The Kiss of the Nightingale

• Author: Adi Denner
• Genre: YA Fantasy
• Publication Date: October 1, 2024
• Publisher: Tundra Books

Thank you to NetGalley and Tundra Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A stolen magical gem transforms an orphan’s destiny… A stunning and completely unputdownable romantasy novel set in an alternative historical Paris, The Kiss of the Nightingale weaves together the seduction of Bridgerton and the magic of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone series.

1890, Lutèce: In this city, Talents are everything: precious gems that gift unrivalled skills to their owners. The most coveted, Elite Talents, are claimed by the aristocracy, passed through generations by blood magic.

Cleodora dreamed of inheriting her father’s Tailoring Talent, but when he died, the magic died with him. Now she’s left with empty promises, a dress shop she can’t keep afloat, and her bed-ridden younger sister.

But everything changes when she meets the dark-eyed Lady Dahlia Sibille. Dahlia offers Cleodora a Singing Talent – a chance to save her beloved sister and rewrite her own fate. From the first instant, Cleodora is bewitched… There’s just one catch: she needs to steal an Elite Talent from the prestigious Lenoir family.

As Lutèce’s nightingale, Cleodora is the star of the opera’s galas and balls, worlds away from the darkness and dust of home. But the handsome yet infuriating Vicomte Lenoir is nothing like she expected.

Soon, the Vicomte’s teasing smiles win her over, even as Dahlia’s seductive whispers linger in her ears. Torn between Dahlia, who gave her everything, and the Vicomte, who holds the price of her freedom, is Cleodora in danger of losing it all? Or can she prove that magic isn’t the only gift that counts?

This was one of my most anticipated reads for autumn, and I knew that the author is an opera singer. I was thrilled to start this one, but I think my expectations were a bit high and this wound up being just an okay read. Let me explain why this didn’t work well for me.

The start of the book was pretty slow. Normally I don’t mind when a fantasy book starts slow because it gives me time to adjust to the world and the magic system and characters, but this one was too slow-paced for me. I found my attention wandering, and had to restart this book multiple times. I wound up listening to it on audiobook to see if it would hold my attention better, and I was able to finish it that way, although I still had to stop and reread multiple chapters.

Magic systems tend to intrigue me, but this one was a little flat. The idea of Talents being inherited through family lines could have been so intriguing, but realizing that they’re reliant on a piece of jewelry and a stone set into it was a bit of a letdown. Cleodora was supposed to inherit her father’s stone so that she could become a tailor like her father, while her sister Anaella inherited their mother’s stone. But when their father passed suddenly, Cleodora is left without a Talent and thus a means of income to support herself and her sick younger sister. I was confused why in this alternate version of Paris, she wasn’t able to sew without the Talent—I mean, can no one sing if they don’t have a Singing Talent? However, Talents can be stolen quite easily, which made me wonder how people weren’t stealing them more often. 

When Cleodora gets caught trying to steal a Talent, she is caught and put into a difficult situation by a beautiful and intriguing woman named Dahlia, who gives Cleodora a Singing Talent in exchange for Cleodora stealing Talents for her in the future. But Cleodora is only asked to steal one Talent—that of the Vicomte. What follows is a love triangle between Cleodora, manipulative and scheming yet beautiful Dahlia, and the Vicomte, but I never felt invested in the romance. It just felt like Dahlia was a walking red flag, while the romance between Cleodora and the Vicomte felt forced.

I love seeing character development in a book, and Cleodora really does grow over the course of the story. She decides what is most important to her, and I really appreciated seeing her change throughout the book. Yet somehow, the characters felt a little flat to me. Cleodora was a little bland, and none of the side characters felt multidimensional. 

Although I didn’t really make this sound good, the plot was intriguing. I especially liked how it ended, and how Denner wrapped everything up. There was drama at the opera house, and it made it really fun to read. I even checked out some reviews from my friends and other readers, and they generally enjoyed the book, so take my review for what it is: my own personal experience while reading this book. I’d recommend this to readers who like romantasy, love triangles, opera, and the behind the scenes action.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through my links.