Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Shadow in the Glass

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Shadow in the Glass by J.J.A. Harwood

8 reviews

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

pointeshoebookworm's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

0.5

As a fairytale girlie, I specifically chose this book to be the first book I read in 2024. To start off the year with something that I would fall in love with and there many aspects of this book that were great. But it ultimately fell incredibly flat. As mentioned by many others, the insane amount of plot holes, the potential they had!! The open ending . . . what? I understand wanting to leave the ending open to interpretation, but considering the rest of the book, it just didn't work. Most importantly, the main character . . . how power hungry or fool heardy (or both) do you have to be in order to completely ignore the reality of your situation. How cold hearted do you have to be, to continue on despite the lethal cost of your choices.

Content Warnings

user8432's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

rachaelvo4's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The ending was expected but also disappointing nonetheless. After awhile I just thought Eleanor was irritating but she is a great character to analyze, I do understand that she had so much going on w her circumstance, and it’s hard to have self control when you’re given the option between your greatest dreams and living hell. She does not deserve any of the love that Charles gave her. I love the historical time period accuracy. The relationship w the characters was a little hard to see how they reflected on the main character, felt like it was mostly to give more storylines and keep plot moving. Probably wouldn’t read again.

Content Warnings

pertlek's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

I really wanted to love this book. I tried so hard to honestly the whole gothic twist on Cinderella is what drew me in but in reality it’s this poor girl who just wants some basic human needs like safety and shelter and the only possible way she was able to get those things was by trading in her soul. <spoilers> I honestly really wanted her to be happy in the end not necessarily with Charles but to see her go and travel with her friends. But instead her want of basic needs left her dead after she used her last wish and she was never able to be truly happy. I k ow that not all books end happily but this book truly didn’t have a second of hope attached to it. <\spoilers>

Content Warnings

dontwritedown's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Wishes, wishes, wishes....this book takes a look at what can happen, not only if you aren't careful with them but also the damage it can do to those around you.

It's a nice retelling of Cinderella, except the Fairy Godmother is evil, the stepfather is evil, and there are no stepsisters, just a stepbrother that knocks Ella up, and a couple of lesbian maids.

Honestly this book works both as a standalone or the first books in a series of retellings.

Definitely worth a read.

Content Warnings

inkslinger's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional 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? No

4.0

'The Shadow in the Glass' by JJA Harwood has all the classic Gothic atmosphere of Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart, delivered in the wrappings of an elegant, dark modern fairytale.

Putting a delightfully morbid twist on the age old Cinderella story, the book follows a lowly maid named Eleanor.. 'Ella'.. as she struggles in the wake of loss. Having fallen into service after the passing of the only person who looked out for her after her mother's death, Ella's left with a licentious man who she once called stepfather.

Secreting herself away in the late Mistress' library whenever she can manage, Ella escapes through the stories tucked along the shelves. One night, a fairy godmother hears her pleas and makes her an offer that will change her life immeasurably. Ella gets seven wishes, but each comes at a price.. and the cost is steep.

Honestly, the retelling is such a strong story on its own that it was easy to forget its origins. Though there are obvious connections like the main character's nickname and a distinctive detail at the very end of the book, it just doesn't really read like a Cinderella story unless you go in looking to match things up.

From a presentation standpoint, if I hadn't known the premise.. the fairy godmother and evil stepfather are almost unrecognizable. I was so caught up in the familial logistics and the defining traits of the author's creations.. that for much of the book if the synopsis hadn't told me who these people were, I probably wouldn't have seen the correlation until the end.

The storytelling is gritty and magnificent. From the opening pages, there's an undercurrent of something bad on the horizon. It isn't spelled out right away, but like a classic Poe story.. your instincts pick it up and you can just feel the tension building with dreadful slowness. You can see what lies in the road ahead once things get going and it feels like it just might swallow you whole.

There's something special about an author who can make you feel like you're slowly marching to your own end, while simultaneously keeping your hope alive that just maybe you'll be wrong. That someone or something will avert the crisis in your path.

Harwood has just such a gift. If you're a fan of eerie Gothic tales, don't miss this one. Since it's only her debut novel, I'll be eagerly watching to see what else she might have up her proverbial sleeve.

(I received this title as an ARC, but also purchased a copy. All opinions are mine and freely given.)

Content Warnings

sheryl_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

I was sent a free ebook copy of this book from NetGalley in return for a honest review

The Shadow in the Glass is a retelling of Cinderella - it follows the story of Eleanor, a housemaid who was once the ward of the lady of the house, who is granted 7 wishes by a mysterious dark lady. If she wishes 7 times, her soul will belong to this dark lady.

The premise of the book had a lot of promise and I think if the main character was more likeable, then it would be more enjoyable. However, I found Eleanor to be greedy, selfish and very difficult to root for.

Her intentions are meant to be good - helping her fellow servants and making a better life for herself. But all of her decisions are wrapped up in an overarching sense of entitlement. She was orphaned as a child, taken in by a rich lady and brought up to expect to be living a certain life. And she’ll go to any lengths to get that wealthy life, even when it becomes clear what the costs are. She comes over as bratty rather than determined.

The pace of the book is slow also. The 7 wishes feel drawn out and I felt that there was no great mystery as to how it was going to turn out. The characters life is fairly limited, so there’s only so many people she can affect by wishing. The end is also very drawn out and contrived to fit the Cinderella story. The last chapter has Eleanor waiting from 11.15 until midnight to make a last attempt to save her soul - it’s fair to say 45 minutes it too long to keep up any level of suspense...

Overall I give this 2 ⭐️- I finished it, but I didn’t enjoy it. I wouldn’t recommend it to others - there are better fairytale retellings available.

Content Warnings

More...