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Dithered Hearts #1
Dithered Hearts
A gender-confused farmer desperate to reclaim her farm and escape her stepparents’ abuse. A closeted prince more interested in helping his people than finding a bride. A fairy godfather with a ton of secrets and no powers. In this diverse fairy tale, everyone is searching for a happy ending.
The masquerade ball to find Prince Longhollow’s future bride might be Cynthia Lynah’s best chance at getting her family farm back. If she can marry him, she’ll have all the money and power she needs. Her newly discovered fairy godfather is ready to help her, but his magic can’t do anything to stop her heart from falling for two women she shouldn’t be attracted to--her stepsisters. In the midst of her flirtations, she causes her fairy godfather to lose his magic and stirs trouble for the prince desperate to save his nation from a famine.
Everyone gets a chance to be the hero of their story, but happy endings seem impossible when they need more than magic to make them happen.
The masquerade ball to find Prince Longhollow’s future bride might be Cynthia Lynah’s best chance at getting her family farm back. If she can marry him, she’ll have all the money and power she needs. Her newly discovered fairy godfather is ready to help her, but his magic can’t do anything to stop her heart from falling for two women she shouldn’t be attracted to--her stepsisters. In the midst of her flirtations, she causes her fairy godfather to lose his magic and stirs trouble for the prince desperate to save his nation from a famine.
Everyone gets a chance to be the hero of their story, but happy endings seem impossible when they need more than magic to make them happen.
284 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 24, 2019
15 people are currently reading
376 people want to read
About the author
Chace Verity
29 books114 followersChace Verity (she/they) is publishing queer as heck stories with a strong romantic focus, although queer friendships and found families are important too. Chace prefers to write fantasy but dabbles in contemporary and historical fiction as well. An American citizen & Canadian permanent resident, Chace will probably never be able to call a gallon of milk a "four-liter."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
July 12, 2019
I loved this a lot <3
I generally love Chace Verity’s work because it’s unapologetically queer and otherwise diverse and this was no exception. It filled my little queer heart with happiness to see so many queer IDs represented, without it being a big deal. An aromantic pansexual trans guy fairy, a nonbinary sapphic MC, a black gay prince (and a side m/m romance with his knight), a fat lesbian and a disabled lesbian. It was super heartwarming and I loved it.
Now to get into the story a little more, I was a little bit sceptical at first. Cinderella retelling but she falls in love with her stepsisters? Could have easily been messed up. But I didn’t really have a problem with it. None of the sisters are related, and since they live in a super toxic household, they barely interact with each other before the story starts. They don’t have a sisterly bond, so I was mostly fine with the romance between the three of them.
I really loved the characters. Lord Gafford has my eternal love and devotion. He was extremely funny, super anxious, and I related to him in many many ways. His relationship with Cyn was great, and my aro heart was happy to have this rep. Cyn was an awesome MC, determined to save everything and everyone she loves. And I was so happy to see that in this retelling, ‘Cinderella’ had an awesome friendship with the prince.
I think my main issue is with the pacing which wasn’t always great. I loved the storyline and I wanted to know how things would be resolved, but things were sometimes a bit long to click into place and move forward. I still had a great time because the plot was cool, and I loved the characters so much, but the pacing held me back a little.
One of the things I really loved, too, was the abuse rep. It’s a little harsh sometimes, but I think it was well-handled. A lot of characters have abusive parents or stepparents, and the abuse is different every time, and no matter if it’s just mentioned a few times or more in-depth, it always rang true to me, and I liked how the resolution of that part of the plot was handled.
TW: abuse toward queer and disabled character, violence, on-page physical abuse, explicit sex (chapters which include sex scenes are marked by a '*' at the beginning), queerphobia, swearing, mention of parental death, mention of substance abuse and addiction, misgendering. (all TWs are listed at the beginning of the book!)
I generally love Chace Verity’s work because it’s unapologetically queer and otherwise diverse and this was no exception. It filled my little queer heart with happiness to see so many queer IDs represented, without it being a big deal. An aromantic pansexual trans guy fairy, a nonbinary sapphic MC, a black gay prince (and a side m/m romance with his knight), a fat lesbian and a disabled lesbian. It was super heartwarming and I loved it.
Now to get into the story a little more, I was a little bit sceptical at first. Cinderella retelling but she falls in love with her stepsisters? Could have easily been messed up. But I didn’t really have a problem with it. None of the sisters are related, and since they live in a super toxic household, they barely interact with each other before the story starts. They don’t have a sisterly bond, so I was mostly fine with the romance between the three of them.
