3.5 stars

At the beginning of this book, I was quite into it. I really liked Rhiandra and her spunk. I liked how she was morally grey and out for herself but at the same time took a shining to Gwyn and wanted to help her, especially since her dad was such a prick. Unfortunately, as the book progressed I became less and less interested until I just ended up skimming the last 10%

Rhiandra, as a character, started off on a high note. However, she becomes progressively more selfish and careless, making bad decisions and losing what sparse friendships she has. She generally becomes more and more unlikeable, and the book suffers for it as the plot narrows. At first, there's a lot more action, many different and interesting characters, but we eventually just end up with Rhiandra and the odd scene with Gwyn or Draven. Everything is focused on Rhiandra and the choices she has to make in order to maintain her desperate grip on the crown, and by that point I didn't really like her much and I kind of hoped that bad things happened to her.

This book was well-written and interesting for the most part, but I don't really see myself reaching for the next one.

Side note, don't read this if you're looking for a romance. I know it's marketed as a romance, but this isn't a romance. There are a couple of sexy bits, but there is 0 romance.

This book was a Snow White retelling, as told through the eyes of the Evil Queen. I often enjoy seeing the villain side of a story, so this book was right up my alley. I found Rhiandra to be a fascinating character that was easy to root for despite so many of her actions being morally sketchy. There were some gaps in the plotting that I suppose will get developed in book two. I give this book a solid 3.5/5

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of Her Dark Reflection by Hailey Jade. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC to review.

Rating : 3 out of 5
Blurbs :
"They called me the Whore Queen. Some even called me the Evil Queen.
But they could call me whatever they wanted. I was still queen."

Rhiandra Tiercelin hungers for power and her charm has always been her sharpest weapon in hunting it. So when a brutal attack leaves her physically scarred, desperation drives her to make a deal with Draven, a magic-wielding stranger who is inexplicably compelling and definitely dangerous. She knows she can’t trust him, but when he offers to make her a queen, the temptation is too enticing to resist. Armed with a glamoured face and an enchanted apple, Rhiandra is determined to scheme her way into a crown, even if it means risking the deadly punishment for unsanctioned magic use. But Draven is playing a bigger game, and she is just one piece on the board. Can she keep her wits about her long enough to uncover his secrets, or will he lure her down a path she will come to regret?

Trigger Warnings: this book explores dark themes and may contain content that is inappropriate or triggering for some readers, including explicit sex scenes and depictions of sexual assault. Please see author website for a full list of triggers.

Thoughts : It's a Snow White retellings from the Evil Queen POV and it felt flat to me. I wish I can like it more but I always have a sore spot on retellings. If you are a fan of SJM or JlA, this book might work for you and please beware for the trigger warnings. Thanks Netgalley and the publisher for the Arc!

This is a twisted retelling in the POV of the Evil Queen in Snow White. It is definitely an adult novel with more mature content and a bit of spice.

I did enjoy the backstory of the Evil Queen that was done here and I also really enjoyed her and Draven’s story into taking her from the streets to the castle. It was a bit predictable, but i did not mind it. The plot and timeline was done and layed out pretty well. We get a bit more of politics towards the end of the book, which will probably give the story some more depth for the series. Along with that, we are introduced to Snow White in the book as well. Her background is a little different with some illness that she has and you see her and the Queen’s relationship early on. I think i left off at a good point to see where book 2 takes us.

Thank you NetGalley and Hailey Jade for an advanced reader copy!

Story pacing: 4/5
Plot: 3.7/5
Characters: 3/5
Heat/Romance level: 3/5
Key themes: Enemies to lovers, Disney retelling

This Snow White retelling, as told through the eyes of the Evil Queen, Rhiandra, was truly engaging and enchanting. Hailey Jade is able to write such a compelling morally grey character, who is also relatable and witty.

This story follows our heroine/villain from her creation, to the fork in the road decision that decides the fate of a kingdom. Draven, the main love interest, and the one pulling Rhiandra's puppet strings is more of a background character to Rhiandra's character development and journey to independence.

The plot has a few twists and turns, that keep the reader engaged through Rhiandra's development, and I think that Hailey Jade did a wonderful job trying to keep as close to an original plot line as possible, while still writing a very challenging character.

The greatest downside of this book was the book's inability to also progress any side characters, or the main love interest. We see no real attachment or growth for anyone but Rhiandra, which can feel a little empty and boring at some parts of the story.

Her Dark Reflection is a craftilly made Snow White retelling, where you admire the villain and root for the bad guy. I just wish there had been a little more development of the other characters!

3.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Her Dark Reflection is the first act of a sweeping retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, in which the so-called “Evil Queen” is found in our protagonist, Rhiandra. From the outset, strong-willed woman with plenty of scars in her past- and shortly after our window into the story opens, on her face, she makes for a compelling character to lead us through. She is at times shrewd, insightful and protective of those women around her she sees as potential victims to the men who would do them harm (in any circle). In the same breath, however, she can also be dismissive or oblivious to the importance of her own actions, to the value in learning about the courtly world she is infiltrating, or to inconsistent and suspicious behaviours in those around her. This struck me as odd, given her penchant towards survival and rising through the ranks, and took away some of the believability of her character. She also seemed to me very willing to give up her hard-won power and understanding of the things she is bidden to do by the dark man who grants her the source of her beauty in her desperation. This is despite his brutal and frightening behaviour, and repeatedly seems attracted to his anger and seeing him undone, which shocked me given her history and general view of men. I found this made it somewhat more difficult for me to root for her as the story progressed.

As to the writing itself and the world Hailey Jade imagines, the author has a distinct skill with melding the information we need to understand the progression of the story with the aspect of mystery that pushes us to continue reading. She gradually pulls in more and more complexity to the social structure, the spiritual practices and beliefs, and the characters we meet along Rhiandra’s journey, in a way that doesn’t feel overwrought. The fantastical elements felt rooted and well thought out, and I was impressed with the writing style and flow of the story. The only real concerns I had were the consistency in characterization, and perhaps the pace at which certain elements were brushed over while others felt drawn out.

All in all, a solid, original fantasy retelling, with a voice I would be interested to read more from in the future.

I love fairy tale retellings, ESPECIALLY when it's one where the villain finally gets to be the star of their own story. I do wish there was more romance in this dark romance, but it was still an amazing book and a great set-up for the (duology?) - but I need book 2 now please!!

<i>thank you to netgalley and xpresso books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

<b>her dark reflections</b> is a lush retelling of snow white that focused on the villain’s point of view, rhiandra, or as we formerly know in the og story — the evil queen.

this was an easy read though it was more focused on politics and intrigue than i initially expected. the romantic subplot is great and i like the love interest aka draven and how their relationship was being explored through. i can’t wait for what the next book will bring to us (i mean, that ending???). also rhi my badass meow meow nobody gets you like i do!

I was really excited for this one. The promise of a romantasy up there with Raven Kennedy, JLA and Sarah Parker had me really excited. But it just fell a little flat for me.

I think the primary reason was that I was looking for something with a little more romance and based on the synopsis, I definitely expected to get that. That said, I don't need every romance to have a heavy romance plot but if it doesn't, I prefer to have the primary plot and world building to be a little stronger.

Overall, this one wasn't quite for me but I would absolutely give this author another shot in the future. I think there was potential and it just needed to be rounded out a little more.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book.

To me, this falls in the category of "great idea, poor execution".
My main issue was that it lacked depth, plot points seemed unconnected and to me, it just felt like we only scratched the surface.

I love female villains and I love a good corruption arc, but this just did not work for me.
First of all, the plot was so predictable, yet Rhiandra, the FMC, had no idea what was going on.
A stranger offers to make you queen, and you seriously don't realize he might be acting out of self-interest, and not because he thinks that you, a random woman from the streets, should rule the country? Really? It was obvious to me what his goal was from the beginning, yet it felt like it was supposed to be a big plot twist towards the end.
Speaking of the ending, there is a different between a cliffhanger and leaving a book unfinished. To me, this book was the latter. I had to push myself to finish this and then, right when I expected things to get a bit interesting, it just ended. I honestly felt betrayed at the end, I assumed it was building up to something and then... nothing.

The plot was both boring and slow, yet at the same time the book felt too short. Things weren't explained properly, interesting scenes were cut short, and there was a bunch of nothing between the few key scenes. There were also some plot holes and things that just didn't seem to add up.
The character arcs went from 0 to 100 very quickly, both Rhiandra and the king suddenly completely changed with what felt like the snap of a finger.

The worldbuilding was okay, though I wish we had gotten more information on the magic, as I still have some unanswered questions about that.

I also wish we would have gotten more romance, as that was one of the things I was most excited for. There wasn't a lot of chemistry between Rhiandra and the love interest, which is mostly due to the fact that the love interest rarely made an appearance, and when he did, they were busy with working their scheme instead of.... romancing. I don't NEED romance in every book that I read, but I would have really needed it in this book, as that probably would have saved it for me.

Overall, the book would have profited from more depth, both for the characters and the plot.
I will not be continuing this series, but I might give the author another try in the future as I definitely see some potential.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book!

I need the second book to this series…like NOW! I think this is a really good retelling of Snow White “Evil Queen”. She didn’t start out as a villain, she was just a woman trying to get by, that had something terrible happen to her and then a chance for a way out. Whether or not the way out offered to her was right or wrong, I’ll let other reads decide that.

I absolutely LOVE Disney retelling stories but I really loved this one because it was a villain retelling instead of the normal princess retelling. If you like Disney and retellings; I highly recommend you read this book.

Also, can the next book hurry up and come out as well lol 🤣

An excellent and gripping retelling of the Evil Queen! I am not used to reading dark fantasy romance but this one got my attention and I just devoured it. The main character is quite a character, she reminds me of the audio ‘I support women’s rights, but most importantly, I support women’s wrongs.’

1. Since the book is written in the first narrative, the main character is very important to the enjoyment of the plot, and I think Rhiandra is a great one. She has a nice level of wickedness and realism, especially with her background, it’s nice to read something with the main girl having a solid autonomy. However, I think her infatuation with Draven is a little out of pocket. I believe they have no chemistry at all except that they’re both hot and that’s why she’s so smitten with him from time to time. I have a feeling that she doesn’t actually love him, and... [point 2]

2. ...so the bargain they have with one another has to be very solid for their relationship to make sense. They are the types that would drive each other mad. They literally used one another to achieve their own means. So while I think Draven poses a good deal, it depends solely on Rhi’s obsession with her beauty for her to take his deal. Other than his appearance, Draven has no use for Rhi as a love interest. If the author intends to make them two opposing forces, however, I would like that.

3. I like seeing how different roles from the original story fell into characters in this ones. I was really surprised with the role of the hunter, and that was a really nice touch.

4. Speaking of nice touch, I love the political aspect of this book, despite people not welcoming it. I think it makes this book more grown up, and not just because it has some spice in the book, no, it deals with actual governing problems. I like it a lot, but I would have loved it more if it was explained a bit beforehand, and not just when it is relevant. The same goes for their religious and magic systems.

Overall, it is a really nice book, I think I am going to request more ARC from Hailey Jade in the future. Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity to read an arc for an honest review.

This was interesting premise on a snow white retelling. But the story felt dragged too many times to count with fuller sentences. I liked the MC in the beginning and her character turned so vain and power-hungry. My excitement in the beginning sadly fizzled out, though I was quite surprised when the before ya feeling turned new adult.

After a terrible incident leaves the gorgeous Rhiandra scarred and no longer beautiful, she makes a deal with Draven, a man who wields unsanctioned magic. 3 apples to be delivered, the first will make her queen. Can she survive the court and successfully deliver the apples?

This was a really fun read! Its the first book in a series that does end on a decent cliffhanger.

A dark retelling of Snow White, but Snow White isn't the main character. It's really a delightful, dark twist on the tale and I'm eager for the second book. Rhiandra is a fascinating main character who knows how to manipulate and work her way around things.

I loved Draven and wished there'd been more of him and am looking forward to more of him in the second book. I need more answers about this man!

If you enjoy dark retellings with a bit of spice and plenty of political intrigue and royalty, you'll enjoy this!

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for the opportunity to read an arc for an honest review.

"They called me the Whore Queen. Some even called me the Evil Queen.
But they could call me whatever they wanted. I was still queen."

A snow white retelling with the Evil Queen being our villain FMC. CHECK TW'S before reading

Rhiandra, is our evil queen. She works as a 'women of the night' where looks is literally the reason why she gets paid. She ends up getting disfigured by a group of men after insulting their ego (like really dude?! you're gonna get mad at her because she helped a co-worker of her & tried to get her away from your unwanted advances?!) After having to suffer through that ordeal she wanders along the streets penniless until she mets Draven. The same mysterious man she had seen in the bar where she worked. Draven offers Rhiandra a chance to be beautiful again in exchange for something that he wants.

So when I saw this book and read the blurb (which honestly I rarely do, I like to go into stories BLIND BLIND! lol) I got hooked. I saw the words Dark Romance & said say LESS.
Unfortunately, that's also how I felt.. that it was less than what I was anticipating.
This story took me about 3 days to read, and it's not because I had the lack of time, it just didn't appeal to me after awhile. It was a really rough 10% then I had to push through and got to 50% and honestly, was about to DNF it but I AM NO QUITTER! and finished it. The cliffhanger at the end also added to my already BLAH feeling towards the book.

It's not all horrible though and that's why it's a 3 star rating.
So although the Rhiandra & Draven's relationship seemed pretty 'insta-loveish', there WAS chemistry. not a lot BUT nevertheless, there was. Granted, we don't know much about Draven, he still seems as mysterious as when we first met him but again this book, is just part 1 of the series (ergo the cliffhanger at the end)

It's a great adult fantasy book but as a 'adult romance' book, it wasn't exceptional to me.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My favorite genre is fantasy and I think this is a fresh perspective on it. It had some From Blood and Ash components to it which I enjoyed and it gave a fresh take on the rising to power plot.

I enjoyed the villain POV. This is setting up to hopefully be a series I come back to read often.

This was a Snow White story from the evil queen’s POV and it wasn’t categorized as YA, so I was excited to dive into it.

Unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy the book as much as I’d hoped. Someone asked me how I was liking it and my response was that I wasn’t sure yet, but when I looked at my kindle, I was over halfway through the book. And still kind of waiting for the story to get better…

I loved the idea of the story and the way it made the queen seem a little more human and manipulated by someone who reminded me of Rumpelstiltskin.. but I also wish Rhiandra would have owned herself more throughout the book like she did on page one. Be evil, be into Draven enough not to care, be into power and beauty enough not to care what his plan was.. but BE something other than a boring girl who doesn’t seem to realize the consequences of her actions.

I think some people will really enjoy this and I’m notoriously awful at enjoying fairy tale retellings, so maybe it’s just me!

Effortlessly beautiful. An exceptional read. And an enchanting storyline. What more could I ask for? I was drawn in by that captivating book cover first and the description, second. And by the time I know this is a retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, I was sold. This have to be my next ARC, I decided. But this one’s definitely a different take from your typical fairy tale though. It was so different from what I used to read. It was a dark reimagining for a reason, I gathered. One wrong choice leads to another. Rhiandra the maisera is now the queen of Brimordia.

You know what? I never thought I’ll be rooting for a villain until Rhiandra Tercelain. But it is what it is. Gotta read it yourself to know what I’m talking about, yeah?

This book seemingly promising enough to be the next big series in the market. I just hope the author keep the perfect momentum going in the next book. Ehem.. A little exploration of romance between our hero and heroin might flutter a hopeless romantic soul like myself. I’m already thrilled for what Hailey Jade have in store for Rhiandra and her mysterious Draken. This Draken character intrigued me like no other. Ugh! I’m dying to unveil his secret. And I promise you Rhiandra, you’re not alone on that matter.

Thanks to #NetGalley for my copy of #HerDarkReflection

4.5 stars rounded up! A fun fairytale with sharp edges and smoldering love interests.

Her Dark Reflection is the newest in the overrun market of retold fairy tales, however unlike the majority flooding bookstores everywhere this one is unique. Original characters, original obstacles, an incredible use of the magic mirror, and a dark shadowy figure who needs your help. The smut was just that, something that helped move the plot along without BEING the plot and was honestly very tastefully done. Our leading lady morphs throughout the novel showing how power, if left unchecked, is a dangerous thing to play with.

4.5 rounded up for Her Dark Reflection and waiting patiently for book 2! Recommended for Fairy tale lovers/villain beginnings junkies ages 17+ due to sexual content.

I enjoyed the fast pace of this book however felt like it may have taken away from character development and world building. I didn’t like how the main character’s strong will and steadfastness was easily abandoned due to lusting after a man time and time again. I also felt the ending was a little too good to be true, although it did end off on a cliff hanger. Quick and easy read, but nothing mind blowing.