Wow, just wow! What if Cinderella was the monster? This book answers that. It was nothing I was expecting and I loved it!
It's dark, it's creepy, it's gross, and I was along for the ride! It is not for the squeamish as there are some pretty detailed descriptions of some pretty disgusting things!
I felt that some of it felt more YA than Adult so many I would classify this as more NA just due to some of the scenes in the book that are not for young readers.
I loved the rules, the twists, and the darkness of it.
Great listen!

Such a weird concept, but it may appeal to teens that like science fiction fairy tales. I would recommend to middle school age.

This was a darker retelling of Cinderella and not for everyone. A really interesting take on it and if darker books are your jam, I suggest checking it out!

4 stars
Eunice lived a pretty normal life until her mom had to re-marry. It turns out that she is getting a stepsister but Cinderella is not just a stepsister; she eats rats and has terrifying powers that grow even more terrifying between 12 and 3am. This is an awesome retelling of Cinderella with gore galore and heart pounding writing. The details in this book actually made me a bit queasy which I absolutely love!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this audiobook for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was such a unique and truly creepy take on the Cinderella story. I loved the way this novel took all the details from the original story and twisted them into a new narrative. The characters were so fleshed out, and eldritch Cinderella made a truly terrifying villain. I also loved the more sympathetic view of the "ugly stepsister."

My one complaint about the novel was the foreshadowing. For one, foreshadowing events in a well-known story (even one as warped as this one) usually falls flat because the audience knows what to expect already. For the events that were not within the usual Cinderella narrative, the foreshadowing was still so heavy-handed. It irritated me how many times Eunice would say something like "I should have known what would happen next." I wish the reader was trusted more to figure out some of those details on their own.

As far as the audiobook goes, I liked the narration, but I had a hard time hearing her. I had to turn the audio much higher than for any other audiobooks I've listened to through Netgalley. She was just so quiet!

*Warning!* Don't read before bed! Terrifyingly delightful!! This is a book I could see being studied in body horror classes. Easy five stars, and an instant classic spooky season read. If you can bare it, I highly recommend.

This was a dark reimagining of Cinderella and I really enjoyed it. Told from Cinderella's stepsisters POV, we see how things would be if Cinderella was the monster. The story was creepy and had a good flow. If you like reimaginings of fairy tales, this is a great horror one for you to check out!

We Kept Her in the Cellar was a wild take on the traditional Cinderella story that most of us are familiar with! I love a good fairy tale retelling (or reinterpretation), and this one did not disappoint. I went into it having no idea what to expect, and what I got was gory and creepy and full of jaw dropping moments. Maybe I just haven’t branched out into horror enough yet, but this truly felt like a unique read.

If you’re prone to a weak stomach, maybe go into this one cautiously. If you want an eerie, gory, cringe-inducing (in the best way) fairy tale retelling…this is probably something you should pick up immediately.

A retelling of Cinderella that would have the Bros Grimm quaking in their boots. Horrifyingly raw and heart-wrenching, Gorman knows how to stitch fear into each and every page. Magnificently written, even the most stoic of horror lovers will enjoy the utterly copious amounts of gore and dread. Lovecraftian and nightmarish from the beginning to end. The narrator is amazingly talented and brings each scene to life with emotion and depth. One of my favorite audiobooks this year.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this arc!!

What a good book! I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Such a creepy book but in the best way!!

**4.5-stars**

We Kept Her In the Cellar is a wildly-imaginative and uber-dark Cinderella reimagining. As it turns out, it's also the Dark Fairy Tale of my slightly-disturbed dreams.

This story follows Eunice, who at the beginning of our tale is just 11-years old and her mother is about to be married to a man who has a daughter, Cinderella. The blending of the families is rife with unsettling occurrences from the very start.

Eunice learns the rules for dealing with Cinderella, but it's not an easy life. She basically takes on the role of caregiver, even when she herself is a child. Cinderella has dark and terrifying powers. It's almost impossible for her interact with the rest of the world. She needs to be handled at all times. Hence why the family keeps her mostly imprisoned in their cellar.

After Eunice, now 18, befriends charming Prince Credence, she begins to see the possibilities outside of their home. Why should she be shackled within like Cinderella? She's done nothing wrong and wants a life. Eunice even receives an invitation to the Prince's Ball and is determined to go. This could be her chance to break free. However, on the night she's set to go, it's actually Cinderella who breaks free with disastrous consequences.

Using her vast eldritch powers, Cinderella ends up attending the Ball and enrapturing the Prince with her beauty and grace. At midnight, she leaves behind a trail of destruction and a single green glass slipper. I think you know a bit of what happens from there, or do you?


I read the synopsis of this so long ago, that by the time I got around to picking it up, I had actually forgotten it was a Cinderella reimagining. I was expecting Horror and I certainly got that, but I also got enough of my Dark Fairy Tale fix to last me a good long while. This one is going to stick in my brain, that's for sure. By 5% in, W.R. Gorman had my jaw on the floor. This story waits no time to take off. It's 0-to-60 with this one.