I really loved the characters. Lord Gafford has my eternal love and devotion. He was extremely funny, super anxious, and I related to him in many many ways. His relationship with Cyn was great, and my aro heart was happy to have this rep. Cyn was an awesome MC, determined to save everything and everyone she loves. And I was so happy to see that in this retelling, ‘Cinderella’ had an awesome friendship with the prince.
I think my main issue is with the pacing which wasn’t always great. I loved the storyline and I wanted to know how things would be resolved, but things were sometimes a bit long to click into place and move forward. I still had a great time because the plot was cool, and I loved the characters so much, but the pacing held me back a little.
One of the things I really loved, too, was the abuse rep. It’s a little harsh sometimes, but I think it was well-handled. A lot of characters have abusive parents or stepparents, and the abuse is different every time, and no matter if it’s just mentioned a few times or more in-depth, it always rang true to me, and I liked how the resolution of that part of the plot was handled.
TW: abuse toward queer and disabled character, violence, on-page physical abuse, explicit sex (chapters which include sex scenes are marked by a '*' at the beginning), queerphobia, swearing, mention of parental death, mention of substance abuse and addiction, misgendering. (all TWs are listed at the beginning of the book!)
August 19, 2019
Oh goodness another book I did not expect to love as much as I did. Although I've sometimes had difficulties in enjoying some of Chace's fantasy novels, this one just had everything I wanted to make it a top read!
It's a queer Cinderella retelling, but even though it's one of the more commonly retold fairytales, I can't believe just how much fresh and new content was brought into this story!
The story didn't focus on a lot of the set up of the story, assuming knowledge of the Cinderella tale up till the ball. We meet Cyn as a gender neutral noble, pretending to be the offspring of her fairy godparent Myrick.
Obviously the ball is there as a way for Prince Dexter to meet the woman he would marry. However, he is not at all interested in women, and Cyn is not at all interested in men.
Instead, what we see is Dexter kinda pining for not being able to marry someone of his own gender, and Cyn having trysts with each one of her stepsisters, neither of whom she has viewed in that light before this night.
It becomes impossible to unsee this once she has seen it, and Cyn spends a great deal of time lusting after both of her stepsisters as the story goes on, before the grand reveal (that both her stepsisters have kinda figured out before the reveal actually happens).
Polyamory, gender queerness and a host of illnesses and intolerances are represented in this novel, from Elodie's scoliosis to Dexter's dairy intolerance and others that are present that don't come to mind immediately while writing this review. I absolutely love that even the side characters were fleshed out a good amount without taking away from the main plot. Such a good novel.
It's a queer Cinderella retelling, but even though it's one of the more commonly retold fairytales, I can't believe just how much fresh and new content was brought into this story!
The story didn't focus on a lot of the set up of the story, assuming knowledge of the Cinderella tale up till the ball. We meet Cyn as a gender neutral noble, pretending to be the offspring of her fairy godparent Myrick.
Obviously the ball is there as a way for Prince Dexter to meet the woman he would marry. However, he is not at all interested in women, and Cyn is not at all interested in men.
Instead, what we see is Dexter kinda pining for not being able to marry someone of his own gender, and Cyn having trysts with each one of her stepsisters, neither of whom she has viewed in that light before this night.
It becomes impossible to unsee this once she has seen it, and Cyn spends a great deal of time lusting after both of her stepsisters as the story goes on, before the grand reveal (that both her stepsisters have kinda figured out before the reveal actually happens).
Polyamory, gender queerness and a host of illnesses and intolerances are represented in this novel, from Elodie's scoliosis to Dexter's dairy intolerance and others that are present that don't come to mind immediately while writing this review. I absolutely love that even the side characters were fleshed out a good amount without taking away from the main plot. Such a good novel.
August 15, 2021
It’s been awhile since I had a book that I couldn’t put down. This is one of them. It’s both heart wrenching at times and humorous as well. Cynthia, aka Cyn, lives on her father’s family’s farm with her step-parents who abuse her and who also plan to sell the farm to cover their bad habits. They’re abusive in different ways. There are two stepsisters – this is a Cinderella story – but both are quiet and standoffish for reasons.
A ball is set up for the prince (Dexter) who needs to get married, and Lord Gafford, Cyn’s fairy godfather, makes she attends, of course with glass slippers. (There are many Cinderella references.) This introduces Dexter to Cyn and starts off much of the chain of events in this tale. There are many twists and turns with plenty of horrible people doing terrible things as well as Cyn, Dexter, and their friends trying to make things right.
The six protagonists were really likeable and understandable. A couple of them had to deal with mixed feelings toward a parent, others had to decide or realize what was most important to them. The epilogue was a satisfying end to the book.
A ball is set up for the prince (Dexter) who needs to get married, and Lord Gafford, Cyn’s fairy godfather, makes she attends, of course with glass slippers. (There are many Cinderella references.) This introduces Dexter to Cyn and starts off much of the chain of events in this tale. There are many twists and turns with plenty of horrible people doing terrible things as well as Cyn, Dexter, and their friends trying to make things right.
The six protagonists were really likeable and understandable. A couple of them had to deal with mixed feelings toward a parent, others had to decide or realize what was most important to them. The epilogue was a satisfying end to the book.
March 15, 2020
Dithered Hearts is a polyamorous historical fantasy romance between adult step-siblings who are nonbinary, female and female. It also features a side m/m romance. The main character is questioning their gender and uses multiple pronouns throughout the story, but for clarity’s sake, I’m going to use they/them pronouns.
It also deals with a lot of topics that are potentially triggering including abuse toward queer characters, including mental, emotional, and on-the-page physical abuse; abuse toward a disabled character; anti-queer rhetoric and microaggressions; excessive swearing, including gendered insults; mentions of deceased parents; mentions of substance abuse and addiction; misgendering, including accidental and willful instances.
Our main character, Cyn, is trying to get out from under their abusive step-parents and bring life back to the land that has kept their family alive for centuries. I loved Cyn a lot, both because and despite the lack of thought they put into their decisions. They never read the fine print or take time to think through the possible consequences of their actions except when it came to making sure they were safe from their step-parents. There’s also a great political subplot that has a huge impact on everything for Cyn.
Each of the other characters in this story were incredibly real people, even the fae. My personal favorite side character was Lord Gafford who was so terribly bad at pretending to be a human that it left me literally laughing out loud. I loved the political villain’s motivation and I love that Cyn and their step-sisters get justice and a happy ending. It made a great change from what I expected. I would absolutely love to see another story set in this world.
I loved so much about Dithered Hearts, and I think you will, too.
It also deals with a lot of topics that are potentially triggering including abuse toward queer characters, including mental, emotional, and on-the-page physical abuse; abuse toward a disabled character; anti-queer rhetoric and microaggressions; excessive swearing, including gendered insults; mentions of deceased parents; mentions of substance abuse and addiction; misgendering, including accidental and willful instances.
Our main character, Cyn, is trying to get out from under their abusive step-parents and bring life back to the land that has kept their family alive for centuries. I loved Cyn a lot, both because and despite the lack of thought they put into their decisions. They never read the fine print or take time to think through the possible consequences of their actions except when it came to making sure they were safe from their step-parents. There’s also a great political subplot that has a huge impact on everything for Cyn.
Each of the other characters in this story were incredibly real people, even the fae. My personal favorite side character was Lord Gafford who was so terribly bad at pretending to be a human that it left me literally laughing out loud. I loved the political villain’s motivation and I love that Cyn and their step-sisters get justice and a happy ending. It made a great change from what I expected. I would absolutely love to see another story set in this world.
I loved so much about Dithered Hearts, and I think you will, too.
May 11, 2021
I stumbled across this book once when I was just browsing some LGBTQ+ books. I was immediately drawn into the idea of this story. A gender-confused Cinderella who finds herself attracted to her stepsisters. I had a few minor concerns, but this book was amazing.
Before I get into the review I need to mention: Be wary of the content warning that the author posts at the beginning of the book. These warnings include misgendering, abuse towards LGBT+ and disabled people, as well as mentions of deceased members and addiction.
This is a Cinderella retelling with some twists. Our main character is Cyn, a farmer very confused about how she identifies her gender. She lives with her stepmother, stepfather, and her two stepsisters. She doesn’t really have friends and her closest companion is Lord Gafford. He reveals himself to be her fairy godfather and brings her to the Prince’s ball as his daughter. While there she finds herself spending time with her stepsisters as well as with a charming young man.
Cyn is such a nice character. She wants to keep her farm safe because it belonged to her father and previous generations of her family. She really wants the drought to end so that the farm can become profitable again. Cyn is confused about her gender throughout the book and doesn’t appear to have a preference between they/them and she/her pronouns. She is protective and so full of love, but she’s also dealt with years of abuse.
I really loved all the characters in this story, at least all the ones who are meant to be liked. The prince is charming and unsure, but he’s so determined to take care of his people and make sure that everything is okay. Frey just wants to make sure that the prince doesn’t get killed in the process, especially when he remembers what happened to the prince’s father. The stepsisters seem very sweet, each with their own issues with the family, and I wish we had spent more time around them.
I had been a little concerned about the stepsister angle of this book, but I think it was handled beautifully. None of them are actually related to each other. Cyn was her father’s daughter, Elodie was the stepmother’s daughter, and Harlow is the stepfather’s daughter. I love how it was handled and that neither of the daughters were mean or evil.
The magic and fairies in this book were nice, if a bit weird to understand. Fairies can come to the human world and their magic is channeled through their conduits. They have two and if they lose one, they can still do some magic, but nothing as powerful as they could with two. It’s nice, but I will admit it took me a bit to become comfortable with it.
I really only had one minor issue with the book and that is the poly relationship. I love the relationship, don’t get me wrong. I just wish there had been more time to see the relationship develop between the three of them and watch as they grew more comfortable around each other and discussed the dynamics of their relationship.
I love this book. A nonbinary farmer, a queer prince, and a trans fairy godfather were enough to win me over. This book is full of the idea of finding your family, and I approve wholeheartedly. Apparently, Chace Verity is working on Isaac’s story. Personally, I can’t wait to read that book. I’m also going to likely end up checking out more of Verity’s works at some point in the future.
Before I get into the review I need to mention: Be wary of the content warning that the author posts at the beginning of the book. These warnings include misgendering, abuse towards LGBT+ and disabled people, as well as mentions of deceased members and addiction.
This is a Cinderella retelling with some twists. Our main character is Cyn, a farmer very confused about how she identifies her gender. She lives with her stepmother, stepfather, and her two stepsisters. She doesn’t really have friends and her closest companion is Lord Gafford. He reveals himself to be her fairy godfather and brings her to the Prince’s ball as his daughter. While there she finds herself spending time with her stepsisters as well as with a charming young man.
Cyn is such a nice character. She wants to keep her farm safe because it belonged to her father and previous generations of her family. She really wants the drought to end so that the farm can become profitable again. Cyn is confused about her gender throughout the book and doesn’t appear to have a preference between they/them and she/her pronouns. She is protective and so full of love, but she’s also dealt with years of abuse.
I really loved all the characters in this story, at least all the ones who are meant to be liked. The prince is charming and unsure, but he’s so determined to take care of his people and make sure that everything is okay. Frey just wants to make sure that the prince doesn’t get killed in the process, especially when he remembers what happened to the prince’s father. The stepsisters seem very sweet, each with their own issues with the family, and I wish we had spent more time around them.
I had been a little concerned about the stepsister angle of this book, but I think it was handled beautifully. None of them are actually related to each other. Cyn was her father’s daughter, Elodie was the stepmother’s daughter, and Harlow is the stepfather’s daughter. I love how it was handled and that neither of the daughters were mean or evil.
The magic and fairies in this book were nice, if a bit weird to understand. Fairies can come to the human world and their magic is channeled through their conduits. They have two and if they lose one, they can still do some magic, but nothing as powerful as they could with two. It’s nice, but I will admit it took me a bit to become comfortable with it.
I really only had one minor issue with the book and that is the poly relationship. I love the relationship, don’t get me wrong. I just wish there had been more time to see the relationship develop between the three of them and watch as they grew more comfortable around each other and discussed the dynamics of their relationship.
I love this book. A nonbinary farmer, a queer prince, and a trans fairy godfather were enough to win me over. This book is full of the idea of finding your family, and I approve wholeheartedly. Apparently, Chace Verity is working on Isaac’s story. Personally, I can’t wait to read that book. I’m also going to likely end up checking out more of Verity’s works at some point in the future.
September 25, 2021
This was a fun and super queer Cinderella retelling and just what I needed for the level of attention I could give it at the time. I really liked how queer it was and I really do mean queer in the sense that all the important characters were queer. Despite this, I guess I wasn't fully convinced about using real-world labels in this type of fantasy, but I suppose it's one way like another to convey the exact type of representation you're writing. It's just not something I'm used to but it wasn't unwelcome, it makes it easy to promote it and cater it to everyone who's looking for something specific.
I'm not too into this particular type of forbidden romance trope either, but it ultimately didn't bother me since the characters had little to no interaction before the facts of the book , and I was just happy to see a cute polyam relationship develop among two women and a nonbinary person. This was also one of the least amatonormative books I've read which I really appreciate.
I'm not too into this particular type of forbidden romance trope either, but it ultimately didn't bother me since the characters had little to no interaction before the facts of the book , and I was just happy to see a cute polyam relationship develop among two women and a nonbinary person. This was also one of the least amatonormative books I've read which I really appreciate.
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April 6, 2023Very much enjoyed this twist on Cinderella. Very queer. Both light-hearted and deep (pay heed to the CWs.)
That it took me a while to read isn't the book's fault, but my brain's. I've been having a really hard time focusing on anything.
That it took me a while to read isn't the book's fault, but my brain's. I've been having a really hard time focusing on anything.
July 27, 2019
I was lucky enough to find out about this book through Twitter with @LGBTReads promoting that there was still time to get an ARC via BookSprout for this story.
