For me, this is a good example of a book that isn't to my personal taste, but I can recognize it's really good. It's a very well-written, tense, gothic-y book that doesn't drag, featuring a complex main character that I'm still not sure if I like, but whose motivations and struggles make sense. This reminded of me of The Hazel Wood (so, strong darker vibes of Erin Morgenstern and "The Kingdom of Back"). Highly recommend for anyone who's looking for a different take on the fairytale retelling genre.

I was really excited to read this book, but I never really connected with the story. Eleanor frustrated me and I found the book was riddled with cliches that didn't quite keep me interested. The ending was cool and I thought it was an interesting take on Cinderella, but there was a lot lacking for me. None of the characters were especially interesting, the romance was kind of weird, and, for most of the book, there never really seemed to be real consequences for the characters. It had great potential, but it didn't quite live up to my hopes.

1.5 stars, rounded up.
This book started interestingly enough. Ella lives with a terribly predatory man, and no longer wants to be a maid. All well and good. She sees a mysterious woman and is given the opportunity for 7 wishes in exchange for her soul. Ella, who has done nothing but complain and wish for better life without actively trying to get one, thinks: “Surely I will not use all these wishes!” Questionable, but okay.
Ella is frustrating. She claims to care about the maids but fails to show that care in any way. Ella doesn’t grow much at all and remained selfish and greedy. The ending was not satisfying in any way, shape, or form. The writing felt repetitive and bordered on tedious at times. The execution of this was not fantastic.
Full review will be posted on May 28th, 2021

Ella has always wished for more out of her life. She has always dreamt of being a proper society lady, and after being taken in by the Pembroke's after the death of her parents, Ella believed she would one day achieve that goal. But then her beloved Mrs. Pembroke passed away, and Ella was forced into servitude by the same man she once called step-father. The only joy Ella has in life is sneaking into the library and reading books by candlelight. On one such night, Ella throws a plea out into the universe and she's shocked when a mysterious fairy godmother appears and tells Ella that she will grant her seven wishes. Eager to finally live the life she believes she's owed, Ella agrees, but she soon learns that each wish comes at a steep price.

If you've ever wondered what Cinderella would be like if Tim Burton directed it, here you go. This isn't your typical Disney fairy tale. It was dark, twisted, and more akin to a Gothic penny dreadful. Ella has gone through many hardships in her life and believes that she's entitled to a better life than the one that was given to her. This leads her to make a rash decision by entering into a bargain with a fairy godmother who's more like a devil in disguise. With each wish Ella makes, someone around her dies and as the story progresses, you see the guilt of that weighing on her yet she can't bring herself to stop. So much of this story is fueled by bitterness and desire, and the limits one would go to have the life they've dreamed of. My only issue with this was that it felt incredibly long and drawn out at times which lead to it feeling quite repetitive. Other than that, if you're a fan of darker retellings, this would be a good one to pick up.

What if you were granted 7 wishes to do as you please by a woman who is sort of like a godmother? You would probably be so excited and would want the best kinds of things, right? Well, this is what happens in this new take based on the classic Cinderella of a young woman who is granted 7 wonderful wishes but sometimes what she wishes for doesn't necessarily have the best outcome.

Ella is a hardworking servant in Granborough House where she was once a ward of sorts to the Pembroke family after her parents died. Promised to be cared for, Ella grows up alongside the Pembroke's son Charles who she has always had a brotherly love for. But after the kind and loving Mrs. Pembroke dies, Ella is forced to become a lowly maid serving the house and family she was once part of. In her secret missions to the library in Granborough House where Ella finds refuge among the books and stories she loses herself in she encounters a mysterious woman who grants her 7 wishes to do as she pleases. Excited that she can change her life and of those she loves Ella begins wishing for good things to happen, but little does she realize at first that her wishes come with a steep price, a price that usually involves death.

This was an original and engrossing read with gothic elements that I really enjoyed, it had it's share of surprises and twists and the ending was not I was expecting.

Thank you to JJA Harwood and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

This is a dark Historical Fiction with its roots in ‘Cinderella’ and a touch of magic. This combination will appeal to older, more mature fans of fairy tales. Readers should read the content warnings before diving into this book, as it is the darkest spin on ‘Cinderella’ I have yet to experience.

Eleanor aka Ella was once treated like the daughter of the woman of the house. But things changed drastically when Mrs. Pembroke died and Mr.Pembroke became her guardian. Ella was sent below stairs. All of her privileges removed, she worked hard as a housemaid. Her hands become red, dry, and cracked from the hard work.

