Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ashley_dang096 's review for:
The Shadow in the Glass
by JJA Harwood
Review:
A dark and gothic retelling of Cinderella? Sign me up!! This is a mixture of cinderella and the good ol faustian story. Set in the Victorian era, Ella was once taken in by the lady of house as if she were her own daughter until she died and now Ella has been stationed as a lowly maid instead. With the new position comes new horrors: work that breaks her body down, peers who hate her, and the biggest threat of the house, her once step-father/ legal guardian who has been raping the maids and firing them, and Ella realizes any day she could be next. The only comfort she has is the library and when she stumbles upon a particular book a very strange woman with black eyes appears and offers her a deal, 7 wishes for her soul. Ella agrees and thats when dead bodies start dropping with every wish she makes. One mistake after another, and with every wish a new murder results and Ella loses a piece of her soul.
I adored the premise of this story and I thought it had so much potential to be amazing. Ella is a 17 year old girl and if I am being honest, irritated me. I liked her at some parts but other times I just couldn’t understand her rationale. Ella is not careful with her wishes, and everytime she made a wish I wanted to scream at her to think carefully, to word carefully, to make better wishes. If these wishes are going to cost you your soul and a murder results, you’d think the wishes would be better thought out. She wastes her first wish on a pair of shoes. Her soul for a pair of shoes. I can’t. When Ella starts trying to do things herself, I actually really liked her. She cares for her friends, she wants to help, she tries to protect the other younger girls from the master of the house. I actually enjoyed her more ruthless nature, like yes girl. Take matters into your own hands. Her romance with Charles was fine. I just didn’t really care for it as much. I care about Ella’s relationship with the maids, Aoife and Leah, those were the people that really brought out the best in her. Overall the story has a predictable course as you read it, the ending is drawn out perfectly clear. It’s definitely an interesting take on the Cinderella story.
*Thanks Netgalley and HarperVoyager for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*
A dark and gothic retelling of Cinderella? Sign me up!! This is a mixture of cinderella and the good ol faustian story. Set in the Victorian era, Ella was once taken in by the lady of house as if she were her own daughter until she died and now Ella has been stationed as a lowly maid instead. With the new position comes new horrors: work that breaks her body down, peers who hate her, and the biggest threat of the house, her once step-father/ legal guardian who has been raping the maids and firing them, and Ella realizes any day she could be next. The only comfort she has is the library and when she stumbles upon a particular book a very strange woman with black eyes appears and offers her a deal, 7 wishes for her soul. Ella agrees and thats when dead bodies start dropping with every wish she makes. One mistake after another, and with every wish a new murder results and Ella loses a piece of her soul.
I adored the premise of this story and I thought it had so much potential to be amazing. Ella is a 17 year old girl and if I am being honest, irritated me. I liked her at some parts but other times I just couldn’t understand her rationale. Ella is not careful with her wishes, and everytime she made a wish I wanted to scream at her to think carefully, to word carefully, to make better wishes. If these wishes are going to cost you your soul and a murder results, you’d think the wishes would be better thought out. She wastes her first wish on a pair of shoes. Her soul for a pair of shoes. I can’t. When Ella starts trying to do things herself, I actually really liked her. She cares for her friends, she wants to help, she tries to protect the other younger girls from the master of the house. I actually enjoyed her more ruthless nature, like yes girl. Take matters into your own hands. Her romance with Charles was fine. I just didn’t really care for it as much. I care about Ella’s relationship with the maids, Aoife and Leah, those were the people that really brought out the best in her. Overall the story has a predictable course as you read it, the ending is drawn out perfectly clear. It’s definitely an interesting take on the Cinderella story.
*Thanks Netgalley and HarperVoyager for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*