*ARC Review*
*4.5 stars

This book had me hooked! Although it was easy to predict what would happen, I still could not stop reading. You get so invested in the whole journey and have to see it through, to the point where I'd find myself itching to have a read! Thoroughly enjoyed this

I dnfed this; it was too slow for me really. The magic system was really interesting and unique though, which was great. I just don't think the execution of the rest of the story was what I expected.

The description of this book sounded really interesting and the start really grabbed my attention. I felt though that the characters were definitely better written than the plot. I’m afraid the middle section slowed down too much and I started to skim read. I’m glad I persevered though as the final third was really gripping. Overall an enjoyable read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me access to an early copy of this book.

Cleodora is the narrator of this truly magical and inventive story. It is a story of Talents, magical jewels that transfer gifts between generations, via a blood ceremony.
Anaella is the younger sister of Chloe, her mother transferred her Talent for design to her before her death, Chloe was not so lucky, their father died before she could be gifted his precious gem. Now times are hard in their dress shop, customers go elsewhere for their rich clothes, both girls are broke and Ana is in poor health.
In desperation, Chloe breaks into a rich mansion to steal something to sell to pay for medicines for her sister. She is caught, but offered an opportunity to have all her dreams come true, a fresh start for them both, but this offer comes with a heavy price to be paid.
What would you do? Accept a happier and richer lifestyle, or would your conscience and reason prevail about the cost of such a deal?
If it’s too good to be true, then stay well clear!
I loved this story with its two romantic themes, the story twists and turns in a most unusual and satisfying way. Love the characters, Lirone and Nuriel, they are likeable, frustrating, yet very supportive when it counts. I do love a happy ending, this book ticks all the boxes.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Dialogue Books for my advance copy, freely given in exchange for my honest review. Five star rating, it’s perfect.
I will leave reviews to Goodreads and Amazon UK on publication.

The Kiss of the Nightingale is a mesmerising journey into a world where talents shape destinies. Adi's vivid writing transports you from the gritty corners of Cleodora's dress shop to the luxurious balls of Lutèce’s opera. The intricate love triangle between Cleodora, Dahlia, and Vicomte Lenoir adds depth and tension, keeping emotions high throughout. Though the pacing dips slightly, the rich, sensual world and high-stakes drama make it a captivating read. It’s a standalone novel that lingers long after the final page.

The Kiss of the Nightingale by Adi Denner | Pub Date Oct 10 2024 – 4 stars

The Kiss of the Nightingale is a captivating blend of historical fantasy and romance. Set in a magical version of 1890s Paris, the story follows Cleodora, a young woman struggling to keep her late father’s dress shop afloat while caring for her ill sister. When an unexpected opportunity comes along, Cleo’s life takes a dramatic turn after she’s given a powerful Singing Talent. In exchange, she is tasked with stealing a coveted magic gems, where talented stores, from an aristocratic families. And just like that, Cleo finds herself drawn into a dangerous web of crimes, romance and magic.
Throughout the story, Cleodora faces a moral dilemma, torn between her loyalty to the mysterious Lady Dahlia, who gave her everything, and her growing feelings for the Vicomte Lenoir. This inner conflict adds depth to the story in general, and the romantic tension combined with elements of intrigue and betrayal, makes this novel dark and fast-paced.
With its atmospheric storytelling, The Kiss of the Nightingale is highly recommended to read for fans of Bridgerton and The Phantom of the Opera.

Publisher: Dialogue Books | Renegade Books
Pages: 384

Thank you @NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don't think I've read the entire synopsis when I found this book on Netgalley. This book has an insanely pretty cover, an intriguing title and hearing the words romantasy, magical gems, historical Paris and for the lovers of Gild had me sold already. I requested a copy and I was really happy that Renegade granted me one. Last week it was finally time to start reading and I was really curious what kind of story was waiting for me.

I was intrigued and in love from start to finish. This is quite clearly not a book about an innocent heroine we all fall in love with. The heroine in this book is deeply flawed and willing to go pretty damn far to give herself and her sister a better and different life. And in a way it's refreshing to read about a character like that. Someone who's not perfect. Someone who's not easy to like. Someone who has some growing and learning to do.

I also loved the world and the mythology of the gems and the talents. The author never explains all the details and yet it's easy to understand what is going on and how this entire society is revolving around gems nowadays. We quickly see the flaws in the system. We see the impact not having a gem has on people and we see what happens to people who want to do something differently, who don't want to use their gem's talents.

The finale of the book was also really well done! During most of the books we are waiting for things to go wrong. We know that our heroine's happiness can't last. We know that at some point she will have to come clean and the author does this in a beautiful way. I don't want to give too much away of course, but everyone's emotions seemed so realistic. That's actually the case throughout the story. As some other character states: I wouldn't be so sure

Unfortunately I did not finish this book. I tried my best but the story wasn't evolving quick enough or interesting enough.