Queer, fairy tale retelling with some intrigue and possibly polyamory? That instantly grabbed me and I had to check this book out! I was so eager to check this story out I kind of glossed over some of the words listed in the cover. "Taboo Fantasy". But I'll get to that in a moment. I want to say that I commend the author for adding a content warnings page, along with marking off chapters that would have explicit scenes. It's great to inform readers so they know what they're getting into, even if some of the darker content didn't go into too much detail.
The story starts off at the ball, which is a surprising twist, but you quickly get a feel for the characters, meeting technically, the Fairy Godfather first, Lord Gafford, someone who's vocabulary could probably even put Chuck Wendig to shame. While I do like Gafford, his very colorful language did kind of put me off a bit at first. It just didn't fit in this analogous medieval era and where some of the words felt very modern. It's a minor thing and doesn't happen too often, but otherwise I really enjoyed how a poor fairy has to interact with the human world.
Our protagonist at the ball is Domine Cyn, as they're known while in disguise and we get a lovely introduction of their character and their goals, all the while struggling with their identity and what they like and how to present themselves at a pretty hoity toity ball while they're just a 'simple farmer person'. Something that also took a good while to get used to, but one aspect that I really enjoyed and hope to see as a trend, is the talk of gender and identity. While there is the scare of a world that would see anything beyond the binary as possibly something horrible, there's still chat of pronouns and acceptance of that. Like with the foul mouth of Lord Gafford, it's not something I'm used to seeing in fantasies set in the "past" even if it's not our world peray. I do think the author did incorporate it well and seamlessly, and it was kind of refreshing to see.
Cyn is charming in their down to earth way, and we get to see their determination of wanting to save the family farm and hopefully figure a way to beat the draught, along with also enjoying to be themselves in a mostly safe environment. Another lovely twist to this classic story is that the step-sisters aren't the truly bad ones. I've seen a few retellings that make it more complicated, but here, it's mainly because of how isolating the step parents are, among many other negative tags I'd put the parents as.
We get to meet the step-sisters throughout the ball and both the reader and Domine Cyne see them in a highly different light. Now, here's where I realized I was reading a wholly different kind of story and where me glossing over "Taboo Fantasy" brought a bit of a shock. Domine Cyn realizes they may have more than "sisterly/sibling" feelings for their step-sisters. The way it's portrayed is nicely done and no fault to the author. But sibling romances (even with no blood relations and even very few years of even acting as siblings) are very much NOT my thing. I had to think long and hard if I wanted to finish reading, but I was so enraptured already with Cyn and the other characters and the world building (just the casual acceptance and thoughts of identity really is so refreshing/affirming), that I kept on. And really, the step-sisters have a lot of personality that drew me to them, with Elodie's keen eyes and sharp wit, and Harlow's sweetness and clumsiness despite her stronger physique.
Also, when we meet the prince, he's a complete joy, both to Cyn and to everyone else he interacts with. I'm really glad we get a fully fleshed out character for the prince, with his own naivete and problems. And again, I have to point out that I just love the very inclusive writing, something even I have to remind myself to be more mindful of, as we see the prince always talking about needing to marry someone with a uterus to produce heirs, never just simply gendering or sticking to binary even with the setting being in old medieval like era with 'old fashioned thinking'. Just those little nuances to be more inclusive is really a delight.
The other character we do meet down the line is the prince's bodyguard. He was probably the weakest link of all the characters, where we don't get much of his perspective and background, only when really necessary. He's still engaging and such but the chemistry just didn't feel as good with all the other characters, but I still cared about what happened to him.
To add more complication than the original fairy tales, we get to have a bit of intrigue with how the fairy world interacts with humans and just how that can affect the lives of an entire kingdom. Along with lots of miscommunication and self doubt, it was really hard to put this book down as I wanted to know what happened next and see how Cyn and the others were going to figure it out. I really liked all the bits of magic and world building we get through the other character's POV chapters, and we get plenty, it's not all just through Cyn's POV to really help fill out everyone without being too info-dumpy. Though sometimes the foreshadowing often came right before what it was foreshadowing, which did feel a little clumsy at times.
A quick aside, the magic we do get is so wonderfully creative and descriptive, certainly one of my more favorite magical battle scenes I've seen in a while!
The romantic scenes were all very sweet, from secret letters to handkerchiefs, to just talk of the future and what ifs, and it's what really sold me to the relationships that Cyn makes through their journey. The sexy scenes just the right balance, not really too detailed, but enough to really enjoy, and a hint of the kinds of personalities we can expect from the partners in the bedroom, hehe.
I always like to review the cover, and I have to say, it's gorgeous! The coloring and model look perfect, along with the gilded mask and gold painted fingers. Usually I'm not for a rather monocolor styling but I think it helps here in making it seem more otherworldly and fairy like. Well done~!
