Format: ebook
Published: October 27th, 2023
Age: Adult
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Rating: 4/5 Stars
This Cinderella retelling focuses on a fey prince and a half-human servant, and is part of the Once Upon a Prince series – after reading this, I will absolutely be going back to read the whole series from start to end!
Prince Kirran returns home from war, now the crown prince after his brothers’ deaths. As such, he needs a bride, quickly, but he’s not quite over his breakup with Alia, a half-human he was going to announce as his bride before she betrayed him and left without a word. But when they meet again on his return, Alia reveals she did attend the ball, where Kirran betrayed her. Realising their memories don’t match – and neither is lying – they set about uncovering the truth.
This was a really fun read with a likeable couple who really do fight for their happily ever after. I really enjoyed the worldbuilding, too, with the different type of fae, with political intrigue underlying the plot, especially with the deaths of the princes and the memory changes. It’s a relatively short novel at 200 pages, but the length was handled well and Grigaliunas kept things tight, with everything moving at a good pace. There was plenty of tension, both romantic and with the plot, keeping me hooked and keen to find out more.
The magic system worked well, and there’s some interesting twists on the Cinderella story. Absolutely one to check out if you like fae fantasy romance retellings.
Reading Challenge
Musicals Reading Challenge 2025
Prompt: Fiddler on the Roof – If I Were a Rich Man – Rags-to-riches (from bad to good fortune) or riches to rags (the reverse)
Progress: 14/24
Unwrapping Words 