Enchantée was Enchanting

Enchantée is an amazing book!  I had a feeling that I would love this book when I first started hearing about it, and I was certainly not disappointed.  This book was so amazing that, with about 30 minutes left in the book, I actually considered coming to work late so I could finish it.  The responsible part of me prevailed; I ended up going to work on time and finishing it at lunch.  When I finished the book and started putting my things away to go back to work, the smile this book left me was so bright, one of my co-workers thought I was going home.  It’s that good!

Netgalley gave me an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you!

I probably should add a little background information on myself because it might influence how much I love this book.  I love history.  Last year, I took a class on Coursera about the French Revolution.  Part of the charm of this book to me was seeing this part of history come to life.  There’s a lot in this book that is historically accurate, and I love that about this book.  While I loved the historical aspect of the book, it’s not a central feature of the story.  The French Revolution is in the backdrop of this powerful story of love, magic, and illusion.

Camille is our heroine.  Her family has fallen on hard times, as it has for most Parisians.  Her brother is an abusive drunk, and they’re behind on their rent.  Sophie, her younger sister, is an excellent hatmaker who dreams of marrying into nobility.

Although everything seems bleak, Camille and Sophie’s lives change when Camille helps a couple of balloonists with their runaway balloon.  Their lives further change when Camille chooses to use la magie to transform herself into an aristocrat and start gambling at Versailles.

She falls in love with Lazare, one of the balloonists.  When she discovers that he’s actually an aristocrat and sees him at Versailles, things become complicated in her life.  To top it all off, the Vicomte de Séguin seems to have taken an interest in her, and Camille doesn’t want to have anything to do with him.

With a half hour left to go in the story (there were no page numbers in my book, just approximate reading time), I was wondering how Ms. Trelease was going to pull off a satisfying ending.  Camille was in an almost impossible situation, and I didn’t know how her life was going to end in anything but disaster.  This was either going to be one of the best books that I read for the first time in 2018, or it was going to have a disappointing ending for me like Allegiant chapter 50.  I was not disappointed.  The ending was more delicious than I could have even imagined.  The ending of Enchantée made me want to perfect the ending of my own novel that I was outlining at the time.

J’aime Enchantée so much!  The writing was magical.  The characters were amazing.  I loved Camille and Lazare together, and I love how Camille cared for her sister.  This story had me hooked from the very beginning.

Enchantée will be released on February 5th.  I highly recommend this book.  It is one of the best books I read last year, and I definitely plan on reading it again someday.