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a_chickletz's review
1.0
I want to thank Edelweiss and Harper Collins for a chance at reading this... depressing? yes, depressing book. I'm going to spoiler cut this because I talk about some triggering stuff right out of the park (tw: rape, abortion/miscarriage, abuse):
- I disliked the main character, a lot. I found nothing sympathetic at all despite what the author expressed to us. Her mother worked for a woman and she and the woman became friends. Our main character was born, and when she was young her mother died. Her mother's mistress raised her like a daughter, and then the she died. She was made into a servant in the house. She wants to live that life again. Mainly because her adoptive 'guardian' remarried? or was married? to a man who is disgusting and rapes his maids.
That's right. The main character is even dumbfounded why this sweet woman was married to a man who is such a disgusting piece of shit, but it's never really explained. (Forced marriage? He went crazy after she died?) The book begins with us finding out about a rape of another maid, and she gets tossed out because she is about to have a kid. See, there are about four other girls (maids) in this house. All of them are being preyed upon by this man. Oh, he had children with this woman that passed (or I think he did), two daughters and a son. You never really meet the daughters, but you get told about and eventually meet the son (that becomes our love interest). Anyway. The point is that the girls are living in fear of this man raping them. Apparently it's a common knowledge in this town that's what he does, but the head of staff (who is a woman) is all okay with it. Mind you, these girls are being paid shit wages while being preyed upon... I know, a lot to take in right?
Where is the magic bit of the story? Oh, yes, right. So, while being preyed upon one night she (our main character) locks herself in the library, sees a book sitting on the chair, and she reads a poem out-loud and this woman with no eyes promises her 7 wishes in exchange for her soul. The girl agrees to it, because she is like, I'm not going to use them all teehee, I want to keep my soul.
Which then becomes this epic long chore of watching her trying to not wish for things and yet wish for them, but keep telling herself that she'll stop wishing only to break that and do it over, and over again. But every time when she uses a wish, the magic comes from someone dying. So she wishes for some shoes, some bird in the house dies in exchange for that wish.
- The love interest is such a bawbag of a man. So, he returns with a fiancee. This fiancee is a total bitch and he gives our main lead over to her as a personal maid. His fiance hates our lead (because she is so familiar with her fiance) and is abusing her left and right, but he doesn't really do anything about it? So the girl has to wish to make something happen. Which leads to him breaking up with his fiance. ... Meanwhile, he starts developing really, really piss poor feelings for the main character. They eventually have sex, and she asks the guy if they'll run away and he is like, 'lol, what no, I am me and you are you?' and just kind of friend zones her and then she gets pregnant. (CUE A WILD wish where she literally has a miscarriage.) Then, he just... is so uncaring and or distant through the rest of the book. The worst love interest I've ever read in a book in a while.
What you never find out or is just glossed over:
- how did this book end up in the possession of the house?
- who is this woman? is she the devil? apparently the girl is familiar with the story of Dr. Faustus, since this is what this retelling seems to be, thrown in with some shit Cinderella angle - so I don't understand why she doesn't put two and two together and just clamp her mouth shut and or run away
- apparently one of the wishes she makes sics some detective on her and this guy is chasing the lead around because he thinks she has something to do with the mysterious deaths, but he won't do anything about the rapes... because he has no proof and or grounds to accuse the man? (what about the woman who he raped and is currently down the street in some slum house?) so why doesn't anybody in this town assist the maids? which the leads to...
- why does the main character pretend to care about the maids/friends in the house, but is greedy and does jack for them? One of the girls gets so fed up with her piss poor handling of the situation and or lack of empathy that she just says, 'fuck it, I'll let the man rape me because you're clearly not helping'. (Oh, side note, the girl that tells the main character this is black... another dump on black females.)
This book is a glorified mess. If someone who was reading it had some kind of trauma from being abused/raped, they're gonna find some issues with this and how poorly shit is handled and it might just trigger them all over again.
There could have been a solid, gothic / smouldering tale, but you get a whole bunch of abuse, a man with the intelligence of a electric potato, and a heroine who you just want to use up her wishes all in one go.
Spoiler
- I disliked the main character, a lot. I found nothing sympathetic at all despite what the author expressed to us. Her mother worked for a woman and she and the woman became friends. Our main character was born, and when she was young her mother died. Her mother's mistress raised her like a daughter, and then the she died. She was made into a servant in the house. She wants to live that life again. Mainly because her adoptive 'guardian' remarried? or was married? to a man who is disgusting and rapes his maids.
That's right. The main character is even dumbfounded why this sweet woman was married to a man who is such a disgusting piece of shit, but it's never really explained. (Forced marriage? He went crazy after she died?) The book begins with us finding out about a rape of another maid, and she gets tossed out because she is about to have a kid. See, there are about four other girls (maids) in this house. All of them are being preyed upon by this man. Oh, he had children with this woman that passed (or I think he did), two daughters and a son. You never really meet the daughters, but you get told about and eventually meet the son (that becomes our love interest). Anyway. The point is that the girls are living in fear of this man raping them. Apparently it's a common knowledge in this town that's what he does, but the head of staff (who is a woman) is all okay with it. Mind you, these girls are being paid shit wages while being preyed upon... I know, a lot to take in right?
Where is the magic bit of the story? Oh, yes, right. So, while being preyed upon one night she (our main character) locks herself in the library, sees a book sitting on the chair, and she reads a poem out-loud and this woman with no eyes promises her 7 wishes in exchange for her soul. The girl agrees to it, because she is like, I'm not going to use them all teehee, I want to keep my soul.
