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.

Oh this was a little disappointing. The concept was really fun a Dr Faustus/Cinderella mash-up/retelling. Yes please. I will admit the bits of the book that focused around twisting of the Cinderella and Dr Faustus stories were the best bits. I really loved how they played into each other and the little nods to the original works that were dotted though out the book. They were deliciously dark and foreboding and worked really well.

It was when the plot moved away from these nods and winks that it just got lost. There were huge tangents that added a lot of unnecessary description. I have said numerous times how much I love worldbuilding but these went outside the realm of worldbuilding and into tedium. The felt completely separate from the main story line and most of them didn't wrap back into the plot so became more distracting and annoying as you wanted to find out more of the plot. They were also somewhat repetitive. The main character Ella had the same inner monologue time and time again to the point where it was predictable and a little boring.

The pacing is also off. We take over 50% of the book to make 3 wishes which have some consequence but nothing that truly propels the plot in a particular direction then in quick succession we get some very impactful wishes but no real time to take in there consequences and what actually happened. There just seems a real imbalance to what is described and what isn't and unfortunately for me too much time was spend in the uneventful moments and not enough time was dedicated to the bits I found interesting, exciting and new

Its sad to say but up until the last few pages I was getting bored. this had a lot of promise just for me it didn't fully deliver. It could have been a fantastic retelling but it just fell short of the mark.

A dark gothic romance which sends shivers down your spine.
When you are offered a wish be careful what you wish for and what the consequences of your actions might be.
Deliciously dark

The shadow In the Glass
By JJA Harwood
Pub Date 18 mar 2021

My Review
Just the perfect read I needed right now a lovely fairytale book a retelling of Cinderella In a terrifying way I enjoyed this book. The cover so pretty the writing style is beautiful written.

The beginning of this book was incredibly slow, and I was afraid I wasn't going to like it. However, about 20-30% in, it really got better, and I found myself enjoying the story more and more. The ending was insane. I can definitely recommend this.

The Shadow in the Glass - JJA Harwood

This story is pitched as “A smouldering, terrifying new spin on Cinderella” and to some extent is is - the main character is a young girl called Eleanor (Ella) who has fallen in social standing after the death of her benefactress and now has to work as a maid in the very house where she was once an adored child. There is also a matronly figure who offers her seven wishes to make her dreams come true - but there the similarities end. The wish granting figure is much darker than Cinderella’s godmother and Ella’s wishes come at a severe cost.

Ella is forced to try and protect her fellow maids and herself from the inappropriate attentions of the predatory master of the house. She also wants to improve her own situation in life. Inspired by the books she sneaks from the library she envisions a life of love, travel and riches. So she has to use her wishes…?

The premise of this story sounded great, however there was something in the delivery that was lacking. I felt the writing quite dense and the plot often sluggish. There was a lot of internal dialogue from Ella, primarily her justifying her use of the wishes and rationalising their cost. As the main character, she wasn’t that likeable.

There were also a lot of unanswered questions - why does the wish granting woman particularly appear to Ella? What is the secret behind Ella’s violent behaviour as a child? These issues are all alluded to but no explanations are given within the story. It’s also slightly hard to believe that Ella persists with her wishes - she sees the cost they incur yet she doesn’t learn that she can’t outwit the woman granting them. The ending seemed somewhat inevitable and although I liked the idea of a dark Cinderella I felt somewhat let down with this story.

Really descriptive and a capturing story line - I couldn't stop reading! Really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend to anyone to read this. I loved all the magic that was captured within

Ella was frustrating and a bit difficult to like. The beginning half was a bit slow but it picked up towards the end. That being said, I couldn’t put it down. The writing was good and drew you in to the emotions of Ella. Not a bad debut by Harwood and I would definitely pick up more from this author in the future.

Thank you to Harper Collins UK for this advanced copy.

This book started out promising but it went down hill for me. The prose is well written and I love the Dr Faustus related content. The book is also very atmospheric.

The character of Eleanor felt a bit one-dimensional especially when considering her motivations that kickstart the plot... It all just felt a bit weak and nonsensical. I was disappointed that we didn't delve more into the other characters in the story like Aoife, the woman with the black eyes and Charles because it would've been interesting to learn more about them, rather than them just appearing as plot devices.

After the first wish, the pace of the book was very flat until the last 20 pages which was a shame because it meant that the book felt a little dull and repetitive.

I definitely feel there's potential for someone to love this one but it didn't hit the mark for me.

TW: (not detailed) abuse and sexual abuse, miscarriage, murders

J.J.A. Harwood’s ‘The Shadow in the Glass’ is an interesting and engaging debut. It’s a dark and gothic retelling of Cinderella, set in Victorian England. I’ve always been a fan of retellings, so I have jumped at the opportunity to read this book of course.