Ella's one pleasure is when she sneaks into the library late at night and reads. Books transport her away from reality. And it is here she meets the shadow woman. The shadow woman comes across as some type of fairy godmother at first, but as things progress there are elements of Faustian type stories. For every wish Eleanor makes, there is a terrible price. And if she makes all the offered wishes, she will pay the ultimate price of her soul.

This story is definitely gothic in nature. The atmosphere is dark, grimy Victorian London. Even Granborough house is dark and crumbling. There is a perceived innocent and paranormal elements. And there is much mystery.

The book is well plotted generally. It is a little slow in parts, but makes up for that later.

I kind of liked Eleanor at first. As the book goes on, it gets a little harder to like her even if it is easy to understand why she would make some of the choices she does. Some of the other characters are hateable - Mr. Pembroke, for example. Some more likable, think Charles Pembroke.

Overall, the book is well written. I wasn't crazy about the ending, but it fits. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It's definitely an interesting take on a Cinderella story. It's worth the read.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the publisher through NetGalley. This did not affect the content of my review.

The Shadow in the Glass is a wonderful, dark and incredibly rich mystery/thriller novel, so well built and fast paced that I wasn't able to put it down till I reached the end. I was absolutely captivated by the atmosphere, and the characters.

This novel submerges the reader in a landscape so imaginative and detailed that the information of the world building/plot never feels forced, and is never difficult to understand or picture in one's mind

I received this book as an eARC from NetGalley. All opinions are my own!
Trigger warnings for this book: Sexual assault/rape, abortion

Ella always wished for more than her life as a maid. But when she's finally granted seven wishes, will she find she's gotten more than she bargained for?

I was very excited to read this Cinderella retelling, and I have to say that it didn't disappoint! It was much darker than the Disney version, which is something that originally drew me to it in the first place. It was not just a happy fairytale story, but rather it made the reader really think right along with Ella. I enjoyed the deeper side of this story and the way it confronted the idea of right vs. wrong and justice.

My issue with this book was that the way it was written made Ella not very likable to me. I didn't find myself rooting for her the way that I might have with Cinderella herself. But part of this might be due to the way the book confronted the deeper topics and the harsh realities of the world. Ella isn't simply a Disney princess, she is a real human who dealt with her own flaws on top of the cruelty of the world.

This book left me full of suspense and always wanting to read even more, if just to know what would happen to Ella. I really enjoyed watching her journey as she struggled through the hand that life had dealt her. If you are a fan of character-driven, suspenseful and deep books, this book might just be for you!

I want to thank NetGalley and Harper Collins for a chance at reading this... depressing? yes, depressing book. I'm going to spoiler cut this because I talk about some triggering stuff right out of the park (tw: rape, abortion/miscarriage, abuse):

- I disliked the main character, a lot. I found nothing sympathetic at all despite what the author expressed to us. Her mother worked for a woman and she and the woman became friends. Our main character was born, and when she was young her mother died. Her mother's mistress raised her like a daughter, and then the she died. She was made into a servant in the house. She wants to live that life again. Mainly because her adoptive 'guardian' remarried? or was married? to a man who is disgusting and rapes his maids.

That's right. The main character is even dumbfounded why this sweet woman was married to a man who is such a disgusting piece of shit, but it's never really explained. (Forced marriage? He went crazy after she died?) The book begins with us finding out about a rape of another maid, and she gets tossed out because she is about to have a kid. See, there are about four other girls (maids) in this house. All of them are being preyed upon by this man. Oh, he had children with this woman that passed (or I think he did), two daughters and a son. You never really meet the daughters, but you get told about and eventually meet the son (that becomes our love interest). Anyway. The point is that the girls are living in fear of this man raping them. Apparently it's a common knowledge in this town that's what he does, but the head of staff (who is a woman) is all okay with it. Mind you, these girls are being paid shit wages while being preyed upon... I know, a lot to take in right?

Where is the magic bit of the story? Oh, yes, right. So, while being preyed upon one night she (our main character) locks herself in the library, sees a book sitting on the chair, and she reads a poem out-loud and this woman with no eyes promises her 7 wishes in exchange for her soul. The girl agrees to it, because she is like, I'm not going to use them all teehee, I want to keep my soul.

Which then becomes this epic long chore of watching her trying to not wish for things and yet wish for them, but keep telling herself that she'll stop wishing only to break that and do it over, and over again. But every time when she uses a wish, the magic comes from someone dying. So she wishes for some shoes, some bird in the house dies in exchange for that wish.

