Moonlit Waltz – Kathleen Collins*

Moonlit Waltz Synopsis

“In a land of human and lycan alike, there lived a beautiful girl named Ella. She was adored by her family and loved by a prince. But Ella was a shifter which meant she could never bear children and a prince must have heirs. She believed herself resolved to her fate until her father remarried and his new wife brought his non-shifting daughters to live with them.
Josef has loved Ella since he was twelve years old, but he has an obligation to his kingdom that she can never fulfill. Deciding his son has delayed the inevitable long enough, the king gives him three days to name a bride or one will be chosen for him. On the last day Ella stuns them all and suddenly the prince has hope. Will they find their happily ever after with the help of the goddess herself?“

Note: This review is spoiler-free!

Why did I pick it?

I’m a big sucker for retellings. After loving a recent Beauty and the Beast retelling I thought this would be a fun one to pickup. In the month of September I participated in the Blogger Book Nook Challenge to read “something new”, and as Kathleen was a new author for me I thought it would be a good one to pick up for the challenge!

What I loved about it

I’ve been having a bit of a book slump recently and I loved that this was a short and pleasant read, it really helped get me back into the swing of things. As I mentioned before I love a retelling and this one was a very quirky version with werewolves and a completely different family dynamic than you get in a usual Cinderella story.

What I loathed about it

I think to call this a retelling is maybe a tad misleading. What makes Cinderella for me, is that you feel the hopelessness of her situation. In this story it’s not quite as pronounced, Ella has a whole host of supportive family members and extended family friends to help her get by, so it’s a little difficult to feel that any situation is truly bleak for her.

I loved the fact that Ella was a shifter and I was looking forward to seeing how this played out. But other than the fact shifters can’t have children and therefore she can’t marry the prince, it was pretty much a mute plot point, which I was a little disappointed about.

Thoughts

I really enjoyed the story, I just wanted more. More shifting, more angst and more adventure!

When and where can you get it

You can purchase Moonlit Waltz on Amazon today

Further questions

Since this book was read in part for the #BBookNook September Reading Challenge I have a few more questions to answer.

I love trying out new authors! I naturally have my favourites which I always turn to but I love it when a cover or a title catches your eye and you discover a new favourite.

Mainly Goodreads. there are so many great reviewers on there I find some great books that way. I also watch a few booktubers and read lots of book blogs. I’ve found the #BBookNook Facebook Group great for recommendations as well.

I have a few I’m yet to start; Jay Kristoff, Neil Gaiman (I know shock horror!), Marie Lu, Laini Taylor, Susan Dennard, Maria V Snyder, Sabaa Tahir and that’s just on the first few pages of my goodreads list! In fairness my TBR list has 190 books on it at the moment!

Nothing recently. I’ve been more disappointed by fav authors recently, I think maybe I build up my expectations a little too high ?

I often recommend Cassandra Clare, Leigh Bardugo and Sarah J Maas, to people, I’m a bit of a fangirl of their work.

Octobers theme is “spooktacular” why not come and join us in the Facebook Group. and the hashtag#Bbooknook

* Book provided FOC in exchange for an honest and fair review