The Midnight Bargain

Listen... I could sit here complaining about the shallow romance or the too-neat resolution or the missed opportunity for better feminist commentary, but like. It's just nice. It's just nice! Sometimes what I really need is a story that's nice and cozy and sweet and uncomplicated. Not everything needs to show the deep complexities of the human condition. My critical brain recognizes that it's far from perfect, but my lizard brain is giggling and kicking my feet and kissing my kitties in glee. Love is real!

DNF @ 15%I quite enjoyed Polk's other Regency-inspired fantasy story, [b:Witchmark 36187110 Witchmark (The Kingston Cycle, #1) C.L. Polk https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1505338133l/36187110.SY75.jpg 57809962], but Midnight Bargain feels like it was written by a different person. I understand that Witchmark is marketed as adult SFF, while this one is YA, but I still found the writing here too juvenile compared to the author's other works. For example, right from the beginning of chapter 1 we are bombarded with a bunch of exclamation marks... and to what effect?The doorbell jingled as Beatrice crossed into the book-keeper's domain. Harriman's! O dust and ink and leather binding, O map-scrolls and star-prints and poetry chapbooks–and the grimoire, somewhere within!Who writes like this? And worse, who thinks like this?? Beatrice sounds like an overly excitable tween, which is not supposed to be her personality since she is a young woman on the cusp of marriage. The faux-Regency language is exaggerated, and anyone who has read an actual Regency novel knows this. This I find is a pitfall of many faux-Regency novels, but that might be more of a personal preference thing.The fact that the story jumps right into the romance is also a bit jarring as it feels like there's no set up for the magic system, nor any time for the reader to discover who the characters are. From the first few pages I could already guess the whole plot, which is obviously not a very exciting read. Beatrice's meeting with the siblings is so contrived, it's hard to suspend disbelief. This random guy declares that a nobody (Beatrice) and his aristocratic sister should be friends because they want the same book... yeah, ok, and the sister, who is a witch and logically can sense Beatrice the same way Beatrice senses her, decides to play the ignorance game because....???Like I said at the start of this ‘review,' I like Polk's adult books, but this YA one just doesn't hit the same way. There are some fantastic YA fantasy books out there, but this one doesn't make my list.

A bit predictable of a storyline (I described it to my husband as Bridgerton but with magic and collars) but I really liked the plot and the characters. I loved the ending and had a great time with this one, it was an easy read and pretty comforting in the descriptions of luxury and opulence. The magic system was pretty cool.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and its unique but familiar setting. I would love to read about the other lands mentioned. Deals heavily with feminist themes and the main characters are enjoyable to read.

Magical



I am so behind on telling you all about the lovely books I read that as much as I love reading I need to learn to love writing about what I am reading. This came to my attention via a booktuber I watch. Kayla from Booksandlala read this and the way she described it made me curious enough to pick it up. When you think of marriage you think of forever in love all hearts and flowers, right? Not in this book and not for our main character. In Chasland, marriage means a warded collar that stifles a sorceress's magic to nothingness, all in the name of protecting the woman. You might be thinking what's the big deal like I did when I first started, according to their laws an uncollared married woman could be pregnant and the child could become ensouled. Beatrice wants to be a mage, but her family's survival depends on her marrying well. Without a favorable marriage, the mortgage her father took out will come due; When you have to choose between happiness and love or duty to your family what do you decide? I loved Beatrice and her sister Harriet and I loved the balance between duty, love, and magic that took place. What I love most are the feminist feelings it develops both in the story and in the reader without being preachy.

The story is beautiful a search for a book of magic spells and a journey that leaves you wanting to find a way to have it all without hurting and sacrificing what you want. If you don't love the supporting cast and the spirit Nadie go ahead and start over you missed something because it fits together beautifully. I won't spoil the story I will just say that this is worth every minute that you will lose in sleep. Four stars all the way I hope that the next book I pick up from this author is wrapped in this much magic and fun.

Theoretically this was a great tale but the execution of it seemed terribly heavy-handed with whole feminist angle constantly being explained. I would have liked the story to simply reflect what the author wanted to impart but I felt like I was constantly being told it instead. Annoying.

3.5

Great fun!

I will never not love a well done YA fantasy romance. It's like catnip. It just makes me feel so good.

3 stars for the theme.

This book discussed women subjugation, marriage, family, magic, women who want to become sorceresses and still get married, women who don't want to marry, women who want children and those who don't. The discussions were well done. I enjoyed listening to this. I did feel a lot of second hand anger for Beatrice. Overall, this was an unusual read and liked that it was set in a fantasy world.

The writing was good but it didn't hold my attention much and I just wanted to get through this quickly.

As far as genres go, romance and fantasy bottom out my list of likely reads so it's not without a bit of surprise that I find how much I enjoyed this read, shortlisted for CBC Canada Reads.

