Graceless Heart (The Spellbound History Quartet, 1)

Graceless Heart (Audio)
Author: Isabel Ibanez

Ibanez’s latest book, Graceless Heart, is set in 15th-century Volterra during the Renaissance period. Our FMC, Ravenna Maffei, is seeking a way to help her brother out of imprisonment. No one (except her immediate family) knows that Ravenna holds a secret magical power based on gemstones. Only witches or their descendants can access the gemstone's power. Ravenna is one such descendant, and her power comes from the Nightflame gemstone. She decides to use this power to enter a sculpting competition judged by the immortal Luni family, the winner of which will receive anything they want. In this case, Ravenna asks for her brother to be freed from captivity. Afterwards, she is kidnapped by the Luni family, taken to beautiful Florence, and made to toil away at a seemingly impossible task. The task is to free the Nightflame gemstones the family has found - they need them to survive. If she cannot, she will die like all the others who failed. The eldest son, Saturnino dei Luni, is made to watch over her while she is there. The Pope, who is waging war against Florence, the Medici, and all magic, also takes an interest in Ravenna’s abilities and secretly asks her to spy on the Luni family while she is there. Ravenna is cornered, trapped on all sides, with no way out.

The character of Ravenna was particularly enjoyable. She was strong, resilient, opinionated, a talented sculptress and businesswoman, and more than capable for a woman of her time. She had a strong faith and a sense of morality, even in the situation she found herself in. She was inspiring to me personally. Saturnino seemed cold and calculating, but once you learn his reasons, you understand why. He was always truthful with Ravenna, as much as he could be at any given time, anyway. There were other characters I wish we had seen more of, such as Leonardo da Vinci. His character was interesting, and I hope the author writes a book about him next!

The narrator, Beatrice Granno, gave an amazing performance on this audiobook. She is Italian, and her voice naturally transported me to this place and time. I had to slow down the audio slightly at first, but it was no big deal. I adapted to this and found I enjoyed it very much the more I listened. I think she was the perfect choice for this book, and now I will seek out more books narrated by her.

The writing was excellent. I could tell the author did her research. There were so many wonderful references to historical figures and events. I've been finding I like historical fantasy, and this book was great. Some have said the magic system was too simple, but I quite liked it. I’m glad there wasn’t an overly complicated magical system. There are already too many of those.

The romance in the story was very slow-burning. From the beginning, there was physical attraction on both parts. However, Ravenna was smart enough to know that Saturnino might be trying to seduce her, so her guard was up. There was a back-and-forth in the romance: one day they seemed close, and the next Saturnino would back off. Saturnino was obviously affected by Ravenna, but refused to let it show. So, he did other things in the background for a while that showed his care for her, things she never knew about until later. When they finally connected, I was fanning myself!

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

ARC Shelby