Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly I need to say that the cover of this book is beautiful. Secondly I can do my review, this book is based on a retelling of Cinderella but be warned this isn't the happy fluffy version you might expect. This is a dark, heavy and gothic. Set in the Victorian London. This book slowly drew me in and then I was hooked and didn't want to stop reading until it was finished... which I may or may not have done.

The main character Ella was likeable but still had flaws and imperfections which made her somewhat more relatable and you can feel the emotion faced by her as she spirals down a darker and darker path.

If you enjoy books by Laura Purcell then this is the book for you!

There is more than just Shadow in the Glass. This book is dark, difficult to read and bleak at points. It is no light retelling of Cinderella. There are harrowing scenes so be prepared. All of this really served the purpose of the book and supported the story arc of the believably morally grey Ella. I enjoyed the blend of historical an magical elements and the way these were weaved together. A great, if somewhat grim at times, debut.

This is a genuinely unsettling book. I'm still thinking about it a few days after finishing it. I guess the fact that the protagonist is Ella, once a "daughter" of the house, now a housemaid, puts us in Cinderella territory. Ella is frightened, neglected, put upon, exploited - and then she meets a strange woman who offers to make all her wishes come true.

It's too good to be true. Obviously. But the story that follows is dark and twisty and disturbing. It left me wondering about the nature of good and evil, about Ella's reliability, and about the "truth" of what happened. Ella moves from being a sympathetic heroine to being someone whose veracity and motivation - the very nature of her soul- must be questioned. Harwood takes us subtly and cleverly along this journery. She also conjures up a world of dampness and hunger, where women in particular walk a fine line between respectability and survival, and being thrown out on the streets to starve. This London stinks and sticks to your skin.

It's a very good book.

Thank you, NetGalley, for letting me read this.

I thank #netgalley, JJA Harwood and the publishers for the opportunity to read an ARC of #TheShadowsInTheGass in exchange for an honest review.

This story was sold to me as a 'terrifying twist on Cinderella'. Before I even picked up the book, I was set-up for disappointment. This has very loose ties to Cinderella, although granted, it is a twisted fairytale of sorts.

The writing is amateur at best. It tries to be modern whilst trying to mimic the 19th century novel. Even the way food is employed as a device to portray mood and class has a Madame Bovary flare about Harwood's style. That said, it is well edited.

The characters lack sufficient development to maintain interest or affinity with. The dialogue is false and stifled, often hindering rather than moving the story along. I found the indecisive monologues exhibited by the heroine to be most annoying.

The plot was weak and as a reader, I came away unphased by the story. The book revealed nothing new about the world.

Teen readers might whittle the time away with this book if the cover took their eye but I doubt it would maintain much interest.

Overall it a 2/5 stars from me.

I didn’t think I’d fall in love with this book- I thought it’d be an easy, light hearted read but I actually adored this book. I completely fell in love with the main character as she was written so well and everything she thought and felt, I could really feel it. There were some darker, more emotional moments in this book that I didn’t expect which I wish I would have known more about before going into this book but I really enjoyed it. I’d love to read from this author again, so glad I requested this!

THE SHADOW IN THE GLASS is a very dark Cinderella retelling that explores the price of power and what someone will do in order to escape. Rather than being a timid and nice girl, Eleanor is going to fix things herself - except everything goes horribly wrong. I loved that she was conniving and determined. Yes, she tries to help her friends and is trying to escape her situation, but she's willing to take advantage of people and hold every scrap of power she can to get her own way.

The book explores the disadvantaged position of women in a society that overlooks them. Policemen who seem sympathetic, but then "have their hands tied". The master of the house (the husband of the woman who took Eleanor when her parents died) is just horrible - the sort that makes your flesh creep and you reach for something to hit him with. And then you remember he's not a magical evil, just a horribly human one.

The exact historical period was never specified, but I think it might have been Victorian, based on some of the clothing and transport options. It felt very grey and cold and oppressive, with some lovely passages about her using it as a metaphor for her life.

I did guess that way the crimes were committed early on, but that added an extra element of how that would play out - and I didn't expect the tone of the ending. It fits so perfectly the frantic, desperate feel of Eleanor's situation, but I was honestly expecting something... neater. I loved it! I love being blindsided by an ending even if I've guessed the steps leading up to it.

What a great book thoroughly enjoyed throughout read it super quick didnt want to put it down....would definitely recommend this book to others

Really enjoyed this. It took me a while to really get into it, but when it started to get good it was impossible to put down. I loved the gothic feel it gave, really added to the whole twist of the fairy tale. Thanks Netgalley for the ARC!

Cinderella has been retold in many formats over the years, but 'The Shadow in the Glass' is a particularly gothic and sinister version of the fairy tale.

When the mistress of the house dies, Ella falls from her privileged position as ward to lowly housemaid, at the mercy of the lecherous widower, Mr Pembroke. Ella is desperate to do anything to change her circumstances—so when a dark sorceress offers her seven wishes in exchange for her soul, she makes the deal. But each wish has a price and Ella has to consider what she’s willing to do to get what she wants.

This story is a slow burn. It is not overtly magical at the start, the fantastical elements creep in slowly and insidiously—you’re never quite sure where the boundary is between the psychological and the supernatural. In this way it did remind of the ambiguity of Laura Purcell’s novels. By the end I was thoroughly invested in Ella’s transgressions—a thrilling, monstrous tale of wish fulfilment.

This story might be tagged as a retelling of Cinderella but it is in a completely different league.
Once a ward of Mrs Pembroke and raised to be a lady, Eleanor finds herself relegated to the kitchens after her mentor's death. Now she sneaks around the house trying to avoid Mr Pembroke, her legal guardian, who has an unsavoury reputation amongst the maids of the house. Eleanor finds solace in the library where she reads the books that she once had open access too.
Then, one night, she conjures up a, I hesitate to say fairy godmother because that makes one think of nice kind old ladies, but an apparition who offers her seven wishes in exchange for her soul. Eleanor thinks she can outsmart the apparition and control the wishes but she finds that each comes at a huge price, a price that gradually destroys her.
I very much enjoyed this novel. It is beautifully told with rich language to describe the hideous living conditions of most of London during Victorian times. The details of the clothing, how people lived, the streets and food are captivating and must have entailed quite an amount of research. I was totally bound up in the place and could smell and hear the streets as Eleanor hurries through to the butcher's or to collect a parcel.
I wasn't quite so enamoured with Eleanor herself. She sways between well meaning — trying to do the best for Leah and Aiofe — two other maids who work in Mr Pembroke's house and selfishly being wrapped up in her own well being. There is quite a lot of introspection which slowed the pace in places, but the last few chapter romped home towards the end.
All in all an enjoyable read.
Many thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for a chance to read this.

Thank you to the publishers for providing me with an arc of this book!

If you like reading Christina Henry's retellings than this book is definitely something I would recommend!

It is dark and slightly twisted with aspects of different fairy tales and a curse that could completely change Eleanor's life, but is it for good or better?

I think there were times that I felt the story drag on a bit and lose the excitement which had me put it down once or twice before getting back into it but the whole idea and plot was interesting to follow and see what happens next.

I wasn't fully invested in the story until halfway in but ended up really enjoying and discovering what was really happening each time Eleanor wished for something. I liked how it bled into the quote of there is always a price to pay, especially in regard to wishes and granting them and the consequences that follow.

I got a bit frustrated with the characters, especially Eleanor at times which I didn't think helped in my reading but I actually really liked how she tried to defend and protect Aoife.

There is always a price for getting your wishes granted. But when Eleanor, who has sunk to a life as a wretched servant, finds a copy of Dr Faustus, and has the chance to have seven wishes granted, she thinks she will be able to escape the consequences. After all, her wishes start off so small, and she knows better than to make that final wish and lose her soul. But then mysterious deaths start to mount up around her, and she begins to slide down the path to damnation. Or was she already damned? She is the narrator, but we begin to hear snippets of her story from other characters, and people tend to get hurt around her. When she escapes into the world of her vivid imagination, what is she escaping from? Or is it her imagination creating the world around her.

There is a wonderfully horrific atmosphere to this book. Descriptions of sights and smells and actions are nauseating; everything seems to be decaying, and wounds never seem to heal. An everyday action like going to the butchers seems to be a journey through a gauntlet of criminals and predators.

Hints dropped through the book indicate that one person in particular is causing the deaths that surround Eleanor, but the final pages suggest that the reader may have come to the wrong conclusion.

I like how the book took some of the elements of Cinderella to create a completely different story, a very dark fairy tale. And I found the prose and plot very strong.

I had a copy of this book early through Netgalley.

For me, the ability to make a reader feel all the emotions felt by the protagonist - the hatred, the betrayal, the pain, the love - is a sign of a great writer. Harwood truly immerses the reader in this society where women truly are treated as disposable prey. The third-person narrative really helps you understand the thoughts within Ella's head, and I loved being in it. As a character, she's so well-written - the perfect example of a flawed teenager who wants nothing more than to escape the life set out for her while also trying to navigate first loves and heartbreaks.

Ella's interactions with characters leave nothing to be desired. In particular, I fell in love with the character of the black-eyed woman - a temptress, no doubt - it was hard to know whether you should love her or loathe her at times. I also adored Ella's relationship with Charles. He was the perfect love interest and, if he existed in real life, he would be the man of my dreams.

The references to the source material - Cinderella - are subtle, but just enough to help you form a connection. I loved seeing how Ella's wishes gradually became darker and darker until suddenly we're not experiencing the Disney version of Cinderella, but the original version as it was intended to be experienced. I'm genuinely impressed with the subtleties here; Harwood forbids the source material from taking over her own narrative voice, instead coaxing it along in a bid to aid her in the formation of something entirely other, setting The Shadow in the Glass apart from the reams of Cinderella retellings throughout history.

My issue with The Shadow in the Glass is less about the writing itself and more about the formatting and how it affected my personal reading experience. I truly don't have a large attention span and I am generally against stopping in the middle of a chapter. This book is separated into parts, some of which span over 100 pages. For a reader with a large attention span, this works perfectly. However, for readers like me whose interest is quickly piqued by alternate pursuits, the long chapters don't necessarily work. Therefore, there were moments while reading this where the writing was lost on me and felt rather tedious.

Nonetheless, the action picks up in the second half and it truly grips you relentlessly. This book does not have a happy ending - I should say here that The Shadow in the Glass did not have the ending that I wanted, but it was definitely perfect for this book. The ending is open, left to interpretation, which works really well for a book of this calibre - it also really showcases the depths of Ella's impacts on peoples' lives, in particular for Charles. I do think, however, that there were some questions regarding Leah's and Aoife's aftermaths that I would have liked answered at this stage.

Honestly, it's hard to fault The Shadow in the Glass. Though there were moments where my attention was pulled elsewhere, I found this on the whole to be a dark yet enjoyable journey upon which I would absolutely embark once more.

Content warnings: alcoholism, poisoning, drug use, death of parents, miscarriage, abortion, sexual assault, murder, adultery.

Thank you to J. J. A. Harwood, Harper Voyager UK and Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

A dark and unnerving retelling, with magic in abundance. This isn't a traditional Cinderella retelling, though some elements are familiar from the original tale. The direction of the plot was fairly self-explanatory, but the writing was engaging, the characters vivid. Eleanor's dance with power was riveting; her struggle against the allure of magic at the very heart of the story.

I will definitely be looking for more of JJA Harwood's work in the future! Huge thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Set in Victorian London, Ella finds herself on hard times. After her parents passed, Ella is lucky enough to be taken in by the very wealthy Mr and Mrs Pembroke. Sadly the beautiful Mrs Pembroke also passes. Overnight Ella goes from living a privileged life to becoming a maid in the household.

After three years of service, Ella is now 17 and is beginning to have her own hopes and dreams, that seem just out of her reach. A mysterious woman appears to Ella and offers her a deal in exchange for her soul. Will Ella take the deal, or will she turn it down and pursue her dreams herself?

This book was so gothic, tense and creepy! Victorian London was depicted brilliantly and had me recoiling in horror at some of the descriptions. It was a little slow to warm up but by the end of the book I literally couldn’t put it down. It had me guessing right up to the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for letting me read this ebook.

This promising debut has much to recommend it. Deliciously dark and gothic, the world 'below stairs' in a Victorian household is vividly brought to life and these parts of the story worked best for me.

Billed as a retielling of Cinderella I found this to be a more Faustian gothic melodrama, and a lot of fun for that. However I felt the ending didn't work so well for me - it seemed to shoe-horn in elements of the Cinderella story and felt a little forced to follow the plot of the fairy tale then find it's own way.

Having said that, this is an engaging debut and I'd definitely look out for more by Harwood - I think future books will see her develop as a writer and find a distinct voice.

Those who know me well will tell you that I love a gothic tale, and gothic fairy-tale, even better. I'm inevitably disappointed though. Most authors don't hit the right level of gothic for me, take 'The Miniaturist' for example. This beauty by Harwood though, really hits the spot.

It's not a Cinderella remake and doesn't have you comparing every chapter to a still from the Disney movie. This book stands on its own. In fact, the lead characters name (Eleanor aka Ella) and a silver slipper are the only major similarities.

Like all gothic novels this book takes time to warm up. The tension is built beautifully by Harwood and from different aspects in the book. The tension culminates with Ella meeting the black eyed woman and being offered 7 wishes in return for her soul. Like all fairy-tales the wishes have a twist, and this time there darker ones.

To describe this book as a re-telling on Cinderella is an understatement. Eleanor “Ella” Rose Hartley was once a little girl going on a young lady of society. However, this all came crumbling down, when her charge Mrs Pembroke suddenly died. Now Ella is forced to work for the House in which she once held higher standing; working long and hard days whilst freezing, starving and aching. But one night changes everything.

There is a moral to the story. Would you make the wishes if you knew of the consequences?

TW: sexual assault, abuse, miscarriage

I hope that by having my wish granted on NetGalley, I haven’t lost a part of my soul.

A gothic retelling of Cinderella. I finished my notes for this review by writing “HOW IS THIS A DEBUT NOVEL?!” This is an absolutely fantastic read, well written and dark. Though I do wish it could have been even darker!

In a dark and grimy Victorian London setting, this is a tale of Eleanor. A would-be lady turned servant due to the death of her stepmother, she is put to work by the man she once called her stepfather.

Until nestled between her most loved reads, she summons a black eyed lady through a book she hasn’t seen before. To make seven wishes, pay the price of giving away your soul.

“Wishes were supposed to be nice things.”

With the thought of available wishes behind her, Eleanor keeps her head held high and grows in confidence, but at what cost? She always tries to do the right thing for those around her, but maybe her perception of what that means has become skewed.

So dark and delicious you can’t put it down. I’ve never called a book delicious before but I can think of no better word.

The Shadow in the Glass, JJA Harwood

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General Fiction (adult).

I saw all the five star reviews and requested this. Sadly, it just didn't work for me.

I just couldn't get involved in the story, didn't like the characters, although at first it seemed promising. I did feel for the girls, life was – and for many still is – hard if you're female and in that kind of position. It soon lost me though, I wasn't keen on any of the people, and the plot seemed just strange, rather than deliciously Gothic it just felt forced to me.
Still, that's how it goes, some love a book and others hate it. I didn't hate this, just didn't find anything that made me want to keep reading, and I do not like ambiguous endings so that was a hard pass.

Stars: Two, a well written story that just didn't suit my taste.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers

I'm really not sure what to make of this book. From the description I was really intrigued, yet, while actually reading it I found there were bits I really enjoyed and then others I felt were confusing. For parts of the story I'd really feel sorry for Eleanor and then would soon get frustrated by her choices and also some of the other characters.

I thought the setting was good and I could picture the scenes.

Thank you to #NetGalley for a cooy of the book in exchange for an honest review. #TheShadowInTheGlass