Elizabeth Lim hits out of the park again with her Twisted Tale that transforms a princess I found boring and uninteresting to a riveting heroine to root for. And Lim doesn’t even change her personality!

Cinderella is still kind, still compassionate, still dreamy and optimistic. But after Lady Tremine locks her in the attic, preventing her from ever trying the glass slipper and then tries to SELL her, Cinderella decides to take fate in her own hands. Compelled to never feel as helpless as before, she escapes and with her kind personality befriends a seamstress at the castle where she gets a new job.

Though a part of her hopes that Prince Charles may recognize her (he doesn’t), she also realizes how silly that wish is. Passively dreaming and pretending to be happy only left her helpless to the whims of others, so now she will focus on doing her best work as handmaiden to the king’s visiting sister, the eccentric Duchess Genevieve of Orleans (Who is my favorite character). She’s like a coconut, stern and hard on the outside but sensible and soft inside.

Lim also takes time to develop Prince Charming, Prince Charles here. He has returned after four years at university where he learned a little more about his kingdom like the poverty, high taxes, and riots and so wants to implement some changes to the system. However, that is totally against the plans of the primary villain of the piece, Grand Duke Ferdinand. He is classist and a royalist, who has worked hard to keep the education, lands, council positions and money in the hands of fellow lords. He doesn’t want young upstarts and peasants having important positions, overruling tradition. Giving jobs based on merit and not title, ridiculous! Really this whole thread gives such pre French Revolution atmosphere and I love it.

But there’s still magic in the air as Cinderella finds out her Fairy Godmother is technically exiled from the kingdom. All fairies are because the Grand Duke/other lords feared the bad fairies always cursing monarchy (and giving miracles to peasants for being pure of heart. And not fellow nobility because hehe they tend to be less pure of heart nor hardworking). And because Cinderella is Cinderella, she seeks to help her friend and stay honest even as she gets caught up in the palace intrigue.

There are more things weaved into it, like the bonding between Charles and Cinderella, allowing readers to see how they can connect beyond one beautiful dance, but I can’t spoil how that all comes about.

But the real treat of Lim’s writing is her beautiful prose in creating this world. It’s feels as lush and romantic as a painting and again, reminds me of pre French Revolution. It’s a wonderful blend between historical atmosphere and the dreamy “This is love” sequence.

And again, Lin’s true talent lies with character progression and development as she depicts Cinderella’s struggle to believe in herself/good fortune after the years of abuse she endured. How her attempts at pretending the Tremines needed her and loved her somewhere deep down had to be put to rest as it‘s not right to put all the work on Cinderella, the victim, to earn the Tremines love and respect. How she backs away from her possible happy ending because she’s scared it won’t last because she’s “nothing.” It’s such a nuanced depiction of abuse and trauma, and she becomes very well developed. I loved her growth and her final confrontation with Tremine is one of the biggest highlights for me.

5 out of 5 stars or glass slippers. It’s well worth the read.