A really good book though it was slow paced in my opinion. Still very interesting and well executed though!! Overall, solid 3 star read. Though I did get bored during reading it during some points. Especially the beginning being a bit drawn out for me.

Return to Enchantia and meet the Glass Queen in this second installment of Gena Showalter‘s series Forest of Good and Evil. I devoured this book! I really enjoyed The Evil Queen, and truth be told, I wasn’t sure how the sequel would live up. However, I am here to tell you that The Glass Queen is a heart-stopping addition to the series, worthy of any and all praise it receives.

Princess Ashleigh Charmaine is known as the Glass Princess. Born with a weak heart, she has never been seen as strong enough to survive and rule her kingdom. As she ages though, a power is awakening in her, one that she isn’t sure she controls. I love Ashleigh. Her entire character arc proves that she will be a just and fair queen, if she is ever really given the chance.

Saxon was first introduced in The Evil Queen, a friend of Prince Roth and the heir to the Avian throne, whether he wants it or not. I wasn’t really sure how I felt about Saxon starting this book. His interactions with Everly were not the best. However, I quickly fell in love with him. The credit for that goes to the dual points of view. The chapters alternate between Saxon and Ashleigh, which just served to endear him to me.

The plot revolves around the prophecy surrounding Ashleigh and Saxon. Saxon is in his third reincarnation as one of the ruthless leaders of the Avians. Fate continues to bring him and a witch together. However this time the witch (Ashleigh) seems to not remember him nor does she have any of her previous powers. With her father vying to control all the kingdoms, Ashleigh must strike a bargain to work with the man who hates her most, whether she understands his hatred or not.

Overall I loved The Glass Queen. This twisted Cinderella retelling had me guessing right to the end. Steamy and sweet, the romance is heart-aching and sure to tug at your heartstrings. If you enjoy fairytale retellings, you need this one asap.

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

While I am not the biggest Showalter fan, I did really enjoy this book. This series is very good. I like it a lot more than her other series.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

I think what I like the most about this series is the fact that nothing is ever quite what it seems to be, and there's a whole lot of grey area.

Ashleigh is something else. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I liked her for the most part, but there were a few parts that had me cringing.

It's been a minute since I read book one, so there were some references that I didn't quite understand, but that's not the book's fault.

I love this author! This series is so good. It is fast-paced, with great characters and an awesome story. I would recommend!

I received this ARC from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

My goodness this was good I was slightly worried that book two in this series wouldn’t match the previous experience I had but it did and I literally inhaled this I was that invested in the unfolding story.
So we are back in Enchantia and this time it’s the cinder girl or Cinderella as the fairytale focus.
Again this is a loosely based freshly unique retelling that borrows from that story but it’s mostly a symbolic resemblance rather than a tired seen before rehash.

This is incredibly imaginative and totally separate borrowing ideas and sentiments rather than actual plot directions from the original.
This time we get dual POV and like the first book this has some very dark roots and though I described the first book as mature YA I felt that this one had a much more adult vibe to it but genre-wise it’s again dark mature YA.

So Saxon the Avian Prince we met in book one is the love interest here and princess Ashleigh is his potential Cinder.
It’s an enemy to lovers story and is filled with magic, dragons, possession, obsession and a love story that has been playing out on a loop for aeons stuck on repeat until a new chapter again unfolds with the hope that this time it will play out differently and happiness will be achieved.

I do think you definitely need to read the first book in this series as there are certain things that may fly over your head without that input.
There’s also previous players that again make an appearance in this one and though a different story this is also a continuation of the plotline we were introduced to previously.

Its fast-paced slow burn and very well written with multi-faceted and imperfect characters that grow so much throughout the course of all this.
I was incredibly impressed with how we arrived where we did the trials that were overcome and the lesson learned along the way.
Another five-star read and I’m definitely hoping there’s more to come from this fascinating world as it’s seriously addictive.
I can’t wait to see who’s story will play-out next and also which fairy-tale inspiration will be the next muse.
This gets the full five-stars from me no issue I absolutely loved it and do recommend.
I voluntary reviewed a copy of The Glass Queen (The Forest Of Good And Evil #2).

This was my first from Gena Showalter and let me tell you, that was a mistake. You definitely need to read the first book The Evil Queen. But I enjoyed her writing so much, I’m definitely going back to read the first book (and probably a lot of her backlist!) This reminded me of the Folk of the Air series and a little of ACOTAR in the best ways. I think if you enjoy YA fantasy with some steam and more adult topics mixed in, you’d enjoy this.

This is book two in what I'm calling Gena Showalter's Enchantia series. She started this YA series set in the world of Enchantia with the first book The Evil Queen.

You get a little bit of a continuation of that story arc here but a whole bunch of new characters and a new story. This is the story of Ashleigh whose mother is trying to save her and therefore forces a prophecy on her. But in doing so she becomes possessed by another being called Leonora. Ashleigh has a heart condition so she's always been considered the glass princess and then on top of that she has the prophecy of cinderella spoken over her.

