In a world where your Talent, a gem passed down from generations, shapes your future.

We follow a young woman, Cleodora who was supposed to inherit her father’s tailoring Talent, but due to a drunken mistake, he died, taking his talent with him. Now Cleodora must take care of her sick sister and keep her father’s business afloat, all without a talent.
That is when she meets an intriguing woman who calls herself Dahlia. She promises everything to dear Cleo, a singing talent of her own, a nurse to help her sister, a mansion bigger than anything she ever dreamed of and shows interest in her. All that for a price; she has to steal a talent of a very wealthy man, Viscount Lenoir.
But what happens when the Viscount shows an interest in Cleodora and she does not want to steal his gem anymore? Dahlia promised her sister would only be safe if Cleodora did everything she demanded.

This was such an intriguing and unique concept, one of a kind if I’m being honest. While the beginning was a little slow and I was not expecting a love triangle, it held my attention until the end. The last few pages of the book kept me enthralled and I just needed to know what happened next. I am really happy I got to read this and discover another fantastical world.

Thank you to Netgalley, Adi Denner and Dialogue publishing for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

It's 1890 in Lutèce, and Talents - precious gems that gift skills to their owners - are scarce; the mines are empty so they have to be passed down the generations. Unfortunately Cleodora's father died before he could pass on his Tailoring Talent to her. With the family business at the brink of ruin, and her sister bed-ridden, Cleo is desperate. However things change when she meets the mysterious, seductive, and possibly dangerous Lady Sibille, who gives Cleo a Singing Talent but only if she steals an Elite Talent from the ennobled Lenoir family, and the charming Vicomte Lenoir. Cleo seizes her chance, but torn by her feelings between Lady Sibille and the vicomte, can she go through with it, and what will the cost be if she doesn't?

This is a romantasy novel set in an alternative Paris and the world of music, fashion and art. It has some wonderful imagery and some great details, especially in the descriptions of the women's clothing. I felt like the author had a real knowledge of music, and a love of fashion, like Cleo. There's danger, lust, and love - romantic, platonic, and between siblings. There are also some steamy moments, but not so much as to make the book off-putting. Cleodora can be unlikeable at times, but I thought that her inner turmoil was compelling and found myself rooting for her nevertheless.

Overall I felt that the story was enjoyable and I would recommend this, especially if you like romance or fantasy. But even if you don't, it's still a great read.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it left me wanting to read more in the universe. It definitely gave me a feel of phantom of the opera. It was a wonderful unique, electric, fantasy romance. It is filled with plenty of twists and turns within the plot. I hope to read more from this universe, because I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was drawn in by the stunning cover and the intriguing premise.... Unfortunately this was extremely slow paced for me. I'm a huge romance reader trying to get back into fantasy and I didn't resonate with it. I am not a huge fan of love triangles.

But the magical system and atmosphere was beautiful.

Initially, this gave me themes of Phantom of the Opera, but I felt it didn't quite live up to its potential. I was excited to see a F/F but it seemed to just use tropes rather than actual character development. Overall I loved the Talent system and was excited to find new ones!

I fell hook, line and sinker for the premise of The Kiss of the Nightingale, it sounded completely unique and right up my alley. However whilst it did have an entirely unique magic system that was thoroughly inspired, sadly it just didn’t vibe with me. As a bi woman I always love when there’s bi characters but I hate to say, it felt like the F/F romance wasn’t at all as fleshed out as the M/F romance. It rather felt like the F/F relied on old tropes whilst the M/F was more thoughtful and nuanced. Having said that, I didn’t feel either love interest had true chemistry that I fully vibed with.

I also struggled some with the pacing of the story. It almost felt like I’d missed chapters and I’d have to re-read chapters to see if I’d accidentally skimmed over information. I hadn’t, but the pacing did pull me out of the story at regular intervals which wasn’t to my personal reading tastes.

Overall I think the story shows real promise, the idea is brilliant and I’m sure there’s readers that will fully vibe with the style and pacing of the story. Unfortunately it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dialogue Books and Adi Denner for gifting me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for allowing me to read this book.

This book reminds me of phantom of the opera and while I enjoyed it there were things that could have been worked on. The pacing of the book was all over the place and the romance was pretty bland. The idea of this book was great it just needed to be executed better.

