Our MC has been trained to be a seductress/thief/liar all her life by her stepmother, and a spy for the resistance by her grandmother, but she’s bad at all these things. We later learn another character has also been acting as part of the resistance in secret in the palace, and has been able to keep it under wraps much longer than she has and much better. There’s one point where a dog that tracks magic powder alerts to her, and she thinks she’s been found out, so she lies and says she’s been given some by her sewing circle to help with headaches (because Lady Aislinn would get headaches. No one gets headaches but weak women). Her sewing circle has not done this, but you know a lie that can be corroborated? Her future sister in law sits next to her and is sewing the magic powder into her wearing veil one teaspoon at a time. It could have easily gotten onto our MC b/c the women are in such close proximity.

Also did we need magic in this story? Why did we need magic that takes away consent in this story? Our MC has literally been trained to be appealing and appeasing to men her whole life. It’s believable that she could be lying to and seducing him in other ways, and she does, so why include date-rape/SA magic?
How does the magic work? How is it refined and crafted? There was a 20 year war over this stuff to take it from a population who only used it for sacred religious practices so Solis could use it for industry, but we never see those affects. Magic is mostly used for subterfuge. We also never learn much about the religion besides that it has a goddess and they used the magic powder.

Rance (awful name, sounds like Rancid, why would you name your character something so harsh?) is described as having golden skin like all Elorians. Idk if this was the author’s intent, but I can’t stand seeing “golden” used as a stand in for “racially ambiguous brown that could just be tan so maybe it’s a white guy or actually a BIPOC person you can fetishize.” Our MC is also *spoiler* half Elorian but has the look of Solis. This isn’t helped by the fact that Eloria has been occupied/colonized/enslaved by Solis for its magic materials (again, could have been any other resource so we don’t need to include the magical SA plot point) and the citizenry are forced to work in the mines to gather these materials, or as servants. Rance is nicknamed “The Hostage Prince” even, so none of the Elorian characters who are visibly Elorian or known to be Elorian hold any positions of power or equality. I understand they’re meant to have lost a war, but when the only brown (though calling their skin golden might be a way to claim plausible deniability to this fact in the face of criticism, but I digress) people in your story are slaves, hostages, and servants it speaks to the greater racism within publishing and society, and the poor ways BIPOC people are viewed and treated.

The story also tries to have some feminist-y girl power moments where the women roll their eyes at the traditions, or ways men think, but this story hinges on the fact that our MC has to play a very specific role to play that hinges on her ability to play into demure female stereotypes.

And none of that is to mention that the story is too long, convoluted, and internal. We learn basically nothing about this world, its customs, its people, because we spend so much time locked in the palace and inside our MC’s head with her thoughts. We don’t even get to read the conversations she has with other people. It’s pages upon pages of “I talked to this person and got nowhere. There’s no one else I could possibly talk to”. Or giving us a synopsis of the conversations she had rather than getting to read the conversations she’s having. She’s constantly claiming she’s not a bad spy or bad at securing marriage prospects for her stepsisters, but she is. She isn’t the one to do any of the important stuff besides SA the prince!

This is an adult retelling of Cinderella, but the only thing that makes it adult is that the sex isn’t fade to black, and the characters are all (?) adults. They don’t act like it though. This read so much like bad YA, mostly in the fact that it treated the reader like a teen, holding their hand through a story that, while convoluted and overwritten, isn’t complicated.

These are adults. Ash is an adult. She made the choice to join the resistance and gain entry into the royal family/the palace of Solis for the rebellion. As soon as things get hard she gives up because she doesn’t actually care about Eloria, only about Rance. But Rance cares about Eloria, about its people and their place in the world. If she cared for him and what he stands for she would do a better job at using her position to make life better for them.

All the characters are just so flat. There’s no growth. They all just do a thing, but it never really changes how they think or go about actions in the future.

I started off intrigued and liking this book, excited to see where it went. As I read on and became less and less optimistic about characterization (forget about development, give me someone who’s not a paper bag), worldbuilding, and plot I began to hate this book. It doesn’t help that we tread and retread the same scenes and conversations over and over and over. This book could have been 100 pages shorter. It would still get a 1 star, but wouldn’t have wasted so much of my time.

5/5 Stars

TL;DR - A masterfully-crafted story with a powerhouse main character and twisty-turny plot that is infinitely better than the fairy tale it’s based on. Full of gray morality and a dash of downright evil, this is a story of finding oneself, doing what’s right instead of what’s easy, and breaking the yoke of a traumatic childhood in search of happiness. The romance is charming and the very slowest of burns (*chef’s kiss*), and the story races along until the very end. This is probably the best fairytale retelling I’ve ever read.

