Every royal has their dirty little secret. His was… me.
It should have been simple.
Go to the ball, meet the prince, and secure his patronage for my favorite charity.
But beneath the mask, the brooding beast of a man was not at all who I expected.
He was dark and intense and eerily quiet.
When I left, I could still feel the ghost of his touch branded into my skin.
He haunted my dreams, but … into my skin.
He haunted my dreams, but I never expected to see him again.
Then he came for me.
And he took me.
And I learned that his darkness was a void I never could have conceived.
He’s the crown prince.
And, now, I’m his captive.
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Standing ovations and a thousand salutes to A. Zavarelli for this twisted and mindblowing retelling of Cinderella in Stealing Cinderella. Where the prince is not exactly charming. Where Cinderella is not a damsel in distress completely. It indeed has a happily ever after but only after the author takes us through an intense, angsty, dark and deviant journey.
Ella has been living in the hell of her family manor since the unfortunate death of her father. Her stepmother and stepsisters are psychotic devils. Her only solace is the animal sanctuary. But that place is dying from lack of money. So when her best friend Charlotte helps her to attend the royal ball after much planning, she intends to utilise it to reach Prince Astor to seek help. But the prince she finds is cold, arrogant, rude and comes across completely heartless. Prince Thorsen of Norway has a reputation. And Ella has captured his attention. What will happen when he finds the woman in blue ballgown and silver heels and kidnaps her to take with him? Will Ella be able to take his cruel torture and excruciating punishments? Does Thorsen actually have a heart?
This story is a complex puzzle. The threads come undone and then form a colourful tapestry of emotions those make perfect sense. In the most weird way. I have not read a proper dominant submissive story in a long long time. And the author executed it brilliantly. Thorsen is broken. He thinks himself beyond redemption. He is hurt and so he doesn’t trust anyone. His mind is a violent, fearsome and fascinating place to be. And I am utterly and truly consumed by his darkness. He treats Ella like his plaything first. Inconsequential. Disposable. But the goodness of Ella warms his cold heart and the feelings came back. Ella is another intriguing character. All the torture and negativity has not dimmed her compassionate and loving light. She cares for the monster who Imprisoned her and tortures her. She wants to soothe his all consuming pain. And that takes strength, courage and resilience. The process is messy. It enraged me. It made me yell in anger and frustration. It made my heart break into pieces. It was arousing and scorching hot. The story has Unlimited twist and turns with all the dirty power plays, mind games and secrets of a royal family. I was not only enticed by the breathtaking chemistry of Ella and Thorsen, the dangerous ups and downs were equally mesmerising.
Stealing Cinderella by A. Zavarelli is a fairytale indeed as tear strained happily ever after happens and the evil is beaten in it’s own game. Cinderella gets her prince. But they are imperfect and broken. Their love is explosive and destructive. Their story is built by blood, fire, sweat, poison and tears.
Received ARC for honest review
I am obsessed with A. Zavaralli’s writing and have enjoyed every book immensely. This beautiful story is a modern day take on Cinderella. I loved everything about this book.
“Stealing Cinderella” is a edgy, dark, retelling of the fairytale Cinderella. I loved how A. Zavarelli wrote this classic fairytale in her own signature writing. It had romance, it had intensity, it was heartbreaking, it made me cry, it made me happy. It made me smile. 4.5 fairy stars for this story of good will always prevails.
“You’re so pretty, min gudinne.” He massages my jaw beneath his fingers. “I’m going to wreck you.” ~ Prince Thorsen
A sexy read topped with suspense and a dash of Norse mythology.
This Cinderella retelling stole my attention from the first page and held on until the last. I loved Ella’s spirit and her underlying fight, and while I wanted to throttle Thor at certain points (a testament to the powerful writing), I loved how he evolved throughout the story.
A. Zavarelli has been a #OneClick author for me for years. I love her ability to weave dark tales with an emotional bite. They always leave me feeling satisfied at the end with the HFN/HEA, and Stealing Cinderella was no different. I came in with high expectations and each box was ticked, making this a solid 5-star read for me.