- The love interest is such a bawbag of a man. So, he returns with a fiancee. This fiancee is a total bitch and he gives our main lead over to her as a personal maid. His fiance hates our lead (because she is so familiar with her fiance) and is abusing her left and right, but he doesn't really do anything about it? So the girl has to wish to make something happen. Which leads to him breaking up with his fiance. ... Meanwhile, he starts developing really, really piss poor feelings for the main character. They eventually have sex, and she asks the guy if they'll run away and he is like, 'lol, what no, I am me and you are you?' and just kind of friend zones her and then she gets pregnant. (CUE A WILD wish where she literally has a miscarriage.) Then, he just... is so uncaring and or distant through the rest of the book. The worst love interest I've ever read in a book in a while.

What you never find out or is just glossed over:

- how did this book end up in the possession of the house?
- who is this woman? is she the devil? apparently the girl is familiar with the story of Dr. Faustus, since this is what this retelling seems to be, thrown in with some shit Cinderella angle - so I don't understand why she doesn't put two and two together and just clamp her mouth shut and or run away
- apparently one of the wishes she makes sics some detective on her and this guy is chasing the lead around because he thinks she has something to do with the mysterious deaths, but he won't do anything about the rapes... because he has no proof and or grounds to accuse the man? (what about the woman who he raped and is currently down the street in some slum house?) so why doesn't anybody in this town assist the maids? which the leads to...
- why does the main character pretend to care about the maids/friends in the house, but is greedy and does jack for them? One of the girls gets so fed up with her piss poor handling of the situation and or lack of empathy that she just says, 'fuck it, I'll let the man rape me because you're clearly not helping'. (Oh, side note, the girl that tells the main character this is black... another dump on black females.)

This book is a glorified mess. If someone who was reading it had some kind of trauma from being abused/raped, they're gonna find some issues with this and how poorly shit is handled and it might just trigger them all over again.

There could have been a solid, gothic / smouldering tale, but you get a whole bunch of abuse, a man with the intelligence of a electric potato, and a heroine who you just want to use up her wishes all in one go.

So I wanted to like this book I really did. But I didn’t. It wasn’t a Cinderella retelling, it was a morality tale about Faustus. The characters were ok, there were none that that I particularly cared for. I kept plodding through hoping for an improvement. But I fully admit by about 65% I was just reading to get the damn thing over with. I no longer cared about the ending, I hoped Ella ended up losing her soul, she was not a redeemable character to me.

Ella after the death of her parents is adopted into a well off family. But after the death of the mistress, she is delegated to being the house maid. Her reduced circumstances comes with many dangers including the unwanted attention of her guardian. So one night when she’s flat out of options to save herself, she makes a deal with an evil godmother who grants her seven wishes in exchange for her soul.
At the beginning of the book, I felt sorry for Ella but that feeling evaporated pretty soon. The entire book was Ella making excuse after excuse for herself and the dire consequences of her poor decisions. It quickly became annoying. I went in expecting a gothic atmospheric Cinderella retelling and instead got a long dreary book with a very annoying, whiny heroine. Would not recommend.
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This was an incredible spin on the classic Cinderella story. Dare I say it had a "grimms brothers" feeling?
Eleanor is our main character, and let us be honest.... Her life sucks. When an opportunity presents itself... A bargain is made. 7 wishes for her soul.

I really liked how the theory of balance was portrayed. There is a cost to every wish.... Nothing is just wished for.....

I also felt like this was left on a cliffhanger.... Hopefully more to come!

*Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of The Shadow in the Glass*
I had to take a couple days to process this book before reviewing. Im still can't decide if I liked or disliked this book. I have been obsessed recently with different fairy tale adaptations. That is the primary reason for giving this book the 3 stars that I am. Let's start with the things I liked about this story. I love it when writers take a well-known, classic story and make it their own, and The Shadow in the Glass definitely fulfilled that expectation. I can definitely appreciate the twisted spin that Harwood put on the timeless Cinderella. It was dark, brooding, sinister, gloomy and almost depressing. It left room for introspection and counting one's blessings. It was well written and Harwood done a great job of painting her picture for the reader, albeit a dismal one. Now, for the things I didn't care for. While Harwood done an excellent job of creating her world so that we could envision it, I found the endless details of the hustle and bustle of London to be overwhelming. I noticed myself skimming through those parts more than once due to the incessant descriptions of things I barely understand. I am glad that I read this on a Kindle vs paper book since I was having to look up an unfamiliar term pretty frequently. I did not care for Ella. She drove me crazy with her indeciciveness and selfishness. She may be one of the first protagonists that I didn't necessarily want to see win. Which is a contradiction to how I feel about the ending. Not that I expected it in this particular version of Cinderella, but definitely no Happily Ever After here! This book was so dark and full of doom & gloom, I was really hoping for some light to shine through. I felt the ending to be abrupt and disappointing. Overall, this book was well written, descriptive and absolutely a twisted telling of Cinderella. Just a little too depressing without enough light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel for my personal taste.

