This is Not Your Mother’s Cinderella

With a trace of trepidation, I want to introduce you to a wonderful clean read for older teens and adults, City of Wishes. It’s another Cinderella retelling, but with an imaginative twist involving fae, vampires, shape shifters, and a fairy godmother who may or may not be trustworthy. The jury’s still out on that one. 😉

Why the trepidation? This book does contain several instances of mild swear words, though most are found in the first chapter (why do some authors do that?). Second reason: vampires are involved. I’m not a vampire fan and will typically steer clear of books, movies, TV series, etc., that involve vampires as the main characters, or try to pretend that sucking someone else’s blood is okay in certain circumstances (it’s never okay). But while vampires play an important role in the overall plot, they’re not the main characters (and no one does any blood-sucking).

Aside from those two disclaimers, this is a fantastic book by skilled author, Rachel Morgan, whose story world seamlessly (and believably) blends magic with the contemporary, and whose plot has so many twists and places of intrigue, be prepared to stay up way past your bedtime. I discovered this gem through Chirp, an online audiobook service with corresponding app, and the narrator is ah-MAZE-ingly talented, as well. There were times I forgot that all the different voices came from one source. Admittedly, I used any excuse to listen to the book: cleaning the bathrooms, ironing my hubby’s dress shirts, happy to cook dinner and wash dishes, content to do the laundry, and I got a lot of knitting done, too.

This book was originally released as a series of novellas, so be sure to look for the full title, City of Wishes: The Complete Story. Otherwise, you will come to one cliffhanger after another. The few one-star reviews reflect that frustration. So glad I discovered this after it had been released as one lovely tale.

If you enjoy clean romance, magic, fairytale retellings, and enough plot twists to make your head spin, all bundled together in well-written prose, you should enjoy City of Wishes. It’s one of those books where the characters stay with you long after you’ve closed the cover…or in my case, turned off the audio.

Cinderella retold: A human slave, a fae prince, and a Godmother who’ll grant any wish—if you pay the price.

In a world of fae, vampires and shifters, where magic is real and wishes can be bought and bargained for, Elle is on society’s bottommost rung: she’s human. To make matters worse, she’s also a slave, bound to her stepmother by magic.

Her only hope at freedom is to wish for it.

But the Godmother rules the illegal wish trade, and the price she demands is steep. Elle has never been desperate enough to summon her.

Until now.