Thief Liar Lady by D. L. Soria was a great adventure! I was on the edge of my seat every page. Great story.

I really should stop trying to read most things that bill themselves as fairy tale retellings, but I can't seem to... I do love a great perspective shift, or a classic character or construct turned on its head, and as a result I tend to pick these books up but then more often than not find myself disappointed.

Unfortunately that is the case here also.

I was so intrigued by the concept. There is so much potential in the Cinderella story for a feminist / non-traditional retelling, but this book felt like it barely scratched the surface on those concepts despite the blurb and way it was set up. Instead I found myself in what felt like a bog-standard fantasy about kings and kingdoms blended with a love story in which the heroine must decide between her conscience and her heart - neither of which are genres I tend to find all that interesting, so the blend of the two did not help me feel connected to the story at all.

I also found the writing to be a little drawn out and the characters to be rather unbelievable. I didn't connect to Ash / Aislinn at all and didn't find the "pulling the ultimate con" construct to play out in a way that was believable or well understood as far as motivation and purpose. The storyline meandered, there was very little action and an awful lot of description, and it lost me fairly early on. All in all this one just didn't work for me.

I do love me a good fantasy fairytale retelling, but this was not it for me. I could feel the cinderella vibes but it was not doing a good job at being a retelling for the most part.

I was bored for the most of the beginning and was waiting for something to happen and I thought of DNF'ing it but powered through and still nothing really happened. But the writing was great and the world building was not bad either.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a lot of fun! Rogue princes, smart and cunning women, intrigue - there was a lot to love. This will appeal to fans of Jessie Mahilik and The Lunar Chronicles.

This doesn't usually happen for me so strongly, but I got really stuck on both the writing style and the main character. The physical prose reads like an Emily Henry or Colleen Hoover novel, which could be perfectly lovely if that is your cup of tea, but tends to scratch my brain in the wrong way. I also had a lot of trouble putting up with the mc's personality and utter lack of compelling motivation - I didn't really understand her justifications and therefore couldn't connect with a lot of her choices. The time period is also an ill-defined "fairy tale" era which just seems like an excuse to skim over a lot of useful world-building. Overall I just find Cinderella retellings to be a bit tired, and although this story tries out a slightly new twist it isn't well-executed enough to be satisfying. The only thing I enjoyed was the MC's relationship with her stepsisters, and how it bucked the expected trope of a typical Cinderella story.

ok, i don't usually start reviews like this, but the mc is so unbelievably dense that i can't believe she wasn't caught the first day she stepped in the palace. seriously. i got stuck in the middle of this book b/c i couldn't tolerate her obliviousness and carelessness any longer. it's like she's bumbling around in middle school. i would use her name in this rant but i honestly can't remember it - so that shows how forgettable she was! every character was super predictable; this felt like i was reading renamed versions of other authors' characters.

the thing is, i was really invested in this for some reason. i don't know why. it wasn't spectacular by any means, but once things started picking up in the second half, i couldn't put the book down lol

Many thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. It’s an enjoyable read but also can be pretty heavy at points. Also there should be a trigger warning for a scene where the prince SA’s Ash.

Some critique I have is that it’s slow in some parts. It’s definitely a more serious adaption of Cinderella and the magic is more so of a fine powder called Lustre, which our main protagonist ends up using on the prince. And then she falls in love with Rance, the captive prince in the castle. She is caught in a political struggle between Solis and Eloria. Not sure if I got the country names right, it’s been a minute since I finished this book.

I loved the banter between Rance and Ash. Like it was so obvious that they should be together from the very beginning but oh well. I also loved how eventually Ash came around to caring for Puppy. That was one of my favorite character progressions.

I just wish it didn’t take so long for Rance and Ash to finally get together. They didn’t really have much spice until 4/5 of the way into the book.

Other than that, I would recommend this to anyone seeking a new take on a classic tale as old as time.

It started out so well; I loved the interesting take on a classic story. I loved the main character, the backstory was intriguing, as well as the world-building. It felt magical, wistful, and also daring and cunning. But the middle 40-60 percent is where things started to fall off for me. I started to feel a disconnect between the original tale and this story, like it began to feel as though it didn’t even matter that she was supposed to be a new version of Cinderella. The retelling aspects of the novel just didn't feel relevant or imperative to the direction of the story. Another thing that lost me was the amount of political intrigue, which is basically the entirety of the plot. It started to get a little boring if I’m being honest. I wanted more action and something more driving the plot. I still think this is a solid debut, and I think the right audience will fall in love with it. The writing itself and the author’s voice is enchanting and really does weave an enrapturing setting. I would definitely read more from this author in the future. Even though I didn’t absolutely love this book, it was still an enjoyable read.