Big thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Balantine/Del Rey and NetGalley for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review!

‘Thief Liar Lady’ by D.L. Soria is a retelling of the classic fairytale, ‘Cinderella’. Such retellings are a dime a dozen, but this one offers a fresh and intriguing take that was honestly addictive. The story follows Ash - or Lady Aislinn, as everyone in the palace knows her - a young woman raised by an evil stepmother, yes, but to be a con artist instead of a scullery maid. She uses everything her stepmother taught her to charm her way into Prince Everett’s heart, but as time goes on, she begins to realize that this isn’t a fairytale, and she must do more than sit idly and look the part of a soon-to-be princess. What follows is a plot full of twists and turns, of bravery and betrayal, healing and heartache, none of which are anything like the familiar fairytale we all know.

I went into this book skeptical that it was going to be anything more than a lukewarm retelling with a few creative tweaks, but I am so glad that I was so wrong. I absolutely devoured this book, staying up well past my bedtime to finish it, and I probably woke the neighbors with now many times I shouted in shock and triumph and heartbreak. As much a mystery as it is a romance, a thriller if you judge by pace and the sheer magnitude of plot twists, and overall a gorgeous tale of loyalty, betrayal, hope, and love. This not the Cinderella I grew up on, and it’s magnificent.

Ash is an absolute queen and I had so much fun (and anxiety!) watching her not only move through her schemes and machinations, but also evolve from the used and abused pawn into a fierce woman who realizes her own power and worth. That said, she is absolutely a morally gray character, and she does some pretty shady things, morally and ethically, to carry out her stepmother’s plan. She also does some very brave, selfless things in pursuit of a greater good, and is very much a kind and compassionate woman when operating outside of the plan. Despite personally abhorring some of the things she does, I still found her a compelling and complex character that I was more than happy to follow through the story.

There is a love triangle of sorts, and while that’s not usually my thing, I think it was done well. Both love interests are complex in their own right, and while I’m of course partial to the one she ends up with, I appreciated that both men were presented on mostly-equal footing and that the ‘loser’ of the triangle wasn’t presented in the trope-y ‘bad guy bad choice’ way that I see often. He’s also somewhat morally gray, and like Ash, his actions fall into the territory of ‘for the greater good’, which I found refreshing even beyond the lack of the trope.

Every character is complex and nuanced, even the side characters. I appreciated that all the women in this book have agency and agendas and the drive to do whatever they set their mind to. This is what I mean when I say I want strong female characters - and mind you, all of them are traditionally feminine, because strong women can wear dresses and plot coups over tea without kicking anyone's ass, thank you very much.

Then there’s the plot, which I honestly have a hard time putting into proper words because there’s so much to love and so much going on at all times. Page one starts strong and never relents. Even the moments of apparent peace keep the tension going because even when Ash is resting or taking a bath or what have you, the shadow of being found out and hanged for treason is ever-present, and there’s never a moment where you can catch your breath and think everything is going to work out fine. And the TWISTS. Just when you think you have the mysteries and the intrigue figured out, a twist comes flying out of nowhere and catapults the story in a different direction, and I was delighted every time.

I cannot possibly convey the anxiety the end of this book gave me. There were surely not enough pages left to tie everything neatly together and I was STRESSED, but once again, there was a huge twist out of nowhere and everything got resolved and I can finally breathe. Be ready to guess and gasp and no matter what you think is going to happen, you’re going to be surprised.

The writing is simple and clean, and I didn’t find any descriptions or dialog boring or superfluous. Everything has a place and a purpose, and oftentimes things are worded so well and so thought-provokingly deep that I had to pause to let it sink in. A lot of deep themes are explored with care and depth, like the lifelong effects of childhood trauma, the patriarchal repression of women, capitalism and exploitation of the working class, all that good stuff.

All that said, I do have a few nits to pick.

Sometimes the author tells us something is going to happen, and then we see it happen, and I really, really don’t like that. In the most prominent example, the single line telling us that something was going to happen made me hyper-aware of everything Ash did going forward, and so I picked up on her mistake as soon as she made it, and I have to wonder if I would have picked up on it had I not had it spoiled for me a few pages before. I do know, however, that I would have enjoyed the twist much more if I’d missed the mistake and gone in blind. Authors, you ruin your own tension and work against yourself when you do this, please stop.