In this world, a lot of fairy tales are used as prophecies that guide the path of the characters who live here. Ashleigh has never really gotten a lot of love from her father and then her mother passes away. She's is pushed off to the side. At the same time, we have Saxon, who is an avian a ruler in his own right, who sees Ashleigh as an enemy.

This an enemy to love kind of story, which I very much appreciated. Here we have a story about a girl who doesn't understand what's going on with herself but has an inner strength even if she doesn't have physical strength. And then you have this very war-hardened character, Saxon, who slowly starts to mellow out. It is nice to see Showalter playing through all of this.

We have Ashleigh's father who never really loved her but has remarried. Ashleigh now has some step-siblings and of course, the king has put out a challenge for her stepsister's handed marriage. This all culminates in a whole bunch of people vying for power.

Oh, and there are dragons in this story!!! Which I think sold this story more than anything else.

I will say that I enjoyed this book a lot more than I enjoyed the first book. I found the romance a little bit more palatable and things laid out a little bit more cohesively.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.

This was an entertaining story set in the world of fairytales. Ashleigh knows that she is an incarnation of one of the characters from the tale of Little Cinder. She wants to be the heroine, but she doesn't seem to have any of her warriorlike abilities or physical strength.

Prince Saxon has made a vow of revenge against Princess Ashleigh. She is the reincarnation of the evil witch Leonora- who destroyed his home and family.

Which story is true? And who can Ashleigh and Saxon trust?

This enemies to lovers story is an imaginative retelling.

The Glass Queen (The Forest of Good and Evil #2). By Gena Showalter. 2020. Inkyard Press (ARC eBook).

At Princess Asheigh Charmaine’s fate was tied to birth to the Little Cinder Girl prophecy. But she was born as frail as glass and failing by the minute. To keep her alive Ashleigh’s mother descends with her into the dungeon, striking a bargain with an imprisoned witch to save her baby’s life.

Now as an adult, banished to the enhanted forest by her cruel father after her mother’s death, she is still deemed too sickly and unfit to rule. But when her father, King Phillip, calls her back to the palace for the warrior games that are being hosted for Asheigh’s step-sister’s hand in marriage, she is assigned as liaison to the Avian King, Saxon. Saxon is also born to the Little Cinder Girl prophecy, but surely he isn’t the charming prince as he can’t seem to hold back his animosity towards Ashleigh. When past and future prophecies collide, will the two of them be able to save their kingdoms on the verge of war?

I don’t read many YA books, but I’ve liked many of Showalter’s LOTU books and was intrigued by synopsis for The Glass Queen. So I gave it a read and really enjoyed it. A lot of entertaining and unique world building, some well-executed twists, and Ashleigh and Saxon were quite the adversaries-turned-lovers.

Haven't read a Gena Showalter in a long time. So when this popped up in wanted to give it a try. And since it's a fairytale retelling, why not?

This book centers around Cinderella. And told in an unexpected way. In this one she has Princess Ashleigh Charmaine who had been sick since birth, her mother has called on a witch to give her a fighting chance to live. Suddenly she has a part to play in the Cinder Prophecy. But her parents aren't very good people and continue to treat her terribly. The prince she's destined to marry sees her once and immediately despises her.

What made this terrible story so compelling was the heroine. Her courage to never give up no matter who treated her like crap made me love her so much more. I hate weak willed heroines. Her fierceness for putting aside her weakened body and doing what she needed to do will draw you in. There's a slow burn romance that was very unique. Seeing them unravel and become close was fantastic. Even though it's a tangled web of deceit involving someone's family.

This book has almost everything I love in story: Enemies-to-lovers, some conflict that may or may not involve friends and foes. I suggest that you read these books in order because there might be slight spoilers and some backstory that first book probably covered that I had questioned. And this is supposed to be YA but I would consider this more NA, because this reeks of a Grimm Fairytale and nothing like a Disney Tale.

I suggest this book to anyone who loves Gena Showalter and fairy tales in general.

4/5 stars

Special Thanks to Netgalley and Inkyard Press.

I love this author and I love this series! It is fast-paced, illustrative, and insanely unique. YA Fantasy lovers everywhere need to pick this series up ASAP!

Fairytale retellings aren’t something that I seek out, but I’m very glad that I read Gena Showalter’s The Glass Queen, featuring the story of Cinderella retold in a way that I certainly didn’t expect. In this second installment of her Forest of Good and Evil series, Princess Ashleigh Charmaine is sickly and unwanted from birth, her only hope to live was her mother summoning a witch to hopefully bestow magic upon her to give her strength and keep her alive. But when an oracle announces that Ashleigh is destined to play a part in the Cinder prophecy, her father keeps her under his thumb yet doesn’t treat her any better than dirt underneath his shoes. Even the Avian prince she should be bound to, Prince Saxon, despises her as soon as he sees her at her mother’s funeral.

