Now, it’s no secret that I love fairy-tale like stories, especially twisted ones. And The Shadow in the Glass by J.J.A. Harwood is one of the good ones. It is a story in which the main character, Ella, goes from innocent Cinderella-type to the villain in her own story. She is offered a deal by her fairy godmother, but this is no Disney fairy. It corrupts here and unaware, Ella does things she never thought possible of herself. I devoured this deliciously dark story and can’t wait to read more of the author. It is the kind of book you get emotionally invested in and suffer along with the characters. Give this twisty tale a shot!

A foreboding and gothic take on the 'Cinderella' story set in Victorian London.

I wanted to love this but it didn't quite measure up for me. The main character Ella is a young adult protagonist with rather grey morals which I felt was mostly well portrayed, I had just enough empathy to root for her, yet rolled my eyes at every bad decision she made. I just couldn't get over the stupidity of some of the wishes she made, especially the first, and then continued to make, even once she was aware of the potential consequences. The novel gets a bit bogged down in an almost perpetual cycle of bad wishes and angst, although I did find it a relatively quick read despite this. There were also a couple of things hinted at involving the origins of the wishes and Ella's childhood that were left unexplained, whether on purpose to retain the mystery or for any future sequels is unclear as far as I can tell, but it felt incomplete. The ending was definitely appropriate and I enjoyed the atmospheric writing and setting. I'd be interested in reading other novels by the author.

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)

I’ve seen a lot of reviews call this one a “Gothic Cinderella”. To my mind, however, it is more of a Victorian gothic “Bedazzled”… We meet our Dudley Moore equivalent, Eleanor, as a 17-year-old housemaid who was once the beloved ward of the now-deceased lady of the house. Having fallen from grace and now subjected to humiliation and fear by other members of the household on a daily basis, her wish to escape her situation becomes tantalisingly possible after she is visited by a “black-eyed” woman, who grants her seven wishes.

Much like in the aforementioned film, rather than achieving all of her aims through her wishes, the demon turns out to be tricky and grants Ella’s wishes in such a way as to have unintended consequences for her and those she cares about. And yet she still carries on with the wishes… again and again…

I found this one quite frustrating since, although a lot of the writing was beautifully atmospheric, it was also rather repetitive. The main character went through a constant cycle of “will I, won’t I, ok I will, whoops – I didn’t think that would happen”. It made the story drag, and resulted in both the tale and its conclusion being rather predictable. However, there were some really interesting moments in it, and I think this author certainly has a huge amount of potential. I will certainly be looking out for what comes next.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

The Shadow in the Glass follows Ella who one night makes a deal with a mystery woman who grants her seven wishes for the small price of her soul, as Ella finds herself wrestling with the morals of making the wishes for the price of her soul she soon discovers that each wish will cost just more than her soul.

This is a dark and gothic retelling of Cinderalla, fully of cruelty, vengeance and a thirst for power and desire. I really liked the character of Ella whilst she gives an outward appearance of being a sweet and innocent young woman as the novel progresses we see that mask slowly starting to slip as the lure of making the wishes and getting the life she always dreamed of and believes she deserves comes closer to being part of her reality.

I'm excited to see what else the author does next.

The Shadow In The Glass is a Victorian, gothic retelling of Cinderella. There is a fairy godmother (if thats even the correct description for this creepy lady!) who grants wishes but not without a very dark catch to them. Every time Ella makes a wish something terrible happens. She constantly feels an eerie presence by her wherever she goes. Theres shadows in mirrors and lurking in corners of the room. There is a constant sinister atmosphere seeping through the pages and you will not want to put it down.

The whole gothic setting for this story works so well, it reminded me of a Laura Purcell book with its twisted characters and strange events throughout escalating to a shocking ending.

The main character Ella starts off so innocent but by the end of the book she is corrupted by all the magic wishes she had been granted, losing herself in the darkness as her life spirals out of control. Will she be able to escape the clutches of this black eyed fairy godmother? And is she real or imagined?

Harwood has written a deliciously twisted retelling of this classic fairytale that brings Victorian London to life with its noisy, crowded, filthy streets mixed in with dark magic to create a rich, atmospheric story that will leave you feeling very tense and uneasy.

The Shadow in the Glass is a dark, gritty retelling of Cinderella, completely without the whole "prince finds shoe and searches for the love of his life after a ball", but a lot more of the "kid forced to work as a servant in her own house".
Well, technically, it's not even Eleanor's house, it's the house of her legal guardians. After Mrs. Pembroke died, Mr. Pembroke rooted up Eleanor from her spot as the house's adopted daughter and degrades her to be a servant. Obviously, Ella is not particularly pleased with that and so, when she accidentally summons a demon lady, she trades in her soul for seven wishes, determined to get herself out of trouble.