A lot of potential, but in the end I struggled to connect with the story and Ash as a character. This is a personal issue, but the writing style just didn’t work for me. It felt too “modernized”. Normally I don’t have a problem with this, but because the world building was non-existent, I felt no special identity to the world and its systems. Really cool idea and I love the twisting the princess fairytale on its head.

This was a great Cinderella retelling! It was unique, and well done. I enjoyed so much of it and only wish that the writing had been more concise at times.

I loved this take on Cinderella, where the heroine is maybe not so innocent, the stepsisters not that evil, and the stepmother might be the mastermind behind it all? A fun take on a classic fairy tale with many twists and revelations that were surprising and delightful. The book is a quick and enjoyable read with strong female characters who have complex backgrounds. The book really speeds up in the second half as the story departs more and more from the original fairytale. Overall, a well written and enjoyable read!

This was an experience...

I think the main issue I had with the book were the version of a lying thief of a Cinderella-esque character and the version that was actually in the book were so far removed from each other that it was hard for me to reconcile them. But also that because the book was set after Cinderella had met the prince and left the step sisters behind it felt like we still had to retread all that ground to get the readers caught up, while also giving the reader all this context about the world and the magic and what the plot they were reading about that it got really muddled and simply ran out of runway before the book could conclude.

I truly think that a lot of readers are going to dnf the book far before they get to the conclusion because what the actual plot is supposed to be is incoherent and Aislinn/Ash's actual motivations for doing anything are so unclear to the reader, and not in a way that is going to propel them to read more to get an answer. That's before we get to the readers that are far less forgiving of a magic system that doesn't make sense or a world that was hard to tell if it was Edwardian or Victorian, even some mishmash of the two or a time even earlier. The politics of the world and the way the magic was involved is certainly part of the convoluted mess at the heart of the story, and while it did to a degree make more sense the more of the book I read, the more I read the more questions about the execution I found myself having...

There were some high points. I did enjoy seeing Aislinn/Ash's relation ship to her step sisters evolve over the course of the story. Partly because in the Cinderella mythos what an author does with her family is some of the more interesting ways to reinvent the tale.

Of all the ways you can reinvent a character like Cinderella, I ultimately felt that this didn't work out. I think there are ways to make readers perceive her as being a more active character than doing what Soria does with this book.

I'm also just not sure how good a look it was in 2023 to have such a large part of the love triangle esque plot have love magic at the core... Of the many questions and implications I have about the events of the book, that whole are is responsible for a fair few of them.

My reading experience of this book was a lot of peaks and valleys, times when I have having a good time and times when found myself wishing I had stopped. It's not a book I can recommend because it's so varied and the journey and destination both have just as many faults as they do strengths that I wouldn't even know who to tell to read it to find out where they fall.

Book: Thief Liar Lady
Author: D.L Sofia
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Del Rey Books, for sending me an ARC.

This was an interesting take on Cinderella. At this point, we all know the story and are probably over the retellings. However, I found this one to be a lot different. From the moment you start the book, I think you will feel the same way. It’s much darker and twister than any other Cinderella retelling that I have read.

In this one, we follow Aislinn, who has gotten the prince and is set to marry him. Her stepmother and stepsisters have mostly washed their hands clean of her. Quickly, though, we get the feeling that this is not going to be the case. On the outside, everything is great, but it’s not. Aislinn has many secrets and secrets that she hopes the crown does not find out about. She has magic and it is running out. There is a war coming, one that she has a bigger part in that she wants to get out of. Not to mention, there is the captured prince, Rane, hovering in the background who may or may not a have r role in the events that are to come.

The setup for this book is amazing. Right away, I was pulled into the story. The way that the author presents the world and sets everything up will leave you completely thrown into the world. Every word, every little detail makes it feel as if you are in the story with the characters and experiencing everything right alongside them. You will see the chills and the darkness. You get the sense that something bad is going to happen, but you don’t know what that is. While the royals do put up this mask that everything is okay and that nothing wrong is going to happen, you can see through the detail that things are not what they seem.