There are a lot of anachronisms in dialog and internal thoughts. It’s also hard to pinpoint an approximate real-world timeframe for this book, as the attire is described vaguely but sometimes as medieval, sometimes Victorian, sometimes a bit more modern. This world has indoor plumbing, but no other modern-ish technology to speak of, which was confusing at times. I can’t even give a best guess, because there are different aspects pushing and pulling the approximate timeline forward and backward throughout the book. Not exactly a deal-breaker, but the struggle to reconcile all the little inconsistencies did pull me out of the story from time to time.

Final Thoughts:

I loved this book, plain and simple. It was exciting, it was heart-wrenching and heart-warming, it was anxiety-inducing in the best way. I will be buying a physical copy when it hits shelves.

I typically love a good storybook character retelling. Especially when the author stays away from only updating the setting (and sadly keeps the same classic fairy tale). I love when they shake things up and give the "princesses" more depth. So I was really looking forward to falling in love with a Cinderella who was sassy, and had her own mysterious reasons for attending the famous ball. I found the story itself interesting and unique, but I feel I could have followed along more easily if it wasn't so obviously a retelling. Confusing I know, but as a stand alone story I would have enjoyed it more, and would not have constantly compared it to the cartoon version.

It was a quick read with lots of action and intrigue but I didn't love it. Sadly, character development was lacking, and the ending felt rushed. Way too "happily ever after" for something that tries so hard to be different.

Thank you NetGalley and DelRay for the opportunity to read this and give my opinion.

📚 𝕿𝖍𝖎𝖊𝖋 𝕷𝖎𝖆𝖗 𝕷𝖆𝖉𝖞
✍️ D. L. Soria
💬 English

I was drawn by the blurb and set my expectation high for this book since Cinderella was my favourite classic tale. I've read number of Cinderella's retelling and they were had their uniques to latch on.

Sadly, I don't find any excitement while reading this book. I love the idea of Aislinn (by the way, such a waste of consonant she had), the supposed-to-be-Cinderella, paved her way to the throne by making vicious and long-run plans along with her stepmother and sisters. But I must say, the execution was poor. The characters were hardly developed. The world building was ... I have no idea. What was that again? Some fantasy version of Victorian era I suppose. It was hard for me to imagine.

Good thing, the romance was my bowl of soup. It was more like YA than NA. Sweet but deep. Genuine and tricky.

This book is perfect for those who looking for a creative fairy tale retelling.
I sincerelly thank the publisher, author and NetGalley for providing me e-copy of this book in exchange for honest review.

𝕿𝖍𝖎𝖊𝖋 𝕷𝖎𝖆𝖗 𝕷𝖆𝖉𝖞 is expected to be published on July 11, 2023.

There may not have been a pumpkin carriage or mice footmen, but there is a touch of magic and romance with politics and alliances abound. If you are expecting this to be a retelling, you will be sorely disappointed. This isn't a retelling - more of a "what comes next and the whole fairy tale backstory is just a cute story that is told to the public". Not going to lie, I felt like this dragged and could have been cut down to the same effect. There is a romance, but I wouldn't consider it the main plot.

“Happily Ever After” is a total scam, but at least this time the princess is the one controlling the grift—until her true love arrives and threatens to ruin the whole scheme. Intrigue, magic, and wit abound in this Cinderella fairytale reimagining.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher.

Thief Liar Lady Review

Lady Aislinn/Ash narrates the story from the first-person point of view in Thief Lady Liar. The protagonist's emotions are expressed throughout the book, indicating that the story may not have a happy ending. The style of writing is primarily descriptive, including the protagonist's thoughts, expressions, and observations. However, this style tends to make the story lengthy and slow-paced at times, even though it helps the reader visualize the scenes.

Foreshadowing packed at the beginning of the book hints towards Aislinn's deeper motivations. Although she may seem to be just going through the motions, readers will fully grasp her true intentions halfway through the story. This clever foreshadowing adds an extra layer of intrigue and keeps the reader engaged.

The storyline deviates from the typical helpless female character trope, which sets the stage for an exciting character development arc. However, the ending falls somewhat flat due to Aislinn's short-sighted actions, which fail to address the larger problem. Overall, the plot shows promise but lacks a satisfying resolution.

World-Building

Politics is present in the book, albeit in a subtle manner. It has a touch of idealism with the Solis Kingdom's conquest and enslavement of Eloria. However, the readers' exposure to the world could be more extensive. Most of the scenes happen in the palace, which gives the readers little information about the world. 

In this tale, the enchanting mechanism is one of a kind, utilizing magical dust or lustre along with the individual's purpose to impact someone's conduct. Apart from the laborers who excavate the lustre, one pivotal individual enhances its effectiveness, like a witch. However, the narrative needs to delve deeper into this magic. The reader is only privy to Aislinn and her family using the magical dust. The magical system is genuinely fascinating and adds to the story's creativity.