‘The Shadow in the Glass’ follows seventeen-year-old Ella, who though previously treated nearly as a daughter of the family, has been delegated to the role of lowly maid shortly after her ‘adopted’ mother’s death. I loved how Ella was finding a refugee in the books at the beginning of ‘The Shadow in the Glass’, the library being almost the only place where she felt safe and at peace. But even there, the shadows were never far away, and the danger gloomed nearly. For once, she wasn’t allowed there, and if discovered, she would be surely dismissed. But more importantly, reading one particular book set in motion events, Ella couldn’t have predicted.

Although ‘The Shadow in the Glass’ has started slowly, it’s the first part of the book I enjoyed the most. It had a great atmosphere and set up. J.J.A. Harwood’s book is ultimately about choices, wishes and consequences. Ella isn’t always a likeable character, but her circumstances have not been easy, and it’s been interesting to see her journey.

Thank you HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and NetGalley for providing me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. My review is my own and not influenced by others.

The shadow in the glass is a re-telling of Cindarella with a dark twist. Ella is the main character in this story who gets the opportunity to get seven wishes, after those wiches her soul belongs to the godmother of this story.
First of all I liked the writer style a lot, J.J.A. Harwood has a way of writing that keeps you reading, so it was late last night when I finished this book.

The main character Ella, was someone I couldn’t rely to, I found her selfish, egocentric and going for the easy way. The other characters didn’t hold my attention enough to form an opinion.
The world building, writer style and the course of this story was something I like so I recommend reading this book.

I’m not sure I’ve ever read such a dark retelling of Cinderella before- or any retelling of Cinderella, now I come to think of it. Cinderella is one of those fairy stories tends to be brushed aside in favour of the more interesting, easily-retellable fairy stories (Malice, a fantastic retelling of Sleeping Beauty, springs to mind).

But this book takes the myth and rips it into little pieces, before rebuilding them again into a huge, sprawling, twisted story of Victorian Britain, class inequality and sexism. A huge task, and one that it mostly rises to.

Our heroine in this story is Eleanor, or Ella, a servant girl who was taken in by the mistress of the house before her death- and is now relegated to scrubbing pots and fending off the advances of her widowed husband. It’s a precarious position to be in, so when a fairy godmother appears and offers her seven wishes in exchange for her soul (!) Ella doesn’t hesitate before accepting.

This is the jumping-off point for a story that’s so dark and twisted that it’s more like a thriller than a fairy tale. Ella is a fascinating character, and not very likeable at all: keen to do the right thing on the surface, but other characters keep hinting at a dark element to her personality that throws the results of her wishes into a whole new light. And the book’s slow slide into violence as she attempts to scrabble her way to the top of society makes it sometimes pretty harrowing to read.

As a commentary on Victorian society, The Shadow in the Glass is extremely effective. As a traditional fairytale with a sympathetic heroine and a happy ending? Probably not so much.

This review will include spoilers for this book.

Unfortunately this book really didn't click for me. I wanted to love it, but I found the main character flat and her motivations didn't make sense the entire way through. The way she used the wishes just didn't fit with the story. She talked repeatedly about wanting to be rid of her stepfather, but danced around the topic the whole way through, never using her wishes to actually take care of him. Even considering her fear of losing her soul and doing something wrong, she was willing to actively use the wishes to harm people - but not the man who was the crux of the issue. It left me feeling bored and disinterested, because I felt like the choices she was making didn't fit with the character being presented. The different parts felt too disparate to me, as though they were several separate stories pieced together in a jumpy way and the ending fell a little flat to me. It was a bit nonsensical and didn't fit with the the rest of the story. I think the idea had incredible potential but didn't come together in the way I wanted it to,

I am afraid this book was a bit of a letdown for me. It isn't too terribly written and the story is alright but it just doesn't deliver. It is described as a gothic fairytale, a story to be loved by those who liked the stories of Erin Morgenstern who I adore but it really shouldn't be put in the same league as The Starless Sea or The Night Circus. Those stories weave magic in the air as you read the words, each chapter leaves you dying for more, but The Shadow in the Glass just doesn't. I am actually rather disappointed with it especially as I pre-ordered it before even reading the ARC expecting I was going to love it. I don't find it particularly gothic or fairytale like and it definitely doesn't leave you wanting more with every page turned. I do like the way the author described the main characters experiences, she does try to have you feel like you are standing in Eleanor's shoes and experiencing those sensations with her. For example, when she describes her experience of walking through the town to get to the butchers, the sights and sounds are described well and in-depth so you feel the same way as eleanor does, but the story itself lacks any real substance, it is merely an unoriginal tale about a maidservant who doesn't want to be a maidservant and the 'magical' elements feel like they are just thrown in to make it a bit more interesting, but you could quite easy take away that aspect and it wouldn't change the book very much. It is a real shame because the book had some real potential under the surface but it just hasn't been successfully utilised. I think the author is probably very capable of writing a good book, it just isn't this one.