In late 19th century Lutėce, Cleodora is down on her luck. Her father has died, and her sister is unwell. This is a city where everyone’s success is measured by their Talent, jewel which binds with their blood to make them exceptional. Cleodora can’t keep her family dressmaking business going without one.
Cleodora is offered a way out of her situation by the mysterious Lady Sibille, aka Dahlia, who turns Cleodora into an opera singer known as Lady Adkey, with a stolen Talent. The drawback is that to keep this new, comfortable lifestyle and save her sister, Cleodora must help Dahlia to steal other Talents, including that of handsome Vicomte Lenoir.
I enjoyed this book - a sort of Bridgerton meets Oceans 11 mash-up. It’s a lot of fun, with romance, intrigue and skulduggery. The characters are well drawn and it’s an engaging read.

The concept of a loosely based phantom of the opera retelling really intrigued me with this book. I did enjoy the story but it fell flat in some places and wasn’t very well executed. I would still recommend this book as it was a fun read

ARC review-

I enjoyed this book so much. It was a really beautiful blend of adapted history, romance, fantasy and so much drama. It was such a unique concept and not like anything I’ve read before. It was super fun to read and I recommend it to anyone that likes the romance of Paris and balls and the opera, and wants a fun fantasy book with drama and secret criminals and deception.

I really enjoyed this book it took a refreshing outlook on a criminal mastermind book. With the setting being placed in a historical contemporary Paris it was an original read which followed a well derived storyline.

I wanted to love this book as the underlying concept is clever .In this alternative world there is a mixture of magic and reality people where inherit specific skills which are held in the form of the gem. There are multiple different potential skills that a person could inherit. These include the ability to be a good designer a singer or an actor or more straightforward such as a good organiser. The gems were originally found in mines underground and generally held by wealthy members of the population who passed them down to their children after they die. The story focuses on a young girl Cleodora who lives with her sister in the family dress making business her sister has inherited the ability to design clothes but the main character Cleodora has not inherited any skill and the business has fallen on hard times

When her sister becomes unwell Cleodora falls under the influence of a criminal group run by Ruthless older women. She gives Clora a gem carrying the skill of being able to sing beautifully but in order to keep this she must steal skills from other people.
Where I found the underlying concept interesting and potentially there were lots of different places that the story could go I nevertheless had some difficulty understanding the main characters motivations and found their interactions with other people inconsistent and confusing.

I did feel that the story was inherently very cinematic and might work very well as a film or TV series
I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. The book is published in the UK on the 10th of October 2024 by dialogue books/Renegade books.
This review will appear on NetGalley UK, Goodreads and my book blog bionicsarahsbooks.wordpress.com. After publication review will appear on Amazon UK.

The setting, an alternative Paris in the 19th century, was what I loved the most. The story is interesting but I missed more depth in everything like the plot, the characters, the romance. The Opera thing was good tho.

Oh my god, I ADORED this book.

It had me hooked from the first page; I couldn't put it down and ended up reading it in it's entirety in a day.

For me, it read like a happy fusion of A Fragile Enchantment and The Crimson Moth (which I am NOT complaining about, as I loved both of those stories. So this one is like an even happier medium for me). I liked this alternative take on magic in a YA fantasy; I thought the concept of magic , or "Talents", being fused into stones was really creative and fun. I also thought it worked really well. Yes, the magic wasn't fully conceptualised, but I would forgive that as it's: a YA romantasy novel, and is also not an epic fantasy. Therefore, I think it can be excused for the magic system not being fully fleshed out. It didn't hold me back from enjoying the story; I understood enough for the story to sweep me along.

I also, to my utter surprise, enjoyed the love triangle aspect. I am usually not one for love triangles; my delicate heart can't take all of the split romantic focus, I need ONE person to root for - I can't take any more! But, I really enjoyed it in this book. I liked that she fell for both the mark and the marker (is that a word, in this sense?); I do like, sometimes, when the protagonist falls for the villain. It just makes it exciting.

Something that I very much enjoyed about this book is that there is a lot going on. That might sound silly, but the story doesn't just stick to one theme; there's romance book, a heist, regency/manners, action and adventure, magic, opera. There are a lot of different elements that work really well together to create a magical story.

This book also underlines for me the fact that I really enjoy heist books - who knew?!

I really, really hope that this develops into a series, I would truly love for the story to continue!

Set in a French city in the late 19th century, this magical world revolves around talents bound to a person through blood and a gem. We follow Cleodora, a talentless, orphaned girl who gets an offer too good to be true: medical help for her sister, a gem and a singing talent but in return she has to do anything asked. Even if it means she needs to betray, steal and lose the ones she loves with everything she values.

