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