This was super fun and a great take on Cinderella. I absolutely love fairy tale retellings and this one hit all the boxes. Great characters and great plot.

4⭐️
🫑 (no explicit scenes. Tension based)

Thank you NetGalley and Oxford South Press for an e-arc of this book!

I was intrigued by the blurb of this story. A Fae retelling of Cinderella but throw in plots, magic, secrets, and betrayals.

We have Raewyn and Stellon, who first meet at a local human village market. Stellon, the fae crown Prince, in disguise to watch and draw the human interactions as a way to escape his royal life. Raewyn, a human, desperate to get money for her family to survive. After helping save his life, Stellon invites Raewyn to the ball being held at the royal estate. The problem? The fae and humans are sworn enemies that despise each other. Raewyn is determined to forget her interaction with the handsome fae but fate has other plans. Desperate to help her family, she turns for the local earthmother (witch) for help. The earthmother however, wants something in return. For Raewyn to attend that ball to complete a task she’ll find out later. Disguised as fae woman, Raewyn attends with naivety, not realizing her task is to assassinate the royal family. The pull between her love for her family and fondness of the not so cruel crown Prince becomes her ultimate battle, not knowing what to do.

I enjoyed this story. Stellon, man is a green flag! He’s artistic, genuine, and rational. I was honestly surprised how well written his character was. He has multiple depths.

I really enjoyed the sibling dynamic between Stellon and his brother and sister. I love when writers actually write good sibling relationships and love instead of the typical jealousy and competition. I’m interested to see where the next book takes them.

My one complaint, is this is marketed as a NA book and it felt more YA to me. I was looking forward to even a little spice (the storyline I do agree wouldn’t call for a ton so I’m ok with that). But, I felt a bit wanting for more when I finished. The connection between the FMC and MMC is there but I needed it to be pushed juuuust a bit more. I’m hoping the next book kicks the spice up more.

Overall, an interesting story and I’m excited to read book 2!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very sweet and fun twist on Cinderella with elves and other types of Fair Folk along with humans. I was pleasantly surprised that it takes place in a sort of alternate history North America where the various territories are divided up amongst the Fae nobility (Marinus/East Coast gang represent). There's a really pretty map at the beginning in full color to show all these divisions, and more illustrations to come later after publication. I'm really curious to see the rest of the art at final release, plus there's a very handy glossary in the back for the terms if you really need it, but I found the magic self-explanatory through context (a GREAT thing, more authors do like that please!)

Stellon's probably going to be everybody's favorite; a sweet artistic type who likes to draw. Who doesn't like that? His brother Pharis might be a harder sell, but I liked the both of them as well as our plucky heroine Raewyn a whole lot. This book is very character driven and dialogue heavy, fortunately Patrick writes really nice dialogue. Courtly romance, a little bit of intrigue, lavish descriptions. This is a really nice book to come out on Valentine's Day and I think fans of series like A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas and The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air) by Holly Black will find a lot to love here.

☆ Fun Factor 4/5
☆ Writing Style 4/5
☆ Characters 4/5
☆ Plot 3/5 (not much happened here, it's more about the characters interacting with each other)
☆ Setting 5/5
☆ Feels 3/5

Ultimate verdict ☆☆☆☆/5

☆☆☆Best Character Award goes to:☆☆☆ Stellon!

In Amy Patrick's created a magical and yet realistic world, where Fae and Humans existed with full awareness of one another. The High Fae utilized their influence and "glamours" to exert control over Humans and lower Fae folks. Humans were left to suffer annd fend for themselves. Aside from the Fae, we have characters known as Earthwives…only “humans” who seem to have magic.

Things I enjoyed about this story:

*Well paced throughout the story
*Some of characters felt awkward yet relatable
*Intrigued by the concept of an EarthWife
*Pharis, he was just entertaining and I love the interactions between him and everyone else.

*There was tension between Raewyn and Stellon, but for me they didn’t feel like they should be “together”

*Raewyn blinded by her need to help her family, she walked into a situation fully unprepared.

Stellon (our crowned fae prince) would rather escape his castle and spend time watching humans at the market than fulfill his princely duties. Stellon doesn’t have much of a backbone due to his father’s belittling throughout the years. Along with his “lesser” glamour, Stellon admits he has done shameful things in the past. Stellon did demonstrate a good heart in wanting to help Raewyn (our FMC). However, I felt like he was too sheltered to understand the full extent of the world and the wrongness that happened under his own roof. His obsession/feelings with Raewyn could easily be twisted into a villainous character twist. I’m intrigued to see what happens with him.

Raewyn (Human) has spent her life taking care of her family. She provides food when possible, teaches them to read (an unheard of skill for the lower class), and still shields them from the horrors of the world. Personally, I feel like Raewyn has a strong foundation and I’m interested to see how she develops. She is still young and naïve when it comes to social interactions and actions of the heart. Her inability to hurt others regardless of the threats against her family, showed me the strength of her heart.

Pharis (fae, second son of the king) He is portrayed as his evil and cruel being. Not unfamiliar with the ladies and has quite a reputation. However, you can see when he interacts with his siblings his is truly the protective type. He does strike me as more morally grey than anything, so naturally I want to find out more about him. His actions to protect Raewyn solely because he loved his brother made me love this character more.

I have so many questions after reading this book, I don’t want to give any spoilers away though.

*I’d like to know more about Raewyn’s mother. There were a few things that made me question Raewyn’s background as well as lineage.
*At one point, Pharis communicates with Raewyn in an unorthodox way…which again makes me question not only her but their connection together.
*How did Earthwife’s come to be?

Overall this was a strong start to a series. I look forward to seeing where it goes as well as hopefully getting some answers.