I really liked the idea of Eleanor being slowly corrupted by her wishes and the power that comes with that. She's a very self-centered person and does not once stop to consider how other people feel in any given situation. And yet, she denies that all the repercussions of her wishes were her fault, because "you can't do XY with just a wish, so obvs it's not my fault", even though it clearly is. She's not an especially pleasant main character, headstrong, shallow, kind of an asshole, but she's consistent throughout the book. I wasn't particularly rooting for her though.
The writing portrays a very bleak and dark world, and I am thoroughly tired of the word "damp". It feels very repetitive at times, but that's not the worst thing in the context.
Unfortunately, what bothered me the most was that some of the side plots just. Were never picked up again. This is specifically about The Scar (you know the one). It's just mentioned three times, but never explained or even talked about in a flashback. Why even mention the whole thing when it doesn't matter in the end?

Anyway, three and a half stars from me, rounded down!



@NetGalley and HarperVoyager: Thank you guys for this ARC!

this book was such a good read and it completely engrossed me into the plot and i loved allll of the characters and the writing style was soooo good.

Wishes can go wrong..
Poor Eleanor, sections of her past are hidden from her. All she knows is that she has been treated unfairly by her guardian, she should be a lady but has the role of a maid in a penny pinching household.
Eleanor's only pleasure is secretly reading in the library to escape her unhappy life, she unleashes a spirit which grants her seven wishes on exchange for her soul. Her life spirals out of control in a well described and thought provoking way. Each wish leads to more trouble, can she outwit her fate?
The descriptions of London daily life, smells and atmosphere are fascinating and original.
Would we use our wishes in a better way?

Eleanor Hartley orphaned and forced to become a maid for her legal guardian, spends her nights reading about far away lands and magic. As her safety is threatened by the advances of her master, Mr Pembroke, Ella accidentally strikes a deal with the black-eyed woman; 7 wishes in exchange for her soul.

This novel had so much potential and I was almost instantly drawn in by the Faustian bargain underpinning the entire plot. I felt more could have been explored in terms of whether Ella had in fact been the darkness itself, particularly considering her suggested violent nature as a child and the question surrounding who actually executed her wishes.

The writing was slightly repetitive in places and I felt there was often too much of the protagonist repeating their thoughts and not enough dialogue or description. The ending was well paced and a satisfying conclusion to an interesting concept.

This gothic reimagining of Cinderella explores interesting themes around morality and greed, but some ideas could have been flushed out more and other sections cut down. This would definitely be for those who enjoy darkly retold fairytales.

I feel I should start by noting that I have tried to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible but I have lots of opinions on it so just be warned that there may be a few things that slip through the cracks.

As soon as I hear retelling I’m usually sold on a book and I have to admit that for the first part of this book I was, based on Cinderella but much darker and in a wonderfully gothic setting, the kind that I could feel leaping off the page, I was quickly and easily drawn into Ella’s story. When almost all hope is lost for Ella suddenly she finds herself with seven wishes but nothing is ever that easy and the catch is a pretty big one and we soon see what the consequences of the wishes are. I was utterly drawn in until this point and then unfortunately in the middle section of the book, it was a bit like someone slammed on the brakes and everything that had made the story so mesmerising kind of dissipated.

Obviously, when Ella discovers the consequences of the wishes she is going to question how she feels about it and whether she is at fault or whether it is justified in some way, and at first, it is interesting to see how her character handles these situations. However, it becomes a little repetitive, to the point where I started to wonder whether the story didn’t have enough words and some filler was needed to hit a word count, it seemed really unnecessary because it didn’t add anything to the story we already know that this is something Ella is struggling with, it needed an extra element to it to make it more relevant or to show evolution in the character, instead of it being the same concerns repeated again and again.

I also felt like there was at times a bit too much description or extraneous detail at the expense of plot, it really stilted the flow of the book, something would be happening that was carrying the story forward and then it would hit a patch where I felt I could skip a few pages and not miss anything of importance. For me the focus felt like it was in the wrong place, this started off as a really exciting story and within its pages I feel like there were the paths that would have kept that excitement going but instead I was left a little disappointed. It was hinted that the book (which starts the process of the wishes) has been in the family for a while and that the wishes may even have had an effect on Ella in the past and instead of exploring this or getting any real answers towards it, there is a lot of time dedicated to searching for a character that doesn’t really have anything to add to the story.