"Fetching the first lot of water was always the worst part of Eleanor's morning...the pump made a horrible sucking noise and spat water all over her skirts". When she was sent to the butcher for the master's mutton, "A hand reached for her purse-she slapped it away. Another hand reached for her bottom." The streets of Marylebone, in nineteenth century Victorian England, were teeming with fruit-sellers, crossing-sweepers, omnibuses and carriages. There was poverty, homelessness and hunger everywhere.

Upon the death of her parents, Eleanor Rose Hartley became the ward of Mr. and Mrs. Pembroke of Granborough House. Mrs. Pembroke treated Eleanor like a daughter. "For a few shining years, she had been "Miss Eleanor", dressing in silks and satins...Eleanor was going to be a lady." Mrs. Pembroke filled Eleanor's head with the promise of a European tour once she was old enough to enter society. "It was hard to believe in fairy tales...[after Mrs. Pembroke died] Nothing felt magical in her little garret." "She'd been relegated from "Miss Eleanor" to plain old Ella...fourteen, and she'd watched her future crumble".

"Five minutes in the library was all she needed...to bask in the smell of old books and let all the anger ebb away". She had to get out of Granborough House somehow, even if it was only in her head...Would this library be the only escape she ever had?" In the safety of the library, she discovered a small, unfamiliar black book. Lo and behold, a middle-aged woman, with vacant black, totally empty eyes, seemingly like holes through her face, was sitting across from Eleanor. "I can offer you...security, freedom...the chance to see the world. You'll be safe, warm and well fed". The black-eyed woman proposed a bargain. She would give Eleanor seven wishes but there would be a trade-off. Eleanor would be bartering away her soul. "It takes a good deal of magic to grant a wish, and magic has its price".

"The Shadow in the Glass" by J.J.A. Harwood is a Cinderella-like Gothic fairytale fantasy. Eleanor is protective of fifteen year old Aoife. She worries because "Mr. Pembroke has made a name for himself below stairs as the worst lecher in London." She worries about Leah who was cast out, pregnant, penniless and without a job reference. Granborough House was dreadful, damp and dark. Eleanor dreamt of helping her friends. She was determined to regain her respectability, her place in society and travel the world. Once she realized the horror and sorrow created by her first wishes, she hoped to cancel the deal, however, her downfall had already been set in motion. Although she fiercely tried to advocate for her friends, she seemed relentless in her quest for money and power, no matter the cost. She tangled herself in a web of her own making.

This debut novel of historical fiction/fantasy seemed, at times, repetitive and dragged a bit. A taut, more compact version would have increased this reader's enjoyment. That said, the last third of the book was atmospheric, suspenseful and barreled toward a satisfying, unexpected ending.

Thank you Harper 360/HarperVoyager and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"A deliciously gothic story of wishes and curses - a new dark fairy tale set against a Victorian backdrop full of lace and smoke.

Once upon a time Ella had wished for more than her life as a lowly maid.

Now forced to work hard under the unforgiving, lecherous gaze of the man she once called stepfather, Ella's only refuge is in the books she reads by candlelight, secreted away in the library she isn't permitted to enter.

One night, among her beloved books of far-off lands, Ella's wishes are answered. At the stroke of midnight, a fairy godmother makes her an offer that will change her life: seven wishes, hers to make as she pleases. But each wish comes at a price and Ella must decide whether it's one she's willing to pay...

A smouldering, terrifying new spin on Cinderella - perfect for fans of Laura Purcell and Erin Morgenstern."

Name check two of my favorite authors and OF COURSE I'll be checking out your book!

The Shadow in the Glass is the epitome of the saying “Be careful what you wish for.”

Eleanor Hartley’s life took a drastic turn when her guardian, Mrs. Pembroke, died and left Eleanor in the clutches of the deceased woman’s lecherous, alcoholic husband. Forced into the role of a servant, Ella has spent the last several years trying to stay under the radar and simply survive. But with Mr. Pembroke sights now set on her, Ella makes a dark bargain to save herself and the ones she cares for. But she didn’t bargain on the cost.