This story really has it all, with characters from all through the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, along with differently abled bodies, polyamory, found family, and showcasing the different kind of love there is out there, just not romantic and sexual. This book may not be for everyone, either because of the taboo or the content warnings, and that's okay, but I do recommend this book to everyone, especially those of us who don't often get to see ourselves in happy fairy tale like stories.
Queer, fairy tale retelling with some intrigue and possibly polyamory? That instantly grabbed me and I had to check this book out! I was so eager to check this story out I kind of glossed over some of the words listed in the cover. "Taboo Fantasy". But I'll get to that in a moment. I want to say that I commend the author for adding a content warnings page, along with marking off chapters that would have explicit scenes. It's great to inform readers so they know what they're getting into, even if some of the darker content didn't go into too much detail.
The story starts off at the ball, which is a surprising twist, but you quickly get a feel for the characters, meeting technically, the Fairy Godfather first, Lord Gafford, someone who's vocabulary could probably even put Chuck Wendig to shame. While I do like Gafford, his very colorful language did kind of put me off a bit at first. It just didn't fit in this analogous medieval era and where some of the words felt very modern. It's a minor thing and doesn't happen too often, but otherwise I really enjoyed how a poor fairy has to interact with the human world.
Our protagonist at the ball is Domine Cyn, as they're known while in disguise and we get a lovely introduction of their character and their goals, all the while struggling with their identity and what they like and how to present themselves at a pretty hoity toity ball while they're just a 'simple farmer person'. Something that also took a good while to get used to, but one aspect that I really enjoyed and hope to see as a trend, is the talk of gender and identity. While there is the scare of a world that would see anything beyond the binary as possibly something horrible, there's still chat of pronouns and acceptance of that. Like with the foul mouth of Lord Gafford, it's not something I'm used to seeing in fantasies set in the "past" even if it's not our world peray. I do think the author did incorporate it well and seamlessly, and it was kind of refreshing to see.
Cyn is charming in their down to earth way, and we get to see their determination of wanting to save the family farm and hopefully figure a way to beat the draught, along with also enjoying to be themselves in a mostly safe environment. Another lovely twist to this classic story is that the step-sisters aren't the truly bad ones. I've seen a few retellings that make it more complicated, but here, it's mainly because of how isolating the step parents are, among many other negative tags I'd put the parents as.
We get to meet the step-sisters throughout the ball and both the reader and Domine Cyne see them in a highly different light. Now, here's where I realized I was reading a wholly different kind of story and where me glossing over "Taboo Fantasy" brought a bit of a shock. Domine Cyn realizes they may have more than "sisterly/sibling" feelings for their step-sisters. The way it's portrayed is nicely done and no fault to the author. But sibling romances (even with no blood relations and even very few years of even acting as siblings) are very much NOT my thing. I had to think long and hard if I wanted to finish reading, but I was so enraptured already with Cyn and the other characters and the world building (just the casual acceptance and thoughts of identity really is so refreshing/affirming), that I kept on. And really, the step-sisters have a lot of personality that drew me to them, with Elodie's keen eyes and sharp wit, and Harlow's sweetness and clumsiness despite her stronger physique.
Also, when we meet the prince, he's a complete joy, both to Cyn and to everyone else he interacts with. I'm really glad we get a fully fleshed out character for the prince, with his own naivete and problems. And again, I have to point out that I just love the very inclusive writing, something even I have to remind myself to be more mindful of, as we see the prince always talking about needing to marry someone with a uterus to produce heirs, never just simply gendering or sticking to binary even with the setting being in old medieval like era with 'old fashioned thinking'. Just those little nuances to be more inclusive is really a delight.
The other character we do meet down the line is the prince's bodyguard. He was probably the weakest link of all the characters, where we don't get much of his perspective and background, only when really necessary. He's still engaging and such but the chemistry just didn't feel as good with all the other characters, but I still cared about what happened to him.
To add more complication than the original fairy tales, we get to have a bit of intrigue with how the fairy world interacts with humans and just how that can affect the lives of an entire kingdom. Along with lots of miscommunication and self doubt, it was really hard to put this book down as I wanted to know what happened next and see how Cyn and the others were going to figure it out. I really liked all the bits of magic and world building we get through the other character's POV chapters, and we get plenty, it's not all just through Cyn's POV to really help fill out everyone without being too info-dumpy. Though sometimes the foreshadowing often came right before what it was foreshadowing, which did feel a little clumsy at times.
A quick aside, the magic we do get is so wonderfully creative and descriptive, certainly one of my more favorite magical battle scenes I've seen in a while!
