3.5 stars. I liked parts of this! I have had, generally, very poor experience with retellings but I did enjoy this one overall. The writing is solid and the characters were intriguing. I'm curious to see where it goes next.

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

Stealing Glass is a Cinderella retelling, but a darker version than the one we know and love. This is the first in a duology, that is geared towards young to new adult readers. It follows the story of Vanya, a thief from Lowtown with her sister Lumi, and a crowned prince Dimitri.

I loved the description of this book, but the execution wasn’t there for me. I felt like it was chaotic in the writing style, where we would receive a lot of backstory for irrelevant items but slim to nothing for the more important ones (ex. Lumi’s attack, not a spoiler). The relationship between Vanya and Dimitri also felt very rushed but stagnant at the same time? There was a lot of subplots going on at the same time as the main storyline, which felt confusing as a reader. This is targeted as a “new adult” book but feels quite YA as the romance is seen in the story as “extreme” but its barely kissing... which is odd. She’s meant to be the best thief but is barely an adult. I felt like we were trying to take the classic “Throne of Glass” assassin but put a spin on it, which doesn’t work. I’m also upset about the brush over what happens with Alexei, which felt like it didn’t fit with the story and was an afterthought.

I enjoyed that the FMC is meant to be a strong, confident woman who isn’t quite as interested in the MMC, but is more driven by her bond with her sister. The overall aesthetic of it being a gritty and dark Cinderella retelling was also appealing, although I didn’t feel much was taken from the Cinderella tale other than the very beginning. I think this should be marketed towards a younger crowd, as that’s how it was read.

I will most likely still read the next book, as I’m curious to how the story progresses & ends, but I hope that she can write the next book a bit more cohesively as this was generally confusing.

Tropes: Hidden identities, dual POV, twins, cliff-hanger ending, unique magic system, enemies to lovers(??)

Stealing Glass by Liv Strom is the first book of the young/new adult fantasy duology the Tales of Bones and Roses. This is a Cinderella retelling where the FMC is a thief.

The Lovely: I loved the concept of the story and the twist on the traditions, Cinderella concept, especially with the FMC being feisty and mostly able to hold her own. There is also some interesting world building around the role Spirits play in the world.

The Mundane: Its a bit unclear if this is intended to be young adult or new adult. The FMC is “barely into adulthood” and she seems to act and think more like a teenager. However, this seems at odds with the fact that her and her twin sister are supposedly these top tier thieves. This just didn’t really make sense to me.

The Dreadful: The flow and tension of the story came across as a bit chaotic. It felt like there were too many sub-plots and storylines competing for attention and this limited my feeling of getting invested in the characters.

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Recommendation: I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily. i would recommend this book to young adult readers (maybe late teens) who like fairy tale retellings with a strong FMC.

I won't be continuing with this one. The beginning seemed promising but as I read on it lost my interest. I think this one is just not for me.

Thanks netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I love that this book had Dual POV, because I always want to see what both characters are thinking. Especially now they’re feeling about each other when we aren’t sure. I loved Vanyas story from the very beginning. Including her confident attitude. Example, she always stated how she felt and expressed her opinions. She stands strong on what she believes and how she feels.

I loved reading about Dimitri’s revenge plot, and seeing his reasonings on why he’s going along with it and to me, I completely understand. It left me anxious about what they should expect, especially since the book ended with a cliffhanger lol.

Storm can definitely write a story with an amazing plot and interesting characters. I will be following her work in the future. If you love fantasy romance, enemies to lovers and Dual POV… this book is for you!

It was a rather quick read, with a very interesting universe and a pretty strong plot. Unfortunately, the two main characters did not grasp my attention the way the universe did.
What I liked was the double POV because I learned more about each character through these POV. However, other characters (like Lumi) were way more interesting to me than Vanya, and I was a little bit intrigued by Alexei (when Dimitri did not interested me as much).
I did not really enjoy the romance between the two either. It was very (very) quick, and I prefer when there’s a build-up and when it’s way slower. Nonetheless I will probably read the sequel, because the ending was quite engaging.

Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a honest review.

What if Cinderella was a thief,

the fairy godmother evil,

...and the prince only wanted to marry to get his revenge?

I absolutely adored this book! 4⭐️

Stealing Glass is truly like Cinderella meets a distopain society that also has Griffons.

Vanya is a poor girl living with her terrible step-father. After years of collecting up a debt with interest that is impossible to pay Vanya and her twin sister Lumi decide to give thievery a try.
When their newest heist at the palace goes wrong Vanya finds herself impersonating the missing foreign bride of the prince, who she shares a remarkable resemblance with.

Truly Vanyas storyline gave me major Barbie Princess and the pauper vibes which I loved! She is a strong female lead, who voices her opinion, takes risks and was overall an enjoyable character.

Dimitriiiii. Of course the prince has one of the best male names to ever exist!!
I feel like it is not to often I read a book where the prince is the one who does not want the crown or the title and for Dimitri that was just the case.
A prince that is fueled by his want of revenge and will stop at nothing to get it??? Sign me up.
I was not expecting that past that this prince has but I was not disappointed at all. After returning home from isolation Dimitri works alongside his best friend Alexi to exact his revenge.
In his case I believe the revenge he wanted and opinions he held were all completely justified and I’m excited to see what happens in book 2 with his storyline!

This book did have a huge cliffhanger and I was expecting it, but it still hit me and left my chest hallow and ready for book 2!

Overall it was a great romantasy read and a book I will recommend!

(And a huge thank you to NetGalley and ‎Sävström Müller Press for letting me read an arc of this book!)

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 REVIEW !!!

Stealing Glass - Liv Strom (out 20/10 - also on KU)

💫💫💫💫💫

Stealing Glass is an enemies-to-lovers Cinderella retelling that gets the world-building and tension between the main characters spot on.

Strom was not afraid to use the characters to shape understanding of each of their social & political background and I loved this about the book - the issues Tal, the land they lived in, was facing where shown to us through the eyes of Vanya and Dimitri, the ‘princess’ and prince of this ‘fairytale’ (definitely more Brothers Grimm than Disney).

I absolutely loved that Stealing Glass was dual POV - as it helped me really connect with both Vanya and Dimitri. Knowing both of their secrets, and how they kind of aligned, did have me wanting to scream at them half the time as I’ve never read a book where communication was needed more - begging them to work on this in Book 2 🥲

Halfway through reading this book, I thought to myself that Strom was doing herself a massive disservice calling this a Cinderella retelling. When I got to the acknowledgments at the end and it said that it’s a mix of the Cinderella she loves, whilst rewriting the bits she didn’t - it made so much sense to me. Vanya is Cinderella for modern times - a Cinderella with her own agenda; cunning and capable, and full of warmth for the prince of the story - yet fully willing to address his many faults.

I love love love this book and it’s one of my favourite slow-burn romantasy books I’ve read this year!! I think this is going to be hugely popular when this lands on KU next week (at least one of you better read it ASAP as I need someone to DISCUSS with 😩)

Thanks for the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC ✨

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This book is like if the author saw the inspiration behind throne of glass and ran with it. Throne of glass started as a Cinderella retelling with sjm saying “but what if she was an assassin?” This book similarly takes the Cinderella trope and says “but what if she was a thief?” The similarities stop there (which I’m so thankful for) and subsequently the story evolves into a complex world with distinct gods and a well thought out magic system. I really wanted more than the dual pov to get a peek into the heads of other characters but if the epilogue is any indication we might get just that in the next book

Vanya, a thief in magical thrall to her greedy stepfather, is forced to impersonate a foreign princess (Helia) in order to save her twin sister and pay off their debt. The prince, Dimitri, is busy attempting to get revenge against his murderous father and has no time to deal with his unwanted bride-to-be. Sparks fly (and cities burn) when these two unlikely (and sometimes unwilling) champions of responsible government clash against the pseudo-medieval Russian regime (and one another).

