Overall a good read. I initially had a hard time seeing any real chemistry between the MCs but it eventually came together nicely.

Firstly I’d like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC ❤️😘

Gesela lives in a village where curses are common, they happen often and when they pop up it falls to the villagers to take turns to try and break them. So when the well dry up it falls to her to kill the toad that’s taken up residence at the bottom of it. Unfortunately for her all is not as it seems and he’s actually an Elven Prince under his own curse (there’s a lot of curses 😏😏 I love it!!) and now Gesela has angered his many Elven brothers. Feeling the need for revenge and to punish Gesela they send her to live with their seventh brother, the Elven Prince called Beast…

I’m a huge fan of fairytale retellings and Mountains Made of Glass is perfect 😏❤️ I loved all of the characters, it was like revisiting old friends but they’d all had a wonderful makeover!! I like how hostile and feisty Gesela and the Prince are towards each other it makes you completely invested in their relationship. (Bossy/Feisty? 😏😂)

Mountains of Glass is true to the fairytale genre, romantic with more than a dash of spice (of course 😏❤️). It completely drew me in, I’m in looooove and I’m so so excited for the rest of the series!! 5✨ for sure!!

(Just adding that this is an Adult read 🥰😘)

My love for Scarlett St.Clair’s writing runs deep in my veins. This book was the most perfect retelling of Beauty in the Beast, or so how I interpreted it, and I would read it again…I probably will again. The retelling plot was different and gave off a dark vibe. The reading was short but still long enough that things did not feel rushed or confusing, I would telling anyone about this if they love fairytale retellings.

This was a fun one. I enjoyed how short it was because it was constantly flowing and the story kept my interest. A little too much smut for my taste but I know that comes with reading this author. The fairytale Easter eggs scattered all throughout it though made it so fun.

A village called Elk has always been cursed during Gesela's life, but the curse is not just one curse, but many. One curse causes the well to go dry in the village, so Gesela decides she will save her town and ends up killing the toad that just happens to live at the bottom of the well. The only problem with this is that the toad kind of is not a toad, but more like a cursed Elven Prince...Due to the "toad" dying, his brothers come for Gasela for her to be punished. For her punishment, she is sent to live with the seventh brother who is called The Beast. She thinks that he will be a total monster, but quickly learns he is not, and he offers her a deal: if she can offer up his true name in seven days, then he will allow her to go free.

I mostly enjoy Scarlett St. Clair's book, but I will be honest: I absolutely hated Queen of Myth and Monsters, so I was a bit hesitant to request this book in fear that it will not be any good, but thankfully I was proven wrong for the most part.

I did end up giving this book 3.5/5 stars because I just could not get into it at first due to how the book is paced and it felt like it lacked any depth to the world and to the characters. This all could be because of the length of the book, which is only 219 pages. I do wonder if the book was longer and fleshed out with more details to create better pacing, then would I have liked it more?

I should add too that I feel like the biggest problem for me with Queen of Myth and Monsters was that it was smut after smut with barely any plot line and for Mountains Made of Glass there was a lot of smut that started to overtake the plot, but it was not as bad as Queen of Myth and Monsters.

The thing I mostly liked about Mountains Made of Glass was the fairytale retellings, which gives that whimsy feeling, but it easily creeps in with darkness. Gesela definitely proves herself to not be like the Damsels in Distress like you see in fairytales, but she is moreover the one who will do anything to save herself and others around her even when she falls in love with a hot guy.

When it comes to this book or any book similar like A Court of Thorns and Roses that have the main character try to guess the riddle to finding something out, then I as a reader enjoy trying to figure out what the answer is alongside the main character. I may be good at guessing things in let's say thrillers, but I suck at solving riddles.

If you just want a short book with a lot of smut, forced proximity, and the prisoner/captor trope, then you will enjoy this book a lot.

I think I am going to keep going with Scarlett St. Clair's books to see if I enjoy her books more or not since this is my fourth book I've read by her now.

Mountains Made of Glass by Scarlett St. Clair

Keep a fan nearby because this spicey dark adult fairytale was a quick bedtime read that was very enchanting, and I can’t wait for more.

This novella had great word building, a storyline steeped with a lore, (both dark but captivating) and characters that were very familiar. Reading through it has “Beauty and the Beast, with a twist” along with “Rumpelstiltskin” vibes, but the bonus characters were great, and I found myself laughing out loud at several parts of the story. I really enjoyed the dual points of view, and the banter between the two main characters was very good!