As I mentioned this is a very dark story, and I actually like a book that is a bit dark however the trouble with a book that delves into such dark territory is that it can become quite a drain, there needs to be a balance against the dark and repressive atmosphere, enough intrigue or redemption or some hope between characters to make me want to keep reading. Don’t get me wrong there were points that the balance was fine and I was intrigued to keep going but there were a few points that didn’t make it easy to continue, it felt like a slog to get through and there wasn’t that glimmer of hope to keep me going. I did wonder maybe if the structure of the book was a little bit of a hindrance, in this case, instead of chapters it is split into seven parts and whilst there are some pauses in the narrative, it maybe could have done with more obvious breaks and that might have helped with the pacing.

This next paragraph might give certain aspects of the story away so skip it if you don’t want any little spoilers.

My other issue was with some of the wishes, for a good portion of the story Ella is adamant that she won’t wish somebody dead, even though she is faced with a repugnant man who is making the lives of everyone around him a misery and it would solve many of her problems if he were to disappear, she will not do it. But then she gives in to one of his demands and essentially chooses to kill someone else in what is a pretty traumatic scene, I know that there are a lot of other concerns that probably went into the choice given the time period but still that active choice knowing what would happen then completely undermines the next section of the book and makes it quite tiresome. Yet again there is more deliberation on whether she is at fault, blah blah blah, and can she choose death for someone to make her life easier and all the rest of the repetitive back and forth…but in my opinion, she already has so this isn’t building any tension, it felt very hypocritical and definitely killed any lingering interest I had in Ella as a character.

I know I have been quite critical of the majority of the story but I was taken by surprise by the last part of it which brought back that exciting and captivating quality that was present in the first part of the book. Suddenly I couldn’t read fast enough and had no idea whether Ella would be able to trick her way into getting what she wanted, this growth from a character who to me seemed unredeemable, and was suddenly actively playing games and trying to come up on top was fabulous. I loved its ambiguity and that it left me with questions but not ones that I felt needed to be answered just ones to ponder over.

The Shadow in the Glass has been a bit of a rollercoaster read for me, I felt like it had the potential to be so much more than it was and whilst there were parts that I felt I was forcing myself to read through, and characters that I wasn’t really enamoured with, I also enjoyed a lot of the story and can appreciate what the author was trying to create.

Thank you, Netgalley, Harper Collins UK and Harper Voyager for providing me with an ARC of this book.

The Shadow In The Glass is a dark, gothic retelling of Cinderella by J.J.A.Harwood. The story is set in Victorian England and takes us through the truly terrible times women had to face on a daily basis. The story takes place in Grandborough House where Mrs. Pembroke took in the recently orphaned Eleanor known as Ella. She is treated like a daughter and grew up with all the privileges that a child would get. Mrs. Pembroke passes away and Ella is forced to earn her keep by the housekeeper. Mr. Pembroke is an alcoholic and is drinking away the wealth and the riches that Mrs. Pembroke had managed wisely. As Ella grows up in the household doing household work she starts to see the difficult lives the household staff has to endure. Her only escape from her daily chores is when she gets to escape into the library at night and lose herself in the books. When one of the girls who worked at Grandborough house is turned out for getting pregnant by Mr. Pembroke Ella gets angry at the injustice. She ends up in the library and accidentally cuts herself on a book about Faustus and a deal he made with the devil, thereby summoning a woman who gives Ella 7 wishes to transform her life. Things take a turn for the worse when each wish used comes with a heavy price. Can Ella stop the Faustian deal? Will she be able to stop herself from making wishes despite the horrors it could bring about?

This story truly is a Faustian deal with Cinderella and the dark turn it took really surprised me as I wasn’t expecting it. The character of Ella and her story connects with the audience because of the injustices she had to endure in the house that used to be her home. However, the means and ways she goes about transforming her life truly shows us her need to control her destiny and take charge. She relishes the power as she moves forward in the story. She craves success and is not afraid to take the step that could destroy her humanity once and for all. One could also argue that this was not a fantasy story but the imagination of a woman who is unwilling to admit, she did commit horrendous crimes against people who wronged her. She does create an alternate reality that helps her to keep her sanity while at the same time take the law into her own hands. The lines between reality and fantasy is very small and is often blurred in my opinion and this creates an atmosphere of dread and eeriness to the story.

Overall, if you love fantasy historical fiction and fairytale retellings that have a dark theme and gothic vibe, I would recommend checking this one out. This is a quick read and quite an engaging read too. I gave the book 4 stars. I highly recommend checking this out.

Be careful what you wish for! This is a darkly atmospheric tale, set in Victorian England, with a nod to both Cinderella and Dr Faustus. It was decidedly spooky. The descriptions of the house and the city were so vivid, I could almost feel the fog and smell the soot. Highly recommended.