Which then becomes this epic long chore of watching her trying to not wish for things and yet wish for them, but keep telling herself that she'll stop wishing only to break that and do it over, and over again. But every time when she uses a wish, the magic comes from someone dying. So she wishes for some shoes, some bird in the house dies in exchange for that wish.
- The love interest is such a bawbag of a man. So, he returns with a fiancee. This fiancee is a total bitch and he gives our main lead over to her as a personal maid. His fiance hates our lead (because she is so familiar with her fiance) and is abusing her left and right, but he doesn't really do anything about it? So the girl has to wish to make something happen. Which leads to him breaking up with his fiance. ... Meanwhile, he starts developing really, really piss poor feelings for the main character. They eventually have sex, and she asks the guy if they'll run away and he is like, 'lol, what no, I am me and you are you?' and just kind of friend zones her and then she gets pregnant. (CUE A WILD wish where she literally has a miscarriage.) Then, he just... is so uncaring and or distant through the rest of the book. The worst love interest I've ever read in a book in a while.
What you never find out or is just glossed over:
- how did this book end up in the possession of the house?
- who is this woman? is she the devil? apparently the girl is familiar with the story of Dr. Faustus, since this is what this retelling seems to be, thrown in with some shit Cinderella angle - so I don't understand why she doesn't put two and two together and just clamp her mouth shut and or run away
- apparently one of the wishes she makes sics some detective on her and this guy is chasing the lead around because he thinks she has something to do with the mysterious deaths, but he won't do anything about the rapes... because he has no proof and or grounds to accuse the man? (what about the woman who he raped and is currently down the street in some slum house?) so why doesn't anybody in this town assist the maids? which the leads to...
- why does the main character pretend to care about the maids/friends in the house, but is greedy and does jack for them? One of the girls gets so fed up with her piss poor handling of the situation and or lack of empathy that she just says, 'fuck it, I'll let the man rape me because you're clearly not helping'. (Oh, side note, the girl that tells the main character this is black... another dump on black females.)
This book is a glorified mess. If someone who was reading it had some kind of trauma from being abused/raped, they're gonna find some issues with this and how poorly shit is handled and it might just trigger them all over again.
There could have been a solid, gothic / smouldering tale, but you get a whole bunch of abuse, a man with the intelligence of a electric potato, and a heroine who you just want to use up her wishes all in one go.
giamsanchez's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I honestly liked that it wasn’t actually similar to the story of Cinderella but gave enough tiny comparisons. At first the story was very hard to want to keep reading. Eventually once the devil woman “fairy godmother” comes into play that’s when the story is way more compelling. I was surprised that there was a love interest/plot line. It would’ve gotten a higher rating if it wasn’t so demonic. It started to become very obvious that it was never gonna be a fairy godmother but it did get the rating of 3 because it was compelling and like I said an interesting twist on Cinderella. I also didn’t appreciate the ending, it ended on a cliffhanger. Considering the book isn’t a series I didn’t quite understand why leave it off that way. I decided to interpret the ending as the demon lady having to give Eleanor her wish of being above all laws and letting her live happy ever after. But most people interpret it as her killing herself before the demonic lady even has the chance to take her soul
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism
mersh's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
2.5
Honestly, if this was a faster paced story I might actually like this enough to give a 4..
But even if this being a DARK fairy tell reimagining (Cinderella) and tbh, the gullibleness and ignorance of the lead and even of the people are understandable being this is historical fiction as well...
But I think, as a Millenial, living in the "modern", progressive 21st century, if Ella could've phrased or be courageous enough to wish the one thing she wanted.. she may not need to use all 7 wishes or it would take years before she could wish all of them. But then again that would be a shorter story to tell..
But even if this being a DARK fairy tell reimagining (Cinderella) and tbh, the gullibleness and ignorance of the lead and even of the people are understandable being this is historical fiction as well...
But I think, as a Millenial, living in the "modern", progressive 21st century, if Ella could've phrased or be courageous enough to wish the one thing she wanted.. she may not need to use all 7 wishes or it would take years before she could wish all of them. But then again that would be a shorter story to tell..
catpanda1's review
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
the_bookbasket's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
serinde4books's review against another edition
3.0
So I wanted to like this book I really did. But I didn’t. It wasn’t a Cinderella retelling, it was a morality tale about Faustus. The characters were ok, there were none that that I particularly cared for. I kept plodding through hoping for an improvement. But I fully admit by about 65% I was just reading to get the damn thing over with. I no longer cared about the ending, I hoped Ella ended up losing her soul, she was not a redeemable character to me.
*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.*
*I received this book as an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. I received this copy free in exchange for my honest review.*
zari504's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
cursedreading's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
darkskybooks's review
2.0
I cannot get over how annoyingly stupid the main character of this is. Granted seven wishes in return for her soul, her first wish is for a single pair of shoes? This plays into some of the worst stereotypes of ditzy women. And what makes it even worse is how delighted by this outcome she is. Unfortunately, her general decision making doesn't really significantly improve. This is a huge shame as the basic concept of a Faustian pact for your soul in return for 7 wishes is an intriguing one. The twisted outcomes of each wish give a delightfully cynical overtone to it all and the prose is well written. Unfortunately the inanity of the main character is just unforgivable.
The Shadow in the Glass is probably best summarized as Faust meets Cinderella with an idiot as the main character. A frustrating read.
The Shadow in the Glass is probably best summarized as Faust meets Cinderella with an idiot as the main character. A frustrating read.
brinreadstowrite's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0