I've been obsessed with fairy tales for as long as I have been able to read. While it may have started with the Grimms' fairy tales, I quickly moved on to Andersen's stories and to the collection of international fairy tales my mother thankfully stored within reach of my 8-yr old self. I've also become fond of fairy tale retellings and adaptations, so I was pretty sure Scarlett St. Clair's Mountains Made of Glass would be right up my alley! While this is in no way a deep or intense retelling, it is a delightfully spicy novella. Thanks to Bloom Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gesela lives in Elk, which is a truly cursed place. From golden apples to animal transformations, something is always going wrong and someone is always made to fix it, whatever the consequences may be. When her turn comes to help the village, she discovers that the frog she killed is in fact one of seven Elven brothers and that this is only the beginning of her trouble. Now she is stuck with the seventh brother and has to guess his name if she doesn't want to be stuck forever. Gesela is delightfully feisty and so done with most of the nonsense in Elk and the Enchanted Forest. But the prince, Casamir, is something else. Torn between intense attraction and intense dislike, the dance between the two is delightfully catty and steamy. I somehow hadn't expected the level of spiciness this novella would carry, so the first time I came across a swear word I was delighted. I haven't read an E-rated romance in a while, so I enjoyed the explicitness and St. Clair's willingness to engage with all the tropes from insta-lust to fairy dust. The romance is very much at the heart of the tale and while it didn't super-grip me, it made for a fun afternoon.

I should have known what I was in for from the beginning as the foreword just said 'For the f*ck of it'. St. Clair's story is beautifully irreverent, combining fairy tale creatures and themes from all kinds of different cultures together into a joyful whole. The writing is very straightforward but in a clear and descriptive way. It is quite hard, I imagine, to make it look this smooth and easy. As this is a novella, there is not a whole lot of back-and-forth, or wallowing in intense feelings. The speed of the plot, with the novella's length, means that you don't get any of the intense inner monologuing for pages and pages which often frustrates me. The switching perspectives between Gesela and Casimir is also fun, because it allows for one of my favourite tropes "fools who don't know they may be in love". It also added to the spicy scenes, because you got to see it from both points of view. I also enjoyed the way St. Clair played with some of the familiar fairy tale tropes, like the Prince Charming-figure, the selkie, or even the little elves in the closet. Also hello to a delightful enchanted Mirror! The ending, specifically the last chapter, was also a delight because it fully went along with the "f*ck it" approach and upturned what one might expect a fantasy heroine to do. I'm very much here for St. Clair's Fairytale Retellings and will happily dedicate a sunny afternoon to any future ones.

Mountains Made of Glass is a lovely mishmash of fairy tales, bringing together various traditions into a funny and steamy story of love.

Great vibes. What plot.

Rumpelstiltskin meets Beauty and the Beast meets Snow White

Quick read.

It's good romance but a melting pot of fantasy. On par with everything else I've read by St. Clair. Nothing serious but a good read.

TW: assault, mentions of past familial deaths, death, some horror imagery/themes, animal death

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Let me preface this by saying I am someone who enjoys Scarlett St. Clair’s work and in my humble opinion, the Hades Saga is her best work. Was this a fun, quick read? Yes. Is this a good intro into St. Clair’s work, to get a feel for her writing? Also, yes. However, to me the execution was lacking. I understand this was a passion project for her and I’m glad she’s delved into the fairy tale space. I definitely plan to read the subsequent books in this series, which are interconnected standalones (I think?).

My main gripe with this work is that it felt a bit choppy, rushed, and lacked range and depth. It’s a retelling, and while she heavily pulls from Beauty and the Beast, it is obvious, and intentional, that she has added in several beloved themes and aspects of various tales. In her Author’s Note, it is evident she is knowledgeable about her sources and was attempting to emulate the quick-paced, brusque, intentional heart of fairy tales, but while others have succeeded this one fell short. You can make a romance quick, impactful, mildly hilarious, and have it still accomplish its goal. Maybe my issue is that she was attempting to do too much in a roughly 200 page story. However, when I think about it, as far as short stories/novellas go, 200 pages is actually quite a bit, so that’s not an adequate excuse.

The writing in this one felt juvenile and I know what to expect from St. Clair, I mean I have read how she created Persephone, but my goodness, this lacked refinement. If the language had been tighter, each word purposeful, more could have been accomplished with less. Smut is good, in fact, sometimes I love it, but tension can be better, and the leap to establish immediate sexual tension and general “horniness” took away from the purpose and lessons in the story. Unless your goal is to simply write a purely smut-ladled book without a care for characterization, worldbuilding, dimension, and the like, then that’s fine, but I do not believe that’s all that St. Clair was going for here. It was evident she was wanting to pay homage to stories she loved, with a darker, more mature twist, and at that, she missed the mark, at least in part. Sex is good, but sex should be used to elevate your story and highlight moments, unless for the manner aforementioned.There were aspects of the story I enjoyed, like the opening curse, which leads to another curse, the crow named Wolf, and Gesela’s regret and love for her family. However, those are bits that are gingerly dolled out, constantly overshadowed by over explained and indulged elements of sex.

In my opinion if you have not enjoyed her previous work, especially Hades x Persephone (from Persephone’s POV) picking this one up will not be an enjoyable experience for you.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to receive both an ebook copy and the audiobook to review.

I'll start with the audiobook experience first. I absolutely adore the duel pov with voice actors changing for both the male and female's POV. The female voice actor, Lulu Russel, was exquisite. Her voice is extremely sexy to me, which is good since this book is smutty.