I LOVE a retelling, and The Shadow in the Glass reworks Cinderella with a dark, gothic twist
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Set in Victorian London, 17 year old Eleanor (Ella) has seen her fortunes rise and fall in her short life. Rescued from a life of destitution after her Mother dies, and brought up by a kind and generous guardian, wealthy Mrs Pembroke, the world is at her feet. But when her guardian dies, she's relegated to the servents quarters again and faces the lecherous advances of Mr Pembroke who possess none of his late wife's kind spirit. But then one night when reading Dr Faustus in the library, a strange woman appears. Offering Ella 7 wishes, this could be the solution to all Ella's problems. All ot will cost her is her soul...
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This was such a readable book! One of those that you end up devouring in huge chunks. JJA Harwood certainly has an addictive style to her writing
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I loved the idea behind this too. Everything about it appealed to me ...I love a dark, magical story with an historical setting. The sense of time and place in this book was extremely atmospheric and the oppressive mood of the Victorian mansion and household was vivid
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The moral of this book really is be careful what you wish for, and as Ella tangles herself deeper in a dark web I was prepared to be thoroughly chilled. I did feel towards the end it wasn't quite as dark or atmospheric as I'd have liked. I still enjoyed it, the ending had me thinking for a while as it's a little ambiguous, and the little Cinderella touches are really well done. Overall this is a great book to spend a gloomy afternoon by the fire with - a very readable book with a dark twist and I'd definitely look out for more from the author in the future

Probably should have looked into the trigger warnings for this book, but it wasn't for me because of most of them. It's a shame too since the premise was so compelling,

Give me all the dark Fairy-tale retellings. This is another superb example of a dark fantasy come to life and one that is saying be careful what you wish for.

JJA Harwood brings to life a dark fairy-tale of Cinderella and be careful what you wish for. It at times really did send chills down my spine with the ramifications of what a wish could do.

The book is about Ella, she has fallen from being the darling of the Pembroke household after the death of Mrs Pembroke. She was to be sent into Society but due to the sudden death of Mrs Pembroke she had been relegated to staff in the household where the staff waited on her hand and foot. With the lecherous Mr Pembroke now looking to her after his latest maid was sent from the home Ella does what she can to make sure she survives. Sitting in the dark Library she spots a book and does the unthinkable she makes a wish - but be careful what you wish for Ella as there are consequences to being granted what your hearts desire.

This book definitely had a dark and dangerous edge to it but I LOVED it. I felt that Ella was portrayed at times as selfish HOWEVER she was also backed into a corner, she was dealt a bad hand and was trying to make the most of it. Things snowballed out of hand and before she knew it things that she wanted and that were within reach were no longer so.

It definitely made me think about peoples actions and what can happen if they are misinterpreted and how others can perceive it.

Went in with expectations of a generic Cinderella rags-to-riches retelling and ended up with so much more. I could not put it down. Harwood's Gothic fantasy is a Doctor Faustus, Cinderella and Crimson Peak mash up, and it was enthralling.

Is the MC plagued by a Faustian fairy-godmother intent on malfeasance or is she suffering a slow descent into madness? Harwood keeps you on the edge of your seat and guessing until the very end.

If only our protagonist had read more fairy-tales when she snuck into the library. She would have been more wary after learning the dark lessons they often foretell, and for many it is, "Be careful what you wish for."

Recommended for fans of: House of Salt and Sorrows, Angela Carter, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Through the Woods

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for the ARC.

The Shadow in the Glass is a dark retelling of Cinderella where wishes have consequences and nothing is quite what it seems...

Unfortunately, I DNFed this book at around 55%.

The Shadow in the Glass has a slow start. It takes its time to set up the world and the relevant characters. This is where your mileage may vary, but personally, I loved it! The world-building and atmosphere is definitely the strongest aspect of this book. Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough to keep me interested.

I had no patience for Eleanor, she was not a compelling main character for me. I didn't root for her success but didn't feel invested enough to watch her inevitable downfall either. She makes a lot of bad choices and at some point, my sympathy for her situation just vanished. As a reader who needs to fall in love with the characters, this was the main reason I did not finish this book. I simply did not care enough to find out what happens to Eleanor.

This book has a lot of potential and if you don't mind a slow start and a main character who isn't very likeable, this dark retelling might be exactly your kind of book!

