Ashes

Post-Apocalyptic Fairy Tales, Book 2

By: Claire Kent

Narrated by: Macie Miller

She needs to escape her stepmother, and he's the only prince around.

Ever since my father died and my sister left, I've been trapped in a life of drudgery with a stepfamily as wicked as the storybooks say. Life after the apocalypse offers few choices, and I only have three. I can stay and be miserable. I can die in the wilderness. Or I can marry him.

Mason is the closest thing this village has to a prince. He's odd and antisocial and doesn't say a lot, but he's got a good home and a dependable income. Plus, he treats me better than my stepfamily.

Neither one of us has any experience with relationships, but maybe we can muddle along together better than we have alone.

If happy endings in this world are impossible, then this marriage of convenience will have to do.

©2026 Podium Audio (P)2026 Podium Audio

A post-apocalyptic Cinderella story

Good narration. 39 years after the apocalypse a woman marries a man to get away from her wicked stepmother. There’s some light conflict but overall a comfort read set in Claire Kent’s post-apocalyptic world.

Did I complain about her formula?

I’m so used to the author's ‘damsel girl - grumpy, dirty talking older guy’ couples formula that Teresa and Mason’s double innocents dynamic threw me off. Mason was still older and stoic, but he’d never had sex. Teresa didn’t even know she could touch herself to pleasure. As such, this had more of a Blue Lagoon type of naivety, with slow, hesitant moves towards completion. It was mild and sweet. Not terrible. Just more mellow than I expected.

Just ok

Tame/lame listen. I really didn’t like the narration, way too breathy. The main characters were like-able, but the story was too similar to authors other works, but with less action and drama.