There were bits of the plot that I felt were underdeveloped. The author is great a setting things up, but there were times that I would have liked just a little bit more. There were other parts that I felt were great. The world and the sense of purpose were spot on. I could picture what the characters were up to and the environment around them with great ease. I could see the wedding preparations, but also the war that was coming. The pieces were all moving and they were moving in a way that fit the story that the author was trying to tell.

The characters, I felt, could have been a little bit more developed. There were some whom I had a very difficult time remembering who they were and what their world was in the story. This is such a shame because it is clear that the author can pay attention to detail. However, that detail just didn’t come out on the characters. I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy them either. I loved Aislinn and Rane-even though I could not get a full handle on them. I know that the author was withholding information for the big reveal. However, I would have liked just a little to make their voices pop.

I have seen reviews that people don’t know if this is young adult or adult. I would say that this book does lean more toward the adult side. However, it’s not overly graphic that older and mature teens could not get into it. The writing style is simple and easy to follow. However, this is language, sexual sequences, and child murder.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. There are parts that I wish had been a little bit more developed.

This book comes out on July 11, 2023.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/XRXGozYInWA

This was a fun take. I wasn’t huge on the pacing, but I liked the different retelling - a fun, adventure and morally grey characters instead of your usual retelling.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me an arc in exchange for my honest review.

"Thief, Liar, Lady" is the Cinderella retelling you never knew you needed but are glad you found. Ash Vincent has a very wicked stepmother (Seraphina) and two bratty stepsisters (though they can be halfway decent at times). Ash did not need a fairy godmother to get to the royal ball. Rather her appearance was a carefully crafted scheme cooked up by Seraphina and aided by magic and lustre. Prince Everett was not the intended target, but Ash deviated from the plan, as she had another more personal agenda. However, she did not count on Rance (the hostage prince) and his elkhound Puppy. More significantly, she became so caught up in trying to manage the separate but somewhat interrelated schemes that she failed to recognize the true extent of Seraphina’s ambitions and the lengths she would go to in order to achieve her goals. Plenty of scheming, intrigue, surprises, and romance.

I received this ARC from Netgalley. This review will contain spoilers.

THIEF LIAR LADY was ... mediocre at best. I tend to dislike Cinderella retellings. It's never been a fairytale that I enjoyed, and most retellings stick so closely to the original that they become incredibly predictable. I'll give D.L. Soria kudos in that TLL has a more unique concept than I'm used to seeing (given Ash's double-agent status, though even that wasn't explored enough), but overall .....

Meh.


In my opinion, the problem with TLL is that it's incredibly vague while being just formulaic enough to frustrate me. I still couldn't tell you which country is at war and why -- the politics are important to this book given Ash (Cinderella)'s secret mission, but the history behind the conflict is sparse. Lustre is not really explained and you have to pick up its capabilities from context clues, which makes the big smoke demon thing seem out of place. Ash's stepsisters are sidelined until they're needed and I didn't care about them at all. There is barely any hint of what Ash's life with her stepmother was actually like until she was trauma bonding with Rance (also: Rance and Ryland both starting with R was UNNECESSARY and VERY CONFUSING). Was I supposed to feel bad that Ryland and the kids were sacrificed in The Stepmother's plan? None of them were explored deeply enough to make me care. This is like ... light-fantasy. Very little world-building despite the plot hinging on the need for it.

Ash and Rance's romance was also ... blah. There was a point in the book where it seemed like there might have been a time jump, which could have explained Ash's increased tolerance of him, but then the way it was written was confusing enough that it could have just been her thinking about the future to herself --I'm still unclear on it. I was truly shocked when, x amount of chapters in, she was thinking about how she loved someone she couldn't have because I didn't think she could have been referring to Rance with how little chemistry had been shown between them at that point in the book.

Also, Everett -- I'm sorry. I know the man is under a spell of some kind to have fallen for Ash, but considering how he disregarded her feelings on their wedding night (and several other nights), how exactly had he convinced himself that his feelings for her were genuine? Is this just supposed to show how crappy he is as a love interest? Cause we already know he's a bad person from the incident at the "refugee" camps (which AGAIN are used as a throw-away plot point that is never really resolved, and doesn't come up again after Ash decides to drop her mission).

tl;dr: How was this book so long and yet it felt like so little happened?