Princess Ashleigh was a fantastic character. She never gave up no matter how badly her father or anyone else treated her, and even when she was sent away to live elsewhere, she made the best of it until she was called home. She was a passionate, smart woman, and although she was born into a weak body, she didn’t let that keep her down. Her fierce attitude and spark intrigued me from the first pages.

The slow burn relationship that develops between Ashleigh and Saxon was such a mystery that unraveled throughout the book. They are involved in a way that I didn’t expect, and it was a tangled web for those two–along with Saxon’s family–to get past.

I give The Glass Queen a five out of five. I really loved that this book has so much to enjoy: enemies to lovers romance, angsty backstabbing where you don’t know who’s your friend or foe, dragons, magic, and lots of battle scenes. One thing that had me scratching my head was the character Everly and her modern day way of speaking, but I guess she was the main character from the first book so that was all covered there. It wasn’t explained at all in this installment. While this is billed as YA, I’d say it skews on the older end of YA for sure. This definitely was the Grimm version of the fairytale, not the Disney version, and I enjoyed every page.

I thought I was really going to like this series. Unfortunately, I DNF'd the first book about halfway through. I wasn't in the mood for this type of book at the time, and due to the large amounts of books I want to really read, I ended up putting this series down.

I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. While I did really enjoy this book the first had a lot more wow factors. They both tie in together, I would still continue the series. I just think this one has a few scenes where it was hard to get into.

Not entirely sure what magic Gena Showalter possess but she has done it again and killed it. This book is the second in a series of fairytale retellings, this time focusing on Cinderella (the first on Snow White). Absolutely adored the characters and how unique this retelling was.

This one can be read alone or after the evil queen (though I love The Evil Queen so much I would highly recommend reading that one as well!)

This book is fantastic!! I loved the romance and action. The character and the cameos. You can read this book without reading the EveilnQueen but I highly recommend that one as well!!!! Not a fan of fairytale retellings but this one was done perfectly.

The Glass Queen is the second book in a series of retellings, this one focuses on Cinderella.
I really enjoyed this, there was so much sass and sarcasm.
I totally shipped the love interest, we had a hate to love thing going on.
I will say, the magic system could’ve used some flushing out, but overall it very much worked for me.
I will definitely be continuing on with this series.

Many thanks to the publisher and author for an advanced copy of this wonderful tale in exchange for an honest review.
First off, I would like to note that I adored the first book in this series. Second, I would like to announce that this one is now my new favorite. Also, there is a hint of what the next one will be, but I will not spoil the possible tale for anyone. The Glass Queen is a Cinderella... not retelling, but a reimagining. As with her other book, this is a vague hint of a tale where any character can be multiple characters from their fairytale prophecy. Huh? What I mean is that often the characters act in ways that could make them a "good guy" or "bad guy" like in the previous book. Why did I love this story more than the last? Cinderella is my second favorite story, other than Beauty and the Beast (because, you know, Belle is smart and loves to read). The chemistry between the characters is strong from the beginning whether they are feuding, bonding, betraying, or working for one another even though it may not look like it at the time. We even get to see our favorite characters from the last book!
Ashleigh is a brilliant young woman who is treated poorly. Only loved by her mother, she is still kind and wishes and longs for love from other people. However, fate has made her life miserable. No one wants the Glass Princess. Her health is too fragile and she would be a waste to wed for the men of the kingdom who want heirs. Apparently her only worth is childbearing. Not. She has inner strength and an imagination that helps her design and create beautiful, deadly objects that will help her in the long run. What she does no know that, while on her bumpy path of life, she will come toe to toe with winged people who despise her. In order to fulfill her prophecy, she will have to overcome her own feelings of distrust, longing for familial love, and a lifetime of being considered no good enough to live long enough to see her prophecy come to fruition.
This was a great book and one of my favorite of the year. Hopefully it will be yours as well!

“Once upon a time, in a magical land teeming with good and evil, a beautiful queen birthed an incredibly special daughter.”

“Strong of heart and fast as wind. A warrior set apart, unwilling to bend.”

Princess Ashleigh Charmaine-Anskelisa is to play a part in ‘The Little Cinder Girl’ fairy tale. Her role is not pre-determined though, which means she could have the potential for either good or evil. The choices of all characters involved in this fairy tale can change the outcome.

First, I cannot get enough of Gena’s writing style. This is the first book of hers that I’ve read and I couldn’t stop until the book was done. She writes with twists and turns masterfully placed, so you won’t know what to expect next…

Saxon Skylair is the prince of my dreams (and I’m sure he will be for others too). If I could trade places for a role in this fairy tale I would – is all I’m saying.

What makes these characters so incredible is their flaws. None of them are perfect (a pet peeve in YA books are perfect characters). They screw up, make wrong choices, try to do what they think is the right thing.

“Love is patient, love is kind. Hate will stab you from behind.”

Wow, I only have two questions: how excited are you to read this book? And when can we get this series made into some movies? I’ll be first in line to see them!!