Shard of Glass by Emily Deady Review

 Towards the end of 2020 I decided I needed to read more Cinderella retellings since at the time I basically read nothing but Beauty and the Beast books. Cinderella has always had a special place in my heart but for some reason I haven’t read nearly as many retellings of it as I want to. So, I decided to read Shard of Glass by Emily Deady since the summary on Amazon made me wonder if the prince character was someone the Cinderella character Ashlin could trust. I remember enjoying the book for what it was and was curious to learn more about the ongoing plotline. Fast forward to 2022 and I had recently signed up for Emily Deady’s newsletter. I one day got an email saying that Shard of Glass was in the process of becoming an audiobook and she was looking for fans to listen to it before it was released. I was one of the first people to sign up for it and was eager to listen to it. Although I was a little slow in finishing the book (due to college and getting sick) I found Shard of Glass as pleasant and wonderful a read as I remembered it. The narrator Heather Costa was a good choice for this book for she really brought the story and its characters to life. 

The book introduces the reader to Ashlin, a deceased noblemen’s daughter who lives with her stepmother Lady Cabril and her stepsister Stasiya. With her father gone the family struggles to make ends meet, forcing Ashlin to work hard and eventually getting a job at the palace as a servant. While Ashlin wishes to work as an apprentice for the local dressmaker Mistress Cedrice she wants doesn’t want to abandon her stepfamily to fend for themselves. More than anything she desires to be treated like a family member by them. However, when her stepmother Lady Cabril manipulates Ashlin into switching identities with her stepsister Stasiya for an upcoming royal ball things only get worse. Meanwhile the royal family of Iseldis is facing a dire threat. The Majis (magic users) will be returning from their long exile soon and will no doubt seek vengeance on the five kingdoms for their long imprisonment. Their first stop will be Iseldis, and they are not prepared to protect their kingdom. To help gain allies the royal family decides to host a ball which by the end of it crown prince Ian and his brother Onric must choose a bride from among the nobility. Prince Onric is less than thrilled with this notion especially since he is falling for a mysterious servant girl Ashlin who once gave him shelter in the rain. Together can they find ways to protect the kingdom from disaster and accept their feelings for each other? Or will scheming enemies and insecurities rip apart everything they love away from each other forever? 

This was a very enjoyable read with a very interesting world. I am curious to read more books in this series and learn about the Majis. There are four novels released so far with a fifth one on the way. Each book is based off a different fairy tale with one of the five royal siblings as its main character along with their love interest. I enjoyed how this book transitioned smoothly to its sequel. It leaves you somewhat satisfied but mostly wanting more. While it's true each book is its own story and can be read separately, I would recommend reading it in order. 

Ashlin is an enjoyable character to read about, but I found it really hard to watch as she kept getting manipulated by her stepfamily. She worries about being taken advantage of, which makes her hesitant to befriend Onric but doesn’t realize that her only family left is deceiving her so plainly. While I did find it frustrating at how much she allowed her stepmother to get away with I also understood her longing to be accepted by them. She thinks they are all she has left in her world and doesn’t want to see them suffer even if it means overworking herself to exhaustion. However, I was so happy when she finally left them for despite their fall on hard times I didn’t have any pity for them by the end of the book. I was aways rooting for Ashlin to find her own path and get away from her toxic environment, so it was so rewarding to see her finally take the first step to living a better successful life. Prince Onric was also an enjoyable character to read about. He genuinely cares for Ashlin and when others start accusing her of being a Majis spy he defends her without a second thought. Like the original story he doesn't know a lot about her origins for most of the book (which causes some problems down the road for them) but he can still see how kindhearted she truly is. He worries about her being mistreated and overworked, and his caring attitude is I think just what Ashlin needed at the time even if she didn’t want to admit he was right.. Besides Onric there are four other royal children, Ian (the crown prince), Aden, Erich, and Meena who I wished were more present in the book. To be fair they each have (or will be getting) their own books but it would have been nice to see them more so I would know what to expect from them in their own books. But this is a minor gripe.  

Overall, this was a wonderful story of Cinderella that definitely has me wanting to read more. I have also read Shard of Glasses sequel Thorn of Rose which I didn’t like as much as this one but despite that I plan to continue the series sometime this year. I don’t know when the audiobook version of Shard of Glass will be officially released but I hope it will be soon. This is an unfinished series so far with prince Ian’s story Hood of Secrets being unreleased but with four novels and one novella already available there is still plenty to read in the Fairy Tale Royals series. I give this book four out of five stars. Until next time E.V.A.