This story is basically an origin story of the Evil Queen from Snow White. I will start by saying the writing in this book is good. The dialogue flows and is realistic. I absolutely loved Rhiandra in her humble beginnings. Draven as well. He is obviously not a nice person, which is probably why I loved reading about him. I thought there was far too much imagery in the story. I understand the need for some of it but I couldn't care less what the walls look like or the flowers. I found myself nodding off during a lot of this book because of overly described imagery.
Rhiandra is described in the description of this book as power hungry but I didn't find that at all. She is a product of terrible circumstances and has grit to her that drives her to be the best at whatever she does. She has been given a ton of unfairness in her life and what some call "power-hungry," I call survival driven. She didn't ask for any of this and she has to make terrible choices because she only has terrible options. I love the way she refuses to let people walk all over her. I wish there had been less nature imagery. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been bored. It isn't terribly exciting but more of an easy read.

"What a perfect villian you'd make"

Told from the pov of the "evil queen" HDR was a great start to the series.

Even though, there was alot of politics it was interesting and easy to follow, I feel there were alot of Easter eggs dropped ready for the second book.

The Yawn and its creatures really have my attention, I can't wait to explore it.

I wish we had Duel pov, I think that really would have helped connect the reader to the main characters and the motivation behind it all.
Also I feel Draven could have been around a little more to check on his investment.

I found I felt like I was missing information, the Yawn for example could have been explored more, which I'm sure will come in time but for a first in a series I wanted more explanation of places, creatures to really set up the rest of the series.

Special thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review

i really wanted to enjoy this book, but it did not work for me personally. i should have known better, but you live and learn. so thanks so much, netgalley for the chance to read this early!!

I received a copy of this ebook from NetGalley and will provide an honest review.

I loved this, and then I got bored and less impressed.

Basically, this is a reimagining of the story of the evil queen from Snow White. Our FMC is said evil queen. She is smaaaart and sneaky and I loved her. Truly, all the way through. I got bored with the plot once she became queen. And since her whole thing was being clever and manipulative, it’s dumb that the plot basically rests on her being manipulated in turn.

Everything about Draven is confusing and I got a little sick of that. I understand story telling, and letting the plot unfold, but I’m less interested in reading on because of the mystery. I wish we had gotten just a little more about him, a hint of what’s to come, to make up for the unknown.

You know what I absolutely hated? The woman on woman hate. The FMC comes from a background of working in a brothel style establishment. So she starts out being non judgmental even when others in her position are cruel to her. And I hated the plots against her by the other women. But then she got some power and she started lashing out against other women as well. I got so sick of that. And what is the deal with Sen? That whole thing was weird and feels underdeveloped.

There is some explicit sexual content, but no more then two peppers haha. The “romance” is lame and I’m not invested. And there is a cliffhanger.

I was not the reader for this book. So I’m giving it three stars for how great it started.

There are two things I love (obviously there are more than two things that I love BUT) and that is a retelling and a morally gray heroines/heroes. I'm excited to see where this series goes. I could have used a little bit more character development in the relationships, and I definitely wanted more spice, but the political intrigue and reimagining of the story of Snow White was on point.

I honestly didn't expect to like this book, but I LOVED it! I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Rhiandra is my kind of heroine... ambitious, tough, and willing to do anything to make her life go in the direction it was intended. A horrible accident changes Rhiandra's existence and after a struggle to get things under control she is given an option to make her life exactly what she has always wanted. But at what cost? And what will be the consequences of accepting the offer and playing a part in the unsanctioned magic that she is tempted with?

I have been slowly dabbling my way in to reading fantasy and this was a great book for that. A reimagining of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was just the thing to reel me in!

Reader Beware: MASSIVE CLIFFHANGER! Man, oh man. Where do I even begin? First of all, check your trigger warnings. The author provides them on her Goodreads page, but they are not included at in the ARC version. This was really unputdownable. There's romance, politics, schemes, and magic! This is an original take on the Evil Queen from Snow White as her villain origin story. I really enjoyed the world building and can't wait to see how this story continues in the next installment!

Thank you Net Galley and to the publisher for the ARC!

Through a series of unfortunate circumstances, Rhiandra is forced to make a deal with the mysterious & dangerous magic weirder Draven.

I found the beginning very interesting and fast paced, but then it slowed down and I had to force myself to keep reading.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hailey Jade, and Xpresso Book Tours for a copy.

I loved this retelling of the Evil Queen from Snow White. It was such a great read on how she became the infamous villian. Also loved how she made the magic and the mirror make so much sense.

I adore fairy tale retellings, it reminds me of my childhood. What I liked about the book is the antagonist is given their own narrative to shine. Although I would have preferred more romance in this dark romance, it was still a fantastic novel.
Thank you netgalley and the author for giving a copy.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love fantasy and this was no exception. A few small parts that were a bit dull or confusing but overall a good read.

This Snow White retelling starts where it really began: with the evil queen's story.