I loved Eunice as a character and loved learning all about Cinderella along with her. To think, Eunice had a fairly normal life until her mother needed to remarry. That's the choice that changed her life forever. Eunice's younger sister Hortense was only 5-years old when Cinderella arrived. Cinderella's needs required a lot of Eunice's time and I felt bad for poor Hortense, who didn't really understand why her beloved older sister, Eunice, no longer had the time to play with her.

It really did a number on this family. I liked Cinderella's father. I felt for him. It seemed like he was also doing the best he could, and he did really seem to care for Eunice, Hortense and their mother. Cinderella was like nothing I had ever read before. She never ceased to surprise and amaze me with her powers and actions. When I say this, read it as, she's terrifying.

This story was so engaging. It sucked me in. I loved the choices Gorman made as far the connections with the original Cinderella story and how twisted they are here. It's incredibly clever and inspired. The Body Horror is fantastic and there's a lot of it, which we love to see. I'm talking super cringe, toe-curling moments on the regular. Also, I did listen to the audiobook which was fabulous. It is narrated by EJ Lavery, whose voice work definitely added to the dark whimsy of this tale.

My only complaint is I felt it was resolved a little too easily. After this gloriously-grotesque and dark build-up, I was a wee surprised at how quickly it wrapped up. I did like the delightful little tid-bit we learned at the end though, regarding the aftermath, or lingering result of it all. In a way though, you could just look at this as a compliment. It just means I wanted more. Honestly, I could read another entire volume following this cast of characters and set within this world. C'mon, Gorman, how about a sequel!?

Thank you so much to the publishers, Crooked Lane Books and HighBridge Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I would absolutely recommend this story to Horror Readers, and Dark Fairy Tale Readers, particularly if you love a lot of Body Horror. I can't wait for more from this author!

What better way to bring in October and the week before Halloween with a gory, gruesome retelling of Cinderella from the older stepsister's perspective. I loved the subtle ways that the author shifted the storyline to demonize Cinderella and create a fun yet horrifying creature feature.

When Cinderella and her father come to live with the two stepsisters and their mother, she immediately takes a literal bite out of the younger stepsister, Hortense. The older stepsister, who is 11 at the time, learns that Cinderella must be kept under lock and key in the cellar. Never let her out. Never go down there alone. She also learns the three rules that must be followed at all times or become a victim of Cinderella's deadly games.

This frightening fairytale definitely had some hard-core gore scenes that readers, who gravitate towards splatterpunk, will probably quite enjoy. I loved the horror aspect.

The audiobook performance was fantastic and added a layer of depth and authenticity to the story. The narrator's voice was a great fit for the stepsister's perspective.

Thank you #HighBridgeAudio and #NetGalley for an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
#WeKeptHerInTheCellar

Reimagined story of Cinderella told from her stepsister, Eunice’s, point of view. Eunice’s mother marries Cinderella’s father when the girls are eleven. Eunice expects a normal girl but discovers Cinderella is a monster. Her father teaches Eunice how to look after her and has very specific rules that the entire family must follow. Hortense, Eunice’s younger sister, usually avoids Cinderella, but offers to look after her when Eunice befriends Prince Credence and is invited to a ball.

This book hooked me from the beginning. I love reimagined fairytales and this one is clever and terrifying. It perfectly incorporates many elements of the Cinderella story and twists them.

Eunice is an engaging narrator. She is thrown into a terrible situation, but does her best to protect her family. I wish we’d had more scenes between her and Hortense, but her love for her younger sister still shines through.

There are some truly grotesque scenes in the book. I’m not one for gore, but felt the scenes fit the story well. If they were described less vividly, they wouldn’t have had the same impact. I’ll definitely never think about the glass slipper the same way again!

T Kingfisher is one of my favourite authors, and this book had a similar feel to her books. It is a great one to read in October during the spooky season. If you love horror and fairytale retellings, definitely check it out!

I listened to this via audiobook and it had me hooked from chapter one. The narrator did a fantastic job. This would make an amazing movie. I've read many fairy tale alternative versions and this was something that I had never read and is so original. Cinderella as the villain of the story and what the author makes her out to be is so fantastical. I will definitely be looking into more of this authors work.

This was a wonderfully gruesome twist on the classic Cinderella tale, narrated from the perspective of that not-so-evil step-sister, Eunice. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style and how it presented a significantly different story compared to what we’ve heard before. I would be delighted to read more stories like this.

First of all I would like to thank @netgalley for the audiobook of We Kept Her in The Cellar in exchange for my review.

