My Review: Rise of the Cinder Fae: by Whitney Dean

Total Star Rating: 4 Stars

So, I became the marionette. I moved when told, spoke when spoken to, and harbored guilt any time I needed to cry. Over time, I learned to be grateful for my strings because they meant I was still valuable. And if I was helpful, I had a reason to survive.“

– Whitney Dean, “Rise of the Cinder Fae”

What It’s About:

The official synopsis:

Born and raised in the forgotten and broken kingdom of Ashbury, Elora has spent years resenting the royals of Pumpkin Hollow, the kingdom that forced the fall of Ashbury and procured the town as its own. Separated by a mysterious glass bridge, Ashbury is treated as the orphan kingdom, left to squander and starve with only the promise of protection from King Jasper, preventing anyone outside their realm from coming to search for the magic that lay within the ashy valleys and red skies of Ashbury. Because twenty-five years ago, the Cinder Fae arrived.

As mysterious as the magic encompassing Ashbury, the Cinder Fae bargained for their lives by promising to keep the entire realm warm with their ability to mine mountainsides into coal. But Elora and the Cinder Fae hold a secret that could bring death to Ashbury and the mysterious winged creatures, who, despite Elora’s best efforts to pry, refuse to share where they came from or why they can’t return.

In her desperation to prevent the downfall of her kingdom and the death of her Fae friends, Elora drinks from an enchanted spring, convinced she can make the prince of Pumpkin Hollow fall in love with her and guarantee their safety.

But magic takes to give.

And Elora didn’t realize her heart would be the sacrifice.

~~~

First and foremost, I want to thank Whitney Dean for the E-ARC she sent me of this book in exchange for an honest review!

So this was my first Whitney Dean novel, and now I MUST read her other books because it’s obvious she’s got the writer’s gift! Girl can freakin’ write!

This story is a retelling of the classic fairytale of Cinderella, but honestly, this has so many new things added to it that it doesn’t even feel like a retelling most of the time! Only in the most basic sense of the idea and with the character arc’s of most of the cast. But I can’t stress enough how much it branches off from the original story and becomes its own entity of a romantasy/adventure story that the author weaved together!

As it being a romantasy title, the romance was a major highlight to point out! The slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers development between Finnian and Elora was excellently done in my opinion! Both were great characters on their own, but together they absolutely made sparks, stars, and just about every celestial thing you can think of fly. So so good! I loved how flawed they were and how flawed their relationship was and how we got to see it all grow as the plot thickened. I had to absolutely keep reading to see what would happen next, and most importantly, when they would FINALLY KISS!

When they finally did, it was great! When things got taken further, even better! There is some great spice in this book I will add! Fin sure knows what he’s doing *wink*wink*

~~~

With her life already at stake, I can’t imagine what I would do to protect her if I fell in love with her.“

– Whitney Dean, “Rise of the Cinder Fae”

What I Liked:

1. Finnian! He is just total book boyfriend material…He’s kind of cold, aloof, and arrogant at first but ohhhhh man does he get good as the story progresses!
2. All The Shocking Reveals! I was surprised at how many shocking reveals the author was able to put into this story! Like EVERY character it felt like had some sort of twist or reveal to Elora at some point, even a few character introductions were shocking reveals themselves!
3. The Two MC’s Character Growth! Elora and Fin really grow and develop as individuals and as a couple in this story. The author does a wonderful job of showing their personalities and watching them bloom as a couple, and the relationship is FAR from perfect, which actually made it feel more relatable and even more realistic than a lot of other book romances.
4. Some Great Side Characters! I especially want to shine a light on Fin’s sister, Irina, and his mother, Honora. Both are freakin’ QUEENS in their own rights and are just total comfort characters that remind you that there are still good people in this world when you feel at your lowest and when you feel all alone in this crazy world!

What I Didn’t Like:

1. Possibly Overwhelmed at 75%…This might be a ME problem with this one, but I was getting a little overwhelmed around the 70-75% with all that was going on at this point and I will admit some of the twists maybe felt a little excessive or maybe even unnecessary by that point? Like maybe this area of the book could’ve been condensed a little bit where I think it didn’t necessarily need to be as long of a book as it was. The added spice was great though!
2. There’s Not A Lot Revealed About the Cinder Fae…I wanted to know more about the history of the Cinder Fae because it’s pretty clear there’s a lot more there that isn’t told to us in the actual book…and I WANT ANSWERS!! I want them like NOW!!
3. No Map…I’m not sure if this is because I was reading an ARC or not, but there wasn’t a map to be able to see the world at a bird’s eye view, and hopefully there is in the actual book when it releases!

Conclusion:

Overall, a fantastic Cinderella retelling that got changed up so much that it almost didn’t even feel like a retelling at most parts! So much new and original material was added to the story, it felt like an entirely new story all together!

Romantasy fans will immensely enjoy this tale I think! I think especially fans of Throne of Glass or the Falling Kingdoms series or other series similar to these but also wanted a little more UMMMPH in the romance/spice department, if you know what I mean…

Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell