Stealing Cinderella

By: A. Zavarelli, Sinister Collections

Narrated by: Kelsey Navarro, James Anderson Foster

Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

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 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.

This is a full length stand-alone with dark themes.

©2020 A. Zavarelli (P)2020 A. Zavarelli

A stunning & enticing twist on Cinderella

I adored this stunning and enticing twist on the Cinderella fairy tale. This is a complex and gripping read that will quickly have you under the spell it casts with it's intriguing characters, compelling story line and enveloping darkness. Ella and Thorsen are well developed characters. Each have their own baggage, issues and painful history that has shaped who they are and weighs heavily into the story and their developing relationship. This book is dark, twisted, kinky, sometimes disturbing and it can leave you feeling uncomfortable on occasion. If being drugged and kidnapped, mental illness, BDSM or references to child abuse could be triggers for you or are simply not things you prefer to read about you will want to seriously consider if this book is for you. As for myself, I thought this raw and deeply emotional read was a definite winner. This book offers dual narration and I loved that. Both narrators had pleasing voices and I felt they matched the characters well. They deliver a solid performance that easily pulls you into this tale and makes you eager to linger.

reader

The readers voice is awful. i cant pay attention for the fake accent. its not good

Loved the dark twist to a fairy tale!

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 read this when it first released and loved it but the audio makes it even better! I have listened to Kelsey Navarro before and she is a great narrator, her accents are perfect and really connect you with the characters! This was my first time listening to James Anderson Foster but he was absolutely perfect for Thor, he had a deep voice that was great with the accent!

Horrific example for BDSM Romance

Struggled just to get half way on this one. Usually I can ignore simple issues in a book and enjoy a story because I don't like leaving bad reviews, ever. But this one, unfortunately has glaring problems. The BDSM community struggles with legitimacy as it is, but there are also stigmas of "abuse" to contend with on top of that. Reading this book really brings to light this authors lack of education on this subject.

For one thing, a Dom would N.E.V.E.R. play while drinking. It's irresponsible and dangerous. Leaving someone tied for hours, long enough for hands to go numb? Again, dangerous and deadly.

This is just TWO examples.

This just reads as someone taking out their anger issues on a defenseless ignorant idiot of a girl who has spent her whole life being a victim. Absolute turnoff. I am very sorry, but please don't use this book as an example of a SS&C relationship.

Loved this story

Basically Fifty Shades meets Cinderella and took love advise from the back of Hustler.
If you have a bit of a twisted side you will enjoy, but if you are not into lite SM or phycologic Eff'd upness then use with caution.

Compelling

Audiobook: Narrators - Kelsey Navarro & James Anderson Foster

This was a very interesting narration as both the hero and heroine have strong accents. Initially, I struggled with it because the accent was off a bit, too strong and not really consistent. However, I slowed the speed down, and really focused on what was being said and suddenly I was completely enthralled with this story. I soon cranked the speed back up and it was as if I had been listening to these narrators and their performed accents forever. This ended up being a very enjoyable audio.

Stealing Cinderella was a darkly compelling story for me. It was raw and gritty and skirted on the edges of consent which heightened my anticipation of what was going to happen and how these characters were going to act and in turn, react. I’ve read dark romance before and yet this time I found myself holding my breath, wondering if this hero was going to cross the line. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but I will say that I loved all the angst and turmoil this book stirred in me. And in the end I absolutely LOVED this hero and all his brokenness.

This book is awful

Take 50 Shades of Grey, make it twice as bad, and you get this book. Guy kidnaps girl, convinces her she actually likes being manipulated and sexually abused, I guess? Couldn’t finish it. Even just listening to this book felt gross. Hard pass.

Dark and Brilliant

I had read the book some time ago. Listening to the Audiobook was delightful. The narrators were outstanding. This is a very dark story, with triggering situqations. My heart broke for Thor and Ella. They endured trauma at the hands of people who should have been there for them.

Very good twist on the fairytale 👠 💐

Very good story that grabbed you from the beginning and held on to the very end. The storyline and advancement of characters was wonderfully written, and wonderfully narrated. Very dark story, but highly recommended!

DNF for me

This story was just not for me. I had it recommended and cannot see myself picking up anything else from this author.

Dark fairy tale retelling at its best!

A dark fairy tale retelling that surely isn’t for everyone – but it most definitely was for me!

Oh, I’m such a sucker for dark fairy tale retellings. And when it’s one written by my favorite authors for the dark and twisted, you can bet I’ll jump at the chance to get my grabby hands on it.

And OHMYGOSH! It’s SO good. So delicious, so dark, so surprising. A Cinderella retelling different than anything you’ve read before. The story of poor, good-hearted Ella and broody, cold-hearted Prince Thorsen. Two characters that couldn’t be more different, yet so utterly perfect for one another. Seriously, I’m obsessed!

But beware, the story is not for the faint of heart. It’s violent, edgy, gruesome and questionable. It contains a hero that is hardly redeemable. And the things he makes Ella endure are evil and wicked – and not always safe, sane and consensual. Forget Prince Charming, Thorsen definitely is anything but.

And yet, between all the depravity and wickedness of it lies a raw and emotional love story of two tortured broken souls with traumatic pasts. Two souls that have to work hard, lay their wounds open for anyone to see before they are able to heal and get to have something even remotely resembling a happily ever after.

The audio book is narrated by Kelsey Navarro and James Anderson Foster, both new narrators to me. Both characters have accents, which were both too strong yet not consistent enough at the same time. It took some getting used to. That aside, I loved the intonations and emotions they provided their characters with, which added another layer to the experience that is this story.

If you’re looking for some BDSM-romance wrapped in a fairy tale, look elsewhere, because this book is not it. But if you’re looking for an all-encompassing, well-written, raw and insanely emotional – the good, the bad and the ugly, and more of the ugly – love story full of malice, love and, ultimately, redemption, then this is the book for you.

As addictive as it is dark

This is probably the darkest retelling of Cinderella that I've ever read.

I think someone on the level of A Zavarelli is the only author who could make this work as well as it turned out.

This is very dark. Really quite steamy (steamier than I expected it to be TBH)

All the Cinderella basics are there; dead father, abusive step mother, bullying stepsisters, prince and a ball.

It's the minutia. The way the story is retold. That's what makes this so darn good. Retellings could be tricky to handle, but this one was knocked all the way out the park.

There's triggers a plenty in this so please be warned and careful.

This sinister retake on a classic was a real winner.
The audio on this is pure fire.