The Weaver Bride

By Lydia Gregovic
** Publication Date 30 September 2025 **
​5 stars


In the land of Balmoore live silkwitches. Their hair is magical. Silkwitches have until the age of 21 to be wed to Weavers, a line of sorcerer men, who will use their hair to weave Magesilk. Should the silkwitches not find a Weaver husband before their 21st birthdays, they are sent to the Cloisters, to spin magesilk. But then they are never seen of again.


Lovett Tamerlane is a silkwitch. Born into a life that deemed her unacceptable, she escaped to the city where she now uses her Wit, opening doors, to steal from wealthier families. Until she meets a handsome stranger, Eliot Lear. Eliot proposes that she be entered into the Vainglory, a competition to find a silkwitch wife for the most eligible bachelor, the son of the Weaver King. 


Lear’s motives are simple. His sister Ophelia died during the Vainglory the previous year, and he wants to know who is responsible. If Lovett can solve the mystery of Ophelia’s death, Lear will find Lovett a suitable Weaver to marry. But if she fails, so many things can happen that might find Lovett in the Cloisters, or worse. 


This novel was enchanting. Lovett is a fierce woman who thinks she always has the upper hand. Until she meets Eliot. Their companionship will bring both to their knees, but in the end, Lovett truly has one goal, win the Vainglory and become the bride of Noé Alaire. While Eliot does wish to know his sister’s murderer, he will find working with Lovett maddening. They are two extraordinarily stubborn people. 


So many characters with dominant personalities. Men who have had pretty much everything handed to them on silver platters. Silkwitches who have grown up on the right side of the tracks and know that the Cloisters will likely never be their fates. I loved this novel. I loved the intrigue of the Vainglory. Not so much the actual competition, but how the challenges were handled. I loved how fearless Lovett could be, even at the risk of her own life. 


What I didn’t love? Knowing I will have to wait for the next book to know how this one is going to play out. 


If you love fantasy with a lot of intrigue, this novel should be something you’d enjoy. It has all the elements. Mystery, catty women, beautiful aloof men, romance, crime. Very long, but worth every page.