Highly recommend for those who enjoy darker reads with strong endings.
Another one for this collection.
First of all, Cinderella is easily one of my least liked fairy tales, but I typically enjoy the authors work, so I figured I’d give it a go.
There are some parts that were an absolute hit for me. The darkness level was close to what I was expecting, the hero’s backstory was exactly as it needed to be, and his behaviors were spot on. I loved the second half of the book. The more information we got, the more I enjoyed. Th beginning was much more focused on the steam of the story, although that is absolutely present in the entire book. I loved the brotherly interactions, the love that was evident for their mother. I also loved that there weren’t gigantic deviations made from the original story.
Things that were kind of a miss for me: I’ll be honest, the BDSM goes here. I don’t really have a lot of knowledge on it, but what happened seemed more like two people that were very inexperienced in it, and focused on the punishment, more than anything else. The other thing was that I had a hard time distinguishing when this was supposed to take place, because some things would be very current, but others were kind of like old times.
Overall, the good definitely outweighs anything else, and I would absolutely recommend this.
***4 Stars***
This was definitely NOT the animated version of the story and I really enjoyed it ~ even the moments that had me doing a HUGE WTEF?!? This Cinderella is all kinds of dark, deviant and yet filled to the brim with heart and had me turning the pages to see how everything would turn out for Ella, Thorsen and everyone who they encountered.
Ella and Thorsen. Talk about two tortured souls. Both have been through a kind of purgatory that I wouldn’t wish on anyone, but found the strength to keep living ~ though in different ways. Their journey is all kinds of dark, and I can’t deny that I did wonder just how they could become more, but they did and I enjoyed watching as their connection became stronger. The bumps in their road were numerous, this is a dark romance after all, but I like how everything ended up working for them when everything was said and done.
While this isn’t my first read by the author, it is the first full length novel I’ve read and I really enjoyed it. I was hooked from the first page and though I’m well versed in both the animated and original versions of the Cinderella fairy tale, I really enjoyed how she made it her own while keeping quite a few of the themes alive and well within the re-telling. All of the characters were very well written, especially the baddies, but my fav was Calder with Dr. Blom coming in a close second, and wouldn’t mind if either or both get their own book at some point in the future.
~ Copy provided by EJBP & voluntarily reviewed ~
Stealing Cinderella by A. Zavarelli is part of the Sinister Collections. This is the story of Ella and Thorsten. I have read the other books in the Sinister Collections but this is a standalone book with the Cinderella theme made dark. Ella life has changed a lot since her father’s death. Ella’s step mother is abusive along with her step-sisters. Then on thing she has is the Animal shelter/haven but it needs sponsorship help. When she goes to try to solicited help she finds herself at a local Gala. There she runs into Thorsten the crown prince of Norway. Thorsten is a dark person who has certain needs and certain ticks that shows him to be a troubled person. But something happens when he meets Ella. But Ella ends up making a run for it leaving the Gala but Thorsten isn’t done with her and so the chase begins to what dark end will it lead?? So enjoy the page turning dark story. I hope to read more from this author soon.
First of all, WOW!!!! A. Zavarelli is giving me some seriously good books to survive this month! I love both retellings and dark books, so this book is perfect for me. I was curious to see how she would spin the story to give it a dark theme, and let me tell you that I wasn’t expecting any of it!
Thorsen “Thor” is next in line for the Norwegian throne. His father, the King has been adamant that he has to marry, but there are bigger things occupying his mind. More sinister things to be exact. Mentally he’s in a very bad place, where everyone is tricking him and other people’s touch is unbearable.
Ella lost her father very young, while he was trying to protect her. Since then she’s been punishing herself for what happened. She’s also punished daily by her stepmother and stepsisters. These three are so disgusting and I wanted to smack them for everything they ‘ve done.
These two very different but so alike people come together at the annual charity ball the British Royalty is hosting. Fate has it that these two meet, resulting to a bumpy ride! Thor is hated by everyone except Ella. His damaged soul can’t accept that her actions are genuine and come from the heart. Can this brutish man accept that there’s kindness and purity in the world?
