Rainy Day Reads

This is a Cinderella retelling with an LGBT+ twist. We follow Aisling, or Ash for short, who loses her mother at a young age. When her father remarries she gains a stepmother and two stepsisters. So far so good. But here is where the story begins to veer away from the classic fairytale. In this world fairies exist. Not the kind fairy godmother kind, but the cruel hearted Fey kind. Ash seems to have some sort of connection with them, or at least with one of them in particular. She longs to belong in their world, but when she meets the King’s huntress, Kaisa, she changes her mind about leaving the human world behind.   I was really interested in this story because I enjoy retellings and because of the LGBT+ aspect. But I have to say I was pretty disappointed. The romance doesn’t really come into play until almost halfway through the book, and then it plays out pretty quickly and almost as a side plot to the fairy world. But then the fairy plot didn’t really feel that flesh...

This is a book about Dennaleia, a princess who journeys to another country in order to marry the prince and secure an alliance. Once she gets there, she discovers she is more interested in the prince’s sister, however. As well as struggling with her feelings, her sense of duty to her country and trying to navigate new customs she is also trying to hide the fact that she possesses magic. Magic is considered a crime in her new country, so Dennaleia is doing all she can to suppress it, but it seems to be growing stronger at every turn.   It’s really hard to describe this book without giving too much of the plot away, so I will leave it at that. As for the world, it was a little confusing with all the different factions of people, but I’ve never had a great head for intricate world building, so maybe that’s just me. We follow both Dennaleia and Mare, the prince’s sister’s point of view, so we definitely get to know them the best. The rest of the characters all seemed a little flat...