I loved the fresh approach the author takes in this fun and angsty story about a girl whose dream come true, only it's not exactly right... and it interferes with her new and unexpected dream. The narration of Charlotte's thoughts is highly entertaining, and I loved the balance of humor and depth. Anders is so sweet, and the glimpses into his struggles and vulnerabilities made him all the more real. I absolutely love the neighbor-friends-to-lovers trope, and this one was especially fun. Real world issues and concerns are dealt with in a realistic and flawed way, but the characters learn and grow and apologize and forgive- several times! They handle through new relationship arguments and disagreements in a way that felt authentic- working through pride and regret with love and compassion. It was interesting to see the many people and elements demanding and pulling at Charlotte for her time, attention, and willingness to change and/or stay the same. There are complex family dynamics from both Charlotte and Anders relatives that added depth and perspective. I especially enjoyed Charlotte's stepsister and their interactions. I couldn't put the book down as I read to see how everything would resolve- another midnight finish for me!

(I received a complimentary copy of the book; all opinions in this review are my own)

A beautiful, modern retelling of Cinderella, although plenty of other fairy tales are mixed in. I loved the feel-good vibe early on; it’s part of what hooked me. Then things turned tense and award and I just had to keep reading to see what choices were made. I could not put the story down. The realistic look at what happens when we get swept up in a dream is a wonderful wake-up call to all of us. Another highly recommended book in the Proper Romance Series.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own gladly given.

I was really excited when I saw that this was a retelling of Cinderella, however, I had major difficulty seeing parallels. With all that being said there are a lot of things that this author does that makes this book totally stand on it’s own merit.

This story centers around Charlotte (aka, Char, Lettie), who works for a job she hates and wants to become an author. She feels like she has been rejected for the last time when she basically writes her manifesto. This book quickly gets picked up and a lot of buzz surrounds the release of her new book.

At the same time, her best friend and neighbor Anders, wants to pursue a relationship with Lettie, which she absolutely wants. Charlotte is thrown into a new world, one where appearances matter and that does not totally align with Anders and how he perceives Charlotte should have to act in order for this book to be published. Charlotte has hard choices to make regarding her relationships, her career and what she really wants.

This book had many highs and some lows with it. The first quarter was a bit of a slog, but once I got through that I just enjoyed so much. This to me was more coming of age than a romance. This was a fun romp that is very nice palate cleanser.

Thank you NetGalley and Shadow Mountain for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ugh -- try as I might, I cannot like this book! When I read the description, I was super excited. When I received my ARC, I was super bummed.

The story just never got off the ground for me. Charlotte is just sort of blah -- I don't love her. I don't hate her. I'm completely indifferent to her. Anders is okay, but again -- no real connection. Kat, Charlotte's little sister, was my favorite character. She had some life in her!

Not sure what this story was missing, but it was missing for me.

I would try another book by Ms. Wright.

I really wanted to like this one. While I'm not majorly into Cinderella retellings, this one seemed like it would contain less of an abusive and narcissistic family and contain more of a girl who really comes into her own throughout the story. While those points are true: her family are not completely horrible, though she clashes with her mother and she does come to realize things throughout the book. I just didn't care for what those things were.

The first 10-15% felt like a constant reiteration of author struggles that went just over the line of authentic for my tastes. Then the MC gets a book deal and while I do think that marketing and social media play a large role, especially in today's world, it felt a little extreme to me. The entire plotline of the MC not being able to have a romance felt off to me as well. My work involves a lot of social media and people love a love story. I think they could have spun that relationship in a way that allowed it to exist but caused friction between the couple. That would have felt far more realistic. Especially as the book is a self-help book to your own "Cinderella story" I'm kind of tired of the narrative that in order to be an empowered and independent woman, you have to be single as well.

I felt like the MC was repeatedly given huge pushes, especially from her author friend, in how to navigate the publishing and book release world and the MC ignored her every step of the way. I felt like I had a neon sign in my mind pointing to the correct course of action for the MC and she was like "nah, I'll ignore all the good advice." It was so frustrating!

As the final nail in the coffin, the romance felt so blah and bland and a minor subplot to the story. The only hint we even got of any chemistry between the two of them was the MC's aversion to the love interest potentially getting engaged with his current girlfriend. He came to the conclusion of breaking up with that girlfriend and attempting a relationship with the MC on his own, off page, and then they decided to try it out in a scene that felt so dry that it was like a business meeting. Then the romance featured in very little of the story until the very end of the book.

Overally, I had high hopes but this one just wasn't for me.

This is my third novel by Julie Wright and she has a way of crafting characters that makes them leap off the page. I felt that I was friends with the main character in this story, Lottie. I related to her desire to follow her passions and write a book. In fact, one of my favorite lines in novel was "I was not a normal person, I was a writer." My heart ached for Lottie as her dreams kept getting crushed and have also been known to drown my sorrows in ice cream.
Anders is such a good friend and steady influence in Lottie's life. He supports her creative aspirations, while also grounding her to the realities of life. This was such a beautiful and fun story that was a lighthearted romance, but also delved into more complex matters like torn family relationships and the affects of social media. All of those balancing together to make this a complete delight to read!