My first impression of this book was Cinderella meets Halloween decor. The descriptive prose is quite cliched for the most part, providing dark princess vibes rather than true grit or horror. That said, the writing clearly has potential with the guidance of a better editor. (There were a lot of typos! Although the only truly confusing error was the repeated use of the word telepathy instead of telekinesis.)

Despite my initial reservations, the actual story was great. The tropes expected of a YA romance (magic twins, mistaken identity, insta-love) were executed brilliantly. Both the protagonists were fully fledged characters with their own motivations grounded in their previous experiences or lack thereof. Although insta-lust does occur, they don't fall into bed (for kissing and a massage only) until they actually start getting to know each other. The adults similarly acted like real people rather than caricatures dreamed up by sulky teenagers (which is my biggest pet peeve in YA fiction). Even better, everyone who interacted closely with Vanya as Helia was suspicious of her and their reasons for letting the situation continue without comment were explained.

The only world building element that felt lacking was Vanya's relationships with her sister and step-sister. But it also seems like those characters will see more action in the sequel.

In summary, this is a slightly dark, gloriously tropey, YA romance retelling of Cinderella. Everything is done right except for the copyediting. But if you can look past that, anyone into YA fantasy will love this book. I am now happily waiting for the next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy of this ebook.

I love fairytale retellings so was really excited to read this book and it did not disappoint! It really turned the cinderella story upside down and told it in a way that I have not seen before. I won't spoil the story but will say the book includes some interesting world building, particularly around the use of magic, and I found myself reading it really quickly to find out more about the characters backstories. I enjoyed the family dynamics and character development. The core romance was well written and not very spicy.

I will definitely be reading the next book In the series and would also try out other titles by this author.

If you like fairytales and slow burn romance, this book is for you. I will warn you that there is a storyline around the loss of a child and some mention of sexual assault, which may be triggering for some readers.

2.5 stars. This is one of those books where, when I put the book down, I forgot everything had happened. The characters were fine, but very not very complex. We get random snatches into their lives and background, but not enough for me to feel connected to them.

The world was classic fairytale, but not much time was spent developing it. It all read very surface level to me. While I was interested in finding out what happened next while reading, I wasn’t invested in the story or any of the characters goals/motives. The only interesting character was Lumi and she was barely in the book. I wish this had been longer, we had spent more time interacting with all the other characters. After finishing the entire book, it felt like I just read a few first chapters.

I also didn’t really see the Cinderella retelling, we deal with evil step-family and a random shoe, but really nothing other than that. Maybe I just lack the capacity to connect the dots, or maybe I just don’t like retellings.

Rarely am I hooked on a book from the very first line but this one grabbed me from the word go.

You can truly feel the atmosphere of this books setting and every character, no matter how small, has presence and is interesting.

The main characters have their flaws but are extremely entertaining and I found myself wanting to know every little detail about them.

The twists were exciting and I never found myself bored while reading this book. If anything I’d have liked it to last a lot longer and am eagerly awaiting the sequel.

Highly recommend this book for lovers of fantasy and romance. If I could give it 10 stars I absolutely would!

Thank you to the author Liv Strom and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

I was excited for a Cinderella retelling, but honestly the book is hard to get into, and I’m 70% into the book and while there is immense world build the plot seems to be lacking. The book feels more like chore to finish.m, and the Prince is so back and forth and the whole cast is back stabbing someone.

3⭐️- Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Based loosely on Cinderella, I appreciated the change of an overused evil stepmother and good fairy godmother in exchange for an evil stepfather and evil “godmother” of sorts. The storyline took me awhile to get into, but once I did I really enjoyed the back half of the book.

What if Cinderella was a thief, the fairy godmother evil, and the prince only wanted to marry to get his revenge?

