The Notorious Virtues (The Notorious Virtues, #1)
Alwyn Hamilton
A glamorous media darling, a surprise heiress, and the magical competition of a lifetime. At sixteen, Honora “Nora” Holtzfall is the daughter of the most powerful heiress in all of Walstad. Her family controls all the money–and all the magic–in the entire country. But despite being the center of attention, Nora has always felt like an outsider. When her mother is found dead in an alley, the family throne and fortune are suddenly up for grabs, and Nora will be pitted against her cousins in the Veritaz, the ultimate magical competition for power that determines the one family heir. But there’s a surprise contestant this time: Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora’s aunt. When Lotte’s absent mother retrieves her from the rural convent she’d abandoned her to, Lotte goes from being an orphan to surrounded by family. Unfortunately, most of them want her dead. And soon, Nora discovers that her mother’s death wasn’t random–it was murder. And the only person she can trust to uncover the truth of what happened is a rakish young reporter who despises everything Nora and her family stand for. With everyone against her, Lotte’s last hope is hunting for the identity of her father. But the dangerous competition–and her feelings for Theo, one of the Holtzfalls’ sworn protectors–turns her world upside down.
Publication Year: 2025
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0~~Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and Faber and Faber for the ARC!~~
I can recognize that this book is good, but it just didn't stir a wild passion in me.
I'm a girlie who loves the 1920s aesthetic, especially when paired with themes about the greediness of the rich and classism. But for some reason it just didn't connect with me with this book. I had a hard time picturing this city, and even though I love worldbuilding through media (Here it's the newspapers), it still didn't give me a clearer image of the world. Also, I feel like the charms weren't explained well enough? It's not really explained where magic outside Holtzfall's inheritance came from. Maybe it was explained and I missed it, but I feel my point still stands if the explanation failed to leave any impact on me.
As for the characters, I liked them well enough. Lotte was my favorite, but Nora and August had some fun banter. Not enough for me to care at all about their romance, but I can see people loving it. Lotte's heavily implied romance with Theo tightroped along the edge of nope after the middle half due to the question of Lotte's parentage; luckily, it was cleared up, and the romance didn't really get the time to go anywhere by the end, which is fine by me. The four POVs between all aforementioned characters almost feel balanced, but August's feels the less developed out of all of them to me.
I dunno, I really wanted to like this one. I can tell that Hamilton was cooking with the themes with the book, but it just didn't enthrall me. I think if I was endeared more to the character, I would feel stronger. But as of now, I can only feel like I can shrug and say, "It's good," and move on with my day.
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