies reading about their fledgling relationship and the will they/won't they flirting. The storyline about Lazare's balloon was interesting, if a little drawn out in places and distracting from the main story at times. The scenes with the actual balloon flights added some much needed adventure to the book and I enjoyed stepping in Camille's shoes and imagining how incredible it would feel to be flying at this point in history where it was almost unheard of.

Unfortunately, I found the scenes in Versailles failed to keep my attention for the most part. I found the magic system one of the most interesting parts of the story to begin with, but it felt to me as if it was almost never used. All Camille used it for was to change her appearance, go to the palace and win some card games. It seemed almost pointless to have included the magic within the book as she could equally have just been a naturally skilled gambler. I also felt that it was strange of Camille as a character to choose gambling when she was so against her brother Alain's habit. I think it would have been more true to her as a character to have her find cleverer ways to use magic to gain power and money.

Overall, I enjoyed this story, particularly the relationship between Camille and Lazare. I think the pacing of the book is very slow at times and would have benefited from much less time at the card tables.

Oft! I really wanted to love Enchantée more than I did! It had so much going for it and some things which really shone, but ultimately I found it a bit of a meh experience.

Trelease's writing is absolutely beautiful and the scenes she paints are incredibly vivid. Whether it's the pain, squalor and desperation of the family's poverty or the rich, opulent lush splendour of the palace, everything felt tangible -- like you could reach out and touch the aristocrat's dresses.

I really loved the magic system -- there are three types with varying levels of difficulty, effect and cost. I really liked that there was a cost to Camille's magic, and that she was really reluctant at first. I admire the way the two sisters worked together to come up with their scheme and the idea of infiltrating Versailles to cheat at cards. But I just felt that I wanted Camille to commit more to it. I mean, in terms of the plot she was risking everything -- being outed as a magician, caught cheating at cards or sneaking into the palace -- it was all so danger-filled and exciting, but something about Camille just seemed so half-hearted.

Sadly, I found the pacing of Enchantée really off. Everything was just far too drawn out. Although the events themselves where interesting, I felt that there was too much introspection and the plot developed too slowly.
It also felt like perhaps there were too many things going on around the main plotline to really keep things moving -- the family history, the balloon flights, the outlawed magicians – and a lot of characters to keep track of too. While there’s not much I could point to as something to exclude, I do think something needed to stream-line the story. I just wish more time had been spent on the intrigue, politicking and adventure than the romance. I'm sure other readers, especially if you enjoy the romance aspect, will find Enchantée absolutely magical.

Enchantée, Gita Trelease

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Teens & YA, Sci Fi & Fantasy

I really enjoyed this, its a fabulous debut read, with a very polished writing style. I was absorbed into the story very quickly and felt as if I was there with the characters.

The magic part of the story felt genuine, as if it could be real. I liked that magic has a cost, the user needs to pay. I was really sympathetic to Camille and Sophie, they found themselves without parents, without money, without employment and with a drunkard brother, through no fault of their own. In real life, things like that do happen, and Camille reluctantly employs her small magic skills to buy them food and pay the rent.
Its not enough though, and faced with losing their home Camille uses a darker magic to create a persona who can gamble ( and use her magic to win) in the court of Versailles.

There were some wonderfully descriptive scenes there, and characters who were sometimes more than they seemed. Along the way there's the puzzle of Lazare. He too may be more than a simple balloonist. Camille has a scary, dangerous path to follow. Will they have a romance or won't it happen?

Its all set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, making a perfect setting.
There are more books planned but this one ends well, no cliffhangers but a neat closure. I don't know it he next book will be about Camille, Sophie or possibly some of the other characters we've met but I'll be keen to read it.

Stars: Five, Romance, mystery, history and Magic, all in one cleverly written story.

Arc via Netgalley

Good book . Throughly enjoyed reading it. Full of magic and mystery
Thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review

Enchantée is about magic, gambling, deception and hot air ballooning, and it has the best love triangle that's not really a love triangle since the days of Jem and the Holograms.

It's Paris, 1789, and Camille has lost both her parents to smallpox. She and her sister are struggling to survive, the only way she can earn money is to use her short-lived magic - la magie - to change iron nails into coins for long enough to buy bread. When she finds that she can also use her magic to change the numbers on playing cards she starts gambling to make money to pay the rent. But the glamour of la magie is addictive and it takes a toll on her health as she starts to get sucked into the glittering world of Versailles.

I loved the story, and then to make it even better there was a bit of a side story about a group of hot air ballooning pioneers, one of whom catches Camille's eye!

I liked Camille because she's not perfect, she's doing her best to provide for herself and her sister but she gets addicted to la magie and to the glamour it gives her. She finds that she can't stop herself and even when she has all the money she needs to take them out of poverty she keeps going back. Camille also has a practical side to her - she wants to be a printer like her father was.

It's super easy to read and the writing brings the sumptuous world of Versailles and the harsh reality of struggling to survive in Paris vividly to life. The author is a wonderful storyteller and it's hard to believe this is her debut novel. I also love that it's a stand-alone and not a series.

Utterly wonderful, I got completely wrapped up in it and I didn't want it to finish.

I received a free ecopy of this book in return for an honest review. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity.

I requested this book because I’ve always been interested in Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution. I thought it would be interesting to read a book based in that time period, but not restricted to the nobility. To get an idea of what it was like for the ordinary French people at that time. In that respect I was not disappointed. The build up to the revolution was tense and it was not nearly so sudden as I had imagined. I have no idea how much of the book was accurate and how much fantasy but the descriptions were gorgeous. Throw in magic and I should have been enthralled by this book. However, a healthy dislike of the main character turned the book into a chore.

Camille, is using magic to turn scrap metal temporarily into coins so she can buy food for herself and her sister. When things become even more desperate she turns to more dangerous tactics, disguising herself as nobility in order to gamble at the palace. A handsome balloonist she meets in the street, turns up at Versailles and it becomes clear they are both keeping secrets, and being a magician at court turns out to be more dangerous than she could possibly have imagined.

Unfortunately, I just could not connect to the characters. Camille, is relatively conscienceless caring little for those she swindles. Though she purports to support the revolution but does little even when in a position to do so. Camille’s sister Sophie is incredibly self involved. Even the love interest, Lazare is more interested in his own ambitions than those starving around him.

There were long periods with little going on and I really struggled to get through the whole book. I felt, was that there was too much ‘tell’ and not enough ‘show’ and characters in the book are generally underdeveloped. I never felt invested in the anyone’s fate.

Having said that, Trelease has built a rich world, where magic has consequences. Her descriptions of Versailles were physically detailed and the idea of characters straddling both sides of the revolution was fascinating. I would have liked to have seen more historical details and timeline, knowing that Bastille day was coming, certainly leant tension to the story.

If you are looking for a historical romance with not too much depth to weigh you down, then tiptoe through The Tuileries with this one.

I enjoyed the setting and thought it was a great story, yet something was lacking. Hard to put my finger on what, but I think it was that there was too many instances of reported action which I'd liked to have seen on the page. I think it would make a great film though.