Reviewed: April 4th, 2021
Release Date: December 21st, 2020
Genre: Fantasy/Fairytale retelling
Oh, you think you know Cinderella? She loses a shoe and in exchange gets a prince…
Here’s a double book that tells all – the stepmother’s side supplemented by Ella’s diary of the events. If Thumbelina was more Roald Dahl and suitable for kids, this one is a dark fairy tale adaptation for a more adult (18+) audience in the vein of Sarah Pinborough’s Charm and Jackson Pearce’s Sweetly.
STEPMOTHER: Three step-kids with magic abilities and a license to be evil? Yes, please.
With a restaurant to run, Ella to boss around and a cannibalistic witch to befriend, Grace seems to have made the bargain of a life-time. If it wasn’t for one estranged husband, the lying mirrors and Ella’s teen romances getting completely out of hand. Also, there seems to be a part of the bargain Grace might be forgetting, while her son’s third birthday is approaching. Fast.
ELLA: I used to love fairy-tales until I was in one. Thanks, Mother, for upping and leaving to chase after some man.
My name is Elizabeth Jane Goodall and I can read minds. Not everyone’s, goodness, no, that’d be a nightmare! I wonder what was Mother’s trick? Father has no magic. Nor does the witch he married.
This is such a clever book!! Laugh out loud in places and Sommers makes you think twice about what you thought was the truth. A very well written, thought provoking book, as all fairy tales should be. A lesson well penned. You should not always judge a book by its covers nor a person! If you don’t know why a person behaved the way they did, you should try and find out a bit more before passing judgement. But of course us humans are all too quick to judge, and take offence or think the worst of someone for no reason at all. Why is that I wonder?
Seeing the story from the step mothers point of view puts an interesting spin on the story. All of a sudden she is not just the evil stepmother but a woman trying give to home to her husband’s children whilst managing her own small son, a restaurant and looking after them all. It is not surprising she gets a bit frazzled on occasion.
Not only is this a story about how Cinderella found her prince, there are also clever inclusions of other fairytales as well. You won’t look at fairy tales the same way ever again!
Can’t wait to read book 2 in the series, Embers which has just been released. Highly recommend you read; an entertaining expose of the magical kingdom and how it all really works!
About the Author:
Sky was born to Estonian-Russian parents and for most of her life has lived and worked as a lawyer in Tallinn, Estonia, with brief escapes to Finland and the United Kingdom for work/study and to all but the top and bottom continents in search of her muse. Her debut e-book in 2012 was about ancient goddesses running amock, trying to get their wilted powers back. She then proceeded to indie publishing her own ebooks and paperbacks and found her way from myths and legend via the Angelic Agency to fairytales retold for young adult and adult audiences. So far, Thumbelina has been updated for suspicious adults, a more sinister version of Cinderella was released on 21.12.20 and an adult Red Riding Hood retelling is about to be released on 21.03.21. A Wizard of Oz retelling and several short stories are in the works. All her books are linked by some character or another and she loves making you choose at the end – by letting you pick an ending to read – one for the optimist and a slightly different one for pessimists (well, except in the Cinders-Embers-Ash trilogy because only Douglas Adams could pull off a trilogy in 5 parts). She lives in a house with a small garden with her husband and mostly one, but on occasion plus four kids. No dog.
You can find her on:
You can purchase Cinders here:
Link to book on Amazon UK: eBook
Link to book on Amazon US: eBook
Link book on Amazon Canada: eBook
And Embers here:
Link to book on Amazon UK: eBook
Link to book on Amazon US: eBook
Link book on Amazon Canada: eBook
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If you enjoy fantasy books then you will love my book which is available in eBook or paperback: Sentinals Awaken. My second novel Sentinals Rising released March 17th 2021 and Book three is scheduled for release in the Autumn. Sign up to my newsletter and download a free novella called Sentinals Stirring and get notified when my next books are published.
Helen Garraway 