Synopsis:
“Could you love me?” he whispered. The question stole my breath and burned my lungs in the silence that followed.
I wanted to answer, to whisper yes into the space between us, but I was afraid.
All Gesela’s life, her home village of Elk has been cursed. And it isn’t a single curse—it is one after another, each to be broken by a villager, each with devastating consequences. When Elk’s well goes dry, it is Gesela’s turn to save her town by killing the toad that lives at the bottom. Except… the toad is not a toad at all. He is an Elven prince under a curse of his own, and upon his death, his brothers come for Gesela, seeking retribution.
As punishment, the princes banish Gesela to live with their seventh brother, the one they call the beast. Gesela expects to be the prisoner of a hideous monster, but the beast turns out to be exquisitely beautiful, and rather than lock her in a cell, he offers Gesela a deal. If she can guess his true name in seven days, she can go free.
Gesela agrees, but there is a hidden catch—she must speak his name with love in order to free him, too.
But can either of them learn to love in time?
Review:
When I downloaded this book I didn’t realise it was a retelling. The cover caught my eye and let’s be honest it’s gorgeous, so that’s no surprise. The title was also intriguing and I’m happy to say I wasn’t disappointed.
Like the majority of retellings, or at least in my experience, this is a twist on Beauty and the Beast. I feel like this is the most commonly retold fairytale, but I could be wrong. I love a Beauty and the Beast retelling and this one, while not entirely unique, did have influences from other stories and folklore so it kept things interesting.
If you’re only a read of clean romance, you should stay far away from Mountains Made of Glass. Thankfully, this wasn’t the type of book that makes me cringe, those scenes were written pretty well.
The progression of the story felt a little out of pace, but that could be down to it being fairly short and also taking place over one week. That’s not a lot of time for someone to go from despising someone to loving them, but this is a fantasy so it’s fine.
The love/hate banter between Ella and Casamir was written well and their chemistry was pretty strong. Which is another reason why I didn’t mind the fast-paced romance. Their hate made their love more passionate and the ‘I want you but I’m not supposed to’ back and forth was great.
If you have Kindle Unlimited and you like a spicy retelling, you should definitely check out Mountains Made of Glass. It’s a super quick and super fun book.
Check out Young Creative Press on all socials
You can also check out my StoryGraph here
Like this post? Why not read this one too: Monthly Wrap-Up: March 2024