Revelle is a story about a young girl named Luxe Revelle and her family set in the 1920’s. They live on the magical island of Charmant where several families along with hers have their own magic. The Revelles can twists your emotions using jewels. The Chronoses are time travelers, but when they travel they age. The Chronoses are also the politicians on the island and control the Day District, but not the Night District, where the Revelles live. The Edwardians can hear everyones thoughts but they are physically incapable of telling a lie. The Effigans can make magical drinks and brews of that sort. Luxe’s family has been putting on shows for tourists since before she was born. But now, they’re running out booze and the Big Tent is in very poor condition. Using a special magic that only Luxe has, she’s got to charm Dewy Chronos, the only bootlegger still left on the island.
On the night that she is to meet him for the first time, she mistakes someone else as Dewy. Jamison Port comes to Charamant with his friends Roger Revelle and Trysta Chronos, both of which are estranged from their families. When Luxe thinks he is Dewy, she leads him to a backroom to try and seduce him for a jewel, the source of her families powers and their form of currency. She kisses him but immediatley discovers he isn’t Dewy. She kicks him out and strikes a deal with the actual Dewy. The deal has her pretend to be romantically involved with Dewy and she will get all the booze she needs and a place to perform. There’s only one problem, she’s developed feelings for Jamison that she doesn’t have for Dewy. As Luxe realizes that Dewy isn’t what she thought he was, she has to figure out a way to not only save herself but also save her family.
I thought that Revelle was fantastic. The book switched the point of view several times but it did so in a way that made sense and created a sense of mystery to the story. The characters each had their own backgrounds that correlated to the storyline in a way that flowed really well. The storyline moved at a really nice pace and it didn’t feel rushed or too slow. It incorparated a lot of 1920’s elements well without the story feeling super old or boring. The magic elements also meshed really well with them.
I recommend this to anyone who likes romance books that aren’t too incredibly dependent on the romance. Whilst a lot of Revelle is about how Luxe needs to get away from Dewy who loves her obsessivley and how she actually loves Jamison, the story also focuses a lot on family. Luxe’s family is very big and family is incredibly important to them all. Jamison also is on a journey to find out who his parents are, which is a big focus of his story as well.