I only gave it 3 stars because the idea was great (with a unique magic system etc) but the execution lacked imagination.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for my early copy. All opinions are mine and sincere.

THE KISS OF THE NIGHTINGALE is a sumptuous romantic fantasy with two very archetypal love interests done in a very engaging way.

I really enjoyed how the book got to play with romantic archetypes. You have the closed-off, mysterious lord and the dangerous crime lady. It meant the book got to play with the "don't fall for your target" trope and "the crime boss is bad news but looks very good" trope.

The magic of this world is so much fun! People historically were able to imbue gems with their talents, letting them pass them on to children, but that capability has been lost, meaning talent gems are so scarce. It creates this great scarcity, putting talents on pedestals and meaning gifted but not magically talented people are overlooked.

This is all set against a Parisienne-inspired world, full of glittering wealth and sumptuous parties. I really liked the setting - it was so alluring that it was clear to see why Cleo wanted it so badly. Plus the way Dahlia played off it, rich but in the dark, dangerous way, made her more desirous too!

It's so clear that Adi Denner is a trained opera singer. She gets all the little descriptions about what it's physically like to sing spot on (and yes, singing on your period is a nightmare - so glad that was brought up!) I love it when people bring their experience to books, it gives it that extra depth!

Captivating book, great story and detail. Read in within a couple of days.
Great debut novel
It's a great mix of fantasy, mystery, historical, fantasy, and romance.

A sweet and captivating read, set in an alternative Paris in the 1890s, where Talents are inherited jewels that are honed through the centuries and are regarded as the only marker of success and society.

Cleo and her sister are left abandoned by their parents, believing their father has died by his own hand, his Talent and the sisters' future in ruins.

The book is well-written and absorbing to read, a great story told lightly and with many twists and turns as you learn with Cleo just who you can and can't trust. Super.

The was much to love about The Kiss of the Nightingale, Adi Denner’s debut novel. But equally, there were some things I personally felt were just not ‘up to snuff’.

So firstly then, I loved the magical system - this felt fresh and unique. A society whose class system is based on inherited Talents. Talents that are gifted through magical gems and are fused to the individual via the stone and their blood. The gems are rare, no new ones have been mined for years meaning those with Talents are the Elite and those without are doomed to a life of obscurity and poverty. Not only does this magical system provide the backbone of a class system, it also raises the question of personal choice - what if your Talent is really not what you want to do with your life but you can’t carve a life for yourself from your skills alone as without a Talent no one will buy your services / wares?

Cleo has no Talent - she has trained all of her life to inherit her Father’s Talent as a Tailor but he died before he was able to pass it on to her. Now her sister is ill, she has no income and doesn’t know what to do. What comes next is a ‘deal with the devil’ type of scenario - Cleo is gifted a stolen Talent and as payment is co-opted into the stealing Talents business.

So far, so good but where the story falls down (in my opinion) is that there are snippets of brilliance (for example, the magical system and the descriptions of the dresses) but overall, the world building is lacking. If society hinges on the acquisition of a Talent and the Gems are rare why isn’t there anarchy? You would think there’d be a massive black market in Gems but there isn’t, is there a reason for that?
Another thing that bothered me was Dahlia, what was her Talent, I’m thinking Siren but at no point is her Talent explained. She’s a fabulous character and deserved fleshing out if only to put paid to the idea that the main character having a same sex relationship is illicit and manipulative whereas having a heterosexual relationship is safe and comfortable. Neither couple comes off well in either option.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I think there are real nuggets of something special in The Kiss of The Nightingale it just needed a bit more tweaking. I’ll definitely watch out for Adi Denner in the future.

Phantom of the Opera vibes, with a FC X FC x MC love triangle. This was also very reminiscent of Caraval. Read this if you love those stories and also:

- Fantasy
- Opera, fashion and the arts
- Romance
- Betrayal

The idea of the ‘Talents’ is an interesting one.

The MC is strong and likeable on the whole, also you question some of her responses. Some sight pacing issues but overall a great story.

This is so good. I don’t normally read fantasy or romance but I was completely engrossed within pages and read it in a day. Set in an alternative world in the city of Lutèce in 1890 Cleodora and her sister Anaella are barely surviving after their father died. His business, a famed dress shop, is in ruin and Cleodora’s sister is seriously ill. Until Lady Dahlia Sibille crosses her path and offers her the chance of a lifetime, to become a famous opera singer and save her sister life.

Briefly, in this world Talents define you. Precious gems that give you special abilities in one area. Cleodora’s father had a tailoring skill and their mother a designing skill. The latter was passed on to Anaella and Cleodora was expecting to receive her father’s gem, however, it was lost when he fell into a river and drowned. Accepting Dahalia’s offer Cleodora is ensconced in a beautiful home and receives a singing Talent. She is soon the talk of the town. But there is a price to pay for her new life!

