This was a cute lil regency read. Almost no one in the book could hold a singular thought for more then half a page, a chapter at most for some of the side characters but thats okay.

The main character (Niamh) is one of the most wishy-washy characters I have ever read, a true embodiment of both over-thinking and "no thoughts-head empty". I like her, she's nothing if not a fun and quirky character to see regency and decorum through and I liked how she excelled at her craft. Which speaking of, I love the idea of sewing enchantments into clothing items. Fits great with regency and its a fun twist to have her enchatnments effect the way the person feels and is seen while wearing them. I wish they did more with her illness, i really liked that she had a medical condition that worsened the more she strained herself with magic, but little actually comes of it. It gets brought up a lot, but it doesn't feel propersly capitalized on and used as just the occasional tool.

The male lead (Kit), was definetly the peak of the book. While it's very much grumpy x sunshine type of trope, I feel like his character actually makes it work because its not just him being uneccessarily mean, but someone who is rough around the edges but and has entertaining and alluring personality. I honestly find him a lot more engaging then Niamh. He struggles, changes, reverts, and grows while Niamh is kind of just the same as she is at the start of the book, but now boo'd up.

There's also the poltiical conflict in the story, which was ehhhhh. Um, it was certainly there. I like the fact that a peaceful protest was used consistently throughout the book, most stories resort to the more violent rebellion route which while easier and has more luster, isn't the only way to make change. That said, almost the entire political conflcit, and most conflcit in the book is handled as if it's a child recoutning the story. Especially the third act.

That said, the main reason why I wanted to read this book (besides the great customizations of this edition) was because I wanted the star-crossed, regency romance and that's what I got! From start to finish I loooooooved it. Love that it wasn't insta-romance, that there was a contrast and build up that felt like it made sense and that I could actually see why we were going through all this mess for.