I really enjoyed this magical world. It’s easy to understand the rules and makes for great opportunities in the story. I loved the opera, singing and sewing details which shows research/genuine interest from the writer! The writing is fluid and fast paced, maybe a little too fast for my liking. The characters were likable but I would have like to see much more of them, thus felt shallow from time to time. It made it harder for me to bond with them.

The romance, in this case the love triangle, was hard for me to get into. Dahlia gave me the creeps with her manipulative ways. It was never a love triangle for me. The romance is lightly spiced and exactly right for a YA book!

Please take in consideration that this is a bi love triangle. It’s not really clear when reading the blurb. I don’t mind but there might be people that do mind.

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I had no idea where we were going for a long time (I’m a ‘here for the ride’ reader) though there might have been some hints. When I hit the 80% mark the finale was there and everything fell into place. I love it when that happens! High stakes, betrayal, intrigue, fashion, balls, opera, all there!

Last but not least, I want to thank the author Adi Denner, the publisher Dialogue Books | Renegade Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are my own.

I quite enjoyed this book. I seen the twists coming and the romance wasn't very deep but I still was invested enough to keep reading and find out how it ends.

I like that Cleo is a flawed main character. She initially gets caught up in Dahlia's plans to save her sister, but soon finds herself in over her head. The elite/nobles are mainly made up of people with Talents and I thought this magical system was quite interesting. Especially with it now being quite rare and passed on to family through inheritance most of the time..

Dahlia is easy to hate but I also quite like a villain and she was probably the most interesting character, I think there was potential to dig into her character a little more as I would have liked to see more of her. This is also true for Nuriel - The Vicomte - as I tend to quite like characters with his traits so would have liked a little bit more.

Overall though, I liked this book and I rooted for Cleo to get out from under Dahlia's clutches and have a HEA.

Thank you to Netgalley, Dialogue Books, Renegade Books and the author for the review copy, provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Got to around 36% but wasn't struck by the plot or entertained by the characters even before that unfortunately. I tried and thought it might get better but I just couldn't get into it. The writing is done well though.

The Kiss of the Nightingale is a unique and richly crafted fantasy. In a world where only people with a Talent are respected, we follow talentless, orphaned Cleodora as she fights for her sick younger sister by doing a deal with the leader of an illicit market.

I loved the atmosphere and the idea of the magic system in this book, though I do feel we could have been given more world building and information around the Talents. I did also enjoy the high stakes and the drama. The romance was a little disappointing - I was expecting more tension and also for Cleodora to feel more conflicted between Dahlia and Nuriel.

Overall this was a good read, and something a little different! Thank you to NetGalley and Dialogue Books for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book!

Cleodora live in 1890, Lutèce, a City famed for its Talents. People have talents passed down to them, through family lines, giving them generations of knowledge through magical gems they wear. And if you don't have a Talent, well, what kind of life can you have? Cleo is one of those Talentless in the city, living in a city that ignores her as what can she turn out when she has no talent. And as she is trying to provide for herself and her sick sister, she looks to desperate measures.

So when someone offers her a Talent for singing, to become the most famous opera singer in the city, how can Cleo turn it down? But she never really thought about the strings that will come with such a position, and what will be wanted in return.

This was a wonderful story, and I hope there will be more to come in this world.

I really enjoyed this book. The story was fast paced and kept me on my toes throughout.

The magic system was so interesting and unique. I liked that the magic came as gemstones, and that each colour/type represented a different skill. However, It would have been nice to have more insight into them, especially with the mines. How they came to be etc.

I usually take a liking to main characters, but in this book, I liked most of the side characters instead! Yes, Cleo did what she believed was right, but she was incredibly naive. And I gravitated more towards characters like Jose, Renee and Nuriel. They embraced the things they liked, and supported others around them.

The world building was absolutely wonderful. It really felt like it was set in a historical French setting. Especially with all the parties and theatre. But also with the lower class area, and with that physical representation of a river separating the two sides of the class structure. The theatre was everything I had envisioned a historical French theatre to be, and it really scratched my musical itch. It was refreshing to read a historical fantasy that wasn’t just about a shady heist. It was really fleshed out beautifully.

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book, and would love to read more from this author in the future.

Thankyou to Netgalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.