I was sent this ebook free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Shadow in the Glass is a dark retelling based on Cinderella following the story of Eleanor. The step-daughter of the Lord and Lady of the house. Her Step-Mother has every intention of making Eleanor a lady but upon her death, she finds herself no more than a housemaid. Eleanor is then granted 7 wishes by a mysterious dark lady. If she wishes 7 times, her soul will belong to this dark lady.

The premise of this book held a lot of promise for me, I loved that the Step Mother role and the Fairy Godmother role had been switched. A kind step-mother and an evil fairy godmother style character but sadly, this was one of the few things I did enjoy.

I think if the main character was more likeable, then it would be more enjoyable. However, I found Eleanor to be greedy, selfish, self-entitled and exceptionally fickle and naive. Which made her very difficult to root for.

Her choices were meant to be good, like helping her friends and improving her life circumstance. But EVERYTHING was wrapped in a sense of self-entitlement that I just couldn't see past and found extremely annoying. It just felt like she was willing to go to any lengths to get rich and well off, even when it becomes clear what the costs are. Rather than determined she comes across as bratty and conceited.

Although, I didn't have anything against the writing style. I enjoyed it at the beginning before my feeling for Eleanor tainted my views. It did start to feel a little dragged out and difficult to finish.

Like I said I enjoyed the reverse in roles of the dead step mother character and fairy godmother. I also thought the risque move with the step dad was a unique and dark twist but I genuinely struggled with pretty much everything else in the book. Not wanting to be defeated, rather than DNF I carried on to the end to see if things picked up.

Overall I give this 2 ⭐️- I finished it, but I didn’t enjoy it. This may be someone else's cup of tea but it wasn't for me. I still very much appreciate the opportunity to read it.

I was sent a free ebook copy of this book from NetGalley in return for a honest review

The Shadow in the Glass is a retelling of Cinderella - it follows the story of Eleanor, a housemaid who was once the ward of the lady of the house, who is granted 7 wishes by a mysterious dark lady. If she wishes 7 times, her soul will belong to this dark lady.

The premise of the book had a lot of promise and I think if the main character was more likeable, then it would be more enjoyable. However, I found Eleanor to be greedy, selfish and very difficult to root for.

Her intentions are meant to be good - helping her fellow servants and making a better life for herself. But all of her decisions are wrapped up in an overarching sense of entitlement. She was orphaned as a child, taken in by a rich lady and brought up to expect to be living a certain life. And she’ll go to any lengths to get that wealthy life, even when it becomes clear what the costs are. She comes over as bratty rather than determined.

The pace of the book is slow also. The 7 wishes feel drawn out and I felt that there was no great mystery as to how it was going to turn out. The characters life is fairly limited, so there’s only so many people she can affect by wishing. The end is also very drawn out and contrived to fit the Cinderella story. The last chapter has Eleanor waiting from 11.15 until midnight to make a last attempt to save her soul - it’s fair to say 45 minutes it too long to keep up any level of suspense...

Overall I give this 2 ⭐️- I finished it, but I didn’t enjoy it. I wouldn’t recommend it to others - there are better fairytale retellings available.

Set in the Victorian times, this story follows the life of an orphaned girl, taken in by a family to be brought up as a lady only to have her life turned upside down when the lady of the house dies. Forced into service in the very house she called home, 17 year old Ella meets a mysterious black-eyed woman who may be her salvation or her destruction.

I do like Ella as a character, she is nice and sweet but there’s a bit of a coldness to her and a detachment. She wants to better her life and the life of the ladies that are in service at Granborough house but at what cost?

This mysterious woman offers her 7 wishes in exchange for her soul. Greedily she takes the wishes without knowing the consequences and sets into motion a series of events that changes not just her own life, the life of those around her.

After learning the cost of the wishes, she still continues to make them. She takes the approach of ‘well it’s not me doing these things’ which makes her a very morally grey character. The wishes themselves and how they play out are interesting.

Victorian London isn’t kind to lower class women so she must find a way out. Mr Pembroke who is both her guardian and boss, is a disgusting character that forces maids to sleep with him or lose their jobs. These women often become pregnant and lose their jobs anyway.

This story has a Cinderella meets bedazzled vibe about it and it’s dark. There are very few light moments in this story so when you read them, embrace them. Charles is delightful and I think it was nice to have such a light and warm character come back to Ella’s life. The other maids are lovely characters to read, especially Aoife, you really want her to be looked after being so young and her taking up that job for her brother. Charles fiancé on the other hand was a horrible woman!

I can sympathise with Ella and her choice of wishes and her hopes of a better life. The ending caught me a bit by surprise and I do almost wish myself for a happy ending but the ending that was written fitted the story perfectly.

You can’t escape fate, the black-eyed woman remains a mystery and this was a delightfully dark, gothic tale.