A dark take on the Cinderella fairytale with realism thrown in, depicting the plight of women in a male-dominated world. A mesh of fantasy and reality.

Eleonor “Ella” was promised the future of a lady, with parties, clothes, and travels, but then her guardian, Mrs. Pembroke, got sick and died and Ella was told she had to earn her stay and became one of the servants at Granborough House. After the death of the mistress of the house, life turned grim inside Granborough House and the girls knew what would happen if the master of the house turned his attention on one of them.

As a servant, Ella knows that her future won’t be bright and it certainly won’t be the future promised by Mrs. Pembroke before her death, but she would do anything to change her life. After spending the entire day cleaning, washing, and avoiding catching Mr. Pembroke’s attention, Ella finds refuge at night in the family’s library where she hides to read stories and fairytales that allow her to escape her miserable life, at least for a few hours. One night, a woman visits her in the library offering her seven wishes in exchange for her soul. Ella wants a better life for herself and for the people she loves, but each wish comes to a cost. Is the sacrifice worth it?

I love how the author brings the reader directly into Ella’s head so that you can feel her every emotion, every fear, betrayal, heartbreak, and hope that leads Ella to make choices that will have dire consequences and will change her life. Ella is a flawed and complex character. While at the beginning I really felt for her, the more I read, the more I questioned her choices. But while I found her selfish, I could also see that she cared for her fellow servants and the people she loves.

The Shadow in the Glass is a dark and compelling retelling of Cinderella that kept me completely engrossed and it’s out now!

This is a solid historical mystery for fans of dark fairytales and women’s fantasy. That’s said I wasn’t personally a huge fan, but then I lean more toward the dark fairytales in my taste than historical fiction, so I found the frame story a little heavy. If you like historical fiction AND fairytales, this is the book for you!

This isn't your everyday fairy tale!

Full of dark twists and the underlying realities of being a woman in a male dominated environment, this book was both a clash of vibrant fantasy and darkly realistic scenarios. It was engaging, illuminating, and enchanting.

Darkly twisted version of Cinderella that reaches out with shadowy tentacles to seize you and pull you in to the story. A really fascinating retelling of Cinderella (Ella/ Eleanor) in a Victorian alternate world, with an unreliable narrator. There are lots of fairy tale themes such as bargains with a demon, the magical shoes and wishes that are in reality death traps for the user. What makes this story unique is that you are never quite sure about Cinderella herself. Is she an innocent struggling to survive in a harsh world or she is something much more dangerous, dark and unpredictable. I gave this 4 stars - I thought the ending was a bit vague and could have been more satisfying but overall this is a must-read. I read it all the way through in one sitting in the darkest hours of the night - and found it a un-putdownable story.

Firstly a huge thank you to Harper Voyager and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review,

CW: sexual assault, murder

The Shadow in the Glass follows a young woman, Eleanor, who was left in the care of her mother’s employer upon her death. However, when the kind Mrs. Pembroke dies, Eleanor is stripped of her position in the family and her name. Life in Granborough House is much different for Ella the servant from the disdain from some of the other girls and constantly having to avoid the sleazy Mr. Pembroke. One day Ella stumbles across a book in the library which summons a mysterious woman who offers Ella seven wishes, but they come at a cost. Soon Ella discovers she should be careful what she wishes for.

I really enjoyed reading Eleanor’s/Ella’s progression through the novel. Due to the situation she found herself in you can’t help but root for her throughout the entire novel. You want things to work out for her which grips the reader, Eleanor is just so likeable that you want to know how everything will end for her and for Aoife. I also really liked the character of Charles, he was so different from his father and kind to the girls that you wanted him to be happy too. Through his character you also learn just how far Mr. Pembroke’s control reaches, it isn’t just the maids but his own son too.

Although Mr. Pembroke is, arguably, the main villain in this novel there is a whole host of characters that could also take this title. It was because of this that the novel was so reminiscent of a classic fairytale. It was clear which characters you should like and dislike, however it did add a mere contemporary that by muddying the waters of this sometimes, especially as the novel progresses. Not only with the side characters but with the protagonists too.

In this novel Harwood wonderfully combines the fairytale of Cinderella with the story of Dr. Faustus (which is one of my favourite plays). Ordinarily I would never have thought that these two stories would be a good pairing but, through Harwood’s clever writing it brought a fresh new take on two classics. One that is wonderfully dark and complex. I also didn’t know how the novel would end, or even the consequences of each wish. Would it follow the lead of classic Cinderella, Disney’s Cinderella or even Dr. Faustus? I really enjoyed the tension which Harwood heightened by sprinkling in moments of respite.

Overall, this is a thoroughly enjoyable read and has all the familiarity of a gothic fairytale. One I highly recommend that you read, especially if you’re a fan of Christina Henry.