Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Cinder, a poor and beautiful young man who designs clothing, makeup, and hair for his stepmother and stepsisters, offers his clothing and slippers to a naked stranger in the woods, who turns out to be none other than Prince Charming. Follow Cinder and Prince Charming in this twist on the classic Cinderella tale as they discover their inner strengths and find their very own happily ever after.
Enjoy The Naked Prince and three other reimagined tales from Fairyland, each with a unique spin on stories we all know and love, including The Golden Rule, where eighteen-year-old Gideon Golden, after being thrown out of his home in Fairyland by his homophobic parents, breaks into the cottage of three burly men on Bear Mountain.
In Whatever Happened To…?, friction ensues between a celebrity with a growing appendage and a reporter who has a thing for giants.
And in Ice Cold, young Gaelen must save his love, Kieran, after a handsome but evil prince freezes Kieran’s heart and bewitches him into being the prince’s slave.
I was not as taken with this book as many others seem to be. I have read a few re-imagined fairytales before, but this one didn’t connect with me, both in the telling of these stories and how the characters acted. There was more of a raunchy side in these stories I didn’t like.
In the stories the characters (and secondary characters) seemed immature and had quite a bit of bickering going on. The first story was alright, but the king and queens bickering and attitude along with Cinder’s family was just too much to actually enjoy it. Unfortunately the character just seemed to get more and more annoying as the stories went on. I didn’t like that it was continually insinuated that most men would always want someone else and there was a use of feminine descriptions that seemed quite disturbing to me.
Joel Leslie did a nice job keeping the characters separate with different voices. However, his exaggerated use of accents made this book even more frustrating. It took me and entire day to get through this 3 and a half hour book because I had to continually take break from it.
Cover art by Paul Richmond is absolutely adorable.
Sales Links
Dreamspinner Press | Audible | Amazon | iTunes
Audiobook Details:
Audiobook, 3hrs 20min
Published October 21, 2016 (ebook first published January 27, 2016)
Edition Language: English
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 
I found out about these stories when the audiobook was voted Favorite Audiobook of October at Open Skye Book Reviews. Like the reviews I’ve read there, on Hearts of Fire, Gay Book Reviews, TTC Books and More, etc., I loved these stories and this narrator, and found them full of hysterical humor, heart, romance, and I’ll admit it, sexy as hell. I’m new to this author and narrator, but I’ll be reading and listening to more.
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