“Most people think rats are dirty, but they’re really not. ”
Here are reasons to read the YA Fantasy book:

Cinderella retelling - In this Cinderella Retelling
Prince and Slipper - we start with a prince looking for the owner to a glass slipper
Recognize - but the difference in that the Prince has difficulty recognizing faces, and therefore has no idea that Ell is not the girl he danced with at the ball
Advantage - Ell uses this to her advantage, to get out of her current situation
Advisor - One problem: The kings trusted advisor Maxim knows that she is not who she says she is

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. While it is very much in the Cinderella storyline, there is a lot that explains how things happened, like the slipper, the pumpkin coach, and her fairy godmother. But the ability for Ell to keep being an appealing character, while navigating the white lies of her identity, is really great. She loves this kingdom and deserves to be a princess, and you want to see her fight to keep it. If you like retellings, this one is for you!

Ell has a wicked stepmother and stepsisters, but she is not the Cinderella you are thinking of. When a face blind prince comes to her door with a glass slipper that only fits her, she pretends to be his mystery woman in order to escape horrific servitude under her stepfamily. Not only does she have to contend with maintaining her lie, but also the ongoing war between her kingdom and the fairy kingdom which may be more complicated than it seems....

Man, this book was so close to being a five-star read. I thought it was quite a clever take on the Cinderella story with the exception of the romance. With our romantic lead having the last name 'D'Arcy', obviously the author was going for a Pride and Prejudice influence. However, Ell was not even aware that D'Arcy was intended to be her love interest until the last 20% of the book (and she had a lot of reasons to not trust or like him that were perfectly valid). Therefore, the reciprocation of her feeling was entirely too rushed and made zero sense in the context of the story. I almost felt that the romance initially wasn't included, and the author was forced by the publisher to add it in.

Ell was by far the highlight of the book. She struggles with her desire for love and bitterness towards those that hurt her in a very realistic way. However, she does still have a strong moral compass and low tolerance for any bullshit. She is the rare main character that tries to make everyone around her better by either supporting them or calling them out on their BS.

The plot was appropriately paced with adequate twists. While the world building was not the most original, it was good enough to support the story. Calella did a decent job of exploring themes of grief and forgiveness but definitely got heavy handed with explaining said themes by the end of the book.

I still overall enjoyed my reading experience, but the book would have been improved by cutting the romance subplot. It was totally unnecessary.

Review posted on Fable on 12/18/24. Reviews going live on Goodreads and storygraph on 12/20. Tik tok review going live on 1/7 if tik tok still exists.

I absolutely loved this retelling! This book was such a unique twist on the classic Cinderella tale. I loved this story and the characters within it. This was a book I didn’t want to put down and binge read it in a day. I appreciated the references to different Cinderella adaptions throughout the book as well as having its own original twist on the tale. This book had me smiling throughout the and I can’t recommend this book enough.

Read this if you like:

📖 Cinderella retellings
📖 Fairies & fae
📖 Lies & deception

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted arc, I loved it!

Liar's Kingdom by Christine Calella is a unique retelling of the classic Cinderella story. There have been many retellings of the original over the years, and I’ve read several of them. This book took a unique approach to how the peasant girl is found by the prince. Ella doesn’t have a fairy Godmother, and she doesn’t attend the royal ball. Yet, when the prince comes to their house, the glass slipper fits!

Ella makes a difficult choice to save herself.

In an instant, Ella’s life is changed. She decides to pretend that she did indeed attend the ball and that it is her slipper. It’s not easy, as Ella is an honest person by nature; however, she is desperate to escape her abusive stepfamily. What follows is her journey to redeem herself, and earn the love and trust of the prince. It would have been relatively easy if the prince’s best friend and royal confidant to the king wasn’t so determined to prove her a liar.

I appreciated this new spin of the heroine’s character. She is no longer a dainty creature with perfect manners and without flaws. Ella is flawed in this story. Despite her good intentions, she continues to deceive the entire kingdom about her identity. She has secrets, and takes risks. Even if she’s not the demure princess that everyone expected, Ella is positively helping the kingdom in her own ways. YA fans will love this version of (Cinder)Ella’s happily ever after!