The romantic scenes were all very sweet, from secret letters to handkerchiefs, to just talk of the future and what ifs, and it's what really sold me to the relationships that Cyn makes through their journey. The sexy scenes just the right balance, not really too detailed, but enough to really enjoy, and a hint of the kinds of personalities we can expect from the partners in the bedroom, hehe.
I always like to review the cover, and I have to say, it's gorgeous! The coloring and model look perfect, along with the gilded mask and gold painted fingers. Usually I'm not for a rather monocolor styling but I think it helps here in making it seem more otherworldly and fairy like. Well done~!
This story really has it all, with characters from all through the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, along with differently abled bodies, polyamory, found family, and showcasing the different kind of love there is out there, just not romantic and sexual. This book may not be for everyone, either because of the taboo or the content warnings, and that's okay, but I do recommend this book to everyone, especially those of us who don't often get to see ourselves in happy fairy tale like stories.
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February 27, 2022The Smut Report team is participating in Wendy the Super Librarian's #TBRChallenge 2022. Our goal: to dust off our TBRs once a month and talk about the book we read.
Erin's Pick:
Cyn is our non-binary Cinderella with a trans fairy godfather who whisks Cyn away to a ball thrown to find a wife for the local prince who doesn’t really want a wife on account of he is gay. At the ball, Cyn learns that her step-sisters, with whom she has not had cordial relationships, are living unhappily with their abusive parents just like Cyn is. Cyn also learns that her step-sisters are both attracted to her at the ball (though they don’t know who she is at that point), so this is also a poly relationship for these NB/F/F step-siblings. Plus we’ve got class divides between Cyn’s poverty-stricken non-noble family and the ostentatiously wealthy nobility we meet at the ball. There’s a lot going on here! And a lot to engage many readers!
I ended up DNFing this one, which bummed me out. I really struggled to engage with the very interesting premise because there were enough technical errors to be distracting, which I sometimes overlook, but also the narrative was heavily front-loaded with info dumps, which on the one hand definitely allow us to understand what’s going on in the kingdom and what the non-noble protagonists value and disdain, but on the other hand were so unsubtle that they ended up pushing me away from the story rather than pulling me into it.
Read our full TBR Challenge update at The Smut Report
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Erin's Pick:
Cyn is our non-binary Cinderella with a trans fairy godfather who whisks Cyn away to a ball thrown to find a wife for the local prince who doesn’t really want a wife on account of he is gay. At the ball, Cyn learns that her step-sisters, with whom she has not had cordial relationships, are living unhappily with their abusive parents just like Cyn is. Cyn also learns that her step-sisters are both attracted to her at the ball (though they don’t know who she is at that point), so this is also a poly relationship for these NB/F/F step-siblings. Plus we’ve got class divides between Cyn’s poverty-stricken non-noble family and the ostentatiously wealthy nobility we meet at the ball. There’s a lot going on here! And a lot to engage many readers!
I ended up DNFing this one, which bummed me out. I really struggled to engage with the very interesting premise because there were enough technical errors to be distracting, which I sometimes overlook, but also the narrative was heavily front-loaded with info dumps, which on the one hand definitely allow us to understand what’s going on in the kingdom and what the non-noble protagonists value and disdain, but on the other hand were so unsubtle that they ended up pushing me away from the story rather than pulling me into it.
Read our full TBR Challenge update at The Smut Report
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dnf
October 13, 2021DNF at 37%
I have loved a couple of stories from this author but this has a completely different tone that keeps throwing me off. Maybe I prefer angsty Chace to comedic Chace? Also there’s multiple POVs beyond the love interests and I’m not sure what to make of that choice. Perhaps I’ll try again later because I was so intrigued by the premise of a Cinderella retelling with a nonbinary MC.
Character notes: Cynthia is a 20 year old nonbinary farmer. Elodie is Cynthia’s 19 year old stepsister and a wheelchair user. Harlow is also Cynthia’s 19 year old stepsister. Lord Gafford is a trans fairy godfather. Dexter is a 20 year old gay prince.
Content notes: abusive stepfather, homophobia, closeted characters, famine, alcohol, Harlow’s mother left and her father prevented her from taking Harlow (spread rumor that she died instead), gendered insults, reference to stepfather’s past attempt to strangle MC
I have loved a couple of stories from this author but this has a completely different tone that keeps throwing me off. Maybe I prefer angsty Chace to comedic Chace? Also there’s multiple POVs beyond the love interests and I’m not sure what to make of that choice. Perhaps I’ll try again later because I was so intrigued by the premise of a Cinderella retelling with a nonbinary MC.
Character notes: Cynthia is a 20 year old nonbinary farmer. Elodie is Cynthia’s 19 year old stepsister and a wheelchair user. Harlow is also Cynthia’s 19 year old stepsister. Lord Gafford is a trans fairy godfather. Dexter is a 20 year old gay prince.
