An amazing book! I loved this fairy tale retelling so much. Whitney does a phenomenal job introducing the world building and this standalone characters. I loved how much thought was put into this book’s plot and the HEA. I’m so excited to order this hardback because of how beautiful it is too! LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!

While this book is more focused on the romance and less on the fae part. The way this retelling is written is not plain and I like the way the classic is connected to this book. All in all, a pleasant read.

The characters are quite complex The FMC in not presented as super strong or confident, she's the opposite of that, but she's doing everything she can to protect her people and the people she cares about. The secondary characters are additive to the story and I found it quite easy to care about them. There are many types of relationships presented and I think the author did a good job writing them, connecting the characters in a way that seems natural. There are still some lingering questions, but the next book has to opportunity to answer them.

The pacing is a bit on the slower side, but the book kept me quite interested, so I managed to read it quite fast with no issues.

There is some spice and some events may be triggering to some people.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy in exchange for my opinion

In this dark retelling of Cinderella, Elora is the princess of a fallen kingdom forced into marriage to the prince of Pumpkin Hollow, the kingdom that destroyed her own. In order to save her friends, the reclusive Cinder Fae who provide Pumpkin Hollow with coal in exchange for safety in Ashbury, Elora agrees to marry a man she hates. Along the way to the alter, Elora discovers that some people are not as she thought and some are far worse than she believed.

I thought this was a really interesting take on Cinderella and loved the dark gothic elements introduced! The relationship between Finn and Elora was such a good slow burn and they were soooo adorable when they finally go together!

This book felt way longer than it needed to be though, and at times felt like too much was going on when other parts felt fairly rushed so pacing was a real issue while reading. I wish the Cinder Fae played more of a part in the book. Going into it I thought they would be a main part of the story but kind of fell to the sidelines most of the way which was a little disappointing.

I enjoyed the dual POV between Finn and Elora because I think it's great to see both sides of what the characters are experiencing but there were several times where something was happening to one character but the chapter would be in the other characters POV which felt weird. This leads into my biggest issue which was this book relied heavily on "tell don't show". Meaning the characters felt like they were narrating the story to the reader vs the reader "seeing" what was happening as it was going on. As such, there wasn't a ton of discovery for the reader to do. There were also many grammatical and punctuation mistakes that felt odd since this was a finished story.

Even with these issues though, I still enjoyed the story and would be interested in reading the second book!

Rise of the Cinder Fae was an interesting and fast read, a Cinderella retelling with many twists and turns. I did enjoy the plot and the storyline. My main issue were the characters, I just felt they were a bit flat which made them harder to connect to. Also, I wanted to know and learn more of the Cinder Fae and their cause. Still, I really like the book, especially the ending and I want to know what happens next.

Phew. First off, I have a ton of thoughts for this book. A+ for being unique & creative! I was extremely happy with the ending & looking forward to a book 2?! Sounds like it will be awesome & even better.

I had a tough time getting through some of the spice heavy scenes in the middle of the book (at 60% - 75% through) I struggled with some of the more argumentative convos between Elora & Finnian for some reason. I enjoyed the banter in the beginning A LOT, but for some reasons (maybe due to personal experiences) the more toxic drinking & jealousy topics bothered me. ANYWHO it all comes together & makes a lot of sense for each of their characters.

That's my only real "negative" input everything else was very interesting & even though it had Cinderella elements I will say it was extremely original & I had no idea or any predictions as to where the plot was going.

I appreciated the world building & character development, it definitely paints a picture & she gives plenty of detail. I absolutely adore Irina! I was intrigued by the fae & want so much more of them & am just so excited for that. That was what definitely won me over in the end.

Elora is such a wonderful character & Finnian is *growing* on me. I was so back and forth with him lol.

In the beginning I was rooting for Cedric, actually. I have never been one to go for the typical smug prince. I am happy things evolved with Finnian's character.

This book was really good! I really loved the aspects of the classic Cinderella in this book, the evil step mother and step sisters. The found family in the fairies compared to the animals in the classic.

I loved Ellie - I loved how strong she was, I love how much she loved the fairies and the found family in Irina. I loved Finn, I loved how he fell first and I loved the spice between the two of them. I did feel like it was a bit Insta love between the two of them I feel like they didn’t really struggle against their feelings even with the banter and “hate” it felt a little lacking in the enemies part.

I loved the side character and the introduction of fairies into the classic Cinderella.

Pleasantly impressed with Rise of the Cinder Fae. This ARC was provided to me by NetGalley and Undying Raven Press. The following review is based on my own understand and enjoyment of the text, thus my opinions are my own. As someone who recently dove back in to the world of Fantasy since high school, graduating from Cassandra Claire to Sarah J Maas, both have lead me to seek out similar worlds of whimsy. I was relieved to have found such incredible world building within Rise of the Cinder Fae, the premises of this title is different in its reversed presentation of the life of Fae meeting a far darker Cinderella. Major themes include; Dark Fantasy, Dark Romance, Retelling of Classics, Slow burn, Enemies to lovers. This title was a quick read for me, I felt connected from the first character introduction and was totally propelled by the relationship mechanics within the story. While I felt captivated in the beginning there was mid sections when I questioned how things could pick back up, but I reminded myself a good story as lulls. Even still those slow parts were met with twists and I found was still hooked by the ending events. Cant wait to check out the sequel!

This was my first Whitney Dean book - a Cinderella retelling, but add fae, super spicy scenes, and a combative princess. The author was able to keep the main points of the Cinderella fairytale while also throwing in new world building.
Watching the story between Elora and Finnian bloom made my eyes water and my heart break with their suffering.
In addition, it had some of the best characters. I absolutely adored Irina and her sassy spitfire attitude, I hated Jasper, loved Honora, and felt so sad that their story is over.

5 stars

~ I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book received via NetGalley ~

I knew I was going to devour this one and I absolutely did. I LOVE this and I’m going to quickly devour all the rest as soon as I can

"𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓫𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓻 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓯𝓮𝓮𝓵 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓯 𝓼𝓲𝓷𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰. 𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓪𝓵𝔀𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓫𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓫𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓱 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓷𝓮𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮."

📖Rise of the Cinder Fae
🧚🏻‍♀️ Whitney Dean
📚 Dark Hearts Fairytale Retellings #1

*Spoiler-Free Review*

The Rise of the Cinder Fae is an absolutely amazing Romantic Fantasy Dark(ish) Fairytale retelling (with cindrellaey vibe) which I must say, I was not able to put down!! I had a huge ear to ear grin pasted on my face more then half the time (my husband thought I've gone crazy 🤣).

MMC (Finn) and FMC(Elora) are super cute.
The slow burn was chef's kiss 🤌🏻

My favourite character was Finn's sister Irina! I must say I love her more than Elora(FMC) and Finn ( MMC). She is free spirited, super stubborn, very very loving and FIESTY!

Finn's horse is too cute , giving a *Tangled* horse's (Maximus) vibe.

All in all, lovely read!
Can't wait for the next one in the series 🧚🏻‍♀️💕

Thank you #NetGalley and #whitneydean for this beautiful ARC.

#RiseoftheCinderFae #NetGalley #whitneydean

4.5 ⭐️

“I am your light, but you are my dream realised”

An epic romantasy! If you are just getting into fantasy this is a great place to start. In this dark Cinderella retelling, we follow Elora the fallen princess of Ashbury. Elora has been treated as nothing more than a servant by her step mother and sisters and when the opportunity arises to restore her kingdom, she takes it. Elora must convince Prince Finnian to marry her but it’s not so simple when they can’t stand each other and other obstacles are at play.

This was one of the best romantasy books I’ve read in a while. The push and pull between Elora and Finnian was palpable. This is what I would actually call an enemies to lovers, no rivals to lovers nonsense. You could feel the internal battle Elora had with herself, trying to go against what her heart wanted and what she thought was right for her kingdom. Elora has never known love and she not only found it in Finnian but she also found the familial love with her new sister and mother in law.

The world building was very easy to understand, it’s a great introduction to Fae fantasy. The fantasy elements seem more of a subplot at times but given how the book ends I believe the second one will feature the fae as a main story line.

I think this would have been a five star read for me, I found the last 20% of the book slightly rushed and it gave me a bit of whiplash when Elora and Finnian declared their undying love for each other but then reverted back to hating one another for a chapter, the conflict seemed out of place.

Overall I absolutely loved it and I will definitely be reading the next in the series!

This copy was very kindly provided by Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley, Whitney Dean and Undying Raven Press for the eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Rise of the Cinder Fae is a dark Cinderella retelling. From the blurb and some reviews I've seen on Instagram I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately it didn't quite hit the spot for me.

I really liked Elora, Irina and Finnians banter and dynamic. Irina was such a treat, and I think I would love her in real life.

Whitney Dean did a good job of conveying Cinderella, whilst also putting her own spin on it.

I don't know exactly what made thia book fall short for me, but I think one of the main factors was that it felt too long. I never felt connected with the fae characters, they got such a small role in this book and that was kind of disappointing.

If you like enemies to lovers, pumpkins, fairytales, spice, one horse, banter, arranged marriage and firced proximity you might want to try this book. It just wasn't for me.

This story has great promise and whilst I was very excited to get to know the characters more, unfortunately the writing style was not for me so this book was a DNF.

Thank you for the Arc!!