A lovely fantasy romance. If you're a fan of the genre, you'll probably enjoy this one.

I really liked this book a lot. The story was a fun twist on Cinderella I’d say it’s a very loose retelling but it was good. I enjoyed the characters and the plot was interesting. I’m very excited for the next book. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Really enjoyed this one -- the pacing was almost flawless in this book. The characters are really well done too - Vanya is the best kind of FMC, strong not because she wields a sword or is bitchy but because she is smart and independent and true to herself. Always a big fan of fairytale retellings especially when they are dual POV and this one was great.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to review. Opinions are my own.

4.5/5!!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange of an honest review!


"There was no desperation, we were not saving each other or distracting guards. His hand was warm in mine. The light reflected in his eyes like stars. We were people instead of prince, princess, or thief."


Stealing glass follows our main protagonist, Vanya, a thief who is trying to seek freedom alongside her twin sister, Lumi, and for that they'll have to pay off the debt they owe to their evil stepfather. After a failed heist, Vanya is tasked with stealing the glass crown from a royal ball, the plan takes a whole another turn when she gets caught stealing the crown by Dimitri, the prince himself, who confuses her for the foreign princess, his betrothed who no one has ever seen before. desperate to save her twin sister whose life is on the line and pay off their debt, Vanya now has to put on an act and impersonates the princess and marries the prince, who has no desire to get married but is only doing it for his own revenge plans.

I really loved writing pace for this one and the immersive world building and setting filled with romance, magic. royalty and betrayals all together which were absolutely well written as well, liv executed it perfectly. I absolutely loved and adored Vanya. She is so wild strong, brave and kind girl who loves to dance and loves her twin sister fiercely and the princess I never knew I needed. We also get to see the depth of Dimitri's character which I really liked as well. His character gets a tiny bit of development in this book and I hope to see more of it in the next book hopefully. I fell in love with their relationship, They don't really start off on the right foot, they're both stubborn and don't agree on the same stuff, but their interactions and chemistry were so sizzling and are to live for. My favorite thing about them was their banter, they were always at each others throat and then slowly became each others comfort and them coming to support, help and talk to each other about their problems was very endearing because it made them both feel alive and safe with each other, and I cant wait to see more of them in the next book. I loved the tale retelling and how Liz Storm used her own way to create a wonderful immersive world with well written and loveable characters and an interesting plot that keeps you capitative

Overall, I loved this book immensely and cant wait to see what happens next in Claiming Glass.
I would recommend this book to all the slow burn royalty fantasy romance and fairytale retellings readers out there, Stealing Glass comes out October 20th so make sure to add it to your TBR!

This was such an enjoyable and fun read for me. While it identifies as a Cinderella re-telling it really is so much more than that. Set in the City of the Dead, full of political scheming, magic and secret plots. Liv Strom does an amazing job of creating a beautifully immersive world with great characters and an interesting plot to keep the reader guessing. Overall, I would highly recommend to anyone who is a fantasy or folk-tale fan.

Pros:
- Well developed characters -likeable protagonists and multi-sided villains. The main character Vanya in particular was a stand out. Vanya does not fall into the trope of a strong female lead having to be a warrior or brash to be strong. She is strong in her softness and idealism while also being witty and smart. An easy character to connects with and root for.
- Worldbuilding: This is an immersive book that really sinks you into the darkness of the city of Tal. and pulls you into each scene the way every fantasy reader wants. The magic system is intriguing and seems well thought out.
- Pacing: The central plot and storyline is compelling and the pacing of the book moves quick enough to keep the reader hooked without feeling rushed. I finished this book in 1 day because I simply could not put it down.

Cons:
- More details on magic! My only 1 real call out for this book is I want to know more about the magic systems and city of the Dead. What does the "City of the Dead" actually mean, I want to know more about the spirits, how people can connect to the dead etc. We do get snippets of explanations of the magic system, however I found myself wanting to know more about how it works. Hoping more to come in the 2nd book.