From the beginning, the story is fast paced. You get to know Rhi, what happened to her and how she gets involved in the big scheme (does somebody want an apple?😉). You sympathise with her as a character, making it really nice to read about it all from her perspective. Throughout the story you get a developed view of things at court and a sneak peak at the guild, the sanctum and the use of magic (this especially makes the story a lot more compelling to me), although I hope to see some more of it in the next books. The personal development Rhi goes through is also well done, you can really see her become the evil queen everyone knows from the classic fairytale (well done character development and in-depth characters are always strengths in a story in my opinion) . Add the character of Draven to all this, combined with the dynamics between him and Rhi, and you get a compelling story, different from what you've read before in Snow White stories, leaving you eager to read the next books.
One thing that bothered me a bit was the character of Senafae, I just really don't know what to think of her (do I like her, trust her, pity her, is she one of the good guys or will she become a bad guy too?). Maybe the next books will bring some clarity. I also expected more of Snow White herself, but it does make for an interesting set up and a lot of potential for the sequel.

So if you like a good villain story, in a way you haven't encountered it before, if you like dark magic mixed with romance and morally grey characters, you'll definitely want to check out this book.

This honest review is based upon an advance review copy (thank you Netgalley). Nevertheless this hasn't influenced my review, my opinion is and remains 100% my own.

🍎 This was defintiely an interesting take for a Snow White retelling. It didn’t quite hit the mark for me, but the way it was told surprised me which is a good thing. I liked the world and the layers of the kingdom and it’s people and I really wanted to enjoy this story more.

🍎 I think the main issue was that I didn’t connect with the Rhiandra at all. The beautiful thing about reading is that I don’t have to fully relate to any character- instead I can put myself in the shoes of that character and live a different story. This was hard to do in this book. It was difficult to feel empathy for her; something was missing.

🍎 Draven’s character was interesting and I wish he would have had a stronger presence within the entire story. By the end, he became a main character but there wasn’t enough build up for him beforehand.

🍎 If you enjoy a good retelling and a closer look at the villain, this might be for you!

The premise of this book really intruged me and I really wish I enjoyed it, but I had to DNF. The story started to drag and I couldn't get into it.

4 Deliciously Dark Stars!!

I absolutely loved this retelling of the evil queen in snow white. I loved how things were not "rainbows and sunshine" like fairytales are but about dark gritty atmospheric moments.

I can't wait to keep reading on with this book!

I am a sucker for fairy tale retellings, and especially love when they are told from the not standard point of views. This book is told from the evil/dark queen's view from Snow White. I thought the pacing was slow in places but overall enjoyed the book. It does end on a cliffhanger and I'm looking forward to seeing where the story picks up in book two.

''Those men had set fire to my entire life. Because I had made a smart comment. Because I made them feel small.''

Her Dark Reflection by Hailey Jade is a fairytale retelling told from Rhiandra’s (aka the villain / Evil Queen) point of view. She is a feisty, scheming, somewhat selfish, cunning and conflicted character. We get to see how due to certain horrific event, she transitions from being a maisera to being a Queen, with the help of mysterious, sexy and dark stranger.

What you can expect from this book:

* Mild spice and hints of romance
* Political intrigue
* Love - Hate
* Strong and ambitions FMC - you want to root for Vixen aka Rhi, but at the same time yell in frustration and anger at her
* Mysterious, powerful and dark MMC - if only we ha more scenes with Draven
* Interesting twist for all know fairytale
* Changed identity / Glamour
* Court drama
* Forbidden magic
* Cliffhanger!

There were couple things that I didn't enjoy or was lacking. I wish this story was more brutal and corrupt, and that the magic system was more explained. Pacing was in moments slow, but then again author cut some interesting scenes short. Couple of scenes didn't need that much of a focus. Due to them, some moments felt little bit boring. World-building and plot was okay.

Check TW's before you read it! It contains: death, blood, injury, SA, PA, violence, illness, toxic relationship etc.

Thank you to Hailey Jade and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts are my own and left voluntarily.

I love that this is a retelling from the wicked queen's point of view and that it's also her origin story! I didn't know that going it so finding it out along the way was an enjoyable surprise! Four frightening and fun stars for this book!

Normally I dislike fairytale re-tellings as I find them extremely predictable and overdone. However, Her Dark Reflection offers a unique point of view of the evil queen from Snow White. Due to the fact that there hasn't been much information produced surrounding the evil queen to date, Hailey Jade was able to illustrate her own version of the evil queen's backstory. I am very excited for the next book as it is setting up Snow White's storyline as well as continues the queen's story (which left us on a cliffhanger). Overall very enjoyable read, 4/5.

A Twisted and dark version of snow white, although focusing on the step mother and how she became queen, the story was very intriguing I found if hard to put it down! I just wanted to keep going and going, to find out what would happen next and what new plot was afoot. If you like the twisted fairytale vibe definitely one to check out.