A dark Cinderella retelling. I'm a sucker for retellings.
It took a bit for me to get into it. Really until we met and got Finn's POV.

They both had their reason for entering into a marriage of convenience.
Loved the slow burn and the banter.

Can't wait for the next book!

I was very excited to get stuck into this one - as a premise I thought it sounded right up my street. Whilst a strong opening, I did feel that the overall plot took a bit of a while to get going - I felt like it took me a good portion of the book to feel all that invested in the characters and the plot line.

I liked the spin that was put on the traditional Cinderella tale - enough of the original was kept for it to remain Cinderella, but there was also a good portion of new brought to the table to give this its own sense of identity.

I liked the tension between the two main characters in the beginning though I did feel it became a bit tedious with their backwards and forwards by the end. I found that because of slow elements to the plot that by the time the action ramped up at the end some of the potential had been lost and I just wasn’t invested unfortunately.

Overall it was an ok read - I think if it was streamlined a bit that I might have enjoyed it more - at times it just felt a bit long. A brilliant premise, but it was just missing something in how it was put across for me.

I love fairytale retellings and was excited to receive this ARC.

Even though this was a Cinderella retelling, I felt that the world was unique. The mystery surrounding the Cinder Fae was interesting and I liked seeing Elora's interactions with them. I also enjoyed the banter between Elora and Finnian and seeing the growth of their relationship!

There were parts of the book I struggled with. Some of the conflicts seemed unnecessary and didn't add to the story. I think if the book was shorter, I would've enjoyed it more. The world building was also confusing at times. I understand this is only the first book in the series, but I would've loved everything to be a little more fleshed out. I'm sure we will learn even more in the next book!

Great world building
Lived for the FMC!
Heavy on the spice and frequent for those who love the spice !!
Fast pace easy read
Cinderella( inspired) retelling
18+

Loved the idea but honestly just couldn't get into the writing. I've read Whitney deans books before but this just felt off for some reason.
Maybe it's me and I'll revisit another time but i just didn't gel with the book.

🌟Enemies to Lovers
🌟Forced Proximity
🌟Arranged Marriage
🌟One Horse
🌟Touch her and die
🌟Possessive MMC
🌟Magic/Fae
🌟🌶🌶🌶 3/5
🌟Dual POV
🌟He falls first

Playing with Cinderella 🏰vibes, Whitney Dean has woven a dark fairy tale complete with an evil stepmother, wretched stepsisters, a royal ball to find the prince a wife, and pumpkins galore. But this story contains so much more: a morally black king 👑, enslaved fae, deep family secrets, and betrayals. But not all is dark. We also witness the driving desire to right wrongs, perseverance, hope, facing addictions, self sacrifice, and the vulnerability to experience true love ❤️.

Elora and Finnian’s story is a whirlwind 🌪 taking place over the course of about a week. In rapid succession they go from meeting at the royal ball, to being betrothed, to married, to entering into utter chaos. Though they despise each other immediately, the attraction 🧲 between them is evident and quickly turns molten lava hot 🥵. They both take great pleasure in getting under the other’s skin.

They also share a desire to right the incredible wrongs committed by the king 👑 and align to see his reign of terror ended. Elora is motivated to help restore the lives of her people in the fallen Kingdom of Ashbury and liberate the fae, while Finnian desires to end the unchecked abuse and violence his father unleashes on everyone in the Kingdom of Pumpkin Hollow … Especially his mother, Queen Honora 🫅🏼, sister Princess Irina 👸🏻, and now his wife Elora.

The threat of death ☠️ Is ever present. They will both have family betrayals unravel before them. But they will risk love ❤️ and life to bring peace to both kingdoms.

This was such a delicious read that I completely enjoyed. Once we got to the royal ball and had Elora and Finnian in the same room, I could not put the book 📖 down. I entered into ‘one more chapter, then one more, and one more….’ mode. The banter, chemistry, and sexual tension was 🤌🏼💋. Finnian’s possessive mouth was 🥵

Though originally intended to be a standalone, Whitney has said that Elora’s story isn’t over and she will be very prominent in the next installment of the Dark Hearts Fairytale Retelling series. And I 👏🏼 Can’t 👏🏼 Wait

I received this ARC from netgalley for my honest opinion on the book.

This is my first book by @authorwhitneydean. I have found an auto buy author. This book was great! I loved everything about it. I loved the dual POV and the writing style.

I have loved stories about Cinderella since I was a little girl. I can add this novel to my list of favorite versions. I loved Elora and Finnian. Irina was also another favorite.

There were some spicy scenes, but they were not the focus of the story. Which I liked. There was a plot and reason for them.

I cannot wait for the next book in the series.

If you are a fan of Cinderella, then I recommend this book.

5/5 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟
2/5 🌶 🌶