The book itself was meh to me. I liked the world and creatures chosen to be used in the story. This was easily inspired by Beauty and the Beast with its heavy enemies-to-lovers trope. The trope was very morally grey for both characters. However, there wasn't much external conflict other than him hating her and vice versa with reasonable motives.

I would recommend this to anyone who needs a short smutty fantasy book.

The premise is nothing new: in order to save her village from a curse Gesela has to kill a toad that lives at the bottom of the well. She doesn’t really want to do it because all the villagers hate her and she doesn’t even use that freaking well to begin with, but long story short she does end up killing the toad. The next day five Elven princes show up at her house and tell her that the toad was actually one of their brothers, an Elven prince under a curse. As punishment for killing him they send her to live with the seventh brother who is also under a curse of his own. He in turn offers Gesela a deal: if she can guess his true name in seven days she can go free. But there is a catch though: she needs to say his name with true love.
You know how sometimes you are in a mood for something and you find a book that fits that mood perfectly? This was that book for me. And so, even though there are things that I could criticise about this book I just don’t feel like it. I devoured this book, the characters, the vibes of dark fairy tales, the smut- it all worked for me. I especially liked how there was a happy ending but in a way that made sense with the dark fairy tale vibe that the book has, it was bloody and perfect. I will for sure read about the other brothers when their books come out and I am also very interested to read the Hades and Persephone series that this author has. Loved this, if you want some fairy smut in your life-read this.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gesela lives in a cursed village at the edge of an enchanted forest ruled by fae. When the village deems it is her turn to break one of the village curses she ends up killing an elvin prince and as punishment is cursed to live in the Prince of Thorns castle until she can guess his true name. The kicker? She also has to fall in love with him to be set free.

When I stared reading the book it was obviously a Beauty and the Beast retelling. However, the Author’s Note at the end was interesting as she took inspiration for numerous different fairytales.

I’ve read a few Scarlett St. Clair books and have really enjoyed them. This one is not my favorite. This is a quick read, and a very smutty version of a fairy tale. If you are looking for a book that is mostly smut romantasy, this will be a fun read for you. However, there wasn’t a lot of story/character building and that left me wishing for more.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mountains Made of Glass was a weird, short, little elf book that I didn't hate but that I'll also never remember.

Unfortunately for me this one was a total slap to the face mess. It was nothing but a short porno that made no sense. I loved St. Clair's young adult book and one of her other adult books but this one was just ugh. The sex and spice was just so overpowering that the story was left behind.

I wanted to love this, but I don't think it worked for me at this time. It felt rushed, and I just couldn't buy into the plot. Something about the writing just seemed to fall flat.

Short synopsis: Gesela is trying to break a curse by guessing her captors real name.

My thoughts: I was really excited to dive into this fairy retelling, lots of fun stories mashed into one.

Unfortunately this didn’t really work for me. It was just a little bit too spicy for my preferences.

Read if you love:
- Fairy take retellings
- Mash up on stories
- Spicy books

I received this as an eARC to read for free in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books for giving me access.

This one took me forever to read, but I actually enjoyed the story. It is a reimagining of Beauty and the Beast with spice.

I suggest reading this in big chunks -- or in one sitting -- because I read it in small chunks after a long day and struggled to get through it. Once I finally sat down to READ it, I binged half of it and wished I had more.

I find it hard to rate novellas and short stories, but this book was so good! I still was left wanting more because I could SEE how amazing it would be as a novel, but the author intended it to be a short fairytale retelling.
I loved everything about it except for the length, which if you think about it- means it was really fucking good.
**I recommend for fairytale and smut lovers, but please remember it’s not supposed to be a full on novel.

Thank you so much for an ecopy and audio copy of this book. The narrators really brought this book to life. I loved the accents, it gave this true fairytale experience just by the voices. I went back and forth reading and listening. ⁣
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It’s super fast paced and spicy out of the gate, which I’m always here for. I love fairytale retellings and I feel like this has subtle mixes of several, which I really enjoyed. ⁣
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Enemies to lovers is my favorite trope, especially with the spice, so I really liked it.⁣
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Gesela’s village has been cursed for so long. The villagers can break some of the curses but there’s always consequences. When she kills a toad to try to break a curse, she soon finds out, it wasn’t a toad but a prince she accidentally killed. She is now being punished and sent to one of the princes who’s name will be forgotten forever if a woman doesn’t fall in love with him and say his name. ⁣
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Will she say his name? Will the prince keep his word?⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

After I finishing my backlog of retellings, I think it's time for me to give up this genre.

The smut? Fine...

The plot? Subpar.

Gesela kills a toad that isn't a toad. Are you shocked? I'm shocked. There are seven princes. One is a beast. She goes to live with him. They fuck. They fall in love in less than seven days. She must guess his name or all goes to hell. But hasn't all already gone to hell? I'm too old for this shit.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.