I loved the setting of the novel, an other world Paris, one of my favourite cities in the world, completely immersive, particularly the opera house where you could almost hear the buzz of excitement. Cleodora is a wonderful character who gets herself into a bad situation in her desire to save her sister, but she becomes captivated by her new lifestyle and in thrall to Dahlia, but Dahlia has a rival for Cleo’s affections in the dashing Vicomte Lenoir. There is so much going on in this faced paced and beautiful story and so many wonderful characters. Fantasy, romance, thriller, crime, magic, family drama - this has it all, and more. I loved it.

This was fun! Really interesting world building. and I liked the 'Phantom of the Opera' tropes. I found the love triangle a little odd, though, and the romantic sections seemed quite childish - like they had been written for children.

What I loved: the concept of the Talents! Made me really want one of my own. I also devoured the love triangle between Cleo, Lenoir and Dahlia!! The slow burn build of enemies to lovers with Lenoir and the dark temptation of Dahlia - SO HOT!! I found it so easy to like Cleo as a character: she was morally grey from the start, unapologetic in doing whatever it takes to look after her sister. Saying that, my favourite character by far had to be Lirone - the perfect little scamp! Can I have a Lirone spin-off novella, please???

What I didn't love: I would have welcomed more time with her sister, given how key she was to the events leading Cleo down her path - perhaps this could be the plot of book 2? I also would have welcomed more delving into the Talents, the history and how the experiences of them for other character, but again this could be explored in another story. While the spice was enjoyable, I would always have welcomed more!!

Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc and allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review. I was interested in the premise as I got Phantom of the Opera vibes, if the Phantom was female.

There’s female x female x male love triangle that almost got steamy but it gave the MC some choices to make and I feel like this added to the story as it helped with the dilemma as the story progressed.

Cleo, the main character, is gifted a singing talent from a woman known as Dahlia, and becomes the star of the opera. However, to keep the fame and the fortune she has to also become a thief and steal other people’s talents- including the one from the Vicomte.

A mysterious character giving singing talents and a handsome Vicomte? That’s the reason I got POTO vibes.

I did enjoy the story but I felt that Cleo could be really over dramatic in places when she didn’t need to be- obviously she wasn’t used to being treated like a high class lady but sometimes it was a little irritating. She just seemed very naive about what she was supposed to do and shocked when things went wrong.

I mean- what did she expect?

I must admit I was rooting for the female x male romance more in this because Dahlia is a very toxic character.

There’s drama, there’s twists I didn’t see coming but there’s also a story based on an opera and singing with it all too and this was a great aspect to the story.

The magical element is really clever, it’s not too fantastical so the story still has that element of reality- it could happen!

3.5/5 stars.
I flew through the book I just found the main character grating in places. I’d recommend it though!

Unfortunately for me this book was dnf. I tried my hardest to get into it but found the world building very confusing and I could just not get along with it. But I can see tbe apeal and why others would enjoy it. I think this book is for someone who reads a lot of fantasty and not for beginner. I wish the author and publisher best of luck and hope a lot of people enjky this book.

Adi Denner’s atmospheric prose and meticulous attention to detail, particularly in fashion, create a captivating reading experience. The gem-based magic system adds a cinematic quality that kept me thoroughly engaged.

While the world-building could have been more in-depth, the characters, especially Cleodora, were more than compensated with their rich portrayals. As Cleodora struggles to sustain her family’s dressmaking business while caring for her ill sister, she becomes embroiled with the enigmatic Lady Sibille (Dahlia), who grants her the (stolen) talent of singing to infiltrate the Opera and steal the talent of the Vicomte Lenoir.

Cleo’s complex circumstances and her moral dilemmas highlight how rigid class structures and poverty can drive individuals into difficult choices. The supporting characters, including Lirone and Veronique, also navigate morally grey paths, raising thought-provoking questions about ethics.

I enjoyed the emotionally charged dynamic between Cleo, Dahlia, and Nuriel (the Vicomte), which carries a sense of danger and urgency. This romantic tension will appeal to fans of romantasy, yet it doesn’t overshadow the plot, making the story accessible to all readers.

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The novel's richly imagined magic structure, where Talents are inherited and stolen, creates a captivating tension throughout. Denner’s writing is gripping, with moments so intense that I found myself hesitating to turn the page, not wanting to put the characters through the strife that was about to come. The love triangle combines slow-burning romance with, hot temptation and danger.

This book masterfully balances intrigue, desire, and moral conflict, making it an unputdownable read. The world Denner has crafted feels alive, and I’m eager to see more stories set in Lutèce or the countries beyond. A thrilling and beautifully constructed tale of magic, power, and the choices that shape us.