Gita Trelease

In pre-revolutionary France, Marie Antoinette's dazzling, seductive court sits on a house of cards. I've always been fascinated by Marie Antoinette and the French court, and this novel tells the story of the nobility who stayed at court for the parties and fun.

An impoverished teenage magician, Camille, uses her magical powers to blend into the court. Posing as a baroness, she's there to win enough money gambling at cards to build herself a better life, one magically changed card at a time. show more But she's not the only magician at court, and she soon attracts more attention than she'd like. As la magie burns her strength, costing her more and more each time she uses it, she finds her choices narrowing.

Camille and her sister, Sophie, meet a group of inventors building a balloon. When Camille helps save their balloon from crashing, she falls for Lazare, the leader of the group. But he runs hot and cold, not always showing up when expected. Then, wearing a magically changed face, she meets him at court, where he flirts with her again. Camille wonders: which version of her does he like better, her true identity or the wealthy, perfectly gorgeous baroness?

Camille's an interesting character. She arrives at court determined to hate its excesses and everyone who indulges in them. But as she mingles more, she falls in with a group of friends who she learns to adore. Despite herself, she finds herself enjoying the life of a noble. She has to decide: is she addicted to the courtier's life or can she give it up in the end?

Set at the start of the revolution, this novel shows Camille sympathizing with the revolutionaries, but also hoping no harm comes to her friends at court. Marie Antoinette appears on the page, but not enough to count as a secondary character. She's more part of the setting, without many on-page lines.

A mesmerizing portrait of a way of life on the brink of destruction, through the wide eyes of a girl hungry for it all - glamour, love and adventure. show less

I'm not sure if I've simply read too many books about people in desperate situations or what but the beginning of this book stressed me out.
The first act opens on three siblings: seventeen year old Camille, her fourteen year old sister, Sophie, and their ridiculous excuse for an older brother, Alain. It is the Paris of 1789 and if you know your stuff, you know that's a dangerous moment for basically everyone.
The siblings' parents have been taken by smallpox, but not before their father show more was caught up in printing and distributing revolutionary fliers. That same sentiment runs like the inevitable blood through the streets, the nobility all the while playing a fantastic game of dodge and denial.

They are determined to survive, using Camille's cheap, inherited magic to turn scrap metal into coins but that magic begins to fade, just as Alain's drinking and gambling addictions lead him to run away with the meager savings they have left.
The only thing the remaining sisters have left is a darker form of magic, gifted to Camille by their mother who was a magician herself. With nothing but determination and magic to piece herself together, she heads for Versailles, dead set on winding her way in to court as her only means of saving her sister and herself.
I promise that this is not every single other "Down and our girl makes it big with a disguise" story. It's rich with history, so much so that I could hear Les Miserables and the sound track from Marie Antoinette in my head, the whole way through. The backdrop also sang of revolutionary action a little closer to home, as a few characters from the time period showed up, freshly back from post-war America. Good ol' Marquis de "I'm taking this horse by the reins"...ahem, I mean, Lafayette makes an appearance, making the period price aspect that much richer.

I am really bummed that there does not appear to be a sequel to the book because I was quite, um, enchanted by the whole thing. I love when someone is able to totally nail historical fiction with a side of magic, and this one does just that.
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Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley and Flatiron Books in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Everything That Burns is exactly what I want in a sequel.

When we left Camille in All That Glitters, it felt as though she had finally be relieved of a great burden. There was a sense of freedom and of hope… but as we enter this new book and whispers of the revolution dance along the streets of Paris… things, show more somehow, feel less safe. Less certain.

Gita Trelease has dared to view the French Revolution not from the perspective of the common folk as is commonly done in pop culture (Les Miserables) but rather from the perspective of those who are attacked as the oppressors. I thought this was such an interesting perspective, especially in these days when we are called upon to fight against hate and for equality. The conversation here about attacking humans vs. attacking a system was fascinating and made me pause. Because it’s a difficult conversation, right? We don’t want to go into the French Revolution or any movement talking about taking corrective action and protect the oppressors. But I think the conversation about people vs. policy was a very good one to consider, and I appreciated the way Trelease ultimately handled the character’s reaction. There were moments where I was nervous, but it paid out in the end. After all, we want to be productive and create reform, not just count bodies as retribution… right?

This could be a whole political conversation, and it’s certainly something worth talking about, but for the sake of this review, I want to get back to the content and structure of Everything That Burns as a book.

The characters continued to grow and develop despite the urgency of the plot threatening to slip away. When you are in a period of history as important and renown as the French Revolution, it’s easy to slip into the streets and away from the characters. Although there were major events going on in the world around them, we were also able to somewhat stay within the sphere of Camille, Sophie, Rosier, and Lazarre’s little world. The balance struck just right to keep me invested in characters as well as the greater world.

Everything That Burns is a very different book from All That Glitters. The world is bigger, the pace is quicker, and there are moralizes at stake. Although la magie still plays an important part in the story, it is less present in this novel. Instead, we see the work of hands and minds and imaginations rather than supernatural forces, and I think that perfectly matches the feel of the times.

There were moments that took me by surprise, and I absolutely could not put the book down after the 50% mark. In fact, the last 30% tore my heart out of my chest and cast it off a cliff, with twists and turns and worries and all that glorious stuff that makes us love and hate books with equal passionate fervor.

At the end of the day, this duology is a must-read. It’s fresh in the YA genre, it’s relevant to modern discussions, and has a cast of characters who are easy to love. I think if she wanted, Gita release could continue this story further (though the end was lovely) and I would read more of Camille’s adventures. I’m certainly looking forward to anything else Gita Trelease may have in store, whatever it may be. show less

You know that old adage about war being "months of boredom punctuated by moments of extreme terror"? That seems to be the overall feel Trelease was going for in Enchantée. Pages and pages of maudlin reminiscences on How Life Used To Be and sulky resentment of Those Terrible Aristocrats are interrupted by beatings from her drunkard of a brother, desperate attempts to raise the rent money, and threats of inevitable exposure as a Faux Baroness. I wish I could say the worldbuilding or show more relationships offered compensation, but these progress so S L O W L Y that they rather contribute to than provide respite from the rampant boredom. There might be a good story buried in here somewhere, but I don't have the patience—or the blood pressure—to keep digging for it. show less