About the book: When Ashelandra’s father dies, she ends up a servant in her own house, instead of the Baroness she was supposed to become. But Ash’s secret sorcery could be the key to winning back her home and following her heart to a future she never imagined. This fantasy-infused Cinderella story puts a magical twist on a classic tale. Riveting and original, it’s a spellbinding read.
My review: I have never read a Cinderella retelling quite like this one. I loved everything about it. I loved Ashelandra, Ash for short, she's a young girl who is quite used to playing pranks with her magic and her single parent father lets her get away with almost everything she wants. But he tragically dies, and the day of the funeral Ash meets her controlling uncle who now is her guardian and her life goes downhill rapidly. Ash's uncle does everything he can think of to get her to calm down, and when nothing works, he decides to make her a servant in her own home, leaving her the hardest, most demanding chores to do. Meanwhile, trying to steal her home and make his own daughter, Jane, the princess of the land.
Even when all of this bad is happening to Ash, she continues to try to learn magic by reading her dead mother's books and she never gets discouraged when things are hard. I love that she was determined to do everything in her power to survive her uncle's rampage on her land and that she didn't want to defame him and her cousin even when she could have. Ash's character is one of my favorites!
Prince Philip was pretty great too! You don't see things through his perspective, but when he tells all at the end, he really is a great young man.
I loved the feeling of magic throughout this book, it really makes the whole story more vibrant and alive. And the ending is awesome! Make sure you pick up this fun book!
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
About the author: Alicia Buck was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on a cold November day and has hated the cold ever since. Luckily, she lives in the desert now with her husband, Jason, and three children. Alicia loves to read, and goes through book craze phases where she reads a book a day until guilt kicks in and she tries to do something productive like get back to work writing and fix the disaster her home has become. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s in English, and had to constantly defend her major when she had absolutely no desire to teach. Out of the Ashes is Alicia’s second novel.
Labels: Alicia Buck, Cedar Fort, fairy tale re-tellings
About the book: When Ashelandra’s father dies, she ends up a servant in her own house, instead of the Baroness she was supposed to become. But Ash’s secret sorcery could be the key to winning back her home and following her heart to a future she never imagined. This fantasy-infused Cinderella story puts a magical twist on a classic tale. Riveting and original, it’s a spellbinding read.