Although this book is billed as a gothic retelling of Cinderella, there’s not much of a comparison. Yes, the initial circumstances are similar, but the fairy godmother in this tale couldn’t be less motherly and kind, and she’s much more powerful, able to grant any wish Ella makes. This darker take on the story is actually quite dark, with lots of mistreatment, threatened and implied rape, and a glossed-over abortion. The murders in the story are really not that dark at all in comparison. I’m usually all for darker fairy tales, but there wasn’t any silver lining in Ella’s story.

The search for that silver lining is honestly what kept me from DNF’ing this book. I kept waiting for some clever twist to give Ella a happy ending, or at least a happier one than I was expecting. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Each of Ella’s wishes felt repetitive, with her swearing that she was done with the wishes until something came up that she just couldn’t find a way around and she had to make the next wish. It was easy to see how things were going to turn out, and they didn’t look promising. I really just kept hoping for a twist that would save Ella’s downward spiral, but no such luck. I also kept hoping to get more insight into why Ella couldn’t remember her early days with the Pembrokes. A handful of characters mention her being wild and abusive when she arrived at Granborough House, but Ella has no memory of that time, and there’s never an explanation as to why. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be chalked up to something like PTSD or the result of another bargain with the black-eyed woman, but I wanted to know more and was disappointed that Harwood never resolved that plot line.

What I did like about this story was the atmosphere. The descriptions of Ella and the other maids’ circumstances felt realistic-depressing, but realistic-as did the descriptions of the house and the city and its inhabitants. Harwood knows how to set a scene and use it to heighten Ella’s motivation behind her desperate actions.

All in all, I didn’t really care for this book. The Shadow in the Glass is depressing, and while I don’t need to all my books to be rainbows and sunshine, I do want some hopeful moments. Ella’s tale never really had any hope, and that more than anything made it feel like just another gothic novel rather than a dark Cinderella retelling. I also think this is a mature YA or an adult fairytale thanks to the darker nature of Mr. Pembroke and the level of detail that Harwood uses in many instances. Although some may find this bleak story intriguing and enjoy Ella’s loss of morality, this was definitely not the book for me.

This is a dark book that made me feel uncomfortable at times, but it was brilliantly written and kept me from being able to put it down.

Harwood did a beautiful job explaining to the reader the reality of England at that time; women had no rights, servants had no rights and were at the mercy of their employers, and women servants had no options for their lives without a reference to obtain a new position, or marriage.. This information was artfully woven into the story, which it needed to be since it was an integral part of why Ella made the choices she did.

Ella made poor choices when she made her wishes. But the story allowed you to understand the why, and even feel sympathy for her.

Character development is extremely important in fiction, and Harwood artfully made Ella come alive with her very human range of emotions from love, joy, despair and hate.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A dark, sad fairy tale. Did not care for the main character or the ending. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Review:
A dark and gothic retelling of Cinderella? Sign me up!! This is a mixture of cinderella and the good ol faustian story. Set in the Victorian era, Ella was once taken in by the lady of house as if she were her own daughter until she died and now Ella has been stationed as a lowly maid instead. With the new position comes new horrors: work that breaks her body down, peers who hate her, and the biggest threat of the house, her once step-father/ legal guardian who has been raping the maids and firing them, and Ella realizes any day she could be next. The only comfort she has is the library and when she stumbles upon a particular book a very strange woman with black eyes appears and offers her a deal, 7 wishes for her soul. Ella agrees and thats when dead bodies start dropping with every wish she makes. One mistake after another, and with every wish a new murder results and Ella loses a piece of her soul.

I adored the premise of this story and I thought it had so much potential to be amazing. Ella is a 17 year old girl and if I am being honest, irritated me. I liked her at some parts but other times I just couldn’t understand her rationale. Ella is not careful with her wishes, and everytime she made a wish I wanted to scream at her to think carefully, to word carefully, to make better wishes. If these wishes are going to cost you your soul and a murder results, you’d think the wishes would be better thought out. She wastes her first wish on a pair of shoes. Her soul for a pair of shoes. I can’t. When Ella starts trying to do things herself, I actually really liked her. She cares for her friends, she wants to help, she tries to protect the other younger girls from the master of the house. I actually enjoyed her more ruthless nature, like yes girl. Take matters into your own hands. Her romance with Charles was fine. I just didn’t really care for it as much. I care about Ella’s relationship with the maids, Aoife and Leah, those were the people that really brought out the best in her. Overall the story has a predictable course as you read it, the ending is drawn out perfectly clear. It’s definitely an interesting take on the Cinderella story.

*Thanks Netgalley and HarperVoyager for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*