For a Regency romance it deftly ratcheted up the mounting tension of a fantasy world where women's lives are still curtailed, their vast magical potential cut short for the sake of bearing children and raising a family. A constraint made real in the form of a warded collar locked into place that renders the world dull and flat.

Beatrice Clayborn will do anything to avoid that fate and pursue a life of higher magic. Instead she finds herself tasked with finding a suitable husband during the “bargaining season.” This is a chance to more firmly secure her foundering families fortune. Dress-fittings, lavish balls, parlour games and picnics fill her social calendar along with ardent potential suitors. Even with magic on her mind she can't help but be taken by the elegant Ianthe Lavan.

Will it be love or independence? Will she chose to damn her family to financial ruin, destroy her younger sister's future bargaining prospects, and sully the family reputation? Will she attempt the Great Bargaining spell that could lead to her death, the loss of her soul only for the promise of being a hidden family advisor?

Beatrice is being buffeted on all sides with no clear path to victory, only grim concessions. and the ticking clock of inevitability. Like any thriller or mystery, the genre itself imposes its own set of rules to the story and I enjoyed how C.L. Polk worked within those confines to create a lavish, indulgent read.

The Midnight Bargain is a fun fantasy of manners novel that kept me turning the pages wanting to know how Beatrice's attempts to make it through Bargaining Season with lots of magic and no betrothals went???especially after she fell for someone in spite of herself.

The romance was a bit closer to insta-love than the slow burn I tend to prefer, but I was rooting for them to get their HEA from the start. But my favorite relationship was the friendship Beatrice forged with her love interest's sister, who was every bit as determined as she to become a sorcerer despite the constraints on women with magic. I especially appreciated that this had both a romance and a major character who just didn't want to marry, regardless of whether or not it had any effect on her own magic.

This is the sort of book that I found fun to read one time but didn't stick with me enough that I expect to reread it, although I really appreciate C. L. Polk's skill at writing a book that distracted me from the world in 2020!

Full Review on My Website

Definitely a 3.5 but I can't make myself round up to 4.

I haven't read any of the author's previous books even though Witchmark has been on my tbr for a while now and I really wanna get to that trilogy. But when I saw the gorgeous cover of this book, I couldn't resist and I was so happy when I got the ARC. And while I did find it entertaining, it also let me down a bit.

The writing is easy to breeze through, and the descriptions are quite beautiful, and once I put my mind to reading it, I could finish it in just a few hours. This maybe a fantasy world but it's very similar to the Victorian England setting we are so used to reading in historical romance, with traditions like debuts, seasons, courting, attending balls, women's fortunes and most of their rights being tied to either the father or the husband - all with different names and a slightly magical twist that women here are prohibited from becoming Mages and are collared as soon as they get married so that they can't practice magic. And this is exactly where I felt let down. While the similarity of the setting was a comfort, the magic system itself felt like a plot device. We get to know some of the procedures and rituals involved in how to summon spirits and how people become Mages, but there's absolutely nothing about how this magic is used in this world, what roles do Mages perform and what roles do the spirits play once they become companions - it all feels like an afterthought.

The characters are okay to follow along. I kept liking and disliking most of them at different parts of the story, but I mostly did enjoy getting to know them. Beatrice's struggle in wanting to be both a sorceress and with the love of her life, Ysbeta's yearning for freedom and knowledge, and Ianthe's sparkling love for both the women, were all quite lovely to read about and also pretty relatable. But Ianthe was definitely my favorite of the lot because he was open minded and did what he could to protect both the women. I also loved the dynamic between Beatrice and Ysbeta because they started off on an antagonistic note but it transformed into such a wonderful friendship. But I definitely had problems with Beatrice and Ianthe's instalove - I usually don't have a problem with the trope but it came on too quick in this one and I couldn't believe she was thinking about giving up her ambitions after meeting him only a couple of times.

The side characters didn't really leave much of an impression, probably because I hated most of them. Except Nadi who was the best part of the whole book and I would love a delightful spirit companion like him too please, who would threaten to hex anyone who made me sad.

Overall, I did have a good time reading this book but I know it's not gonna be a very memorable one. Maybe if it had a slow burn romance or if it had expanded on its magic system, I could have loved it more. But currently, it feels like a historical romance with feminist themes which also has some magic as an aside - and if that feels like something you'll enjoy, do pick it up and have fun.

Women cannot be sorceresses. They might have magic, but is not acceptable in society for a woman to be a mage. Their duty is to get married and provide their husbands with children. As soon as they get married, a collar is placed on them that takes their magic away. When they are past child bearing years, the collar can be removed.
Beatrice does not accept this. She plans to learn as much magic as she can in order to escape the collar. She has no desire to be married. She wants to be a mage.

I enjoyed this book, it just didn't blow me away. I loved the characters, especially Beatrice, Ianthe, and Ysbeta. I liked it enough that I would read more in this world.

I received a copy from Edelweiss.