Thank you NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for the eARC!

A smart, sexy and charming romance which I spent a dreamy weekend falling in love with these characters and I hope more people will do. Well done Julie Wright. Happy reading!!

I loved the beginning of this with the excerpts from "The Cinderella Fiction". This book follows an author who hasn't been successful. The rejections pile up and it break down her spirit leading her to write the truth about fairy tales into a self-help book.

Surprisingly enough, that self help book is a huge hit and how Lettie handles all the changes. I felt like this book was pretty predictable, slow-paced and more of a women's fiction than romance.

This book was more tell than show and I wish there was more interaction with secondary characters to move the plot along but it was mainly being in the Lettie's head and following her days which weren't super interesting. Everything was patched up pretty quickly and perfectly and I think there could've been more growth for the character.

I received this book from #netgalley and these are my opinions.

This was such a cute fun read, I really enjoyed it! Julie Wright is a great author. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

I enjoyed this light romance. It had a twist of Cinderella, but I wouldn't really classify it as a fairy tale retelling. The fairy tale references were fun. The beginning of the book started out slow and had a hard time keeping my attention. The middle was enjoyable. The romance resolved nicely, as good romance novels do. The external story, Charlotte's new life as a writer, wrapped up too fast for me to be fully satisfying. Overall, I found the story, light, entertaining, and fun.

A modern-day story very loosely following Cinderella, this story had the stuff of fairy tales- wicked stepmother (played by both her real mother and her PR consultant), step sister, fairy godmother (or good friend), and handsome prince. In a bit of a twist, the main character, Charlotte, becomes famous for writing a book about how life *isn't* a fairy tale. She gets caught up in the whirlwind of book promotion and begins to lose sight of who she truly is. This damages her relationship with her boyfriend.

I enjoyed this book, but it was not one of my favorites. I felt that the relationship between Charlotte and Anders was not properly developed. Within the first few chapters they go from being best friends to dating. We don't really explore any of the relationship growth between them because they were already best friends. Most of the book is spent telling us that there is some tension between them due to the stresses of Charlotte's new PR people. I will admit, I felt a bit tense during the whole story, waiting for the other shoe to drop. It eventually did, but not in a way that I thought fit with Anders' character up to that point. Then the resloution was a bit too clean for me- in my opinion, Charlotte took too much of the blame after what Anders did.

The character with the most growth was actually Charlotte's mother. It was an intersting arc and I liked how the author explored the relationship between Charlotte and her mother and how it changed based on Charlotte's decisions.

I also liked how at the end, Charlotte realizes she likes aspects of the person she's become. She doesn't completely reject the "new her" as so often happens in books like this. I appreciate the acknowledgment that people have more depth to what make them who they are, and it isn't always bad or superficial to enjoy nice things, or to make changes in our lives that others may not understand.

I did like the main characters. Charlotte is relatable, her sister is sweet, and Anders is the type of guy easy to develop a crush on. As I said before, my complaint was that his behavior at the end did not seem in line with his behavior throughout the rest of the book.

I gave this book three stars. It was entertaining and I did continue reading, particularly as I was worried about the relationship between Charlotte and Anders. The ending dropped it from a 4 to a 3. I think it could have been devopled better, or we could have had better lead-up to it to make it seem more fitting for the character.

Glass Slipper will have readers laughing, crying and smiling from first to last page. This take on the Cinderella Fairy Tail will have readers falling in love with author Julie Wright.

The story does fall the story line but what the Author changed was how the female lead character changes everything about herself. While sometimes we all need make overs this one seemed or felt a little extreme for the characters reader fell in love with.

Julie Wright has the ability to write fun, witty dialogue that flows and feel natural.

Thank you to Netgalley for the Advance copy of Julie Wright Glass Slipper, Ever After Me.

This book was unexpected for me. I loved the premise and the storyline, but I felt the author carried it out in such a unique way that I never quite knew what to expect. I loved that it wasn’t so predictable.

Charlotte or “Lettie” was a likeable protagonist. She definitely has her quirks but she comes through for those she cares about. Seeing all the angst she went through as an author opened my eyes up to a whole new world. Sometimes while reading I kept feeling like I was holding my breath, waiting for the train wreck to happen, because she was very human and made mistakes.

Anders was a loyal and caring friend to Lettie, and I really enjoyed seeing their relationship change over time. Even with their crazy schedules, difficult family relationships, invasive social media, and sometimes poor choices, I loved the changes that came and the growth that resulted in their love story.

This clean romance is a unique twist on the idea of happily-ever-after, and I’m curious if we’ll have a sequel (I would love a story about Kat!)

My favorite part of this book was hearing Anders' grandfather speak Swedish. My mother was a native Swede who came to the states in her early 20's to marry my father, the American cowboy. The problem was that I understood what Farfar was saying while Lettie could not. I had to remind myself that she wouldn't know what he was saying. ha ha. But it was fun for me.