Fair warning: The story becomes pretty dark in some chapters and the characters’ hatred pours from the pages. It also has some BDSM elements, so if this disturbs you, maybe this book isn’t for you. However, if dark, twisted and sinful are your vices, then this story is definitely written for you!!!
A childhood favorite takes a dark and twisted turn.
There have been a few new versions of fairy tales over the last few years from several different authors, most taking the stories down a dark and twisted road, just as this one by A Zavarelli does.
Stealing Cinderella is the first in a brand new series by Ms. Zavarelli but it bears no resemblance to your childhood tale, other than by name.
Thorsen and Ella have brought a new and passionate light to this once U rated storybook fable, they have a wonderfully strong chemistry and lit up the pages with it. Both have a past history and are more than a little broken when they meet. But, together, they find their true selves. I was glued to my seat through the entire reading and loved each dark, and deviant minute of it.
I’m certainly eager to get my hands on the next in this series.
A. Zavarelli is my go to author for darker romances, she knows how to walk the line without going so far over that I have to put the book down! I usually have the opposite problem with her books, I read Stealing Cinderella without stopping yesterday… I could not put it down!
I always love the idea of retellings from childhood favorite’s but they tend to leave me disappointed a lot of the time. It is hard to change a story that has stood the test of time and have it measure up, but A. Zavarelli really knocked it out of the park with this one. This honestly is a true Cinderella story for adults, the beginning starts with the somewhat typical tale of Cinderella but as it continues this is nothing like the childhood story! There are twists and turns to the life of Ella and Thor that touch on everything, theirs is a story of survival, obsession, abuse, revenge and love. I loved Ella in this story, she wasn’t the goody two shoes who sang to animals and just put up with everything… yes she put up with a lot in the beginning but there was so much self hate and blame behind it that made it understandable. She also grew a lot in this story, she lost her naiveness and grew some self worth. Thor is the character who stole the story for me. I enjoyed Ella’s journey, but Thor was everything… it was nice to see the Prince get his story told because it was nothing I ever would have expected. Thor was dark, damaged and just wanted a way out from all the pain life had to offer. This wasn’t a story of how a prince rode in and saved the princess, they saved each other which is the best type of fairy tale!! I can’t wait for more from this series!!
I love all A. Zavarelli’s books, but this one became one of my favorites, just as good as Reaper or Crow.
I love Cinderella story, and this is my kind of fairy tale! Dark princes are, no doubt, fabulous. The intensity of both characters, the darkness in their life, is just heartbreaking. I cried several times and read it non stop. I was so enchanted that I had to wait to write the review!
I am sure that you will love it too!
This isn’t your ordinary Cinderella story! Ms. Zavarelli puts her own dark, twisty and smokin hot spin on this classic fairy tale.
This is the story of Ella and Thorsen.
Thorsen is so far from prince charming, it’s not even funny! He is dark and twisted and almost evil. But he is a product of his upbringing and that was no fairy tale. He is planning his own demise before he meets Ella and boy he put that girl through the wringer.
Ella, this girl was strength and fire combined! She was soft when she needed to be and fierce and strong when it was warranted. She believed in Thorsen when no one else did.
The push and pull of the relationship between Ella and Thorsen was painful and beautiful to read! I couldn’t put this story down until the end.
There is erotica abound in this story, in true A. Zavarelli style, she isn’t about hearts and flowers romance, she is down and dirty and it was exciting to read!
Stealing Cinderella by A. Zavarelli is a deliciously sinister and intensely twisted modern retelling of Cinderella.
What a mindblowing, angsty, dark read that this story is..full of hate, love, passion, obsession, revenge, betrayal, feels, romance and what dark romance would this be without the push/pull and the twists that keep the readers hooked and enthralled.
Thorsen Thor and Ella are the main characters and wow, they are the couple that you imagined in a fairytale but with a twist. You’ll understand when you read the story
This read is filled with dark feels, hot scenes and the main characters have such intense chemistry that it leaps off the pages. What a deliciously tempting dark romance!!
My Rating: 4.5 stars ********
Absolutely loved how this author rewrote this classic fairytale.. This modern tale is more on the darker side. The chemistry between these two is unbelievable. Once again, A did not disappoint.
Don’t miss out on the other books in the Sinister Fairytales series- Venom, Cold Queen, Sacrifice, Insolent, Madness, Siren, Legend, Mirage, Imprisoned, Lock.
I have a love-hate relationship with fairy tale retellings. I always love the concept, but am often disappointed with the execution. I am a huge fan of A. Zavarelli’s writing, but was a bit apprehensive going into this retelling of Cinderella. However, I needn’t have worried. Ms. Zavarelli took a beloved fairy tale and turned it into a dark and delicious tale of survival, revenge, love, hate, obsession and so much more. This book made me so mad so many times throughout that I’m surprised my kindle survived the onslaught. I hated certain characters in Stealing Cinderella so so much! Now Ella herself at first seemed sort of like a carbon copy of the original Cinderella and I kept waiting for the birds to burst out in song as she was doing her many, many, many chores. But as we go further into the story, new and interesting facets to her personality emerge and, while still quite the goody two shoes, she becomes a much more complex and intriguing character. But what really made this story come alive for me is Thorsen. You don’t really get to know the prince in the original fairy tale. This story, however, is heavily focused on his character. And what a character it is! He is so broken and broody and a contradiction of questionable morals and unwavering loyalty. A. Zavarelly tackles some heavy subjects involving childhood abuse and mental illness. She handles these subjects with care and they fit well into the story. I loved Thorsen’s relationship with Calder and definitely wouldn’t mind getting his story in the future. The chemistry between Ella and Thorsen is off the charts and the two are quite hot together! This is not your grandma’s fairy tale! Overall, I really enjoyed this dark retelling of Cinderella and recommend it to all lovers of dark romance.
This was another great read from Ashleigh Zaverelli as she took a darker spin on the fairy tale of Cinderella. After witnessing her father’s death as a young girl, Ella suffers through life with a vicious and abusive step-mother and two equally horrid step-sisters. As the traditional tale goes, she’s treated as a slave, suffering verbal and physical abuse. Her only solace is volunteering at a local animal shelter that’s soon to close its doors due to a lack of funds. After being presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend a masquerade ball held by the royal family, Ella secretly attends with the hope of five minutes with the Prince of England in order to convince him to choose her shelter as one of his charities. She mistakenly gives her pleas to Thorsten (Thor for short), the Crown Prince of Norway, instead who is instantly enamoured with her lack of guile and here’s where the story takes its twist…he drugs and kidnaps her, taking her with him to Norway. He presents her with a deal: stay with him and obey him for two months and he’ll give money to her precious shelter.
Before I continue, I’ll put out there a quick trigger warning of child abuse for other readers. It wasn’t a focal point in the story, but it’s there and I know some people get upset without being told in advance.
I love that the story intertwined all of the key elements you know from the original fairy tale: the lost shoe, the terrible home life, a prince in a palace and a step-family determined to come out on top. The spin comes from the characters themselves. Thorsten is not a beloved member of the royal family and has his own dark secrets as well as mental health issues as a result. He’s definitely a broken hero who believes he’s unworthy of love or anything good in his life. Thorsten is prone to violent outbursts, is incapable of intimacy of any kind without support and should be on medication. He has a twin brother who was a great secondary character (and just as a side note, I love that the author made him supportive rather than taking the easy way out and making him an additional villain), a mother who is slowly dying and a cold and cruel father. Ella was sweet and twisted in her own way, gaining pleasure from pain due to her tortuous upbringing.
There was a good smattering of dirty talk and some steamy scenes which were made more enjoyable by the fact that they didn’t overtake the plot by being repetitive. The only slight questionable aspect for me was how quickly Ella would get aroused by a man who had kidnapped her, clearly had a basket-load of personal issues and was a wee bit scary and intense. And just a heads up – as this is a darker spin on Cinderella, there’s a bit of bondage, beating, cruelty and other paraphernalia (e.g. paddles, whips, etc.) chucked in to add to the theme of the book. This isn’t normally my cup of tea but it didn’t bother me too much as it didn’t take over the story. I did roll my eyes a little bit as Ella was turned on by this after having zero amount of her own experience but again, that’s a personal preference and it helped move the book along nicely.