Second I would like to just say what the fuck. I tend to stick to spooky at best when it comes to horror so I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this book. I was prepared for kinda spooky Cinderella vibes.
Instead I got horrifying eldritch horrors, some to me intense body horror, nightmare inducing rats, and weird family ties.
But overall? Obsessed. What an intense, terrifying, glorious story to get to follow.
This was a very different and well done alternative pov from our “ugly stepsister” and monstrous version or a childhood classic. This book deals very heavily in gross so please be prepared and aware in case that isn’t your cup of tea. If that doesn’t bother you be prepared for an adventure of Eunice trying to be a good sister and learning the true meaning of sacrifice.
5 stars and would read again once the Cinderella themed nightmares stop. This is my new favorite princess retelling.

@crookedlanebooks thank you for putting an incredible piece out into the world, this is so different and we need more books that give such an unsettling feeling!

#wrgorman #netgalley #wekeptherinthecellar #crookedlanebooks #cinderella #cinderelllaretelling #horrorbooks #horror #horrorreads

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Horror is a genre that I tend to struggle with, because none of the few I've read really had an impact on me horror-wise. This one though? This one had me tense and anxious to see what would happen and just uneasy (not so much because of the gore, but because of the acts around it). That said, trigger warning that there is detailed human and animal mutilation, more on the human end. This also follows points of the Grimm telling of the tale, so there's some of the gore you saw in that.

The horror in this is what I'd say is more akin to soft horror. There's no explanation or anything as to the whys or hows. Cinderella simply exists, as do her rules. And the rules are a very fun aspect to this story. There were a few times I wondered why a rule wasn't at least attempted, but for the most part, the book stuck to those rules. Also, despite Cinderella being an Eldritch horror and a twisted individual, the book was good at making us feel a twinge of sympathy without just explaining away/absolving her actions for "poor little girl". There was also moments she seemed to actually have a messed-up type of care for Eunice. I dunno. Cinderella sucked on so many levels, but there were bits of depth to her outside of the monster.

My favorite thing about this book is how it explained Eunice's "wicked" actions. There were so many "aha!" moments where the things that came across as horrid in the normal Cinderella iterations were like "Eunice was only doing this because of the Cinderella rules, but to anyone else, she'd appear absolutely wicked."

So if you like dark retellings, I definitely recommend this. There were some bits that felt weird, and some repetition of things, but it was just so fun and enjoyable. Very glad I got this e-ARC! The narrator was also *insert Pacha perfection gif here*

ARC provided by NetGalley for an Honest Review
Don’t be fooled by the retelling aspect of this book. It is every bit the horror it claims to be and nowhere near the romantic fairytale we’re all used to. At times one could almost overlook the monstrosity that is Cinderella but then she goes and reminds you of how disturbing she is, so don’t expect a HEA. The tables have turned here and the story follows heroine Eunice, better known as one of the evil stepsisters. Only in this story Eunice is an innocent child burdened with the caretaking of her new sister, the same one that must always be monitored and locked away especially at night. Over the years Eunice masters her job of taking care of Cinderella, mostly so her young rule breaking sister does not have to. Eunice is such a sweet and innocent character it was easy to root for her and also hope for the best even knowing the worst is on the way. Personally I blame her stepfather and mother for all this. Surely children should not be saddled with a responsibility like this and I’m still kind of spooked they felt safe enough to both travel leaving their three girls alone; I mean it’s not like they were looking after puppies or a sweet baby. After so many years it only takes a single night and a single mistake for the entire kingdom to be at risk and literally no one has a clue what’s in store for them. The story felt pretty fast paced and once things really took a turn for the worst everything spiraled out of control. I guess in some ways there is a HEA, in that not everyone dies! It does get really gross and graphic but I guess that’s to be expected in a horror novel, the extreme grotesqueness of it really just took me aback, let’s just say it deals with pus and leave it at that… Good read and the audio was very well done and easy to listen to.

I went into this story with little expectation and little to know information on what it was about and I regret nothing. I quite enjoyed it actually. The writing style and descriptions kept me engaged throughout the book. The imagery the author was able to portray with their words was amazing and horrifying and I loved that!

The audio was great as well! The narrator did an excellent job with all of the characters. They were distinct and memorable. Also, they did great with managing the emotional aspects in their voice.

Thanks to Highbridge Audio, NetGalley, W.R. Gorman, and narrator E.J. Livery. Eunice is used to living by three simple rules: 1) Always refer to Cinderella as family. 2) Never let Cinderella gain access to rats or mice. And 3) Never upon Cinderella between the hours of twelve and three a.m. This is not your average retelling of Cinderella but it is quite enjoyable if you like a bit more gruesome story. This Cinderella story will definitely not be the happy ending Disney version but the author has reached back to Grimm Brothers fairy tales original story and ran with all the horror and drama that made their stories life lessons that parents once told their children. I loved the idea that Cinderella was in fact the evil sister and her stepsisters were victims of her cruelty. The fact that her father made them lock her in a cell in the basement plays up the idea that her family has made her be their little servant girl. The twists that brings about the end are done wonderfully and I look forward to reading more from this author.