Now to the actual story. I loved the friendship between Anders and Lettie. And I loved the relationship between Lettie and her sister. So much of this book was about relationships; the relationships between friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors but also the relationship with oneself. Each relationship has to adapt and change as the people in them change, sometimes for good and sometime for bad and the people grow and change along with the relationships. I think that both Anders and Lettie had some growing pains in their relationship. And both of them made some hurtful mistakes.

It took a quarter of the book to get to the point in the story that the blurb talks about. That first part felt a little slowish to me. It was a necessary part to understand Lettie's frustrations and explained why she might be willing to go along with everything the publicist dictated but maybe took a little too long?

The book is fun. The characters likable. I enjoyed the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Overall, an enjoyable read. And I feel like I learned a little bit about publishing.

No sex, language or violence

I've really enjoyed all of Julie Wright's books, and this one was no exception. For personal preference, I did think she rambled a lot internally, so I skimmed a bit when Lettie was inside her head, but overall such a fun read!

This book started out a little slow for me, mainly because Lettie has a tendency to take two paragraphs to say or think something that could have been said in about two sentences instead--which was consistent through the book and often quite witty but it was pretty wordy and it took some time for me to adjust to that. Partway through, though, things clicked for me and I did end up really liking the book. While on the one hand, of course you want Lettie to just tell her publisher and everyone to back off, it was also understandable that as she's finally achieving her dreaming of being published and in a sense entering a whole new world that she would feel (and cave to) the pressure they're putting on her. So, the conflict seemed realistic. I really liked Anders--he was sweet but not flawless.
Good choice for those looking for a sweet contemporary romance.

I read an ARC provided by the publisher via #NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

#GlassSlippersEverAfterAndMe

(4.5 stars) - A witty and surprisingly thoughtful story

This book is more of a relationship development romance despite its classic plot conflict structure. The story reads like you're there in the middle of all that's happening to Lettie. I loved the interactions and dialogue between her and Anders - they were so sweet and funny.

I also liked seeing how Lettie was growing as a person. She was pretty remarkable already for having such a difficult family life & still being able to view them fairly honestly, but having grown up with a dictatorial mom has left her somewhat vulnerable to her dictatorial publicist.

So even though she's learned when and how to navigate thru & around her mom's dictates, she's fearful and insecure enough to be uncertain of where to draw the lines in her new situation, even at those times when she knows better logically. She keeps moving forward, though, and that's one of the things that I loved about her.

Anders is a little more challenging because we don't have as much insight into his thought processes & what makes him tick. He's a wonderful friend, for the most part, but he emotionally swamps (understandably, with his job, and the way Lettie helps him thru it is another touching aspect of their relationship) and it seems like he keeps too much to himself.

That's part of the story's weakness though - a lot of Ander's efforts to tell Lettie are mentioned in the narrative rather than the dialogue & we don't fully get where he's at mentally with it all.

***SPOILER-ISH (I think most readers will see it coming)
I'm not sure if that would even be enough because it still ends up seeming like a betrayal when he essentially puts her struggles "on display" for public consumption without talking to her about it first. As well as he knew her, it was very odd that he didn't anticipate how upset she would be, nor seem to understand when she was.
***END SPOILER-ISH***

The reconciliation feels so real and beautiful that you can easily believe they've found their happily-ever-after.

*Clean romance level: sweet kisses

[Review to post on release date to blog, Amazon, BN, & BookBub as well as social media]

I definitely enjoyed this book! The plot grabbed me from the beginning and kept my interest most of the time. I would have liked to feel the spark between Lettie and Anders a bit more; you can tell they’re the very best of friends and have feelings for each other, but it needed a bit more oomph. However, I truly enjoyed the story overall and in particular loved her younger sister Kat, Lettie’s father, and also enjoyed reading about Lettie’s mother’s character development. I will definitely read more by this author in the future.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. I felt that everything was kind of rushed once Charlotte got her book deal. This wasn't a gradual "Let's change your whole look" as she continued to get famous, this was right off the bat, "You look poor and we can't have that." I don't really understand the marketing behind books, but this seemed rather unauthentic nowadays. I also don't understand why she needed to come off as single for a book. I guess non-fiction books are different than fiction, but as a reader, I don't really care about an author's personal life. I thought it was a little too unrealistic to truly enjoy it.

I did, however, enjoy the building of the romance between her and Anders and her relationship with her sister, Kat. I would have liked to see more growth between her and her mother, but I guess real life doesn't have everything wrapped up in a neat bow by the end of the book. I also liked that the hot shot author turned out to be her biggest supporter and became a valuable friend. I liked that the women weren't pitted against each other even if they were writing difference genres.

This was a slow read for me, but that's because I didn't really get attached to anyone, and I wasn't interested in the whole "Let me change myself so I can get a book deal" story line. But if you're looking for a nice easy read, this is for you.

This book absolutely, positively goes in my keeper file. A second chance romance that really puts this couple through heartbreaking emotional and physical pain.