This is an interesting and new take on the Cinderella trope. The characters are human and therefore flawed and yet they are relatable and even likable in some ways. While parts, like the ending, felt a bit rushed along, overall I feel that it was an interesting and worthwhile spin on an age old story.

3.5/5

I liked the plot of a dark, twisted Cinderella who’s working with her stepmom and stepsisters. Some parts really kept my attention, while others I couldn’t wait to get get through because they felt tedious. Overall, I liked the book, but I’m in no hurry to read it again anytime soon.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for granting my "wish". This is my voluntary opinion on Thief Liar Lady:

I love the retelling of Cinderella, with Ash, but I felt weird as I was reading because drugging someone felt like it was crossing a border for me. At one point, Ash herself gets drugged, and it sort of came full circle, especially with the idea marriage equals consent. I expected more seduction/wile-y behavior, but instead, every time Ash got herself into a rough spot she was magicking herself out of it. Ironically, a doctor that drugs women to sleep is called into question and I felt it was a little too on the nose. At one point I was relieved when Ash runs out of magic to use.

Beyond that, this was a strong retelling. I do personally wish it had been a little more fade to black during certain intimate scenes, because this would be a fantastic young adult fantasy book for our library.

For the most part, I liked this book. However, I have some criticisms and moral issues with it that I can’t get over.

Things I liked:

1. The use of the Cinderella framework. I really like fairy tale retellings and I think the author did a very good job integrating Cinderella into the story. I especially enjoyed seeing how the rumors took the actual events of Everett’s birthday celebration and embellished them into the fairy tale.

2. The parallel between Rance and Ash’s situations. They were both raised by abusive step/adopted parents who had no motives but to use them. I think this helped build the relationship between them.

3. The question of what matters more, the truth or what people believe. I think this is a really interesting idea that I would have liked to see explored further. It ties into the fairy tale concept really well. Even if the fairy tale (or any story really) isn’t the truth, it still has meaning.


My criticisms:

1. Ash is absolutely awful at being a covert operative. This is a woman who supposedly has been trained and groomed her entire life to manipulate people for personal gain, but she has barely any practical grifting skills beyond surface level lying. She is entirely dependent on lustre (magic) for anything of significance, and she routinely struggles with maintaining her Lady Aislinn persona. Someone who was trained to do this isn’t going to be constantly breaking character. At the same time, her inflated sense of her own abilities causes her to think she has mastery of skills that we rarely see her succeed at on page.

2. (Spoilers in this section, including a quote) The consequences of the con. I really think the consequences of Ash functionally drugging and manipulating Everett into marrying her are completely glossed over. She literally used magic to manipulate this man into falling in love with her. Honestly, this is skirting really close to sexual assault. ‘Oh, but I stopped drugging you after the first three days’ is not an excuse for what she did. This is dubious consent at best. Everett is going to need a lifetime of therapy to get over this. Good for Mariana for sending Ash away. What makes it worse is the part at the beginning where Ash tries to justify her actions:
“I’m not a monster. Of course I felt a stab of shame as I watched my handiwork. But this was an integral part of the game. I couldn’t risk Everett’s initial infatuation with me weakening before the wedding. And a fascination isn’t a powerful spell. I wasn’t forcing Everett to fall in love with me forever— I doubted even a king could afford the cost of that kind of magic. I was only stoking the emotions he already had and increasing my value in his eyes. Unethical, perhaps, but not cruel. Not harmful” (chp. 7).
Except Ash is harming Everett. I feel like this line was the author trying to find ways to downplay Ash’s actions. I think that was also the point of having Adelaide drug Ash on her wedding night. Because we all know mutual non-consent is better than one-sided non-consent… Neither of those things is okay.

3. There’s very little worldbuilding. The plot hinges on a political and military conflict between two nations that are not flushed out at all. We know about the religious beliefs and one natural resource of Eloria. We know basic information about the ruling class of Solis. There are other nations involved that we know nothing about. I found it difficult to care about the politics in the book outside the idea that war, injustice, and murdering refugees are bad.

I recommend this book for people who like interesting fairy tale retellings and don’t get too hung up on the morality of the story they're reading.

I received an advanced copy for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.