Content notes: abusive stepfather, homophobia, closeted characters, famine, alcohol, Harlow’s mother left and her father prevented her from taking Harlow (spread rumor that she died instead), gendered insults, reference to stepfather’s past attempt to strangle MC
March 18, 2022
I don't exactly dislike this book, but I also do not like it. There are multiple technical issues (it really needed another proofreading pass, for example) and worldbuilding issues--namely that the worldbuilding does not make much sense and appears to be "whatever the author wanted" which I am all about chasing your joy and writing the bits that appeal, but it's a little frustrating for me trying to figure out how this world even works.
I wasn't quite sure why it was that Cyn found their stepsisters so attractive; there didn't seem to be a whole lot of personality there.
I wasn't quite sure why it was that Cyn found their stepsisters so attractive; there didn't seem to be a whole lot of personality there.
March 3, 2024
This was my first Chace Verity book and I found it a really delightful exercise in wish fulfillment. Their writing has an outrageous and off-the-cuff quality that many romantic writers wish they could pull off. Verity's characters are charming and I found myself frequently smiling or laughing out loud at their predicaments and internal monologues. While there were some serious conflicts, they each resolved with just enough ease to be a comfort read. Definitely recommend if you need a heartfelt fairy-filled romp!
August 20, 2019
Utterly delightful
This fairy tale retelling might not follow the original script, but everyone involved gets a Happily Ever After far more believable than the original. From Myricks's creative vocabulary to Cyn's confusing gender, everything about this book made my heart sing. It kept me up well past my bedtime, and I can't wait to read more of the author's books.
This fairy tale retelling might not follow the original script, but everyone involved gets a Happily Ever After far more believable than the original. From Myricks's creative vocabulary to Cyn's confusing gender, everything about this book made my heart sing. It kept me up well past my bedtime, and I can't wait to read more of the author's books.
December 11, 2020
I really enjoyed this, it was mostly pretty charming, with characters who mostly meant well (except the villains!), and who cared for each other, even when they didn't know how or if they should show it. I really liked the variety of characters and relationships. It generally just made me feel very happy, which made it a lovely read!
September 23, 2021
This is a twist on a fairy tale as she is trying to get away from her stepparents and she hopes to marry a prince to save the farm. She will fall for her 2 stepsisters. A fairy godmother comes but has no magic. What will happen? Will there be a happy ending? See if there will be
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
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April 23, 2024DNF. Not for me. I'm not rating this because the issue is me and not the book. I don't enjoy the style of world building in this book. It felt very making-it-up-as-you-go-along, but to someone else it might feel fairytale-ish (which was the goal, I believe). Everything was too surface level, both world building and characters, and I lost interest.
November 13, 2020
I liked all the queer rep and the disability rep. Unfortunately, I had a hard time engaging in the actual story much beyond appreciating the representation.
CW: child abuse, incest (consensual, between step-siblings)
CW: child abuse, incest (consensual, between step-siblings)
March 2, 2021
This was a wild romp through one of the queerest Cinderella retellings I have ever read.
Cyn was a lovely protagonist with a strong voice and convictions. None of the other characters could quite hold up to her but they were still entertaining. Myrick as our resident fairy certainly lived up to their mischievous ways.
We have several point of views which meant a few times things were overly explained or clarified to get the story across.
Cyn was a lovely protagonist with a strong voice and convictions. None of the other characters could quite hold up to her but they were still entertaining. Myrick as our resident fairy certainly lived up to their mischievous ways.
We have several point of views which meant a few times things were overly explained or clarified to get the story across.
Want to read
November 11, 2019Aromantic pansexual character (the godfather)
October 21, 2020
SERVIU TUDO E MAIS UM POUCO
November 4, 2020
I thought this was a cute retelling, and a very original concept.
December 21, 2020
A fun rewrite of Cinderella. What happens if the handsome prince is gay? And Cinderella binary? And the ugly sisters beautiful? O, and the fairy godmother is male? Find out in this enjoyable read.
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July 9, 2021
Trigger & Content Warnings
Ableism
Queermisia
Misgendering
Emotional & physical abuse
Substance addiction mentioned
Death of a parent mentioned
Ableism
Queermisia
Misgendering
Emotional & physical abuse
Substance addiction mentioned
Death of a parent mentioned
September 4, 2021
Really sweet story and I love the way the glass slippers were reworked!!
September 26, 2021
Honestly can't remember why/when I picked this up, but I enjoyed reading it.
September 27, 2021
The love story ended up being a bit too taboo for me but the plot overall was really enjoyable and the characters were amazingly written!!
Want to read
January 18, 2022Queer retelling of Cinderella + polyamory sounds like it could be good..
June 4, 2024
Lovely and readable
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews