Novella review: Cinder House by Freya Marske

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Cinder House
Author: Freya Marske
Publisher: Tor
Publication date: October 7, 2025
Length: 144 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Library
Rating:

Sparks fly and lovers dance in this gorgeous, yearning Cinderella retelling from bestselling author Freya Marske—a queer Gothic romance perfect for fans of Naomi Novik and T. Kingfisher.

Ella is a haunting.

Murdered at sixteen, her ghost is furiously trapped in her father’s house, invisible to everyone except her stepmother and stepsisters.

Even when she discovers how to untether herself from her prison, there are limits. She cannot be seen or heard by the living people who surround her. Her family must never learn she is able to leave. And at the stroke of every midnight, she finds herself back on the staircase where she died.

Until she forges a wary friendship with a fairy charm-seller, and makes a bargain for three nights of almost-living freedom. Freedom that means she can finally be seen. Danced with. Touched.

You think you know Ella’s story: the ball, the magical shoes, the handsome prince.

You’re halfway right, and all-the-way wrong.

Rediscover a classic fairy tale in this debut novella from “the queen of romantic fantasy” (Polygon).

Cinder House by Freya Marske is a magical, memorable novella-length retelling of Cinderella, and it includes a haunting unlike any I’ve read before.

Cinder House starts by killing the main character:

Ella’s father died of the poison in their tea. Ella drank less and so might have lived, and not turned ghost at all, if the house hadn’t shrieked for its master’s murder in the moment she stood, dizzied and weak, at the top of the stairs.

Ella is dead… but that’s not the end of her story. As she comes back to consciousness, she finds herself tethered to her home, visible to those who live there — her stepmother Patrice, and her two stepsisters, Danica and Greta. None of them care about Ella in the slightest, but they do come to realize that she’s convenient.

Ella is not just an airy, incorporeal ghost floating around a particular place. Instead, she truly becomes the spirit of the house — she feels the house, as if it’s an extension of her own body.

How does a house, lacking flesh, feel fury? With the fire in its hearth and in the wide black stove.

She’s aware of the mice in the walls, the water in the pipes, the heat in the stove… but she’s also aware of anything wrong or out of place, and she can interact physically with anything that belongs to the house. She has an obsessive need to clean anything messy, to mend anything broken. For Ella’s stepfamily, it’s handy to have a ghost around to do their bidding, and it’s even economical! They’re able to dismiss the servants, and have Ella at their beck and call. Worst of all for Ella, when her sadistic youngest stepsister realizes that Ella feels what the house feels, she’s able to use pain — like sawing away pieces of woodworking or breaking windows — to coerce Ella into obedience.

Ella is trapped, until she discovers a trick for leaving the house — but no matter how far she wanders, she snaps right back to the staircase where she died at the stroke of midnight. Years pass, until finally, events in the world outside the house affect Ella and her family.

The Prince invites all the young unmarried women of the kingdom to a ball, during which he’ll choose a bride. Of course, most people suspect that there’s already a betrothal being arranged for political purposes, but that doesn’t stop the eligible women of the kingdom from dressing up and hoping for attention — including Ella’s stepsisters.

As the story progresses, we see Ella find a magical means for attending the ball too, thanks to her friendship with a fairy she meets in the marketplace. There are conditions, of course, and nothing goes quite according to plan — but she does meet the prince, and discovers that he’s dealing with magical complications of his own… and that the two of them may be able to help one another in ways that no one else can.

Cinder House is such an inventive retelling! I loved the details around what Ella feels and goes through as a house ghost, and the encounters with the prince, and the details of his curse, are fascinating too. The plot is tightly woven, yet never feels rushed, and the overall tone is full of magical, fantastical elements that create an atmosphere of surprise and delight.

The ending does get surprisingly… well… kinky, in a certain way, but it’s not terribly explicit (and definitely is not your typical fairy tale ending!)

Overall, I thought Cinder House was great! I’m so glad I saw so many positive reviews and decided to check it out for myself. Cinder House is a terrific example of what a novella can be: It tells a full story, provides characters to care about, and wraps up a compelling plot with just enough storytelling.

I’d never read anything by Freya Marske before, but now I’m eager to explore more of her books. I know people love the Last Binding series — adding to my TBR!

Purchase links: Amaz o n – Audible audiobook – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
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9Jul2023

Book Review: Thief Liar Lady by D. L. Soria

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Thief Liar Lady
Author: D. L. Soria
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication date: July 11. 2023
Length: 416 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

“Happily Ever After” is a total scam, but at least this time the princess is the one controlling the grift–until her true love arrives and threatens to ruin the whole scheme. Intrigue, magic, and wit abound in this Cinderella fairytale reimagining, perfect for fans of Heather Walter and Naomi Novik.

I’m not who you think I am.

My transformation from a poor, orphaned scullery maid into the enchantingly mysterious lady who snagged the heart of the prince did not happen–as the rumors insisted–in a magical metamorphosis of pumpkins and glass slippers. On the first evening of the ball, I didn’t meekly help my “evil” stepmother and stepsisters primp and preen or watch forlornly out the window as their carriage rolled off toward the palace. I had other preparations to make.

My stepsisters and I had been trained for this–to be the cleverest in the room, to be quick with our hands and quicker with our lies. We were taught how to get everything we want in this world, everything men always kept for themselves: power, wealth, and prestige. And with a touchingly tragic past and the help of some highly illegal spells, I would become a princess, secure our fortunes, and we would all live happily ever after.

But there’s always more to the story. With my magic running out, war looming, and a handsome hostage prince–the wrong prince–distracting me from my true purpose with his magnetic charm and forbidden flirtations, I’m in danger of losing control of the delicate balance I’ve created…and that could prove fatal.

There’s so much more riding on this than a crown.

In Thief Liar Lady, Cinderella is a con artist, a magic wielder, and a secret agent of the rebellion. And she still manages to charm the handsome prince at the ball!

Ash Vincent, aka Lady Aislinn, has been trained all her life by her stepmother Seraphina to be cunning, heartless, and in control. She can fight, she can cast spells using the rare and expensive magical substance known as lustre, and she can weave enchantments to get her way. Everything works according to plan, and Ash wins the love of Prince Everett at the royal ball, in the process captivating the people of the kingdom of Solis through their “magical” love story.

Playing up the story of a cruel stepmother and evil stepsisters, Ash wins the hearts and minds of pretty much everyone, although Everett’s best friend, Lord Verance of the subject realm of Eloria, doesn’t seem all that impressed. Now all Ash has to do is stay in control, keep up her facade of being a demure, graceful, kind and loving lady, and within a few short months, she’ll be married and secure.

But Ash has a secret agenda, unknown to Seraphina — she’s also in this to advance the cause of the Elorian rebels, and key to their plans is Ash’s ability to influence events from within the royal household.

The deeper Ash gets, the more dangerous her schemes become, and as the royal wedding approaches, the more conflicted she feels about sacrificing her heart for the sake of her mission.

Thief Liar Lady is an engaging read, full of adventure, danger, and plotting. Unfortunately, the early chapters of the book set up the premise in a way that’s mostly just confusing — we hear a lot about lustre, about treaties, rebels, and refugees, and even about agrarian reform, of all things — but Ash’s role and her alliances don’t become clear for some time. The history between Solis and Eloria is likewise muddled, and it takes some effort to puzzle out what’s going on here — and not in the fun, “ooh, give me another clue!” sort of way, but more along the lines of “I don’t know who these people are or what they’re trying to do”.

Eventually, the pieces get (mostly) explained, and by the last third or so of the book, I felt much more invested and interested in the outcome. Still, the court politics and alliances are not always clear, the use of lustre seems haphazard, and Ash herself seems to change course or act unreasonably more often than is helpful.

Overall, I liked the book, but felt that it was much too long and could have used a lot more clarity in terms of laying out the players, the stakes, and the background. When the plot picks up, there are some exciting moments, but inconsistencies and actions that are illogical take away from the bigger-picture impact.

As a Cinderella retelling, Thief Liar Lady provides some clever twists on the story, and I enjoyed it enough to see it through, despite my reservations.

31Mar2022

Audiobook Review: If The Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: If the Shoe Fits
Series: Meant to Be
Author: Julie Murphy
Narrator: Jen Ponton
Publisher: Hyperion Avenue (Disney)
Publication date: August 3, 2021
Print length: 304 pages
Audio length: 9 hours, 51 minute
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

If the shoe doesn’t fit, maybe it’s time to design your own.
Cindy loves shoes. A well-placed bow or a chic stacked heel is her form of self-expression. As a fashion-obsessed plus-size woman, she can never find designer clothes that work on her body, but a special pair of shoes always fits just right.
With a shiny new design degree but no job in sight, Cindy moves back in with her stepmother, Erica Tremaine, the executive producer of the world’s biggest dating reality show. When a contestant on Before Midnight bows out at the last minute, Cindy is thrust into the spotlight. Showcasing her killer shoe collection on network TV seems like a great way to jump-start her career. And, while she’s at it, why not go on a few lavish dates with an eligible suitor?
But being the first and only fat contestant on Before Midnight turns her into a viral sensation—and a body-positivity icon—overnight. Even harder to believe? She can actually see herself falling for this Prince Charming. To make it to the end, despite the fans, the haters, and a house full of fellow contestants she’s not sure she can trust, Cindy will have to take a leap of faith and hope her heels— and her heart—don’t break in the process.
Best-selling author Julie Murphy’s reimagining of a beloved fairy tale is an enchanting story of self-love and believing in the happy ending each and every one of us deserves.

If you’re looking for a feel-good modern-day fairy tale, If the Shoe Fits might be a perfect… fit. (Sorry.)

In 2020, Disney’s publishing arm announced its new series of fairy tale retellings, aimed at adult readers. With different authors writing the different installments, each book will retell a classic fairy tale as a contemporary romance. If the Shoe Fits is the first in the Meant To Be series… and I have to say, after reading this one, I’m definitely on board for more!

If the Shoe Fits is very funny, but also surprisingly emotional in key ways. Cindy is a recent graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New York, but after barely squeaking by on her final project, she has no immediate job or career prospects. She returns to LA to live with her stepmother and extended family, planning to nanny for the summer and hit pause for a bit… but then reality TV upends her plans.

[Side note: Why are there so many romance novels framed around TV dating shows these days? I swear this is at least the 4th I’ve read… and I’ve never watched a single episode of The Bachelor!]

In one of the lovely twists on the classic Cinderella story, Cindy’s stepmother and stepsisters are not evil! In fact, her stepmother Erica is loving and supportive, and her stepsisters Anna and Drew are sweet and love Cindy unstintingly. After Cindy’s father’s sudden death (while Cindy was in high school), Erica moved forward with the surrogacy they’d been planning, so there are also three-year-old triplets for Cindy to adore.

Erica is the creator and producer of the biggest reality TV dating show, Before Midnight. Cindy’s always loved the glamor and romance of the show, but she never could have conceived of being on it herself. When the new season loses contestants right before filming, Anna and Drew are called in as subs, and Cindy decides to take a chance and ask to be included as well. As an aspiring designer with a killer shoe collection, what better way to get her name and her designs out into the world, even if this is way outside her comfort zone? The $100,000 prize doesn’t hurt either — if she can’t find a job, maybe she’ll launch her own brand!

Cindy doesn’t hesitate to describe herself as fat, although it makes her non-fat family and friends cringe. She’s plus-size, and she knows it. She’s tired of going shopping with her sisters and never having options in her size. She’s tired of being told she’s “brave” for wearing stylish or sexy clothes. She’s tired of being viewed as less because of the shape of her body, and she’s tired of being invisible. Go, Cindy!

The actual reality TV experience is just as silly as you’d expect, with 20 women competing for love, although most have reasons for being on the show that have nothing to do with true romance. Everyone wants their moment in the spotlight, and between the influencers and walking memes and mean girls, it’s hard to imagine that love has anything to do with it.

The twist is that this season’s suitor is someone Cindy had met randomly weeks earlier, when the two seemed to share an instant connection. Suddenly, the fake reality dating show becomes a lot more real for Cindy… could he possibly feel what she’s feeling? And what if he doesn’t actually choose her in the end?

I mentioned the emotional aspects of the story. Cindy is still deeply grieving her father’s loss. Her memories of her father and all the ways in which her grief has affected her life are truly touching. The weight of the loss hit her fresh her senior year, which is why she struggled to graduate and felt that she’d lost her creative spark. As she competes on Before Midnight, she also starts to deal more directly with what she’s experienced, how her grief has shaped her last few years, and what reconnecting with her creativity might possibly look like.

I really appreciated the sensitivity with which all this is portrayed, as well as the depiction of Cindy herself as a funny, attractive, determined woman who refuses to feel shame or let others hold her back because of her body size.

I don’t mean to make this sound like serious literature — overall, the tone is funny and sweeet, and there are plenty of silly escapades to laugh over. Surprisingly, Cindy even manages to find true friends among the other contestants, even as the competition heats up, and I loved the idea that women can connect and be kind and supportive to one another even in the weirdest pressure-cooker situations.

The audiobook is a delight. The narrator does a great job with Cindy, as well as making the other Before Midnight contestants and producers come alive as individuals with distinct voices. Also, the dialogue can be very funny, making the audiobook super entertaining.

The next book in the series will be released in May — a Beauty and the Beast retelling (!!) written by Jasmine Guillory (!!), set in the world of publishing and authors (!!). I am so there for it.

Meanwhile, check out If the Shoe Fits! Just a really fun reading/listening experience.

15May2019

Shelf Control #166: Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome to Shelf Control — an original feature created and hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies.

Shelf Control is a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves. Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up! For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out my introductory post, here.

Want to join in? Shelf Control posts go up every Wednesday. See the guidelines at the bottom of the post, and jump on board!

Title: Bound
Author: Donna Jo Napoli
Published: 2004
Length: 186 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

YOUNG XING XING IS BOUND. Bound to her father’s second wife and daughter after Xing Xing’s father has passed away. Bound to a life of servitude as a young girl in ancient China, where the life of a woman is valued less than that of livestock. Bound to be alone and unmarried, with no parents to arrange for a suitable husband. Dubbed “Lazy One” by her stepmother, Xing Xing spends her days taking care of her half sister, Wei Ping, who cannot walk because of her foot bindings, the painful but compulsory tradition for girls who are fit to be married. Even so, Xing Xing is content, for now, to practice her gift for poetry and calligraphy, to tend to the mysterious but beautiful carp in her garden, and to dream of a life unbound by the laws of family and society.

But all of this is about to change as the time for the village’s annual festival draws near, and Stepmother, who has spent nearly all of the family’s money, grows desperate to find a husband for Wei Ping. Xing Xing soon realizes that this greed and desperation may threaten not only her memories of the past, but also her dreams for the future.

In this searing story, Donna Jo Napoli, acclaimed author of “Beast and Breath, ” delves into the roots of the Cinderella myth and unearths a tale as powerful as it is familiar.

How and when I got it:

I bought it at least 10 years ago.

Why I want to read it:

I don’t remember how I first heard about this, but I’m always up for a good fairy tale retelling, and the idea that foot bindings might have something to do with the Cinderella story sounds really intriguing. I’m looking forward to finally giving this book a try.

What do you think? Would you read this book?

Please share your thoughts!

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