As a lot of this story revolves around the traditional telling of Cinderella, be prepared to be frustrated at times as many things go badly for Ella, but as I said above, I loved this about the book as much as it had me pulling out my hair and questioning why. It was tied up extremely satisfactorily and without spoiling anything, I’m glad that Ella wasn’t given a cliché ending where she wanted everything tied up with a neat bow and everyone forgiven. Things were literally set on fire.
The book’s told from both Thorsten and Ella’s points of view and you get brief flashbacks into Thorsten’s past. It’s certainly a tale of a dark prince and his princess who drags him into the light. It was a quicker, if somewhat intense read and I didn’t put it down until it was finished. This author always delivers for me and this book is no different. I’d love for Ashleigh Zaverelli to do more of these because this was a great read. Oh, and how gorgeous is this cover!
This went in a totally different way than expected and I loved it! Thorsen and Ella are explosive together and I love the darkness of it. Yes, it’s darker than the original story but that’s what this so great. The author weaved this story in away that makes this version so much better. It’s a hate-to-love story that captivated me and I couldn’t put it down. I didn’t even notice I was finished until I got to the end.
Absolutely fantastic!
I went into this as blind as one can be with a title like Stealing Cinderella. A dark retelling of a classic fairytale, and honestly, it’s probably my favorite one. I loved Ella’s strength and her heart, and how she stood up to Thorsen and changed him. And I absolutely loved Thorsen. Dark, brooding, dangerous, and oh, so broken. He was as beautiful as his story was heartbreaking.
The twists and turns in this story were superb, leaving me on the edge of my seat as I waited to see what happened next. There were surprises I didn’t see coming, and so much good to offset all the heartbreak.
Zavarelli didn’t disappoint with this retelling!
Wowza! I could not put this book down! I devoured it. It’s filthy and sexy and dark. Stealing Cinderella is a totally unique twist on a classic. If you like dark reads and/or fairytale retellings, you are absolutely going to want to read this one! It’s so good!
When you hear a book is a retelling of a common fairy tale you absolutely create a check list in your head as to what needs to be in the book.
Cinderella- Ella, Cinderella, She is in need of a champion a hero who will take care of her. Someone who will show her her worth. Her character does not react typically once the story moves forward
Prince Charming- Thorsen, not so very charming, I liked his layers and multidimensional personality. He wasn’t willing go to just marry for any reason
Fairy Godmother- Charlotte, Ella’s best friend and benefactor.
Evil Stepmother and stepsister- Check, they are pure evil with mountains of nastiness.
I am going to be completely honest with you when I started Stealing Cinderella, I thought it was going to be a very basic rewrite of the story. I was about 4 chapters in and still questioning why I was reading this. I liked the character of Ella. You could see that Thorsen has a troubled soul and needed to be brought into the light. But I just felt that it was going to take the typical trajectory of the a Cinderella story, but….. BAM! It was like all the sudden this was no longer your typical Cinderella. I LOVED IT.
I loved the dark and twisted nature of the story. I loved the complexity of all the characters. Prince Thorsen is not going to be riding in a white horse to save anyone. He really needs to be saved. Ella’s caring and loving nature is either going to be to her detriment or it is going to save him. Prince Thor is absolutely the antihero I have come expect from books written by Zavarelli. She has a way of writing these strong silent types who teeter on the edge of destruction, and the love of a women is what pulls him back to the light.
The supporting characters in this book add another level of complexity. It is really Prince Thor’s relationships and how he related to others. These relationships are so important so that we can see both sides of Thor and what makes him be the man he is.
I read this as a standalone but am now intrigued to go back and read the other books in the Sinister Fairytales. This was a very steamy and sexy read. I would give this a 4.5/5. I took away a .5 because of how slow it started off.