(Review will post to thelitbuzz.com on 01/14/25)

<i> Liar’s Kingdom </i> is an incredibly fun and entertaining Young Adult Fantasy retelling of Cinderella.

This tense retelling had me on the edge of my seat, desperate to see what would come next, what obstacle our unlikely heroine, our underdog had to face. Deception is the biggest theme in this book and the author had such a cool and unique take on this classic story.

I highly recommend for readers who enjoy a good fairytale retelling, with pieces of the story being inspired by many other retellings, it's a well-rounded and dark telling of the story that will have you hanging on every word.

*Thank you Page Street Publishing for the review copy. All opinions are my own*

This was such a clever and refreshing twist on the Cinderella story! I loved how Ell wasn’t the girl from the ball—it added so much intrigue and raised the stakes in a way I wasn’t expecting. The detail that Prince Bayard can’t recognize faces was a smart touch, making his mistaken identity believable while adding depth to his character.

Ell is such a fascinating lead—morally gray, resourceful, and willing to do whatever it takes to escape her miserable life. She constantly finds herself in sticky situations, but her determination and wit make her so easy to root for.

Maxim, Bayard’s best friend, was another standout for me. From the start, he knows Ell is lying, and their fiery exchanges were some of my favorite parts of the book. The tension between them was palpable, and I loved watching their dynamic evolve from antagonistic to something much more layered as the story unfolded. Maxim has his own secrets, and discovering them added another layer of complexity to the plot.

The supporting cast also shone, with redeemable stepsisters, a not-so-fairy godmother, and the looming threat of war with the fae adding richness to the world. The darker elements of the story kept me on the edge of my seat, and I was so relieved when the author hinted at a happy ending—it gave me hope through some of the tougher moments.

This retelling was a fun, fast-paced read with great character development and unique twists. If you’re a fan of morally gray heroines and fresh takes on classic fairy tales, this is one you don’t want to miss!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I'm so happy I got an ARC of this book because it was everything I want in a fairy tale retelling! Ell is a great character who ends up in so many bad situations, (mostly) not of her own making. Even though I love fairy tales, I am not a fan of stories involving the fae. But this was a decent representation of them - some good, some nasty, not too many fairy politics. I am a little skeptical of Ell's true love as he was portrayed as being so smirky throughout, but it still got hot at the end. I'm so glad the author promises us there will be a happy ending eventually, because there were some very sticky moments that had me worried. I appreciated the glimpse of the future to reassure myself.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. This was pretty good, if not the very best. Ell has been abused and forced to slave away for her stepfamily for six long years, ever since her father died. She would do anything to escape. And then, an opportunity presents itself. A sweet, charming prince who has trouble recognizing faces arrives at her door, bringing with him a slipper made of glass. Prince Bayard is searching for the girl he danced with at the royal ball, the one who fits the slipper. Miraculously, Ell appears to be that girl, and she jumps at the chance to leave her stepfamily behind. However, Ell wasn’t at the ball, and she has certainly never met Bayard, though she lets him believe otherwise. There’s also Bayard’s best friend, Maxim, a handsome yet highly irritating duke, who seems to know Ell’s secret.
Unease brews in the kingdom as Bayard’s father, King Alaric, prepares to wage war on all fairy kind as retaliation for the death of his wife and daughter, and Ell might have to get creative with her lies if she wants to survive life as a royal.


(SPOILERS)


The one thing I didn’t like about this is how abruptly Ell’s attitude toward Maxim changed. It seemed very rushed and sudden. One second she hates him, the next they were making out.

This is a Cinderella retelling, in this you start with Prince Bayard searching for the owner of the glass slipper that was left behind at the ball. Here you meet Ell who finds that she happens to fit the slipper. After Ell finds herself getting whisked away by the prince to the palace. One problem though, Ell never attended the ball, nor has she ever met the prince until now, she's just a girl who happens to fit the slipper. What follows is Ell trying to keep up with the lie and trying to fit within this new royal life.

