3.25/5. Releases 11/10/2023.

Vibes: ~it's a Cinderella story~, light sapphic love, actual? royalty? in fairy tales? a la Ever After, and instalove

Cynthia suffers through drudgery, doing whatever her stepmother and stepsisters demand. Then an Italian prince sweeps into town, ready to search through all unwed maidens in his quest for a suitable wife. But Cynthia doesn't care about the prince; she cares about Princess Ammalia, his charismatic sister. And after they meet, nothing, including her stepmother and stepsisters, is going to stop Cynthia from finding the princess at the ball.

This one is a short book (basically a novella) and those are hard to balance; I always have to give people credit for swinging at a believable love story in such a short amount of page time. And in many ways, it works here. It's charming, the lovers are sweet. I would definitely recommend this to people looking for a quick, happy sapphic fairy tale read. For me... I kind of wanted a little more, and maybe unrealistically so (I missed this being around 100-150 pages when I requested it, which is on me). But overall, I'd say it's pretty solid, even if it doesn't go quite as hard as I prefer.

Quick Takes:

--I actually really liked that this was set in a solidly real world. It reminded me of Ever After, and honestly? The prince and princess being Italian made sense--they could be royals without quite as many implications and responsibilities as a member of the British royal family would have had at the time. Something about that just added to it for me; and I think it was especially useful for the novella format, as you don't need quite as much worldbuilding when it's set in... well, our world.

--Ammalia and Cynthia do kind of fall in love pretty quickly. While instalove often doesn't work for me, I'm not inherently against it; it can be done well, and indeed, it's kind of hard to avoid in a book this short (though it can be avoided). And shit, if you can have instalove in a million different m/f books, I'm certainly not going to knock a sapphic Cinderella retelling for having it. Cynthia and Ammalia have a cute chemistry, and honestly, I was down. Is this the deepest romance I've ever read? No. But were you looking for that from a quick, easy fairy tale retelling? I wasn't.

--I think where I struggled a little was that Erica Ridley's voice is very relaxing and nice, but it's not super distinct. I wonder a little what someone like Tessa Dare would've done with this concept--simply because she does have a very strong authorial voice, and I think that's really helpful when you're writing something a little shorter. Tessa's voice naturally does a lot of tonal work that I found somewhat missing here.

The Sex:

It's quick, brief, and pretty innocent--not quite closed door, but for all intents and purposes, closed door.

While I wouldn't say this novel thrilled me, I did find it pleasant. I would definitely recommend Olivia Waite readers try it out, especially if you're in the mood for a soft place to land.

Thanks to Netgalley and WebMotion for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I think I loved the concept here more than the execution, but this was still a cute and fun read. Her Princess at Midnight is a regency romance novella with a sapphic take on Cinderella where Cynthia falls for the prince's sister instead. It's pretty short and so elements of the relationship felt really rushed to me, but I still had a good time with it and would recommend for a fun, quick read! I received a copy of this book for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Cinderella-retelling, where our dear Cynthia is enthralled by the Prince’s sister Ammalia. We get Ammalia serving as both fairy godmother and love interest, when she comes to see Cynthia before the ball to bring her a gown and slippers. Even though Cynthia has captured the Prince’s interest, she runs away from him because she’s not into him at all. Quick read and lots of fun.

Loved reading the fabulous and fantastic romance story. When Princess Ammalia sees Cynthia, she wants her for herself, but Ammalia's brother, the prince, also wants Cynthia. Read the highly recommended, wonderfully written, and a must read love story. Can't wait to read the next story by the phenomenal author, Erica Ridley!

Quick and fun read with a nice spin on Cinderella.
It could def use a few more pages to flesh out some things, and there was one part in the ending that made me cringe a little but enjoyable overall :)

Thank you to NetGalley & WebMotion for an ARC of this book, in exchange for my honest opinion.

Although this was too short for my liking, I did enjoy the story. Staying true to the original Cinderella tale, but with the spin of her falling for the Prince’s sister, instead of him.

At only 108 pages you will fly through this retelling with a twist. I did enjoy the authors writing style, so I’m considering this my official plea for a full length novel of Princess Ammalia & Cynthia.

This novella was a fun, fresh take on the Cinderella story. Because it’s a novella, the story does move very quickly, with a lack of character development at times—but that is typical of the genre. This is fun, quick read that will leave readers smiling.

This was delightful and a perfect quick read. Cinderella isn’t my favorite fairy tale to see reimagined but I really enjoyed this take and the conclusion was a joy of its own kind. Just a perfectly bite-sized romance to warm the cockles~

Erica Ridley never disappoints and this is no exception.
Brilliant take on Cinderella with a brilliant twist
Read the book straight just couldn’t put it down

I was so excited to get the chance to read another Erica Ridley book! This one didn't disappoint! This was an interesting spin on Cinderella.

Cynthia (our Cinderella) is her step-family's only servant. One day, she gets the chance to watch the welcome parade for visiting Italian royals. During it, she makes eye contact with the princess. Princess Ammalia is the spinster sister of Crown Prince Azzurro who is looking for a bride. Ammalia and Cynthia made a connection.

This story was quick and nice. I laughed at times and I appreciate stories that evoke different emotions. I just wish it was longer. Just like the fairy tale, this story ends quickly after the ball. But I do love the happy ending,

A sapphic Cinderella retelling where she falls for the prince's sister??? Perfection. Cynthia has been regulated to a life of being a maid after her father remarried and died. She has to look after her stepmother and stepsisters, just counting down the days until she can make enough money to leave. When the visiting prince comes to town, someone catches Cynthia's eye, the prince's stunning sister. The moment Cynthia saw her, she was interested. To her shock the princess has an equal interest in her... that is if she can keep her brother from trying to steal her from her. This was such a fun take on the classic and I do adore sapphic retellings and this one was really cute.

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