Thanks to NetGalley and City Owl Press for an review copy!

tl;dr
A spicy romance that takes inspiration from Cinderella and Snow White, but crafts an entirely new story.

About
Cinderella was never the victim - she was the bully. And when she ascended the throne, she locked up her "evil" stepmother and one stepsister. But the second stepsister Anna got away, and now she's on the run, disguised as a young man named Ansel. Will is also on the run, former huntsman to the king before the mysterious death that left Cinderella in power. When the two of them meet, they share a common goal - take down the queen. But as dangers arise and sparks fly, they might find something more.

Thoughts
There are a lot of Snow White retellings, and even more Cinderella retellings, and this book genuinely feels like it could have existed just fine without being either. The plot and characters stand on their own so well that I didn't think much about either of the fairy tales it's based on while I was reading it. This book is first and foremost a romance, with attraction kicking in pretty early on, followed by a lot of spicy scenes for people who like their romances with spice. Anna is a determined lead with a gentle heart, and a very visible love for her family. I appreciated how the story handled the complexity of Ella as a villain warped by grief, although I think a lot of readers might consider her ending to be too gentle, considering everything she did. Will doesn't get quite as much attention in terms of character development, and I felt in few places that his personality was outshone by Anna's. Still, they have very believable chemistry, and the ending for them was very satisfying. The pacing of the novel is pretty fast for the most part, with lots of fun plot twists, although it does slow the momentum pretty hard pre-finale before picking up again, and I felt kind of thrown by that. A great fantasy romance with fairy tale inspirations and lots of steamy bits.