This was a fun and interesting twist to retelling Cinderella. I thought it was interesting to add the detail that Prince Bayard can't remember faces to explain why he wouldn't recognize the girl he met at the ball. I enjoyed the interactions between Ell and Bayard's friend Maxim, who knew from the beginning that Ell was lying. Their interactions are rivals in the beginning, exchanging heated dialogue and threats, evolving as the story progresses and you learn more about Maxim and the secrets he too is hiding. Ell finds herself trying to keep up with the lie or risk being found as a traitor.

This was a fun, quick read and a new take on Cinderella that I enjoyed reading.

I think there was a lot of potential for this story, and I can see how it tried to get there. I think that it maybe tried to combine too many things in the story, and ultimately they all fell flat. The romance story was confusing… to say the least. We were supposed to be happy that Max and Ell ended up together even though he treated her terribly throughout the entire first 80% of the book. It didn’t come across well. The entire story takes place really within less than a week, and you could feel the fast pace. It didn’t line up with the rest of the story and how significant all the pieces were supposed to be. I liked the retelling of Cinderella and the notes to the original version, with the step sisters cutting off pieces of their feet to try and fit into the slipper. It was a nice nod to the Grimm’s version. I think trying to combine the fae, the enemies to lovers, and the classic storytelling just felt like too much. At least for a shorter YA book.

In Liar’s Kingdom, Christine Calella presents the scenario of Cinderella lying about being the girl at the ball. After all, a noble girl abused by her family and forced into the role of a servant…a prince who’s obviously not able to recognize the girl he danced with…if she fit into his “magical” shoe, why wouldn’t she lie to escape? And perpetuate the lie by building a huge fairy tale to cover her tracks?

This retelling of Cinderella has a great premise, made more real by the prince having prosopagnosia or an inability to recognize faces. It also has great, dynamic characters including a morally gray Cinderella, potentially redeemable stepsisters, an evil not-godmother, and a maybe-treacherous heir to the throne. It’s a really fun story.

Liar's Kingdom is a grand adventure that takes the story of Cinderella and throws it on its head. Ell is sick and tired of being the abused drudge of her stepmother. When her foot unexpectedly fits the glass slipper, she lies and says she is the missing girl that Prince Bayard fell in love with at the ball. Once at the castle, pragmatic Ell realizes that there are big troubles in the kingdom and she sets out to make things right. There are fairies, evil machinations behind the royal scenes and unexpected romance waiting. This is a happily ever after book appropriate for all ages.

I received an advance reader copy from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

What a lovely spin on a classic fairytale! I wasn't always a big fan of the books which spin classic stories, but recently have become a big fan (if it is done correctly). This was such a fun read, and I enjoyed the strife that was added and the political intrigue. The main character was enjoyable, and I enjoyed the change from damsel in distress to female heroine. Would definitely recommend!

In this retelling of Cinderella, Ell is whisked away to live happily ever after by Prince Bayard after fitting perfectly in a glass slipper that was left behind at his ball. There's just one small problem: Ell never went to the ball and has never seen the prince before in her life. In order to escape her stepmother and horrible situation, Ell plays along and goes with the prince. However, once she arrives at court she discovers escape isn't an option, the king is a tyrant, and Prince Bayard's best friend Duke Maxim seems to know that Ell is lying and is also keeping secrets of his own.

This was such an enjoyable read and fun spin on a classic story. I thought that having Ell not be the girl who attended the ball was a great way to change things up. Also having the reason the prince didn't recognize her be because he doesn't recognize faces I thought was clever. The only things I would probably harp on would be the characters of Bayard and Maxim. Bayard is very kind and sweet but very weak. He's also a little fickle which I didn't much care for, but at the same time it made sense with where the story went. Now when it came to Maxim, even though I get what his story arc was supposed to be, I still am not 100% on board with him. They really tried to push how sexy he was, but being a jerk for most of the book docks you points. Now having said all that, this was still a great boo and I would highly recommend it.