Characters

Regarding the characters in the book, Aislinn is far from being a typical Cinderella. She puts up a lot of pretenses, making it difficult to discern her true intentions. She often appears angry and irritated, but she does manage to redeem herself by being honest. 

The most intriguing characters are Seraphina (the stepmother) and Aislinn's grandmother. They both have motives and agendas and use Aislinn to achieve their goals. Although their ways of dealing with Ailinn are different, they are similar in that they would do anything to get what they want. 

The portrayal of Prince Everett as a charming person suggests that something more is happening beneath the surface—his interactions with Aislinn hint at a controlling nature. 

Although Lord Verance is involved in the political aspect of the story, he doesn't play a significant role. He is depicted as trapped and helpless while spying on the court, pretending to be disinterested.

Conclusion

At the core of Thief Liar Lady is a love story. In an ingenious move, two noble heirs compete for Aislinn's heart, creating a deliciously tense and romantic triangle. The additional subplot injects some vibrancy and twists into a familiar fairytale.

Thief Liar Lady by D. L. Soria was a fun retelling of Cinderella.

The story was captivating. And hard to put down.
I really enjoyed the characters who were believable and captivating.
The world-building was phenomenal and I loved the vivid details.
Magical, witty banter with a unique setting TLL was an interesting experience.
I’m excited to read more from Soria in the future.

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

Thank You NetGalley and Random House, Ballantine & Del Rey for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!

Loved this retelling of Cinderella with a twist. Magic and romance collide, along with fantasy world politics. Aishlinn/Ash is a conflicted main character, and I enjoyed watching her journey through the book.

Thief Liar Lady by D. L. Soria was a great adventure! I was on the edge of my seat every page. Great story.

I really should stop trying to read most things that bill themselves as fairy tale retellings, but I can't seem to... I do love a great perspective shift, or a classic character or construct turned on its head, and as a result I tend to pick these books up but then more often than not find myself disappointed.

Unfortunately that is the case here also.

I was so intrigued by the concept. There is so much potential in the Cinderella story for a feminist / non-traditional retelling, but this book felt like it barely scratched the surface on those concepts despite the blurb and way it was set up. Instead I found myself in what felt like a bog-standard fantasy about kings and kingdoms blended with a love story in which the heroine must decide between her conscience and her heart - neither of which are genres I tend to find all that interesting, so the blend of the two did not help me feel connected to the story at all.

I also found the writing to be a little drawn out and the characters to be rather unbelievable. I didn't connect to Ash / Aislinn at all and didn't find the "pulling the ultimate con" construct to play out in a way that was believable or well understood as far as motivation and purpose. The storyline meandered, there was very little action and an awful lot of description, and it lost me fairly early on. All in all this one just didn't work for me.

I do love me a good fantasy fairytale retelling, but this was not it for me. I could feel the cinderella vibes but it was not doing a good job at being a retelling for the most part.

I was bored for the most of the beginning and was waiting for something to happen and I thought of DNF'ing it but powered through and still nothing really happened. But the writing was great and the world building was not bad either.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a lot of fun! Rogue princes, smart and cunning women, intrigue - there was a lot to love. This will appeal to fans of Jessie Mahilik and The Lunar Chronicles.

This doesn't usually happen for me so strongly, but I got really stuck on both the writing style and the main character. The physical prose reads like an Emily Henry or Colleen Hoover novel, which could be perfectly lovely if that is your cup of tea, but tends to scratch my brain in the wrong way. I also had a lot of trouble putting up with the mc's personality and utter lack of compelling motivation - I didn't really understand her justifications and therefore couldn't connect with a lot of her choices. The time period is also an ill-defined "fairy tale" era which just seems like an excuse to skim over a lot of useful world-building. Overall I just find Cinderella retellings to be a bit tired, and although this story tries out a slightly new twist it isn't well-executed enough to be satisfying. The only thing I enjoyed was the MC's relationship with her stepsisters, and how it bucked the expected trope of a typical Cinderella story.

ok, i don't usually start reviews like this, but the mc is so unbelievably dense that i can't believe she wasn't caught the first day she stepped in the palace. seriously. i got stuck in the middle of this book b/c i couldn't tolerate her obliviousness and carelessness any longer. it's like she's bumbling around in middle school. i would use her name in this rant but i honestly can't remember it - so that shows how forgettable she was! every character was super predictable; this felt like i was reading renamed versions of other authors' characters.

the thing is, i was really invested in this for some reason. i don't know why. it wasn't spectacular by any means, but once things started picking up in the second half, i couldn't put the book down lol

Many thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. It’s an enjoyable read but also can be pretty heavy at points. Also there should be a trigger warning for a scene where the prince SA’s Ash.

