The Midnight Bargain Magic meets Bridgerton in the Regency fantasy everyone is talking about...

Da ich gerne historische Romanzen sowie Fantasy lese, hat mich die Beschreibung dieses Buches sofort gepackt. Es hat auch geliefert, was es verspricht, wobei ich das Buch nicht allein für die Liebesgeschichte empfehlen würde. Teil dessen, was dieses Buch lesenswert macht, ist auf jeden Fall das Worldbuilding. In der Welt von "The Midnight Bargain" bedeutet Heirat und Kinder kriegen für Frauen, dass ihre Magie durch ein schmerzhaftes Halsband unterdrückt wird. Die Protagonistin möchte diesem Schicksal entfliehen und ein Buch (was ihr leider entwendet wird kurz nachdem sie es gefunden hat) scheint einen Ausweg zu versprechen. Auf der Suche nach diesem Ausweg lernt sie auch einen Mann kennen und lieben, was natürlich ihre Lage verkompliziert. Zudem versucht ihre Familie, insbesondere ihr Vater, sie möglichst schnell zu verheiraten. Auch, weil die Familie Geldsorgen hat. C.L. Polk schafft es dabei meiner Meinung nach geschlechterbasierte Diskriminierung darzustellen ohne in ein einfaches Muster von "Männer sind böse und Frauen sind die armen Opfer" zu verfallen. Dabei hat das Buch, wie sich schon aus dem Plot erkennen läst, feministische Untertöne. Wer gute, leichte Unterhaltung sucht, die mit einem interessanten Worldbuilding auch Sexismus als Thema aufgreift, ist mit diesem Buch gut bedient.

The Midnight Bargain by C. L. Polk is a historical fantasy story and when I saw that someone described it as Bridgerton with magic, I had to read it. And I definitely see where that came from after reading the book. . The story is about Beatrice who lives in a magical England inspired by the regency time. I really loved this setting and felt transported right into this time. The magic system was also very interesting and based on a bargaining system with spirits. You also meet the spirit Nadi and I absolutely loved her. In this world women only have magic until they marry. Then they have to wear a marital collar that disables their power in order to ensure the birth of a healthy child. . Our protagonist Beatrice challenges this system and society standards as she has no interest in marriage and rather wants to study magic and become a Magus, which is only accomplished by men. Next to the magic system these feminist touches, such as the fight for equal magical rights, were my favorite part of the book. However, I had a hard time connecting to Beatrice at first because she felt rather flat and unlikeable, but throughout the story her character developed more. . One day her path crosses with the Lavan siblings. Ysbeta is a woman like her who doesn’t want to lose her magic and the two bond over that and become friends. Ianthe however awakens romantic feelings and complicates everything. He was a wonderful person and showed that not all men in this world are archaic. . Romance is also a part of the book and Beatrice and Ianthe fit beautifully together. But it was very much insta love and it happened way too fast and didn’t have a lot of room to properly develop. . Overall, The Midnight Bargain is a highly enjoyable story, but some things weren’t fully worked out and the pacing was a bit too fast. 3 stars. (ARC kindly provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)