Some critique I have is that it’s slow in some parts. It’s definitely a more serious adaption of Cinderella and the magic is more so of a fine powder called Lustre, which our main protagonist ends up using on the prince. And then she falls in love with Rance, the captive prince in the castle. She is caught in a political struggle between Solis and Eloria. Not sure if I got the country names right, it’s been a minute since I finished this book.

I loved the banter between Rance and Ash. Like it was so obvious that they should be together from the very beginning but oh well. I also loved how eventually Ash came around to caring for Puppy. That was one of my favorite character progressions.

I just wish it didn’t take so long for Rance and Ash to finally get together. They didn’t really have much spice until 4/5 of the way into the book.

Other than that, I would recommend this to anyone seeking a new take on a classic tale as old as time.

It started out so well; I loved the interesting take on a classic story. I loved the main character, the backstory was intriguing, as well as the world-building. It felt magical, wistful, and also daring and cunning. But the middle 40-60 percent is where things started to fall off for me. I started to feel a disconnect between the original tale and this story, like it began to feel as though it didn’t even matter that she was supposed to be a new version of Cinderella. The retelling aspects of the novel just didn't feel relevant or imperative to the direction of the story. Another thing that lost me was the amount of political intrigue, which is basically the entirety of the plot. It started to get a little boring if I’m being honest. I wanted more action and something more driving the plot. I still think this is a solid debut, and I think the right audience will fall in love with it. The writing itself and the author’s voice is enchanting and really does weave an enrapturing setting. I would definitely read more from this author in the future. Even though I didn’t absolutely love this book, it was still an enjoyable read.

A lot of potential, but in the end I struggled to connect with the story and Ash as a character. This is a personal issue, but the writing style just didn’t work for me. It felt too “modernized”. Normally I don’t have a problem with this, but because the world building was non-existent, I felt no special identity to the world and its systems. Really cool idea and I love the twisting the princess fairytale on its head.

This was a great Cinderella retelling! It was unique, and well done. I enjoyed so much of it and only wish that the writing had been more concise at times.

I loved this take on Cinderella, where the heroine is maybe not so innocent, the stepsisters not that evil, and the stepmother might be the mastermind behind it all? A fun take on a classic fairy tale with many twists and revelations that were surprising and delightful. The book is a quick and enjoyable read with strong female characters who have complex backgrounds. The book really speeds up in the second half as the story departs more and more from the original fairytale. Overall, a well written and enjoyable read!

This was an experience...

I think the main issue I had with the book were the version of a lying thief of a Cinderella-esque character and the version that was actually in the book were so far removed from each other that it was hard for me to reconcile them. But also that because the book was set after Cinderella had met the prince and left the step sisters behind it felt like we still had to retread all that ground to get the readers caught up, while also giving the reader all this context about the world and the magic and what the plot they were reading about that it got really muddled and simply ran out of runway before the book could conclude.

I truly think that a lot of readers are going to dnf the book far before they get to the conclusion because what the actual plot is supposed to be is incoherent and Aislinn/Ash's actual motivations for doing anything are so unclear to the reader, and not in a way that is going to propel them to read more to get an answer. That's before we get to the readers that are far less forgiving of a magic system that doesn't make sense or a world that was hard to tell if it was Edwardian or Victorian, even some mishmash of the two or a time even earlier. The politics of the world and the way the magic was involved is certainly part of the convoluted mess at the heart of the story, and while it did to a degree make more sense the more of the book I read, the more I read the more questions about the execution I found myself having...

There were some high points. I did enjoy seeing Aislinn/Ash's relation ship to her step sisters evolve over the course of the story. Partly because in the Cinderella mythos what an author does with her family is some of the more interesting ways to reinvent the tale.

Of all the ways you can reinvent a character like Cinderella, I ultimately felt that this didn't work out. I think there are ways to make readers perceive her as being a more active character than doing what Soria does with this book.

I'm also just not sure how good a look it was in 2023 to have such a large part of the love triangle esque plot have love magic at the core... Of the many questions and implications I have about the events of the book, that whole are is responsible for a fair few of them.

My reading experience of this book was a lot of peaks and valleys, times when I have having a good time and times when found myself wishing I had stopped. It's not a book I can recommend because it's so varied and the journey and destination both have just as many faults as they do strengths that I wouldn't even know who to tell to read it to find out where they fall.